NOTHING COMPARES TO A NEW PRINCE RELEASE
Prince’s original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" went live this morning, released by the Prince Estate in collaboration with Warner Bros. Records.
The previously unreleased version was recorded in 1984, six years before Sinéad O'Connor had a hit with it and Prince started performing the song live.
The track was recorded at the Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse in Eden Prairie, Minn.; Prince handled all the instruments except for backing vocals by Susannah Melvoin and Paul "St. Paul" Peterson and a sax solo by Eric Leeds. It was mixed by Tony Maserati.
Michael Howe, the Prince Estate's official vault archivist, said "I spotted the 2" multitrack reel in the Vault some weeks back while doing a 1984-era inventory. After retrieving my jaw from the floor, we took the reel upstairs, analyzed it, put it up on the Studer 24 track machine, and digitized it to 24/192. Even our 'faders up' rough mix was compelling enough to indicate that this was something very special indeed."
The release, on digitally and on 7-inch vinyl, is accompanied by a video of Prince & The Revolution practicing their choreography in the Eden Prairie warehouse in 1984.
