Prince Estate Drops Remixed, Remastered ‘1999’ From Upcoming Live Album
One of the most iconic songs from one of Prince‘s most legendary tours has been remixed and remastered for your listening pleasure. On Thursday (April 28) the Prince Estate release a preview track from Prince and the Revolution’s historic Purple Rain tour performance at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York on March 30, 1985 in advance of the June 3 drop of the “entirely enhanced and reconstructed” Prince and the Revolution: Live set.
The high-energy version of “1999” finds the band ripping through the iconic party anthem in front of a packed house as Prince — resplendent in a glittery purple duster, ruffled tuxedo shirt and skintight patterned pants — works the stage and climbs the speaker stack for a song-ending solo performed through a cloud of smoke.
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According to a release, Prince and the Revolution: Live will be part of special programming premiering on PBS stations beginning on June 4 and a number of other international outlets around the world; the live performance will be distributed globally by Sony Music Entertainment’s Premium Content Division and be available for digital purchase and rental beginning June 7.
The estate also dropped the teaser for the next season of the Official Prince Podcast on Thursday, previewing “The Story of Prince and the Revolution: Live,” which will debut in full on May 26. Hosted by Minneapolis music journalist Andrea Swensson, the podcast will feature all five members of The Revolution — Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Dr. Fink, BrownMark, and Bobby Z and other personnel from the tour — discussing the Purple Rain film premiere, the launch of the tour and the historic satellite broadcast of the Syracuse show.
The upcoming release of Prince and the Revolution: Live marks the first time the concert will be available on vinyl (as a 3-LP set) and on CD (as a 2-CD/Blu-ray set), with the original video rescanned, restores and color-corrected and the original multitrack audio master reels also remixed and remastered onto Blu-ray video with selectable stereo, 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos sound by Prince’s late-career recording engineer Chris James. The project was remixed from recently discovered audio that had been archived in Prince’s Paisley Park vault for more than 30 years; the set will also be available in a limited-run Collector’s Edition with a variety of extras.
Watch video of the “1999” performance and listen to a preview of the podcast below.
