Prince’s estate has announced Timeless, a 10-track collection of previously unreleased recordings spanning almost four decades, led by the newly issued 1995 track Stone.
by Paul Cashmere
Prince’s archive continues to reveal new chapters of his creative history with the announcement of Timeless, a posthumous compilation drawing on recordings made between 1977 and 2016. The collection arrives on 28 August and is previewed by the release of Stone, an unreleased recording from 1995 that has remained unheard by the public until now. The project brings together material from across Prince’s career, tracing his development from teenage home recordings in Minneapolis through to one of his final live performances recorded in the year of his death.
The significance of Timeless lies in its unusually broad scope. Rather than focusing on a single era, the album assembles one previously unreleased track from each decade of Prince’s career. The result is a chronological journey through nearly 40 years of songwriting, recording and experimentation.
For fans and historians, the release offers a rare opportunity to examine Prince’s artistic evolution through recordings that were either abandoned, shelved or superseded by later versions. It also continues the Prince Estate’s ongoing effort to open the legendary Paisley Park vault, a process that has produced a steady stream of archival projects since Prince’s death in 2016.
The first preview, Stone, was recorded during the spring of 1995, a period when Prince was working on material that would eventually surround releases such as The Gold Experience and, later, Emancipation. Written by songwriters Sandra St. Victor, Tom Hammer and Jules Van Even, the track combines a heavy rhythmic foundation with an elastic bass groove that reflects Prince’s mid-1990s production style.
Lyrically, the song centres on emotional distance and rejection. Prince delivers the line, “Take your icy hand and press it on this heart of stone,” while wrapping the metaphor in a tightly constructed funk arrangement. Although the song remained unreleased for more than three decades, it was reportedly considered for projects of the era before being left in the vault.
Timeless also includes With This Tear, a song Prince recorded in November 1991 shortly after the release of Diamonds And Pearls. Unlike Stone, Prince wrote the song himself and played all of the instruments on the original recording. The composition later found a second life when Céline Dion recorded her own version in 1992.
Other highlights include I Am You, an early home recording dating from Prince’s teenage years, and Tick Tick Bang, a song first recorded in 1981 before being reworked years later for Graffiti Bridge. Heaven, recorded in 1985, and I Wonder, recorded in 1989, have also remained officially unreleased until now.
The project places these recordings within a wider historical framework. Prince’s vault has long been regarded as one of the most extensive archives in popular music, containing hundreds of finished recordings, alternate versions and unreleased songs. Since his passing, the estate has gradually expanded public access to that material through deluxe editions, archival releases and previously unheard tracks.
Timeless differs from many previous archive projects because of its emphasis on chronology. The album moves from early experiments to mature studio productions and concludes with a live version of How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore?, recorded in 2016. That performance effectively serves as the final chapter in the collection, linking Prince’s earliest creative efforts to one of his last documented recordings.
The album has been mastered by Chris James, who has become a key figure in preserving and presenting Prince’s catalogue through recent remix and immersive audio projects. His involvement reflects the estate’s continuing focus on maintaining consistency across archival releases while bringing older recordings up to contemporary audio standards.
At the same time, the release raises ongoing questions about how estates curate the work of major artists after their deaths. Some fans favour comprehensive access to vault material, while others argue that unreleased recordings were often left behind for artistic reasons. The Prince Estate has generally taken a measured approach, selecting recordings that offer historical insight while maintaining professional production standards.
For now, Timeless provides another significant addition to Prince’s posthumous catalogue. With exclusive listening sessions and discussions taking place during the annual Prince Celebration in Minneapolis, the collection is positioned as both a historical document and a reminder of the extraordinary volume of work Prince created throughout his lifetime. The release suggests there are still many stories waiting to emerge from one of music’s most celebrated archives.
Timeless Tracklisting
I Am You (1977)
Tick Tick Bang (1981)
Heaven (1985)
I Wonder (1989)
With This Tear (1991)
Stone (1995)
Calabama (2003)
The Guilty Ones (2007)
Bestest Friend (2012)
How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore? (Live) (2016)
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YouTube. See things first-Subscribe to Noise11 on YouTube
Follow Noise11.com on social media:
Facebook – Comment on the news of the day
Bluesky
Instagram
X (Twitter)
