Prince Estate strive to build bridges in wake of Calabama Gate

The release of Timeless on 28 August 2026 was hoped to be a new dawn: That Prince releases would flow again following the lengthy pause of meaningful releases which ensued when The Prince Estate changed hands after resolution of the star’s probate in July 2022.

It’s a wide open secret that, due to a myriad of reasons including the derisory Purple Rain 40th anniversary ‘splatter vinyl’ offering, the shelving of Love Symbol Super Deluxe, the false start of the Broadway musical, and of course that Netflix documentary that went south, laid to rest the successful release pattern of the Estate’s previous incarnation. With Parade likewise marking its 40th anniversary, 2026 was supposed to be a clean slate.

Bearing in mind the vault amasses some 8,000 recordings (the digitisation of those being yet another project that’s hit the buffers) the release of Timeless was overshadowed by controversy from the outset; from its cover design to its all to short tracklist, but then the fandom was blissfully unaware of a red line that was crossed – rumours of meddling. The Estate discovered the hard way the sacrilege of tampering with Prince’s vaulted music, when shortly after the release of Timeless concerns mounted over the Estate’s judgement to embellish the track Calabama. To cut a long story short, most of us failed to foresee the looming controversy until the album was released; being simply grateful to play new the material freed from the vault after so long.

Admissions online from bandmates involved in recently recorded overdubs on Calabama sparked crisis at Purple HQ, revealing that the Estate had commissioned those artists to modify the song for the Timeless collection. Was the original incomplete, or the master tape in such poor quality that this decision was justified? Neither, as it turned out. Frustration boiled over into outright anger that Prince’s recordings had indeed been modified when the Estate’s finally confirmed it altered the track in the intention to widen the album’s appeal to a younger audience. As it turned out, Timeless made little impression in the US chart peaking at number 59, and at 62 in the UK.

There’s more explaining the controversy on this dedicated Timeless page; however, to cool the temperature, on 9 October the Estate dropped an EP containing the original cut: Calabama 2003 and Prince And The Band, two workings of the track Prince derived from Calabama into standalone songs in 2006. Offered in their original, and so labelled “raw” states, injury deepened with the release of the EP because all three original versions proved superior to the 2026 reworking. Yet in a bright side to this saga, in that is a sign the Estate has listened to concerns particularly regarding transparency they have also announced this week the release for Record Store Day on 27 November (Black Friday), 3121 Live In Las Vegas a recording of a show Prince performed as part of his residency at the Rio Hotel & Casino on 20 January 2006. It is slated to be part of a bigger release landing in 2027 to commemorate twenty years since the release of 3121. The RSD edition is being offered on 3×LP as well as 2×CD, limited to 9,400 units on crystal blue curaçao vinyl and 2,700 CDs. The packaging is designed by Sam Jennings.

Parade remains rumoured for a Super Deluxe release due to arrive sometime in the first half of 2027 still in time to mark the fortieth ‘year of’ the album and movie.

3121 Live In Las Vegas

1. 3121
2. Girls & Boys
3. Satisfied
4. Down By The Riverside
5. Purple Rain
6. Lolita
7. Black Sweat
8. Kiss
9. Shhh
10. Musicology / Prince And The Band
11. Pass The Peas
12. I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)
13. Love Changes
14. Somewhere Over The Rainbow / Nine Million Bicycles [Medley]
15. If I Was Your Girlfriend
16. Pink Cashmere
17. Cream
18. U Got the Look
19. Crazy
20. Get On the Boat
21. Play That Funky Music