Five years after Prince's disappearance, the exploration of his treasure chest continues.
Legacy Recordings, the Sony label that manages the late star's recording catalog, has announced the release of an unreleased album,
Welcome 2 America
, for July 30.
The title track is being scouted on streaming platforms from this Thursday afternoon.
We can hear Prince declaiming that America is "
a land of freedom (but also) a home for the slave
".
Read also: A tribute to Prince, who died 5 years ago, organized in his lair in Paisley Park
The album, which dates from 2010, is taken from
The Vault
, the legendary vault of the "
Kid of Minneapolis
", nestled in his studio in Paisley Park.
It is a cave of fantasies where sleep an indeterminate number of unpublished nuggets (demos, albums finished or not, live recordings, collaborations etc).
Prince (who died on April 21, 2016 at the age of 57) skillfully maintained the legend around his hidden treasures during his lifetime, through his nebulous statements to the press.
“
I haven't always given labels the best song.
There are songs in
The Vault
that no one has ever heard (...) tons of things recorded during different periods,
”he told
Rolling Stone
magazine
in 2014. For the last two years, the reference albums ,
1999
and
Sign o 'the times
were notably reissued (at Warner) in river versions enriched with copious unpublished works (about sixty for
Sign o'
).
Regarding this novelty, the American channel CBS was able to listen exclusively to the 12 tracks of
Welcome 2 America
and will devote its
60 minutes program to it on
Sunday.
To shed some light on the album's theme and keep fans going, Legacy Recordings released a prophetic statement from Prince in 2010: “
The world is straining because of misinformation.
George Orwell's vision for the future is here.
We owe it to ourselves to remain steadfast in our faith for the difficult times that lie ahead
”.
The deluxe boxed version will include the album and an unreleased full concert by Prince, accompanied by his famous band, New Power Generation, performed at the Forum in Los Angeles on April 28, 2011. Shortly after completing this mystery album, Prince put on in effect, an eponymous tour,
Welcome 2 America
, is in motion
.
The video concert will show Prince with the 2011 version of New Power Generation, a variable geometry formation.
At the start of this tour, Prince had warned: "
Bring your friends, bring your children, and something to refresh your feet, because it will be funky
".
Fans have been warned.