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Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition - album by Prince, Sony Legacy (2021)

Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition Prince • Sony Legacy • 2021
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2021

2021
Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition

2021

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Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition

Sony Legacy

album

Do you think today’s music will last?

Welcome 2 America highlights a prime example of Prince losing interest in one project and moving to the next. This full studio album was recorded in March 2010 at Paisley Park Studios and planned for release sometime in 2011 to accompany his 2010/11 tour also named Welcome 2 America. Prince pressed ahead with the tour but for reasons known only to him decided not to pursue the album. With two studio albums completed in early 2010, Prince opted to release the other project 20TEN instead. Welcome 2 America was locked away in the vault and became known as the ‘lost’ Prince album. Prince afterwards took an uncharacteristically long break from recording, declaring himself in “recording rehab” and not broadly returning to the studio until 2013 upon forming 3RDEYEGIRL.

To create the album’s raw sound, Welcome 2 America was recorded live in the studio as a trio. None of the band had worked together before. Australian 24-year-old Tal Wilkenfeld was hired to play bass. While working on 20TEN, watching a Jeff Beck concert on Youtube the bass player Wilkenfeld had jumped to Prince’s attention. He tasked Wilkenfeld to source a drummer she could work with, and Chris Coleman, drummer for New Kids On The Block came to mind and was auditioned and subsequently hired. With Prince taking lead vocals, guitar and keyboards this scratch band laid down the tracks at Paisley Park between 10th and 19 March 2010. The upcoming tour’s backing singers Liv Warfield, Elisa Forillo and Shelby J lend their vocals to the tracks too. Unlike his usual albums, with Welcome 2 America Prince shares the mic generously. His intention behind this and putting together the new band was to thrash out a new sound. None of the recordings were edited afterwards. Once those sessions were complete, Prince handed the masters to Morris Hayes, his longest serving band member, to add the final touches. Hayes, who also plays keyboards in the title track, was delegated co-production duties and is credited for his involvement to sequence the full album. Prince was delighted with the direction and sound the album took: like the title track, the album’s central narrative is a social commentary on present day America. But with timing against them, the 20Ten summer tour about to start Europe, the Welcome 2 America album was shelved, much to the dismay of those who worked on it.

The song 1000 Light Years From Here is the original version as intended for the album, although a later rerecorded version was mixed into the end of Black Muse in 2015 – the final album Prince released during his lifetime HITNRUN Phase Two. A reworked version of the track When She Comes was also included into the configuration of that 2015 album, but in Welcome 2 America features piano in place of the accordion.

Timing is everything

The eventual issuing of Welcome 2 America is significant in that it marks Prince’s first previously unreleased studio record with original material to receive an official release since his death in April 2016, unlike the two preceding posthumous albums Piano & A Microphone 1983 and Originals he created for demo purposes. Welcome 2 America was released on 30 July 2021 in partnership with The Prince Estate and Sony Music Entertainment’s imprint Legacy Recordings, issued in two editions: standard (the main 12-track album) and Deluxe (the studio album both as CD and double vinyl LP formats packaged together with a Blu-ray disc and 32-page 12″ book).

The companion Blu-ray features a full concert performed on 28 April 2011 at “the Fabulous Forum” in Inglewood, California as part of the Welcome 2 America Tour, on what was the fifth night of his residency at the Forum billed as the 21 Nite Stand. The show includes an interpolation of Lovergirl, the number 4 hit by Teena Marie, who was Prince’s first ever opening act, supporting him on Dirty Mind Tour in 1980. Prince inserted the song into 17 Days in tribute to her, she died on 26 December 2010 aged 54.

The accompanying booklet features photos captured by Mike Ruiz, Kevin Mazur, Brian Ach, Randee St Nicholas and Prince himself – a keen amateur photographer. The Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition includes an embossed vellum envelope holding reproductions of ephemera (tickets, poster and VIP passes) from that 2010/11 tour. An accompanying 7″ vinyl single was issued to support the release; a live medley of Welcome 2 America and Dreamer from a concert performed on 14 May 2011, captured at The Forum during the same tour.

