When Prince signed a new record deal with Warner Bros. back in April, he promised the release of “long-awaited, previously unheard material,” and “a brand new studio album.” Well, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune (via Consequence of Sound), the Purple One actually has two new studio albums in the can: one with his band 3rdEyeGirl called Plectrum Electrum and an untitled solo effort.
No further details are available at this point about that full band album, but the Star Tribune was on hand for an exclusive listen to the new solo record, which includes a remix of the previously released “FUNKNROLL,” the “percolating electro-funk” of a new track called “The Gold Standard,” and some “complex electronic discourse” that was difficult for the paper’s writer to apprehend. Of particular interest is a “joyful ballad” called “This Could Be Us” which Prince says is inspired by a meme featuring a still from Purple Rain. It’s good to see he still has a sense of humor about that kind of thing.
There’s no release date yet for either of those records, which seems to be a bit of a sore spot for Prince. While playing the record, he griped about how difficult it was to reach the executives at his new label and how slowly the record industry moves in general. “Every No. 1 song, every Top 10 song, every song in the Top 40 is at least six months old,” he said. “We should be able to make music and put it out now.”
But that’s not all of the news from the camp of the Artist. According to an interview in the Guardian with Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis, Prince was in negotiations to headline the festival, but after rumors saying as much spread around the internet, he backed out.
“Before he confirmed he got really upset because he thought we had advertised that he was playing,” explained Eavis. “We hadn’t, but with social media, rumors get everywhere, and one of those rumors was that Prince was coming.”
While that seems a typically internet-fearing move for the singer, at least he’s emerging from his Paisley Park seclusion enough to issue new tunes.
Until these records surface, spend some time with his melodramatic April single “The Breakdown.”
