24 August 2023
Prince’s 13th album “Diamonds and Pearls” is his latest project to receive the super deluxe treatment with a box set that boasts 47 previously unreleased songs and more than two hours of previously unseen concert video.
Due out Oct. 27, the newly remastered “Diamonds and Pearls” will be available in three formats: the super deluxe edition with 12 LPs and Blu-ray ($349.98) or 7 CDs and Blu-ray ($159.98); a deluxe edition with a bonus disc of remixes on vinyl ($79.98) and CD ($16.98); and standard version on vinyl ($39.98) and CD ($12.98).
Thursday, the Prince estate released two tracks from the project to streaming services, the previously unreleased funk number “Alice Through The Looking Glass” and a longer, early version of the album cut “Insatiable,” which features lyrics and instrumentation that were removed from the final version.
Released in October 1991, “Diamonds and Pearls” features Prince’s then-new backing band New Power Generation, who share the credit with him on the cover. Fellow Minnesotans made up the bulk of this first incarnation of the group, including bassist Sonny Thompson, keyboardist Tommy Barbarella and powerhouse drummer Michael Bland, who went on to work with everyone from Paul Westerberg to Nick Jonas to Soul Asylum.
“Diamonds and Pearls” served as Prince’s proper introduction to the ’90s, a wild time when the Purple One publicly battled with his record label, changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and (in 2001) became a Jehovah’s Witness. He was still very much in the news — that September he performed the sexually charged lead single “Gett Off” at the MTV Video Music Awards clad in a yellow lace suit with two oval-shaped cutouts in the trousers that seemingly revealed Prince’s bare butt cheeks, a fashion statement that earned him global headlines.
But Prince’s musical output was starting to get shaky as he attempted, with mixed success, to incorporate hip-hop into his blend of funk, rock, pop and gospel. Indeed, one can look at “Diamonds and Pearls” as the beginning of the end of Prince’s stranglehold on the Top 40 charts. The album did sell well, and it stands as his biggest record in the U.K. It produced four hits in the aforementioned “Gett Off,” “Cream,” “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night” and the title track, which hit No. 3. But after that, he landed in the Top 10 just two more times, with 1992’s “7” and 1994’s “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.”
The super deluxe bonus edition includes 15 remixes and b-sides from the era, including the rare “Damn Near 10 Min.” mix of “Gett Off.” It also features 33 songs from his vault, including alternate versions of album tracks, numbers he gave away to other artists and other tracks he recorded while on the road in 1990.
The video content is likely to be a key draw for many fans. It includes a 1992 concert from Prince’s Glam Slam club that served to preview the “Diamonds and Pearls” tour. (Prince had longtime Star Tribune music critic Jon Bream physically removed from the show.) There’s also footage from both the soundcheck and the actual concert when Prince and the NPG performed at the Special Olympics at the Metrodome in July 1991, as well as the long out-of-print “Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection” originally released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1992.
“Diamonds and Pearls” is the fourth Prince album to receive an expanded reissue, following “Purple Rain,” “1999” and “Sign O’ the Times.”
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