The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale Prince album

Warner Bros. Records

album

Originally intended 4 private use only.

The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale is the first album credited again to ‘Prince‘ since adopting the unpronounceable Prince Love Symbol as his name on his thirty-fifth birthday, on 7 June 1993. The album was also Prince’s final release under the auspices of Warner Bros Records to also include previously unreleased material – albeit outtakes compiled from a range of abandoned projects created between 1985 and 1996. In stark contrast of the listening party he hosted at Warner’s offices in 1985 for Around The World In A Day, Prince delivered Warner the master tape for The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale under protest on 26 April 1996. Considering the wealth of Prince’s vault, the compilation contained just ten tracks, there bare minimum to fulfil his obligation in submitting the sixth and therefore final album to complete the delivery of the 31 August 1992 contract. Prince was not at all happy to release this music from the vault feeling it was not representative where he was musically in 1996. The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale does showcase the strength and depth of Prince’s songcraft.

Because Prince had three other albums released in 1996 – Warner’s Girl 6 and Chaos And Disorder and EMI’s Emancipation, fearing market saturation Warner would postpone the release of The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale until 24 August 1999. Prince harboured no desire to aid Warner in promotion of The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale since his independent release of Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic was scheduled with Arista Records that autumn and his interest lay with that record. Prince did make concession to allow The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale to be marketed under his birth name due to the fact all songs on it (with the exception 1996’s Sarah) were recorded prior to his 1993 name change to Prince Love Symbol. Sales suffered due to lack of singles and concerted promotion, The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale peaked at 85 in the US and at number 47 in the UK. It shared the same 24 August 1999 date of issue as Prince’s counter release, the home video Beautiful Strange promoting Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.

Recording

Four of the ten tracks from Prince wrote for the soundtrack to the James L. Brooks 1994 movie I’ll Do Anything starring Nick Nolte, receive their release debut in The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale: The Rest Of My Life and There Is Lonely recorded at Platinum Studios in Melbourne in 1992 during the Diamonds And Pearls Tour; She Spoke 2 Me and My Little Pill were laid down at Paisley Park in 1991 and 1992. Empty Room was also a song Prince re-recorded for the project. He and all the soundtrack’s other contributing artists including Sinead O’Connor, withdrew their material from the soundtrack following negative feedback from preview screenings.

5 Women is Prince’s original version of the track recorded at Warner Pioneer Studios in Tokyo 1990 during Nude Tour, in 1991 he gave Joe Cocker the track to rerecord and was retitled Five Women for his album Night Calls. The title track is the oldest on the compilation and is the only one originating from the 1980s – recorded at Sunset Sound on 20 April 1985 and was intended for inclusion on Parade. It’s About That Walk was recorded at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris in 1993 while on the road for Act II Tour.

The remaining songs were recorded at Paisley Park Studios: Extraordinary and When The Lights Go Down laid down in 1992 during the studio sessions with the full NPG for their Love Symbol Album; Prince intending to use Extraordinary for Rosie Gaines‘ solo project. The compilation’s youngest track Sarah is an outtake from the 1996 studio sessions for Emancipation – Prince handing Warner the album’s master tapes that year.

Cover story

The image chosen for the album’s cover is one of 12 shots by Claude Gassian who was following Prince on the European leg of Act II Tour, when some of the tracks were recorded. The photo was captured at 4am on 5 September 1993 just outside Prince’s dressing room following an aftershow performance at the Le Mirano theatre, Brussels. Prince is pictured disinterested sat on a chair to depict his sentiment toward the release of this album. The messy interior’s background is masked with digital artwork created by Steve Parke – the original setting remains visible in the picture above.

2022 and 2024 reissues

Following the passing of Warner’s previous distribution rights of this and eleven other of Prince’s albums over to Sony Entertainment Group on 1 January 2021, The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale was reissued on CD under Sony’s imprint label Legacy Recordings on 4 February 2022, marking the welcome republication of one of Prince’s Warner era’s hardest to obtain releases. The vinyl release followed on 23 February 2024 and was the album’s first publication in that format.

Performers

Vocals / all Instr

Prince

Drums

Michael Bland ^{The Rest Of My Life, It’s About That Walk, 5 Women, She Spoke 2 Me, 5 Women, There Is Lonely, Sarah and Extrordinary}

Keyboards

Tommy Barbarella ^{The Rest Of My Life, It’s About That Walk, She Spoke 2 Me, There Is Lonely, Sarah and Extrordinary}

Morris Hayes ^{It’s About That Walk, Sarah and Extrordinary}

Ricky Peterson ^{5 Women}

Guitar

Levi Seacer Jr ^{The Rest Of My Life, It’s About That Walk, She Spoke 2 Me, 5 Women and There Is Lonely}

Bass Guitar

Sonny Thompson ^{The Rest Of My Life, It’s About That Walk, She Spoke 2 Me, 5 Women, There Is Lonely, Sarah and Extrordinary}

Trombone

Michael Nelson

Saxophone

Brian Gallagher ^{The Rest Of My Life, It’s About That Walk, She Spoke 2 Me, 5 Women and Sarah}

Kathy Jensen ^{The Rest Of My Life, It’s About That Walk, She Spoke 2 Me, 5 Women and Sarah}

Trumpet

Dave Jensen ^{The Rest Of My Life, It’s About That Walk, She Spoke 2 Me, 5 Women and Sarah}

Steve Strand ^{The Rest Of My Life, It’s About That Walk, She Spoke 2 Me, 5 Women and Sarah}

Orchestration

Clare Fischer ^{Old Friends 4 Sale}

Data

Producer

Prince

Label

Warner Bros. Records

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

Cover/Design

Claude Gassain and Steve Parke

Released

26 years ago on 24 August 1999

Reissued

4 February 2022

Running Time

39:17

US Chart Peak

85

US R&B Peak

27

UK Chart Peak

47

Prince Album

#22

Orig. Formats

Tracklist

1. The Rest Of My Life [recorded 1992] (1:38) ¹
2. It's About That Walk [recorded 1993] (4:26)
3. She Spoke 2 Me [Extended Remix] [recorded 1991] (8:19) ¹
4. 5 Women [recorded 1990] (5:12)
5. When The Lights Go Down [recorded 1991] (7:11)
6. My Little Pill [recorded 1993] (1:08) ¹
7. There Is Lonely [recorded 1993] (2:29) ¹
8. Old Friends 4 Sale [recorded 1985] (3:27)
9. Sarah [recorded 1996] (2:52)
10. Extraordinary [recorded 1992] (2:27)

¹ Intended for Prince’s withdrawn contribution for the soundtrack to the 1994 movie I’ll Do Anything.

Singles from The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale

The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale produced no singles.

The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale review

The release of The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale proved Prince’s point: that record labels can and will release music against the wishes of the creator. One minute Warner Brothers were contracting to limit the volume of output Prince put onto the market, and since parting with the label they roll out a greatest hits packages in 1993 and The Very Best Of Prince in 2001 and in 1999, this. That said, it is shameful it needed a dispute over the contract to see these songs released.

Unfortunately for Prince it was Warner’s vault not Prince’s – yet another vindication of Prince’s point that he should have owned his music in the first place. Nevertheless, The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale provides gems; 5 Women, There Is Lonely and Old Friends 4 Sale – perhaps Prince’s most revealing song. There is some fun to be found too, taking form with The Rest Of My Life and It’s About That Walk. The highlight is the bongo-tastic When The Lights Go Down a remarkable tune and which demands to be listened to over and again in its full and complete majesty.

The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale is rated 4 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.