Prince: Sign O' The Times (Super Deluxe Edition (8 CD+DVD) Boxed Set) 1980's Release Date: 9/25/2020

Primarily recorded between the end of 1985 and beginning of 1987, the era saw the dissolution of his band The Revolution, the end of his engagement to Susannah Melvoin, and the creation (and ultimate abandonment) of the albums Dream Factory, Camille, and Crystal Ball.

 By the end of that period of transformation, Prince emerged with one of his most urgent and wide-ranging releases to date — an epochal double album that would be hailed as a creative, critical, and commercial triumph.

The Super Deluxe Edition includes 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 20, 1987 stop on the Sign O’ The Times Tour at Stadium Galgenwaard in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Also included is a brand-new DVD containing the complete, previously unreleased New Year’s Eve benefit concert at Paisley Park on December 31, 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, including the hits “U Got The Look,” “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man,” and “Hot Thing,” iconic unseen images from the era taken by Prince’s primary photographer in the mid-1980s to early 90s, Jeff Katz, plus images of archive assets including original analog tape reels and studio tracking sheets.

Contents:

• CD1-2: Sign O’ The Times album (2020 Remaster)
• CD3: 13x single mixes and edits, all newly remastered
• CD4-6: 45x previously unreleased studio recordings from Prince’s Vault
• CD7-8: 18x live tracks, comprising a complete previously unreleased concert performance recorded in Utrecht, Netherlands, on June 20, 1987
• DVD: 23x tracks, comprising a complete previously unreleased concert performance recorded at Paisley Park, Chanhassen, on December 31st, 1987

Other info:

• The Super Deluxe Edition contains 92 audio tracks, of which 63 are previously unreleased, including 45 studio tracks from Prince’s legendary Vault.
• The Super Deluxe Edition opens with Prince’s iconic album, Sign O’ The Times, dazzlingly remastered for the very first time by Prince’s original mastering engineer Bernie Grundman.
• The set also includes an entire previously unreleased audio recording of Prince’s Sign O’ The Times tour performance in Utrecht, Netherlands, on June 20, 1987
• The DVD features a complete previously unreleased recording of Prince’s benefit performance at Paisley Park, December 31st, 1987. The show includes Prince’s only on-stage collaboration with Miles Davis.
• Housed in a 12” box, and accompanied by a 12” 120 page hardback book featuring:
• Brand new liner notes by: Prince’s creative peers and friends Dave Chappelle (in conversation with photographer Mathieu Bitton) and Lenny Kravitz; Prince’s longtime engineer Susan Rogers; Daphne A. Brooks, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of African American Studies, American Studies and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Yale University; Minneapolis radio host and author Andrea Swensson, host of the Official Prince Podcast; and Prince scholar Duane Tudahl.
• Rare and previously unseen photography by Jeff Katz
• Prince’s handwritten lyrics

Sign O’ The Times album The Super Deluxe Edition