Prince’s breakthrough into the mainstream will get a new reassessment this year when 1999, the blockbuster 1982 album that contained the hits “1999” and “Little Red Corvette,” comes out as a souped-up, remastered reissue on November 29th. The massive super-deluxe edition of the reissue contains five CDs and a DVD (or 10 LPs and a DVD) with 35 previously unreleased audio tracks and a full concert film that was previously unofficially circulated. The singer’s estate is also issuing pared-down versions of the reissue, including a two-CD (or four-LP) “Deluxe Edition” and a single-CD (or two-LP) basic edition.
In addition to featuring all of the music Prince put out in 1982, the super deluxe edition contains material he recorded between November 1981 and January 1983. There’s also a live album that features a late-night concert Prince performed (after an earlier show that same day) in Detroit on November 30th, 1982, and the concert film features footage from a gig at the Houston Summit on December 29th, 1982.
The accompanying book features Prince’s handwritten lyrics for “Little Red Corvette” and other songs from that period, as well as rare photos by Allen Beaulieu and images of the analog reels the Purple One recorded on. The Super Deluxe edition also contains liner notes by Rolling Stone’s David Fricke, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, radio host Andrea Swensson, and Prince scholar Duane Tudahl.
The reissue comes on the heels of Originals, an album featuring Prince’s versions of songs that other artists ended up recording, like the Bangles’ “Manic Monday.” “He once told me that if you ever want to write a hit song, just act as if you’re writing for five-year-olds,” singer Jill Jones, who is featured on the song “1999,” said in a Rolling Stone article about Originals. “I asked him if he really could write hits if he wanted to, and he said, ‘Yeah, I just get bored with that.’”
1999 Super Deluxe Edition Track List
CD One / LPs One and Two: Remastered Album
1. “1999”
2. “Little Red Corvette”
3. “Delirious”
4. “Let’s Pretend We’re Married”
5. “D.M.S.R.”
6. “Automatic”
7. “Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)”
8. “Free”
9. “Lady Cab Driver”
10. “All the Critics Love U in New York”
11. “International Lover”