Out today (September 21st), is the new posthumous Prince album, Piano & A Microphone 1983. The set, which was mastered from a cassette tape, has been released as a nine track, 35-minute album featuring the contents of a previously unreleased 1983 home studio cassette recording of Prince at his piano captured at his Kiowa Trail home studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota by engineer Don Batts.
According to the press release, “The private rehearsal provides a rare, intimate glimpse into Prince’s creative process as he worked through songs which include ’17 Days’ and “Purple Rain’ (neither of which would be released until 1984), a cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘A Case Of You,’ ‘Strange Relationship’ (not released until 1987 on his critically acclaimed Sign O’ The Times album), and ‘International Lover.’ The album also includes a rare recording of the 19th Century spiritual ‘Mary Don’t You Weep,’ which was featured during the end credits of Spike Lee’s recent film, BlacKkKlansman. For fans of Prince’s spontaneous live medleys, tracks one to seven of the album are presented in that same format as they were originally recorded.”
Prince’s Revolution keyboardist Lisa Coleman, who wrote liner notes for the new set, explained that this music seeing the light of day is incredible on several different levels: “It’s really amazing that this cassette out of all the hundreds and thousands of cassettes, this one somehow rose to the top, and it’s actually a really interesting tape. Y’know, there was always a tape rolling — whether it was video, or cassette, or a DAT, or even a 24-track — there was always something running.”
Lisa went on to say that the Piano & A Microphone collection showcases a key part of Prince’s creative process: “It’s just Prince, in my opinion, he’s just kind of stretching out and getting to know some of the songs that the band wrote, he kind of, like, took and is exploring them alone and, kind of, playing with the time signatures and the feels of the songs. And, so, it’s really interesting — even for a fan to hear — these songs, kind of, presented or explored in different ways.”
SOURCE: Press release