Welcome 2 America received critical and commercial success both in the UK and US. Entering the charts at number 4 in the US Billboard 200, making it Prince’s best performing release since 2009’s LotusFlow3r. In the UK, Welcome 2 America peaked at number 5, his highest charting album there since 2004’s Musicology. In its end of year review, New York Times ranked the album’s title track their top song of 2021, amazed that the track’s political commentary was as prescient in 2021 eleven years after it was written.

Cover story

Prince | Welcome 2 America
Photography by Mike Ruiz

The cover features a shot by New York photographer Mike Ruiz, picturing Prince holding a Cleo “bow” bass guitar made of wenge wood, built at the workshop of Luthier Jerry Auerswald in Germany. This photograph was used to promote the Welcome 2 America Tour and although is the same photo intended for the original album, the 2010 version of the image included the New York City skyline as the backdrop depicting America.

Live at The Forum

Vocals/Guitar
Prince
Drums
John Blackwell
Keyboards
Morris Hayes
Renato Neto
Cassandra O’Neal
Bass Guitar
Ida Nielsen
Backing vocals
Shelby Johnson
Elisa Dease
Liv Warfield
Dance
Nandy McClean “Twinz”
Maya McClean “Twinz”

Performers

Vocals / all Instr
Prince
Bass
Tal Wilkenfeld
Drums
Chris Coleman
John Blackwell 1000 Light Years From Here
Keyboards
Morris Hayes
Backing Vox
Shelby Johnson
Elisa Dease
Liv Warfield

Data

Producers
Prince and Morris Hayes (as Mr Hayes)
Label
NPG Records
Distribution
Sony Legacy
Cover/Design
Mike Ruiz, Trevor Guy and Mathieu Bitton
Released
5 years ago on 30 July 2021
Running Time
54:21
US Chart Peak
4
US R&B Peak
2
UK Chart Peak
5
Prince Album
#36
Orig. Formats

Tracklist

  1. Welcome 2 America [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (5:23)
  2. Running Game (Son Of A Slave Master) [lead Shelby J, feat. Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (4:05)
  3. Born 2 Die [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (5:03)
  4. 1000 Light Years From Here [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (5:46)
  5. Hot Summer [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (3:32)
  6. Stand Up And B Strong [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (5:18) 1
  7. Check The Record [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (3:28)
  8. Same Page Different Book [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (4:41)
  9. When She Comes (4:46)
  10. 1010 (Rin Tin Tin) [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (4:42)
  11. Yes [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (2:56)
  12. One Day We Will All B Free [feat. Shelby J and Elisa Dease] (4:41)
Running Time
54 min, 21 sec

Blu-ray: Live at The Forum - 28 April 2011

  1. Intro (3:45)
  2. Joy In Repetition (10:25)
  3. Brown Skin [sung by Shelby J] (5:49) 2
  4. 17 Days / Lovergirl (8:46) 12
  5. Shhh (7:12)
  6. Controversy (4:02)
  7. Theme From “Which Way Is Up” (1:54) 3
  8. What Have You Done For Me Lately (2:40) 4
  9. Partyman / It's Alright [feat. Ledisi] (6:27) 5
  10. Make You Feel My Love (4:08) 6
  11. Misty Blue (4:57) 7
  12. Let’s Go Crazy (3:20)
  13. Delirious (4:16)
  14. 1999 (3:54)
  15. Little Red Corvette (7:55)
  16. Purple Rain (15:38)
  17. The Bird (4:02)
  18. Jungle Love (3:46)
  19. A Love Bizarre (5:20)
  20. Kiss (6:29)
  21. Play That Funky Music (4:53) 8
  22. Inglewood Swinging (6:06) 9
  23. Fantastic Voyage (2:28) 10
  24. More Than This (4:58) 11
Running Time
120 minutes

Released as a single

1 Written by Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum).
2 Written by Mark Batson, Shannon Sanders and India.Arie.
3 Written by Norman Whitfield (Stargard).
4 Written by Janet Jackson, Scott McCallum and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.
5 It's Alright written by Larry Graham.
6 Written by Bob Dylan.
7 Written by Bob Montgomery.
8 Written by Robert Parissi (Wild Cherry).
9 Written by Kool & the Gang as Hollywood Swinging.
10 Written by Lakeside.
11 Written by Bryan Ferry (Roxy Music).
12 Lovergirl written by Teena Marie.

