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Nearly four years after Prince's passing, The Artist's work still lives on. Next Tuesday, on the anniversary of his passing, CBS will air a tribute concert recorded earlier this year, and Legacy Recordings' next wave of CD and vinyl reissues, covering The Rainbow Children and One Nite Alone... eras, will release next month after being delayed due to the COVID-19 situation. (Don't forget, we're also doing a live listen to Around The World In a Day this afternoon at 5 p.m. EST!)
Now, ahead of the planned release date of the new Up All Nite With Prince box set, The Prince Estate has surprised fans with the first commercial release of four tracks taken from the DVD included with the set, Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas.
Recorded at the end of 2002 and featuring the same loose, funky vibe as the sets heard on One Nite Alone...Live!, Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas featured tracks from The Rainbow Children ("The Work Pt. 1," "1+1+1 Is 3," "The Everlasting Now"), a handful of choice covers (James Brown's "Pass The Peas," Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love") and some deep cuts from Prince's already voluminous discography.
It's that latter category that gets center stage on the Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas Sampler EP (which was originally issued as a radio promo to coincide with the DVD's original release in 2003). Here, you'll hear horn-infused versions of "Pop Life" (from Around The World In a Day) and "Strange Relationship" (from Sign "O" The Times), plus "Gotta Broken Heart Again" (from 1980's Dirty Mind) and the heartrending "Sometimes It Snows In April," the closer to 1986's Parade.
In other Prince news, the estate has posted this lovely tribute video featuring fans and footage of the Minneapolis area, set to The Artist's "Gold." You can find this lovely tribute, and the new EP, at the links below.
Prince, Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas Sampler (NPG/Legacy, 2020 - originally released as NPG/Hip-O promo CD B0000995-09, 2003)
iTunes / Amazon U.S. / Spotify
- Pop Life
- Gotta Broken Heart Again
- Strange Relationship
- Sometimes It Snows In April
All tracks recorded live at The Aladdin, Las Vegas, NV - 12/15/2002
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Don't get Prince at all. Good guitar player, but his own songs? Blah! Like so many others (Madonna, etc.) he relied on vulgarity to sell.
Greetings, Demetrio. You're not wrong when it comes to describing a few of his albums, many of his songs, and large parts of his earlier concert performances, but in the last 15 years of his career he really stepped away from, and at times openly eschewed, that aspect of his career. He wasn't above the occasional blatant innuendo, as the otherwise irresistible pop-rock "Screwdriver" on his final album shows. Increasingly, though, his later music focused more on romance rather than sex, as well as ample social commentary, spiritual exhortation, and calls to party up.
The particular tour promoted on this EP as well as the pending concert discs marked the coming out, as it were, of the lately matured Prince. These are great performances of his, and of his band, captured exceptionally well audio-wise.