On July 30, Prince’s and Sony’s Legacy Recordings will release the album ‘Welcome 2 America’, which was recorded in 2010 but never released. According to the announcement, the album is “a powerful creative statement documenting Prince’s concerns, hopes and visions for a changing society, previously predicting an era of political divisions, disinformation and a renewed struggle for racial justice.” ’60 Minutes’ correspondent. Jon Wertheim got a preview of the album as well as the story behind it for a report that will be broadcast on CBS this Sunday; you can hear the title track below.
Shortly after completing the “Welcome 2 America” album, Prince embarked on a tour of the same name that included several performances in several U.S. cities, concluding with the historic “21 Nite Stand” at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The Deluxe Edition of “Welcome 2 America” features the full studio safe album on both CDs and black vinyl (accompanied by a high digital download) plus a full concert video never before released, from Prince’s show on April 28 2011 by The Forum. All the vinyl editions will have music on three sides, with a collectible etching on the fourth side. In addition, there will be two special vinyl versions of the album available – gold vinyl available exclusively at the official Prince store and bright vinyl at Target.
As a companion collector, fans can pre-order the numbered limited edition gold-colored 7 “vinyl at the official Prince Store. The 7” contains the studio version of “Welcome 2 America”, accompanied by a previously live version of the song which is still was not released, was recorded on 14 May 2011 by The Forum. The live version of “Welcome 2 America” is performed in a medley with the Prince composition “Dreamer”, which was first released in 2009’s “Lotusflow3r”.
The live concert video features Prince performing with his 2011 New Power Generation series, including Shelby J., Liv Warfield, Elisa Fiorillo, and Morris Hayes, additional keyboard players Renato Neto and Cassandra O’Neal, bassist Ida Nielsen, drummer John Blackwell, and dancers Maya and Nandy McClean (The Twinz).
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Prince’s Unknown ‘Welcome 2 America’ Album Releases July 30 (Photo by Richard E. Aaron / Redferns)
The performance includes cover series of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” and Roxy Music’s “More Than This” along with Prince favorites, including “17 Days”, “Controversy”, “1999” and “Purple Rain.”
The Deluxe Edition of Welcome 2 America is presented as a luxury gold foil package designed by GRAMMY-nominated artist Mathieu Bitton and GRAMMY-nominated creative director and Prince Trevor Guy, complete with a 12 “x12” companion of 32 pages and embossed velor envelope with exclusive ephemera from Welcome 2 America era (photographic art print, 23 “x36” poster, replica set list, ticket, VIP invitation and backstage fitting).
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Prince – Welcome 2 America
- Welcome 2 America
- Running Game (Son of a Slave Master)
- Born 2 The
- 1000 light years away
- Hot summer
- Get up and B strong *
- Check the record
- Same page, different book
- When she comes
- 1010 (Rin Blikblik)
- Yes
- One day we will all be free
* Soul Asylum cover
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Prince – Welcome 2 America (Live on The Forum, 28 April 2011)
Concert performance (Blu-Ray):
- Joy in repetition
- Brown skin (India. Arie cover)
- 17 days
- Shhh
- Controversy
- Theme from “Which Way Is There” (Stargard cover)
- What have you been doing for me lately (Janet Jackson cover)
- Partyman
- Make You Feel My Love (cover of Bob Dylan)
- Misty Blue (cover of Eddy Arnold)
- 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 (cover on the lake)
- More Than This (Roxy Music Cover)