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Sep 21, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Prince

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When Prince passed away in 2016 he left behind a huge vault filled with unreleased material and so we can probably expect new albums from him for years to come. The new album Piano & A Microphone 1983, which came out today on Warner Bros., is culled from a previously unheard home studio cassette recorded in 1983 at Prince’s Kiowa Trail home studio in Chanhassen, MN and just features Prince singing and playing piano. Now a video for the album’s version of “Mary Don’t Weep” has been shared by the Prince Estate. And you can also stream the whole album below.

Salomon Ligthelm directed the video, which tackles gun violence. It opens with the following quote from Prince: “The system is broken. It’s going to take the young people to fix it this time. We need new ideas, new life…” The quote was spoken by Prince at a special Baltimore concert, Rally 4 Peace, in 2015.

Previously the album’s version of “Mary Don’t Weep,” a cover of a 19th century spiritual, was shared. Then we heard the piano demo of “17 Days.” The final version of the song became the B-side to 1985’s “When Doves Cry” single. Then there was the six-minute long “Why the Butterflies,” which is one of the three songs on the album that have never been heard before in any form.

“Mary Don’t Weep” was also featured in the end credits Spike Lee’s movie BlacKkKlansman, which came out last month. Piano & A Microphone 1983 includes an early version of future hit “Purple Rain” and a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You.” The booklet will include new liner written by Prince’s then engineer Don Batts, plus previously unseen candid photos of Prince. The cover art is a backstage photo of Prince taken by frequent collaborator Allen Beaulieu during the 1999 tour.

Prince Estate entertainment adviser Troy Carter had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “This raw, intimate recording, which took place at the start of Prince’s career right before he achieved international stardom, is similar in format to the Piano & A Microphone Tour that he ended his career with in 2016. The Estate is excited to be able to give fans a glimpse of his evolution and show how his career ultimately came full circle with just him and his piano.”

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