It’s been a well-known secret that Prince has hundreds of unheard recordings locked away in an underground bank vault at Paisley Park. Now, the first of this treasure trove of new music is being unveiled — starting with the original version of Prince’s seminal track, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’.
The never before released track was recorded in 1984, six years prior to Sinead O’Connor topping the charts with it in 1990. In any case, it shows just how ahead of his time Prince was — able to write songs that still sound contemporary even when released years later.
Vault Archivist for Prince’s Estate Michael Howe stumbled across the recording while stockpiling inventory from the 1984 era.
“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,” said Howe. “Even our ‘faders up’ rough mix was compelling enough to indicate that this was something very special indeed.”
Available now for the first time, the video also features never before seen rehearsal footage of Prince and The Revolution practising in ’84.
Watch the magic unfold below:
