Prince Estate Announces Massive Vault-Raiding Reissue for ‘Sign O’ the Times’

The Prince estate has announced a massive, vault-raiding reissue for 1987’s Sign O’ the Times, featuring more than 45 unreleased studio recordings.

The Super Deluxe Edition reissue — available either as a stacked eight-CD or 13-LP set on September 25th  — boasts the remastered LP alongside three discs of unreleased music culled from Prince’s vault; a disc compiling the album’s single mixes, edits, and B sides; a 1987 live gig in Utrecht, the Netherlands; and a bonus concert film from Prince’s New Year’s Eve 1987 show at Paisley Park that featured a cameo by Miles Davis.

Among the highlights from the vault material — much of it was destined for Prince and the Revolution’s unreleased 1986 album Dream Factory — are the 1979 version of “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man,” a take on “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” with horns, “A Place in Heaven” with Prince’s vocals, and “Can I Play With U?” featuring Miles Davis.

The Super Deluxe Edition comes with a 120-page hardcover book containing Prince’s previously unseen handwritten lyrics for many of the songs from the era, unseen images from Prince’s primary photographer at the time, Jeff Katz, and liner notes by Prince’s creative peers and friends, including Dave Chappelle (in conversation with photographer Mathieu Bitton), Lenny Kravitz, and Prince’s longtime engineer Susan Rogers.

The Sign O’ the Times reissue, available for preorder now at Prince’s web store, will be released September 25th in a variety of formats, ranging from a barebones remastered two-LP version of the album on peach-colored vinyl to the massive 13-LP/one-DVD pressing. Additionally, the Prince estate has teamed with Third Man Records for a limited-edition seven-inch-vinyl box set showcasing all the singles from the album as well as a newly created single for the un-vaulted song “Witness 4 the Prosecution.”

Sign O’ the Times Super Deluxe Edition Track list

Remastered Album (CD One)

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

Remastered Album (CD Two)

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

Single Mixes and Edits (CD Three)

1. Sign O’ The Times (seven-inch single edit)
2. La, La, La, He, He, Hee (seven-inch single edit)
3. La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Highly Explosive) (seven-inch single edit)
4. If I Was Your Girlfriend (seven-inch single edit)
5. Shockadelica (“If I Was Your Girlfriend” B side)
6. Shockadelica (12-inch long version)
7. U Got the Look (Long Look) (12-inch edit)
8. Housequake (seven-inch edit)
9. Housequake (7 Minutes MoQuake)
10. I Could Never Take the Place Of Your Man (fade seven-inch edit)
11. Hot Thing (seven-inch single edit)
12. Hot Thing (extended remix)
13. Hot Thing (dub version)

Vault, Part One (CD Four)

All tracks previously unreleased

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 one)
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 (seven-inch mix)
16. Big Tall Wall (version one)
17. Nevaeh Ni Ecalp A
18. In a Large Room With No Light

Vault, Part Two (CD Five)

All tracks previously unreleased

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 two)
14. It Be’s Like That Sometimes

Vault, Part Three (CD Six)

All tracks previously unreleased

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 two)
9. There’s Something I Like About Being Your Fool
10. Big Tall Wall (version two)
11. A Place in Heaven (Lisa vocal)
12. Wonderful Day (12-inch mix)
13. Strange Relationship (1987 Shep Pettibone club mix)

Live in Utrecht (CD Seven and CD Eight)

All tracks previously unreleased

1. Intro/Sign O’ the Times
2. Play in the Sunshine
3. Little Red Corvette
4. Housequake
5. Girls and Boys
6. Slow Love
7. Take the “A” Train/Pacemaker/I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
8. Hot Thing
9. Four (with Sheila E. Drum solo)
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

Live at Paisley Park — December 31st, 1987 (DVD)

All tracks previously unreleased

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)