Following last year’s super deluxe expanded reissue of 1999, the Prince estate is once again partnering with Warner Records to give the Purple One’s 1987 double album Sign O’ The Times the same treatment. Sign O’ The Times was born out of the sessions for three different shelved albums, Dream Factory, Camille, and Crystal Ball, so there’s a lot of material in the vault to dig into here. And in addition to a remastered version of the classic original 16 track-album, the super deluxe reissue will include 45 unreleased studio tracks recorded between May 1979 and July 1987.
What else is on the massive 92-track, 8xCD/13xLP reissue? There’s complete live audio of Prince’s 6/20/1987 show at Stadium Galgenwaard in Utrecht and a DVD containing the previously unreleased New Year’s Eve benefit concert at Paisley Park on 12/31/1987, Prince’s final performance of the Sign O’ The Times tour stage show featuring Miles Davis. There’s a 120-page hardcover book featuring Prince’s handwritten lyrics and unseen photographs and archival images. And there’s brand new liner notes from Dave Chappelle, Lenny Kravitz, Prince’s longtime engineer Susan Rogers, Yale professor Daphne A. Brooks, Minneapolis radio host and author Andrea Swensson, and Prince scholar Duane Tudahl.
Besides the super deluxe edition, the reissue will also be available in a smaller 3xCD/2xLP format and as the remastered double album alone. And Third Man Records is releasing a numbered 7″ singles boxed set, limited to 1987 units, containing all four official singles released in 1987, two official Warner Records promo singles, and a brand new single featuring two versions of the previously unreleased track “Witness 4 The Prosuection.” Listen to the first version of that and check out the super deluxe edition’s full tracklist below.
CD1 / LP1: Remastered Album (Disc 1)
01 “Sign O’ The Times”
02 “Play In The Sunshine”
03 “Housequake”
04 “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker”
05 “It”
06 “Starfish And Coffee”
07 “Slow Love”
08 “Hot Thing”
09 “Forever In My Life”
CD2 / LP2: Remastered Album (Disc 2)
01 “U Got The Look”
02 “If I Was Your Girlfriend”
03 “Strange Relationship”
04 “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man”
05 “The Cross”
06 “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night”
07 “Adore”
CD3 / LP3&4: Single Mixes & Edits
01 “Sign O’ The Times (7” single edit)”
02 “La, La, La, He, He, Hee (7” single edit)”
03 “La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Highly Explosive) (7” single edit)”
04 “If I Was Your Girlfriend (7” single edit)”
05 “Shockadelica (“If I Was Your Girlfriend” B-side)”
06 “Shockadelica (12” long version)”
07 “U Got The Look (Long Look) (12” edit)”
08 “Housequake (7” edit)”
09 “Housequake (7 Minutes MoQuake) (12” edit)”
10 “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Fade 7” edit)”
11 “Hot Thing (7” single edit)”
12 “Hot Thing (Extended Remix)”
13 “Hot Thing (Dub Version) ”
CD4 / LP5&6: Vault, Part 1
01 “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (1979 version)”
02 ” Teacher, Teacher (1985 version)”
03 “All My Dreams”
04 “Can I Play With U?” (Feat. Miles Davis)
05 “Wonderful Day (original version)”
06 “Strange Relationship (original version)”
07 “Visions”
08 “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (with horns)”
09 “Witness 4 The Prosecution (version 1)”
10 “Power Fantastic (live in studio)”
11 “And That Says What?”
12 “Love And Sex”
13 “A Place In Heaven (Prince vocal)”
14 “Colors”
15 “Crystal Ball (7” mix)”
16 “Big Tall Wall (version 1)”
17 “Nevaeh Ni Ecalp A”
18 “In A Large Room With No Light”
All tracks previously unreleased
CD5 / LP7&8: Vault, Part 2
01 “Train”
02 “It Ain’t Over ‘Til The Fat Lady Sings”
03 “Eggplant (Prince vocal)”
04 “Everybody Want What They Don’t Got”
05 “Blanche”
06 “Soul Psychodelicide”
07 “The Ball”
08 “Adonis And Bathsheba”
09 “Forever In My Life (early vocal studio run-through)”
10 “Crucial (alternate lyrics)”
11 “The Cocoa Boys”
12 “When The Dawn Of The Morning Comes”
13 “Witness 4 The Prosecution (version 2)”
14 “It Be’s Like That Sometimes”
All tracks previously unreleased
CD6 / LP9&10: Vault, Part 3
01 “Emotional Pump”
02 “Rebirth Of The Flesh (with original outro)”
03 “Cosmic Day”
04 “Walkin’ In Glory”
05 “Wally”
06 “I Need A Man”
07 “Promise To Be True”
08 “Jealous Girl (version 2)”
09 “There’s Something I Like About Being Your Fool”
10 “Big Tall Wall (version 2)”
11 “A Place In Heaven (Lisa vocal)”
12 “Wonderful Day (12” mix)”
13 “Strange Relationship (1987 Shep Pettibone Club Mix)”
All tracks previously unreleased
CD7&8 / LP11-13: Live In Utrecht – June 20, 1987
01 “Intro/Sign O’ The Times”
02 “Play In The Sunshine”
03 “Little Red Corvette”
04 “Housequake”
05 “Girls & Boys”
06 “Slow Love”
07 “Take The ‘A’ Train/Pacemaker/I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man”
08 “Hot Thing”
09 “Four”
10 “If I Was Your Girlfriend”
11 “Let’s Go Crazy”
12 “When Doves Cry”
13 “Purple Rain”
14 “1999”
15 “Forever In My Life”
16 “Kiss”
17 “The Cross”
18 “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night”
All tracks previously unreleased
DVD: Live At Paisley Park – December 31, 1987
01 “Sign O’ The Times”
02 “Play In The Sunshine”
03 “Little Red Corvette”
04 “Erotic City”
05 “Housequake”
06 “Slow Love”
07 “Do Me, Baby”
08 “Adore”
09 “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man”
10 “What’s Your Name Jam”
11 “Let’s Pretend We’re Married”
12 “Delirious”
13 “Jack U Off”
14 “Drum Solo”
15 “Twelve”
16 “Hot Thing”
17 “If I Was Your Girlfriend”
18 “Let’s Go Crazy”
19 “When Doves Cry”
20 “Purple Rain”
21 “1999”
22 “U Got The Look”
23 “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night Medley” (Feat. Miles Davis)
All tracks previously unreleased
Sign O’ The Times reissue is out 9/25 via Warner Records. Pre-order it here.
