Album

Welcome 2 America

Prince

2021 · Rock, Funk / Soul

18 collectors on Gatefold own this

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Welcome 2 America by Prince

Welcome 2 America is a Soul & Funk album by Prince, originally released in 2021. On Gatefold: 18 pressings tracked, owned by 18 collectors.

About

It’s hard to know what to make of the steady stream of releases to flow from Prince’s legendary vaults. On one hand, even a casual fan can marvel at the sheer scope of his output, and how he would regularly cast aside entire albums’ worth of songs that would be career highlights for any other artist. On the other hand, he was a meticulous artist with impossibly exacting standards that these songs didn’t meet for whatever now-unknowable reasons, so what does it mean to listen to them without his blessing? <i>Welcome 2 America</i> does not offer any immediate clues as to its pariah status. Recorded in 2010 with New Power Generation, these are fully realized funk, R&B, and rock songs, often sharp and lyrically prescient—nothing necessarily revelatory or adventurous by the measure of Prince’s own formidable canon, but far from anyone’s idea of detritus. “Yes” is a rowdy rave-up, while Prince pays tribute to fellow Minneapolis lifers with a perhaps unlikely cover of Soul Asylum’s 2006 “Stand Up and B Strong.”

via Apple Music

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Tracklist

  1. 1Welcome 2 America5:23
  2. 2Running Game (Son Of A Slave Master)4:05
  3. 3Born 2 Die5:03
  4. 41000 Light Years From Here5:46
  5. 5Hot Summer3:32
  6. 6Stand Up And B Strong5:18
  7. 7Check The Record3:28
  8. 8Same Page, Different Book4:41
  9. 9When She Comes4:46
  10. 101010 (Rin Tin Tin)4:42
  11. 11Yes2:56
  12. 12One Day We Will All B Free4:41

Sound DNA

  • Soul & Funk
  • Funk
  • warm
  • earnest
  • political

Album notes

Discogs page for these notes (opens in a new tab)

Tentatively planned as a follow-up to 20Ten in conjunction with the Welcome 2 America tour (opens in a new tab) (which ran from December 2010 to May 2011) but abandoned for unknown reasons.
Prince himself published only the songs 'Hot Summer (Germany, Austria, & Switzerland 2021) (opens in a new tab)' (premiered on Minnesota public radio station 's website on June 7th 2010 / Prince’s 52nd birthday) and 'Same Page, Different Book' (streamed as audio over a static video on the 3rd Eye Girl YouTube channel on January 6th 2013).
Ten years after the abandonment of the 'Welcome 2 America' album, the Prince Estate released what’s believed to be the final configuration.
It should be mentioned that different versions of 'When She Comes' and '1000 Light Years From Here' (the last 3:05 minutes of 'Black Muse') are initially released on the final studio album released prior to his death HITNRUN Phase Two.
On April 8th 2021, the first single (Welcome 2 America (2021) (opens in a new tab)) was made available for download as a preview of this release. A physical edition was released simultaneously with the album.
The performance on the Blu-Ray was previously bootlegged on LA Diaries (Europe 2014) (opens in a new tab) (audio only).
The German 'Rolling Stone' magazine issued a cover-mount 7" vinyl single of 'Hot Summer' backed with a live recording of 'The Bird' (opens in a new tab) (taken from the deluxe editions Blu-Ray).

Credits

The people behind it.

Performers

  • Chris ColemanDRUMS, PERCUSSION DRUMS
  • Elisa FiorilloVOCALS PERFORMER , VOCALS VOCALS , LEAD VOCALS
  • John BlackwellDRUMS PERFORMER , DRUMS
  • Liv WarfieldVOCALS PERFORMER , VOCALS VOCALS , BACKING VOCALS
  • Maya McClean
  • Mr. HayesDRUM MACHINE, KEYBOARDS, PERCUSSION, STRINGS DRUMS, DRUM MACHINE, KEYBOARDS, PERCUSSION, STRINGS KEYBOARDS
  • Nandy McClean
  • PrinceDRUM MACHINE, DRUMS, GUITAR, HANDCLAPS , KEYBOARDS, PERCUSSION, PIANO, VOCALS VOCALS, GUITAR VOCALS, GUITAR, BASS, DRUMS, PERCUSSION, KEYBOARDS, DRUM MACHINE
  • Shelby JohnsonVOCALS PERFORMER , VOCALS VOCALS, BACKING VOCALS
  • Tal WilkenfeldBASS GUITAR BASS
  • Cassandra O'NealKEYBOARDS, VOCALS PERFORMER , KEYBOARDS, VOCALS
  • Ida NielsenBASS, VOCALS PERFORMER , BASS, VOCALS
  • LedisiGUEST, VOCALS PERFORMER , GUEST , VOCALS
  • Renato NetoKEYBOARDS PERFORMER , KEYBOARDS
  • The New Power Generation
  • The Twinz

18 collectors on Gatefold own this · 18 pressings tracked on Gatefold

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