Hold onto your raspberry berets and get ready to clutch your imaginary purple pearls!
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Prince’s Controversy album, the estate, in tandem with Warner Records, have released a previously unheard demo of “Do Me Baby,” to help commemorate the occasion.
Per Rolling Stone, while the track was released officially on Oct, 14, 1981, the unheard demo was reimagined as a solo record two years prior in 1979. Fans of the late artist can begin streaming the song now and can order it as “a limited-edition cassette and on vinyl,” which will begin shipping out January 2022.
““Do Me, Baby” is best known as the centerpiece of #Controversy, but Prince first recorded a skeletal demo of the song with his best friend @AndreCymone in 1978, and then reimagined it as a solo recording during the April 1979 sessions for his self-titled album,” Prince’s official Twitter account explained in a pair of tweets, adding: “From that 2" multitrack master tape, a cassette rough mix was rendered and shelved. It was recently discovered in Prince’s @PaisleyPark vault, labeled in the artist’s own handwriting. The new replica cassette matches the original source format that was found in the vault.”
They concluded, “This special release of “Do Me, Baby (1979 Version)” has been newly mixed to match the original demo cassette specs by Prince’s engineer @chrisjamespro, and was mastered by Prince’s longtime collaborator @bgmastering.”
This marks the second musical release from the late artist this year. Back in July, Prince’s “lost” album Welcome to America hit streaming services everywhere, making it the first posthumous full-length project from the Purple One since his untimely passing in 2016.