Prince’s Classic ‘Sign O’ the Times’ Deluxe Reissue Coming in September, With 63 Bonus Tracks

Jem Aswad
·9 min read

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While it was not his most commercially successful album, Prince’s 1987 double-set “Sign O’ the Times” is widely recognized as the most diverse, creative and far-reaching outing of his career. The 16-track, 90-minute album represents a distillation of countless hours of songs the artist recorded during one of the most fruitful and prolific eras of his career — the album featured tracks from no less than three proposed albums that preceded it: “Dream Factory,” his final set of recordings with the Revolution; “Camille,” a short solo album by Prince’s autotuned alter ego; and “Crystal Ball,” a triple-album version that was eventually condensed into “Sign O’ the Times.”

While several albums’ worth of songs from this era have long circulated on B-sides, bootlegs or compilations, they’ve never been served up in a single set — but they will on Sept. 25, when Prince’s estate and Warner Records will release a sprawling reissue of the album, the expanded version of which features 63 bonus track – yes, 63 — and two complete concerts, including his legendary New Year’s Eve set with Miles Davis as 1987 became 1988.

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A preview track — a version of the unreleased song “Witness (for the Prosecution)” — is available on streaming services now.

Full details are below; the album follows deluxe reissues of Prince’s classic albums “Purple Rain” and “1999.”

The reissue suite will be comprised of the following formats:

  • Super Deluxe Edition(8CD+DVD / 13LP+DVD / audio-only download and streaming)

  • Deluxe Edition(3CD / 4LP 180g vinyl / download and streaming)

  • Remastered album(2CD / 2LP 180g peach vinyl / download and streaming)

Following the successful release of the 1999 Super Deluxe Edition in the fall of 2019, the Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition represents the deepest dive to date into Prince’s vault, and includes a total of 92 audio tracks across eight CDs and 13 180g vinyl records.

The Super Deluxe Edition brings fans all the audio material that Prince officially released in 1987, as well as 45 previously unissued studio songs recorded between May 1979 and July 1987, and a complete live audio performance from the June 20, 1987 stop on the Sign O’ The Times Tour at Stadium Galgenwaard in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

In addition, both CD and vinyl sets also boast a brand-new DVD containing the complete, previously unreleased New Year’s Eve benefit concert at Paisley Park on December 31, 1987, which was Prince’s final performance of the Sign O’ The Times Tour stage show and his only on-stage collaboration with jazz legend Miles Davis.

The Super Deluxe Edition set also features a 120-page hardcover book containing Prince’s handwritten lyrics for many of the songs from the era, including the hits “U Got The Look,” “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man,” and “Hot Thing,” images from the era taken by Prince’s primary photographer in the mid-1980s to early 90s, Jeff Katz, plus images of archive assets including original analog tape reels and studio tracking sheets.

The Super Deluxe Edition book is completed with brand-new liner notes by Prince’s creative peers and friends Dave Chappelle (in conversation with photographer Mathieu Bitton) and Lenny Kravitz; Prince’s longtime engineer Susan Rogers; Daphne A. Brooks, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of African American Studies, American Studies and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Yale University; Minneapolis radio host and author Andrea Swensson, host of the Official Prince Podcast; and Prince scholar Duane Tudahl.

As a companion collector piece, fans have the opportunity to order a numbered 7” singles boxed set, strictly limited to 1,987 units, and manufactured by Third Man Pressing in Detroit. Containing remastered audio for all four official 7” singles released in 1987, as well as the two official Warner Records promo singles, the set contains a brand new 7” single comprising two versions of the previously unreleased track “Witness 4 The Prosecution”. The set is available to order now, exclusively via the official Prince Store and Third Man Records Store, and is expected to ship on or before August 14.

