Fans Anxiously Await New Collection Of Prince Demos
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota's own global music icon is releasing a new album on Friday. The album titled "Originals" features 15 songs written by Prince that are being released from the vault, but some of the songs may sound familiar.
The iconic, Minnesota musician actually wrote hits like "Manic Monday," "Nothing Compares 2 U," and "Jungle Love," but other artists ended up turning those tracks into hits.
"He absolutely could have had these massive hits for himself but for one reason or another it didn't fit in to what he wanted to do at that time so he gave them away," Jim Novak, retail music buyer at Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, said.
Now, more than three years after his death, fans will hear Prince's version of the hits on the new 15-track compilation.
"It's like the original artist sketches," Novak said. ""I'm a sucker for the Prince ballads, so he wrote this great ballad that he gave to Kenny Rogers, of all people, in the '80s, and to hear his version of that. I'm excited to hear it."
At the Electric Fetus, a place Prince himself was known to frequent, fans and workers alike couldn't wait to grab the new album.
"I want to have it in my hand," long-time Prince fan Rene Gonzalez said. "I've already pre-ordered. I've got the purple vinyl and CD."
This isn't the first album released since Prince's passing. In 2018, "Piano and a Microphone 1983" was released. This album, as well as the new one coming out, were both mostly written in the '80s.
"Obviously he was a volcano of creativity," Novak said.
Novak says this won't be the last album to emerge from the Paisley Park vault.
"There could be a hundred albums in there that are just waiting to be heard," Novak said.
For years to come, even though he's not around, fans will still have a way to hear new music from the legend himself.
"Hopefully they'll keep on rolling new music out cause we want it and we want it bad," Gonzalez said.
The album will be released Friday exclusively on Tidal, Jay-Z's steaming service. According to Novak, Prince had a relationship with Jay-Z and previously made agreements to release some of his work on the platform.
The album will be released on other streaming services and in stores on June 21. The Electric Fetus says they will receive the Vinyl version in July.
