Prince Estate Relauches Reissue Campaign With 'Diamonds and Pearls'

By Jem Aswad

Executive Editor, Music

After a three-year delay while legal matters were sorted out, the Prince estate is relaunching the reissue campaign of the late artist’s sprawling catalog with one of his biggest-selling albums, 1991’s “Diamonds and Pearls.” With singles like “Cream,” “Gett Off” and the title track, the album returned Prince to the top of the charts and was his final blockbuster release.

On October 27, Paisley Park Enterprises, in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, will reissue “Diamonds And Pearls” in a giant 7CD/12-LP set (also available in 2-CD and 1-CD versions), with 47 previously unreleased tracks, as well as a previously unreleased two hours of video concert performances from Prince’s much-vaunted vault. Following the massive deluxe editions of “1999” and “Sign O’ the Times,” the new collection represents the third deep dive into Prince’s vault. It includes a total of 75 audio tracks across 7x CDs and 12x 180g vinyl records. The set offers a newly remastered version of the album, plus 15 remixes and B-sides from the era, including the never commercially released “Gett Off (Damn Near 10 Min.)” mix.

The complete track listing appears below.

The Super Deluxe Edition also features 33 previously unreleased studio tracks from Prince’s vault, ranging from alternate versions of album tracks to numbers Prince gave away to other artists, and songs recorded while on the road in 1990. The set also includes a full concert recorded at Prince’s Minneapolis club, Glam Slam, on January 11, 1992. The previously unreleased live concert performance has been mixed from the 24 track master and rounds out the audio content of the 7CD and 12LP sets. This same previously unreleased concert is also presented in 2K video on the Blu-ray disc that accompanies both Super Deluxe Edition formats.

The 120-page hardback book which accompanies the SDE set features unseen photos by Randee St. Nicholas, and essays by: author & broadcaster Andrea Swensson; Archivist and Senior Researcher for the Prince Estate Duane Tudahl; British music critic and Prince expert Jason Draper; De Angela L. Duff, an Industry Professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Brooklyn; Social Media Personality KaNisa Williams; and an introduction from Public Enemy founder, Chuck D.

As a companion collector piece, fans have the opportunity to order a numbered 7” singles boxed set, strictly limited to 1,991 units. Containing remastered audio for six official singles released in 1991 and 1992, the set contains a brand new 7” single comprising two previously unreleased tracks, “Alice Through The Looking Glass” and “Horny Pony (Version 2).”