Rare Prince B-side ‘United States Of Division’ has been shared to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his 2004 album ‘Musicology’.
READ MORE: The 20 best Prince songs of all time by the NME office
The track, which you can listen to below, was first released in the midst of the war in Iraq on July 4, 20 years ago as a virtual B-side download for ‘Cinnamon Girl’ exclusively from Prince’s NPG Music Club before it eventually came out as a non-LP bonus track for the UK CD single of ‘Cinnamon Girl’. This is the first time it has been shared on streaming services.
It sees the late singer-songwriter venting his anger at the war with the lyrics: “How far from heaven must we go? / Before the winds of change will blow and show / This world how it’s supposed to be / Land of peace and harmony.”
The 20th anniversary of ‘Musicology’, Prince’s 28th album, is also set to be celebrated on April 20 with the the album available on CD and vinyl along with a line of ‘Musicology’-related merchandise, which can be found on Prince’s website here.
The last posthumous release from the late icon was ‘Welcome 2 America’, in 2021, his first full album of unheard material. NME awarded the record four stars and said that it “speaks to today’s problems and demands to be heard. It’s better to have it now than never. His name was Prince and he was funky, and it seems he has so much more to tell us.”
Meanwhile, the late singer’s music will reportedly be used in a new jukebox musical movie.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the project has apparently been in development since 2018. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler is set to produce, whilst Bryan Edward Hill (Titans, Ash vs. Evil Dead) is attached to write the script.
The film is also set to be distributed by Universal Pictures. No details about a release date or casting have been given so far.
Prince’s 1985 film ‘Purple Rain’ is also reportedly being adapted into its own stage musical. It will be based on the original screenplay which was written by Albert Magnoli and William Blinn, and is set to be produced by Orin Wolf, who previously adapted the Tony-winning stage version of ‘The Band’s Visit’.
In other news, Prince’s family and legal heirs are attempting to oust advisors through an internal legal battle.
André 3000 also recently revealed that Prince once called him to explain what went wrong with OutKast’s 2014 reunion performance.
The post Listen to Prince blast the US-Iraq war on re-released deep-cut ‘United States Of Division’ appeared first on NME.
