Piano & A Microphone 1983 Prince album

Warner Bros. Records

album

I popped it in and, wow, that’s the one we’ve been looking for.

Piano & A Microphone 1983 was as a joint release by The Prince Estate and Warner Bros Records. This collection of nine songs was recorded over a single session for demo purposes by Prince on piano at his Kiowa Trail home studio, then aged 25 and at brink of stardom ahead of the movie Purple Rain and its soundtrack.

The piano in question is a Yamaha CP-70 electric grand. The model Prince used in the studio from 1979, first appearing on many songs on his second LP Prince and through to the closing notes of the single Purple Rain. For his live shows, he preferred the CP-80 which sported acoustic strings and hammers with electric pickups. Captured on cassette purely for the purpose to produce a reference tape in the spring of 1983 to finalise the musical arrangement at a later time, Prince plays until the tape runs out. That tape was subsequently stored in his Paisley Park vault where it was discovered in the aftermath of his death in 2016 when the estate’s archivist Michael Howe compiled the first inventory of its contents.

This 34-minute demo was restored and released on 21 September 2018 as Piano & A Microphone 1983, the inaugural posthumous album comprised entirely with original material gleaned from the vault following Prince’s death in April 2016. The demo was chosen ahead of all others because of its intimacy and the spontaneity of the recording, and the significance of the moment, capturing Prince laying the foundation of several of his his iconic Purple Rain. Coupled with the fact it closely echoed the format of his 2016 and final tour Piano & A Microphone, the release commemorates the full circle of Prince’s career. The first seven tracks are presented as originally recorded, as one continuous medley. The release of Piano & A Microphone 1983 also marks what would have been the 60th year in Prince’s life.

Piano & A Microphone 1983 shows Prince like never before, alone in the studio finding melodies for future hits. Of note is 17 Days which ended up as B-side to Prince’s biggest hit single When Doves Cry in 1984. The track was written during a band rehearsal and Piano & A Microphone 1983 shows him developing the song, tapping his foot to set the timing. The tape also captures a very early draft of Purple Rain, the track Prince would be mostly associated with out of everything else he produced. The tape also includes several songs that would never be worked beyond this demo, chiefly Mary Don’t You Weep which in 2018 its Piano & A Microphone 1983 version became the closing track to Spike Lee’s dark comedy BlacKkKlansman, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May that year. Wednesday was intended for a scene in the Purple Rain movie that featured Jill Jones singing it while sat at a piano in First Avenue, it was cut in the final edit. The original cassette was a chance discovery by The Prince Estate’s archivist, the advanced distress of the tape required the release to be expedited. The restoration process involved baking the tape to reactivate its magnetic binding.

A Deluxe Edition of Piano & A Microphone 1983 was also issued the same day as the standard release, 21 September 2018. The Deluxe Edition included a specially printed version of the CD, the LP and an accompanying 12″ booklet with liner notes contributed by Don Batts the recording engineer in that very session, and bandmates Lisa Coleman and Jill Jones, plus photos shot by his then official photographer Allen Beaulieu. The first studio album comprised of original material issued after Prince’s death, Piano & A Microphone 1983 performed solidly in the charts, peaking at 11 in the US Billboard 200, and at number 12 in the UK.

Performers

Vocals & Piano

Prince

Data

Producer

Prince

Label

NPG Records

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

Cover/Design

Allen Beaulieu and Alex Tenta

Released

7 years ago on 21 September 2018

Running Time

34:14

US Chart Peak

11

US R&B Peak

7

UK Chart Peak

12

Orig. Formats

Tracklist

1. 17 Days (6:23)
2. Purple Rain (1:27)
3. A Case Of You (1:41) ¹
4. Mary Don't You Weep (4:42)
5. Strange Relationship (2:39)
6. International Lover (3:38)
7. Wednesday (2:00)
8. Cold Coffee & Cocaine (5:13)
9. Why The Butterflies (6:27)

¹ Written by Joni Mitchell.

Piano & A Microphone 1983 – review

Piano & A Microphone 1983 is the debut release by The Prince Estate. While sifting through the contents of Prince’s prised open vault, the archivist rediscovered this lost Kiowa Trail home studio reference tape, comprising nine songs captured in a single session. Prince, alone of on piano, records a fluid medley for the first half of the tape. The two final tracks are recorded on the reel’s Side Two when that the tape ran out, we hear Prince tell the engineer to ‘flip it over’ to continue recording for the two final songs.

This is session tape of one hundreds of other demos which ended up squirrelled away for three decades. Bearing the signs of storage wear, this now preserved material reveals the genesis of a keystone in Prince’s 80’s catalogue: 17 Days, Strange Relationship and Purple Rain. Remember, we are hearing this only now is because of tragedy. The sound quality (surprisingly good considering its less than ideal storage in Prince’s basement) gives it that earthy ‘lost tape’ vibe. The Blair Witch parallels continue since the tone of the overall work is broody and dark. Yet what’s revealing is that this surviving document of what Prince’s creative process sounds like. Piano & A Microphone 1983 is personal, experimental and lays down recently worked tracks for future development. Prince clearly intended never to release its contents in this form, but thank the Estate it is. The raw intimacy is touching – Prince, a piano and a microphone, the very format that inspired the final tour of his life. The year of this recording, 1983, is a significant one, when Prince was on the verge of international stardom. Piano & A Microphone 1983 was singled out by the archivist to mark these two facts, thus cleverly bringing his music catalogue full circle. This first release of original recordings since Prince’s death contains four never before released tracks (demos and likely the only versions he ever recorded): Mary Don’t You Weep, soulful but tantalisingly brief; Wednesday, originally shortlisted for inclusion as track five on Purple Rain, is dark, an almost suicide note and probably pulled for that reason. Cold Coffee & Cocaine is fun, sung in the scratchy vein of Jamie Starr and intended for The Time; the closing track Why The Butterflies is undoubtedly the highlight.

Prince’s playing is wonderfully tight, the standard of a real genius at work. Piano & A Microphone 1983 is a wonderful choice by the Estate to let this music see the light of day, revealing the workings of Prince’s mind that does not simply cash in on his musical legacy. The fact it was locked away all these years, the best duty the Estate could perform Prince is to keep his music played. It will take years to inventory the vault, but now he is gone, cherish and count your blessings this wonderful stockpile, now under careful curation lets Prince live on as we look forward to the many more ‘lost tapes’ to come.

Piano & A Microphone 1983 is rated 4.5 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.