Released today (September 25th) is the “Super Deluxe Edition” of Prince's legendary 1987 double album set, Sign o' The Times. The collection, which has been expanded to an eight CD/DVD and/or 13 LP and DVD set, includes the original album remastered for the very first time, 63 previously unreleased tracks, as well as a previously unissued two-plus hour video concert performance from Prince’s legendary vault. The set is also available in triple and double set editions.
According to the press release:
The “Super Deluxe Edition” brings fans all the audio material that Prince officially released in 1987, as well as 45 previously unissued studio songs recorded between May 1979 and July 1987, and a complete live audio performance from the June 20th, 1987 stop on the Sign o’ The Times tour at Stadium Galgenwaard in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
In addition, both CD and vinyl sets also boast a brand-new DVD containing the complete, previously unreleased New Year’s Eve benefit concert at Paisley Park on December 31st, 1987, which was Prince’s final performance of the Sign o’ The Times tour stage show and his only on-stage collaboration with jazz legend Miles Davis.
The “Super Deluxe Edition” set also features a 120-page hardcover book containing Prince’s previously unseen handwritten lyrics for many of the songs from the era, iconic unseen images from the era taken by Prince’s primary photographer in the mid-1980's to early-'90s, Jeff Katz, plus “images of archive assets including original analog tape reels and studio tracking sheets.”
During a 2009 chat with Tavis Smiley, Prince shed light on how he transformed from a picked on school kid to the local wunderkind: “My father left his piano at the house when he left. And I wasn't allowed to play it when he was there, because I wasn't as good as him. So, when he left, I was determined to get as good as him. And I taught myself how to play music, and I just stuck with it and did it all the time. And sooner or later, people in the neighborhood heard about me and then they started to talk about me. And it wasn't in a teasing fashion, it was more like, 'Wow — look what he can do.”
The tracklisting to Prince's 2020 Sign o’ The Times “Super Deluxe Edition” is:
Disc 1:
Sign o’ The Times
Play In The Sunshine
Housequake
The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
It
Starfish And Coffee
Slow Love
Hot Thing
Forever In My Life
Disc 2:
U Got The Look
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Strange Relationship
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
The Cross
It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night
Adore
Disc 3:
Sign o’ The Times (Edit)
La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Edit)
3. La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Highly Explosive)
If I Was Your Girlfriend (Edit)
Shockadelica
Shockadelica (12″ Long Version)
U Got the Look (Long Look)
Housequake (Edit)
Housequake (7 Minutes MoQuake)
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (Fade)
Hot Thing (Edit)
Hot Thing (Extended Remix)
Hot Thing (Dub Version)
Disc 4:
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (1979 Version)
Teacher Teacher (1985 Version)
All My Dreams
Can I Play With U? (feat. Miles Davis)
Wonderful Day
Strange Relationship
Visions (2020 Remaster) (2:19)
The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (With Horns)
Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 1)
Power Fantastic (Live in Studio)
And That Says What?
Love And Sex
A Place In Heaven (Prince Vocal)
Colors
Crystal Ball (7″ Mix) (
Big Tall Wall (Version 1)
Nevaeh Ni Ecalp A
In A Large Room With No Light
Disc 5:
Train
It Ain’t Over ‘Til The Fat Lady Sings
Eggplant (Original Prince Vocal)
Everybody Want What They Don’t Got
Blanche
Soul Psychodelicide (1986 Master)
The Ball
Adonis And Bathsheba
Forever In My Life (Early Vocal Run-Through)
Crucial (Alternate Lyrics)
The Cocoa Boys
When The Dawn Of The Morning Comes
Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 2)
It Be’s Like That Sometimes
Disc 6:
Emotional Pump
Rebirth Of The Flesh
Cosmic Day
Walkin’ In Glory
Wally
I Need A Man
Promise To Be True
Jealous Girl (Version 2)
There’s Something I Like About Being Your Fool
Big Tall Wall (Version 2)
A Place In Heaven (Lisa Vocal)
Wonderful Day (12″ Mix)
Strange Relationship (1987 Shep Pettibone Club Mix)
Disc 7:
Intro/Sign o’ The Times
Play In The Sunshine
Little Red Corvette
Housequake (Live In Utrecht)
Girls & Boys (Live In Utrecht)
Slow Love (Live In Utrecht)
Take The “A” Train / Pacemaker / I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Live In Utrecht)
Hot Thing (Live In Utrecht)
Four (Includes Sheila E. Drum Solo; Live In Utrecht)
If I Was Your Girlfriend (Live In Utrecht)
Disc 8:
Let’s Go Crazy (Live In Utrecht)
When Doves Cry (Live In Utrecht)
Purple Rain (Live In Utrecht)
1999 (Live In Utrecht)
Forever In My Life (Live In Utrecht)
Kiss (Live In Utrecht)
The Cross (Live In Utrecht)
It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night (Live In Utrecht)