Singles from Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition

Born 2 Die, single from Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition, NPG Records (2021)

Born 2 Die

NPG Records

Released
3 June 2021
Distribution
Sony Legacy
US Chart Peak
Did not chart
UK Chart Peak
Did not chart
Cover/Art
Randee St. Nicholas
Format
  1. Born 2 Die [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (5:03)
Welcome 2 America, single from Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition, NPG Records (2021)

Welcome 2 America

NPG Records

Released
30 July 2021
Distribution
Sony Legacy
US Chart Peak
Did not chart
UK Chart Peak
Did not chart
Cover/Art
Mike Ruiz
Formats
  1. Welcome 2 America [feat. Shelby J, Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield] (5:24)
  2. Dreamer / Welcome 2 America [Live, 14 May 2011] (6:12)

Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition album review

Your reviewer is not subscribed to the ‘it is a betrayal to release anything Prince chose not to’ school of thinking. If he was that bothered there would have been a Will and it containing a destruction clause. His vaulted music was of such quality he maintained that his best music was kept out of the hands of the record companies he so distrusted, as if happier the world be deprived of it. The truth be told, he simply worked at a pace the traditional music machine could not keep up and turn a profit, this plus working on also 20TEN Prince simply canned the project.

The therefore much welcomed release of Welcome 2 America (due in 2020 but bumped to 2021 due to manufacturing delays resulting from the coronavirus pandemic) is even an oddity in Prince lore. That this is a full vaulted original studio album opposed to a collection of demos and outtakes for undefined projects released over recent posthumous releases. It does have its sound issues, owing to the master of the release sourced from the studio sequenced CD-R that the archivist discovered. This is not the nostalgic graininess of Piano & A Microphone 1983 but a distracting click intruding in the album’s latter tracks, mystifyingly this is left uncleansed in what is a pricy single disc Deluxe Edition. For historical value Welcome 2 America imparts a curious insight into Prince’s mind in 2010. Why? Two albums were produced that year: Welcome 2 America (recorded over March and April 2010) and 20TEN (finished by February 2010). One was shelved and the other distributed as a free covermount on a British tabloid newspaper. Your reviewer rated 20TEN 3 out of 5 – a unremarkable release by Prince standards. Then 2010 he also slid out a track named Purple And Gold and gave us the year’s low point – a fight song for the Minnesota Vikings (it jinxed them to defeat) widely considered his worst and those who think that have a creditably strong case. As a live performer, Prince was mesmerising, but in the studio it is fair to say 2010 was a rocky moment. Coupled with his taste for unconventional methods of distribution at the time (a run of two covermount albums plus a Target exclusive), was all this perhaps cause enough to derail Prince’s confidence with Welcome 2 America? So he pulled the album, which was stocked full of political commentary sadly still as saliant in 2021 as was in 2010. A decade on, the title track is bizarrely on subject and so well produced you could be easily convinced the record was cut in 2021 and that he was still with us, making music.

Furthermore, issued as a Deluxe Edition, albeit gorgeously and generously packaged, the two-disc Welcome 2 America (CD plus Blu-Ray) arrived at the exact $150 price point as 2020’s nine-disc barnstormer Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition. This immediately put W2A to the disadvantage, pitching it against what is arguably the best Prince release ever, setting expectations sky high that a 12-track album would be equally pleasing to fans. Welcome 2 America delivers plenty of highlights. The state of the music industry returns to Prince’s mind with Running Game (Son Of A Slave Master), although more soulfully than you’ll find on Chaos And Disorder. The album delivers its best punches with Check The Record – if you are wondering where you’ve heard it before think of a fusion of Cybersingle and Dreamer – and 1010 (Rin Tin Tin).

With all so many worthy tracks, let’s also throw in the Curtis Mayfield inspired Born 2 Die, the listener must ponder Prince’s judgement to release 20TEN while the fresher Welcome 2 America was put out to grass. One was suited to a newspaper mount and the other deserving of a worldwide commercial release. No one shall ever know Prince’s mind but as the closing track poignantly predicts One Day We Will All B Free. Prince sought artistic freedom and in some way Welcome 2 America is the realisation of that. Surely what he would have wanted. Its delayed release adds extra potency in result.

Welcome 2 America Deluxe Edition is rated 4 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.

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