Moonbeam Levels

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Moonbeam Levels

from the album 4Ever from the album 1999 Super Deluxe Edition Song details Performer: Prince First Released: 22 November 2016 - 4Ever album Album(s): 4Ever 1999 Super Deluxe Edition Writer(s): Prince Producer(s): Prince Live Appearances First and last live appearance: 28 March 1983: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, California (partial rendition on piano) 26 August 2013 (a.m.): New York City Winery, New York, NY, USA (partial rendition in piano medley) Performed regularly on tour: none Performed occasionally in shows: 1983 (partial rendition in piano medley), 2013 (partial rendition in piano medley)

Moonbeam Levels is song recorded on 6 July 1982 (the day before Lady Cab Driver), at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California. It was released as the only previously-unreleased track on the first posthumous compilation of Prince’s music, 4Ever, and in 2019 in a slightly longer version as the fifth track on the Vault Tracks part 2 disc of a Super Deluxe Edition edition of the 1999 album. Even though it was recorded during the sessions for 1999, and considered for that album, it was never placed on a configuration of it. It was worked on further in June 1983 and considered for, but also not placed on any configurations of Purple Rain, and subsequently also for Around The World In A Day, possibly Parade and a 25 November 1986 configuration of the Crystal Ball set that would evolve into Sign O’ The Times. Finally it was also considered for inclusion on the aborted Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic album (different from the 1999 album Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic), as the ninth and final track on the mid-January 1989, configuration of the album before it was abandoned when Prince began work on the Batman soundtrack album. In early 2002, during an online chat to promote the second year of the NPG Music Club, the moderators asked if members would be interested in a pristine copy of Moonbeam Levels, hinting that it might be available as part of the membership package. The song, however, remained unreleased until after Prince’s death. Recording Information Recording Sessions Date Studio Additional info 6 July 1982 Sunset Sound – Studio 2, Hollywood, CA, USA Tracking 8 June 1983 Kiowa Trail Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA Additional Work 25 September 1985 Sunset Sound - Studio 3, Hollywood, CA, USA Mix (Susan Rogers & Coke Johnson, Prince not present) Recording Personnel Prince - all vocals and instruments Peggy McCreary - engineer (Sunset Sound) Don Batts - engineer (Kiowa Trail) Versions Released Versions Title Length Released Version Additional info Moonbeam Levels 4:06 4Ever Studio Moonbeam Levels 4:23 1999 Super Deluxe Edition Studio

Additional Information See also Trivia Crystal Ball unreleased album Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic unreleased album 4Ever album 1999 Super Deluxe Edition album This song was the first (previously unreleased) song from Prince’s vault to be released posthumously. In a notebook where Prince wrote his (undated) synopsis for what would become the movie Purple Rain and included in The Beautiful Ones book (released posthumously in 2019), Moonbeam Levels is listed as one of the songs to be included in the film (along with Baby I’m A Star, I Would Die 4 U, I Can’t Stop This Feeling I Got, Too Tough, Wouldn’t U Love To Love Me, I Just Wanna Be Rich, Bold Generation). References The Vault: The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince (2004) Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions 1983 and 1984 (Expanded Edition, paperback), Duane Tudahl (2018) The Beautiful Ones (2019) Prince and the Parade/Sign O’ The Times Era Studio Sessions 1985 and 1986, Duane Tudahl (2021)

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