Rare and unreleased Prince vault tracks coming on new compilation ‘Timeless’

An album of rare and unreleased tracks from the Prince vault has been announced – check out the new single ‘Stone’ below.

‘Timeless’ will be made up of 10 songs from across the iconic musician’s four-decade career, all carefully curated by the Prince estate and never before released. The record will be released on August 28 via Legacy Recordings and you can pre-order/pre-save it here.

Released in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of Prince’s death from an accidental fentanyl overdose at the age of 57, it includes recordings created between 1977 and 2016, and it includes ‘With This Tear’, the song shared in April on the exact anniversary of his passing.

Now, the estate have released a second song from ‘Timeless’ in the form of ‘Stone’, recorded in spring 1995 and written by Sandra St. Victor, Tom Hammer and Jules Van Even. A demonstration of the classic Prince tight funk sound, it shows off the Purple One’s falsetto vocals over an infectious chorus. Listen here:

‘Timeless’ will be released on streaming platforms as well as multiple physical formats, including on purple marble vinyl, black vinyl and CD.

The announcement comes in the middle of ‘Prince Celebration Week’, which was announced by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and runs from June 1 to 7. The city’s skyline will be illuminated in purple on Saturday (June 6), while there are listening sessions, archival presentations and other events happening all week at Paisley Park and downtown Minneapolis.

Prince – ‘Timeless’ tracklist: 

1. ‘I Am You’ (1977) 
2. ‘Tick Tick Bang’ (1981) 
3. ‘Heaven’ (1985) 
4. ‘I Wonder’ (1989) 
5. ‘With This Tear’ (1991) 
6. ‘Stone’ (1995) 
7. ‘Calabama’ (2003) 
8. ‘The Guilty Ones’ (2007) 
9. ‘Bestest Friend’ (2012) 
10. ‘How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore? (Live)’ (2016) 

Earlier this year, Prince’s estate refused to allow his music to be used in the new Melania documentary. Producer Marc Beckman explained that a “lawyer that manages the estate” had got in touch, saying: “Prince would never want his song associated with Donald Trump.”

You can revisit NME‘s rundown of the best Prince songs ever here.