Prince’s Unreleased Album ‘Welcome 2 America’ [NPG/Legacy 7/30/2021]
Prince’s unreleased 2010 album Welcome 2 America is the next offering from the singer’s Vault, with the LP finally due out this summer.
Prior to Welcome 2 America’s July 30th arrival, the Prince Estate has shared the title track, a spoken word soliloquy that criticized social media, celebrity culture, music industry monopolies, and more:
https://youtu.be/HJtxSdTL488
“The world is fraught with misin4mation. George Orwell’s vision of the future is here. We need 2 remain steadfast in faith in the trying times ahead,” Prince said in 2010 in a statement shared by the Estate.
Recorded over a decade ago, Welcome 2 America’s 12 tracks — 11 Prince originals and a cover of Soul Asylum’s “Stand Up and B Strong” — have never been released, although a handful were either performed live by Prince or appeared via webcasts or one-off radio premieres.
After recording the album with his 2011-era New Power Generation lineup at his Paisley Park Studios, Prince embarked on his Welcome 2 America tour in 2011, which culminated in his historic 21 Nite Stand at Inglewood, California’s the Forum. Never-before-released concert video from the April 28th, 2011 gig from that residency features on the deluxe edition of the Welcome 2 America.
During that show, in addition to performing his own hits like “Little Red Corvette,” “1999,” “Purple Rain,” and “Let’s Go Crazy,” Prince delivered covers of tracks like Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love,” Janet Jackson’s “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” Eddy Arnold’s “Misty Blue,” India.Arie’s “Brown Skin,” Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music,” and the evening’s final song, Roxy Music’s “More Than This.”
Welcome 2 America, available to preorder now, will be released digitally, on CD, as a two-LP vinyl set [[with Side D etching) and a deluxe edition complete with the Blu-ray housed in a luxe gold-foil package with a 32-page companion book and embossed vellum envelope containing exclusive Welcome 2 America-era ephemera. Additionally, “Welcome 2 America” will be released as a Prince Store exclusive limited-edition 7-inch single backed by a live version of the song recorded during the 21 Nite Stand on May 14th, 2011.
The un-Vaulting of Welcome 2 America follows the massive reissue dedicated to Sign O the Times that arrived in September 2020.
Welcome 2 America Tracklist
- Welcome 2 America
- Running Game [[Son of a Slave Master)
- Born 2 Die
- 1000 Light Years From Here
- Hot Summer
- Stand Up and B Strong [[Soul Asylum cover)
- Check The Record
- Same Page, Different Book
- When She Comes
- 1010 [[Rin Tin Tin)
- Yes
- One Day We Will All B Free
Welcome 2 America [[Live at The Forum, April 28, 2011) Tracklist [[Blu-Ray)
- Joy In Repetition
- Brown Skin [[India.Arie cover)
- 17 Days
- Shhh
- Controversy
- Theme From “Which Way Is Up” [[Stargard cover)
- What Have You Done For Me Lately [[Janet Jackson cover)
- Partyman
- Make You Feel My Love [[Bob Dylan cover)
- Misty Blue [[Eddy Arnold cover)
- Let’s Go Crazy
- Delirious
- 1999
- Little Red Corvette
- Purple Rain
- The Bird [[The Time cover – Prince composition)
- Jungle Love [[The Time cover – Prince composition)
- A Love Bizarre [[Sheila E. cover – Prince composition)
- Kiss
- Play That Funky Music [[Wild Cherry cover)
- Inglewood Swinging [[cover of Kool & the Gang’s “Hollywood Swinging”)
- Fantastic Voyage [[Lakeside cover)
- More Than This [[Roxy Music cover)