 

PRINCE – SIGN O’ THE TIMES

REMASTERED AND EXPANDED EDITION

FORMAT & TRACKLISTINGS

SUPER DELUXE EDITION

(8CD+DVD / 13LP+DVD / Digital *)

CD1 / LP1: Remastered Album (Disc 1)

1 Sign O’ The Times

2 Play In The Sunshine

3 Housequake

4 The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker

5 It

6 Starfish And Coffee

7 Slow Love

8 Hot Thing

9 Forever In My Life

 

CD2 / LP2: Remastered Album (Disc 2)

 

1 U Got The Look

2 If I Was Your Girlfriend

3 Strange Relationship

4 I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

5 The Cross

6 It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night

7 Adore

 

CD3 / LP3&4: Single Mixes & Edits

1 Sign O’ The Times (7” single edit)

2 La, La, La, He, He, Hee (7” single edit)

3 La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Highly Explosive) (7” single edit)

4 If I Was Your Girlfriend (7” single edit)

5 Shockadelica (“If I Was Your Girlfriend” B-side)

6 Shockadelica (12” long version)

7 U Got The Look (Long Look) (12” edit)

8 Housequake (7” edit)

9 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

1 I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (1979 version)

2 Teacher, Teacher (1985 version)

3 All My Dreams

4 Can I Play With U? (featuring Miles Davis)

5 Wonderful Day (original version)

6 Strange Relationship (original version)

7 Visions

8 The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (with horns)

9 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

1 Train

2 It Ain’t Over ‘Til The Fat Lady Sings

3 Eggplant (Prince vocal)

4 Everybody Want What They Don’t Got

5 Blanche

6 Soul Psychodelicide

7 The Ball

8 Adonis And Bathsheba

9 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

1 Emotional Pump

2 Rebirth Of The Flesh (with original outro)

3 Cosmic Day

4 Walkin’ In Glory

5 Wally

6 I Need A Man

7 Promise To Be True

8 Jealous Girl (version 2)

9 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

1 Intro/Sign O’ The Times

2 Play In The Sunshine

3 Little Red Corvette

4 Housequake

5 Girls & Boys

6 Slow Love

7 Take The “A” Train/Pacemaker/I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

8 Hot Thing

9 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

1 Sign O’ The Times

2 Play In The Sunshine

3 Little Red Corvette

4 Erotic City

5 Housequake

6 Slow Love

7 Do Me, Baby

8 Adore

9 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 (featuring Miles Davis)

All tracks previously unreleased

 

* N.B. video content is exclusive to the physical DVD and will not appear on digital download or streaming versions of the Super Deluxe Edition set.

 

DELUXE EDITION

(3CD / 180g 4LP / Digital)

 

CD1 / LP1: Remastered Album (Disc 1)

1 Sign O’ The Times

2 Play In The Sunshine

3 Housequake

4 The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker

5 It

6 Starfish And Coffee

7 Slow Love

8 Hot Thing

9 Forever In My Life

 

CD2 / LP2: Remastered Album (Disc 2)

1 U Got The Look

2 If I Was Your Girlfriend

3 Strange Relationship

4 I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

5 The Cross

6 It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night

7 Adore

 

CD3 / LP3&4: Single Mixes & Edits

1 Sign O’ The Times (7” single edit)

2 La, La, La, He, He, Hee (7” single edit)

3 La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Highly Explosive) (7” single edit)

4 If I Was Your Girlfriend (7” single edit)

5 Shockadelica (“If I Was Your Girlfriend” B-side)

6 Shockadelica (12” long version)

7 U Got The Look (Long Look) (12” edit)

8 Housequake (7” edit)

9 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)

 

REMASTERED ALBUM

(2CD / 180g 2LP / Digital)

CD1 / LP1: Remastered Album (Disc 1)

1 Sign O’ The Times

2 Play In The Sunshine

3 Housequake

4 The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker

5 It

6 Starfish And Coffee

7 Slow Love

8 Hot Thing

9 Forever In My Life

 

CD2 / LP2: Remastered Album (Disc 2)

1 U Got The Look

2 If I Was Your Girlfriend

3 Strange Relationship

4 I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

5 The Cross

6 It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night

7 Adore

 

PRINCE – SIGN O’ THE TIMES

LIMITED EDITION 7” VINYL SINGLES BOXED SET

1A Sign “O” The Times (Edit)

1B La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Edit)

 

2A If I Was Your Girlfriend (Edit)

2B Shockadelica

 

3A U Got The Look

3B Housequake (Edit)

 

4A I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Fade)

4B Hot Thing (Edit)

 

5A Hot Thing (Edit)

5B Hot Thing (Edit)

 

6A The Cross

6B Adore

 

7A Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 1)

7B Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 2)

 

Tracks 7A and 7B previously unreleased

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