Last week three rarely seen Prince music videos received new wide release, delighting millions online. The videos represent the first taste of a weekly album-by-album schedule detailed by the Prince Estate on Nov. 5, so more excitement and inspiration is in store.
<iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tfSA0mS8jEY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
"The Prince Estate in partnership with Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment continue efforts to reunite the artist's music on all digital services, turning attention to unavailable music videos from the 1995–2010 era," is how the estate announced their lineup.
The first three recently added videos are rarities from Prince's 1995 GRAMMY-nominated album The Gold Experience, appearing on Prince's official YouTube channel. In September 1994, preceding the album's release, "Dolphin" was the first-ever music video played when VH1 Europe made its debut. The video for "Endorphinmachine" had been released on a CD-ROM video game as a reward for completing its challenge. "Rock And Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives In Minneapolis)" was a 1997 B-side aired only on VH1 in 1997 — in response to the 1995 "Rock And Roll Is Dead" track released by Lenny Kravitz. Online for only a few days now, each has already garnered more than 16 million views.
The three new tracks join recent video releases from the 1996 Prince album Chaos And Disorder. Nov. 9 will see the addition of four rarities from his later 1996 three-CD set of 36 tracks Emancipation.
This reuniting and consolidation of these Prince treasures is a powerful testimony both to Prince's unique output and range as well as for American popular music history. Now that popular music figures are academic subjects in their own right, enriching the Prince online archive offers opportunities for greater appreciation whether listening, watching or writing an academic thesis on his creative work. Thanks are in order for these artistic gems unearthed from the vault, and their appreciation is only beginning.
Listen: Prince's 'Anthology: 1995-2010' & 22 Other Albums Released Digitally
