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ON PRINCE’S BIRTHDAY, THE FANS GET A GIFT
FIRST OFFICIAL PRINCE ALBUM ANNOUNCED SINCE HIS DEATH
Today would have marked Prince’s 60th birthday, however, we all sadly know how Prince’s life ended up. Luckily, Prince will still be able to amaze us with his dedicated work ethic consciousness of his art. Since Prince passed in 2016, his estate has been diligently keeping tabs on the legend’s work and tying up any loose legal ends that may have been left open. Part of tying up those loose ends is the announcement of the album Piano & a Microphone 1983.
Piano & a Microphone 1983 is essentially Prince’s unreleased work from the same time his album 1999 dropped. If anything, this new album most likely consists of scrapped tracks that might have been originally scheduled for the 1999 album. The first single of the album, Prince’s cover of “Mary Don’t You Weep” was released along with the announcement, and will be featured in Spike Lee and Jordan Peele’s upcoming film Black kKlansmen (debuting this August).
Along with “Mary Don’t You Weep” are an early version of “Purple Rain”, “Strange Relationship”, the finished “17 Days” and a cover of “A Case of You” by Joni Mitchell. Fans may notice that the Piano & a Microphone 1983 was also the name of Prince’s last tour in 2016 before he passed.
The album is can be pre-ordered for CD, LP, Deluxe CD+LP, digital release and pre-saved for streaming. The Deluxe CD+LP set includes a booklet full of liner notes written by Prince’s former sound engineer Don Batts. Unreleased photos of Prince will come in the set as well. If you do pre-order the album via digital download, you can download “Mary Don’t You Weep” before the album releases to the general public. By the way, Piano & a Microphone 1983 will release on September 14.
You can also listen to “Mary Don’t You Weep” below: