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Prince estate announces '1999' album reissue with 35 unreleased tracks

Cover art for '1999' Super Deluxe Edition.
Cover art for '1999' Super Deluxe Edition.Warner Records

by Jay Gabler

September 10, 2019

Get ready to party like it's 1982 on Nov. 29 when Warner Records reissues Prince's classic album 1999 with no fewer than 35 previously unreleased tracks and a complete live concert performance on DVD.

The reissue will come in three versions: a remastered version with the original contents of the double LP; a 2CD/4LP Deluxe Edition; and a 5CD/10LP + DVD Super Deluxe Edition. All three will be available on CD, LP, and streaming services, and new liner notes will include an essay by The Current's Andrea Swensson.

A press release calls the Super Deluxe Edition "the deepest dive to date into Prince's vault." The press release continues:

The Super Deluxe Edition brings fans all the audio material that Prince officially released in and around 1982, as well as 23 previously unissued studio tracks recorded between November 1981 and January 1983, and a complete live audio performance of the 1999 tour recorded at the late show (the second of two that day) in Detroit, MI on November 30, 1982.

In addition, both CD and vinyl sets also boast a brand-new DVD containing another complete, previously unreleased concert from the 1999 tour, recorded in multi-cam live at the Houston Summit on December 29, 1982.

The Super Deluxe Edition set also features Prince's previously unseen handwritten lyrics for several songs from the era, including the hit "Little Red Corvette," plus images of the analog tape reels from the vault and rare photography from Prince's early '80s photographer, Allen Beaulieu. The Super Deluxe Edition is completed with brand-new liner notes by longtime Rolling Stone critic David Fricke, revered Guns N' Roses bassist and author Duff McKagan, Minneapolis historian and radio host Andrea Swensson, and Prince scholar Duane Tudahl.

Even in a catalog full of unforgettable albums, 1999 stands as a pivotal release in Prince's career. "He figured out who his audience was," Revolution drummer Bobby Z told The Current's Jim McGuinn. "'I'm gonna take the Stones audience and I'm gonna take this Rick James audience and all this stuff I learned over there, and I'm going to make one big my audience.'"

CD1 / LP 1&2: Remastered Album

1 1999
2 Little Red Corvette
3 Delirious
4 Let's Pretend We're Married
5 D.M.S.R.
6 Automatic
7 Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
8 Free
9 Lady Cab Driver
10 All The Critics Love U In New York
11 International Lover

CD2 / LP 3&4: Promo Mixes & B-Sides

1 1999 (7" stereo edit)
2 1999 (7" mono promo-only edit)
3 Free (promo-only edit)
4 How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore ("1999" b-side)
5 Little Red Corvette (7" edit)
6 All The Critics Love U In New York (7" edit)
7 Lady Cab Driver (7" edit)
8 Little Red Corvette (Dance Remix promo-only edit)
9 Little Red Corvette (Special Dance Mix)
10 Delirious (7" edit)
11 Horny Toad ("Delirious" b-side)
12 Automatic (7" edit)
13 Automatic (video version)
14 Let's Pretend We're Married (7" edit)
15 Let's Pretend We're Married (7" mono promo-only edit)
16 Irresistible Bitch ("Let's Pretend We're Married" b-side)
17 Let's Pretend We're Married (video version)
18 D.M.S.R. (edit)

CD3 / LP 5&6: Vault, Part 1

1 Feel U Up
2 Irresistible Bitch
3 Money Don't Grow On Trees
4 Vagina
5 Rearrange
6 Bold Generation
7 Colleen
8 International Lover (Take 1, live in studio)
9 Turn It Up
10 You're All I Want
11 Something In The Water (Does Not Compute) (Original Version)
12 If It'll Make U Happy
13 How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore? (Take 2, live in studio)

All tracks previously unreleased

CD4 / LP 7&8: Vault, Part 2

1 Possessed (1982 version)
2 Delirious (full length)
3 Purple Music
4 Yah, You Know
5 Moonbeam Levels **
6 No Call U
7 Can't Stop This Feeling I Got
8 Do Yourself A Favor
9 Don't Let Him Fool Ya
10 Teacher, Teacher
11 Lady Cab Driver / I Wanna Be Your Lover / Head / Little Red Corvette (tour demo)

All tracks previously unreleased except **, released on the 2016 compilation, 4Ever

CD5 / LP 9&10: Live In Detroit - November 30, 1982 (midnight show)

1 Controversy
2 Let's Work
3 Little Red Corvette
4 Do Me, Baby
5 Head
6 Uptown
7 Interlude
8 How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?
9 Automatic
10 International Lover
11 1999
12 D.M.S.R.

All tracks previously unreleased

DVD: Live In Houston - December 29, 1982

1 Controversy
2 Let's Work
3 Do Me, Baby
4 D.M.S.R.
5 Interlude - piano improvisation (contains elements of "With You")
6 How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?
7 Lady Cab Driver
8 Automatic
9 International Lover
10 1999
11 Head (contains elements of "Sexuality")

All tracks previously unreleased