"Moonbeam Levels" is a song by American musician Prince from the album 4Ever. It was the first Prince track to be officially released posthumously, and was an outtake from the 1999 sessions, with minor editing done just prior to the Purple Rain sessions.[1]
In 1982, during the last set of sessions held for Prince's 1982 album 1999, Prince recorded the track for the album. The track, which features emotional subjects such as death and nuclear war, was ultimately excluded from the album. After the release of 1999, he kept the track in the vault until 1983, when he took it back out and decided to shorten the ending and possibly consider it for Purple Rain. Prince's engineer Susan Rogers commented on the track and his decision to pull it:
Occasionally, when we were sequencing records, we would put that song into the sequence. I'd think "At last! I'm so happy, this beautiful song is going on this record", but he would pull it. He'd always pull it.[1]
Rogers would further elaborate just how often the track, which was one of her favorites, would show up on configurations of several of his albums:
Songs were chosen to compliment the seed, and great songs were rejected. One of my favorite songs of his is called "Moonbeam Levels." He recorded it before I joined him... We sequenced it on Purple Rain, and he took it off. We sequenced it on Around the World in a Day, and he took it off. We even put it on the Parade album, and he took it off. Then it got too late, and he couldn't release it. It was very personal, and I think he just didn't want people to hear it.[2]
At one point, the track was also considered to be a part of his cancelled 1988 Rave unto the Joy Fantastic project.[3] The track would eventually appear on the compilation album 4Ever, released 7 months after his death, making it his first posthumous track.
Personneledit
Credits sourced from Duane Tudahl, Benoît Clerc, and Guitarcloud[1][4][5][6]
Prince – lead and backing vocals, piano, Oberheim OB-Xa, electric guitars, bass guitar, Linn LM-1, Pearl SY-1 Syncussion
Referencesedit
^ abcTudahl, Duane (2018). Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions: 1983 and 1984 (Expanded Edition). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN9781538116432.
^"Susan Rogers: From Prince to Ph.D." tapeop.com. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
^"Never-Before-Heard Prince Song 'Moonbeam Levels' and Photos Released". abcnews.go.com. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
^Clerc, Benoît (October 2022). Prince: All the Songs. Octopus. ISBN9781784728816.
moonbeam, levels, song, american, musician, prince, from, album, 4ever, first, prince, track, officially, released, posthumously, outtake, from, 1999, sessions, with, minor, editing, done, just, prior, purple, rain, sessions, song, princefrom, album, 4everlang. Moonbeam Levels is a song by American musician Prince from the album 4Ever It was the first Prince track to be officially released posthumously and was an outtake from the 1999 sessions with minor editing done just prior to the Purple Rain sessions 1 Moonbeam Levels Song by Princefrom the album 4EverLanguageEnglishReleasedNovember 26 2016 2016 11 26 RecordedJuly 6 1982 June 8 1983StudioSunset Sound Recorders Los AngelesGenreRockLength4 23LabelWarnerSongwriter s PrinceProducer s PrinceBackground editIn 1982 during the last set of sessions held for Prince s 1982 album 1999 Prince recorded the track for the album The track which features emotional subjects such as death and nuclear war was ultimately excluded from the album After the release of 1999 he kept the track in the vault until 1983 when he took it back out and decided to shorten the ending and possibly consider it for Purple Rain Prince s engineer Susan Rogers commented on the track and his decision to pull it Occasionally when we were sequencing records we would put that song into the sequence I d think At last I m so happy this beautiful song is going on this record but he would pull it He d always pull it 1 Rogers would further elaborate just how often the track which was one of her favorites would show up on configurations of several of his albums Songs were chosen to compliment the seed and great songs were rejected One of my favorite songs of his is called Moonbeam Levels He recorded it before I joined him We sequenced it on Purple Rain and he took it off We sequenced it on Around the World in a Day and he took it off We even put it on the Parade album and he took it off Then it got too late and he couldn t release it It was very personal and I think he just didn t want people to hear it 2 At one point the track was also considered to be a part of his cancelled 1988 Rave unto the Joy Fantastic project 3 The track would eventually appear on the compilation album 4Ever released 7 months after his death making it his first posthumous track Personnel editCredits sourced from Duane Tudahl Benoit Clerc and Guitarcloud 1 4 5 6 Prince lead and backing vocals piano Oberheim OB Xa electric guitars bass guitar Linn LM 1 Pearl SY 1 SyncussionReferences edit a b c Tudahl Duane 2018 Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions 1983 and 1984 Expanded Edition Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 9781538116432 Susan Rogers From Prince to Ph D tapeop com Retrieved May 15 2023 Never Before Heard Prince Song Moonbeam Levels and Photos Released abcnews go com Retrieved May 15 2023 Clerc Benoit October 2022 Prince All the Songs Octopus ISBN 9781784728816 1999 guitarcloud org Retrieved May 15 2023 Purple Rain guitarcloud org Retrieved May 15 2023 nbsp This 1980s song related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Moonbeam Levels amp oldid 1165118801, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
