Baltimore is a track made available to stream on a newly-created Prince3EG Soundcloud account on 9 May, 2015, the day before Prince's 'Rally 4 Peace' one-off concert in the city of Baltimore, at which the track had its live debut. The track, with additional orchestral and horn overdubs, was released on the digital single Baltimore later in the month. The following day the Prince3EG Twitter account teased a new release, possibly titled Free Urself, with a link to the single, indicating that it may be included on an album at a later date).
The track was recorded on 30 April, 2015 at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA, in response to the death of 25-year-old African-American man Freddie Gray in Baltimore, MD, USA, and the resulting riots taking place over the days prior to the song's recording.
Prince and 3rdEyeGirl w/ Joshua Welton did a live cut of it at the Paisley Park sound stage on 29 April, 2015 at Paisley Park Studios and directly after recorded it again, alone in Studio A. This version was mixed by Dylan Dresdow after Eryn Allen Kane added vocals to the track in early May.
Release plans for the song were uncertain at first. “We're going to talk to Jay-Z and his people about streaming it on ‘Tidal',” he stated in a Fox9.com interview during the song's recording.
The final stream of the song was accompanied with the following text:BALTIMORE recorded at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, Minnesota on www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/2895594…9kEJc.twitter. The original recording subsequently became a demo when Prince, that very same night - all alone in Studio A, played all the instruments on an entire new version of the song. The next morning Joshua Welton and Kirk Johnson transferred Prince's tracks in2 Studio B. and mixing began. As the song neared completion at Prince's behest Eryn Allen Kane graciously flew in on a moment's notice and graced the track with her angelic presence.
Speaking of presence, Prince was not during Eryn's vocal sessions. After being given the green light by Prince, via the studio intercom, Ms. Kane basically listened down 2 the track a few times and instinctively knew what was needed.
A powerhouse vocal arranger and producer in her own right - check this out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uImvs9X9duY the song grew wings instantly once Her had been laid down. The only thing left 2 do now was 2 find an ace mixing engineer who has a love 4 the smooth wave of analog but would still pack the punch the performances deserve. Dylan Dresdow was the 1st and only choice. He instantly understood the importance of the song and did an excellent job in the delivery of this "baby."
Please know that all involved in this project never take for granted the privileges we have in this country. Let's all continue to fight the good fight and confront inhumanity on every level until the day it is no longer.
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Recording Information
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Recording Sessions
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Date
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Studio
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Additional info
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30 April, 2015
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Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Live demo and re-recording
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2 May, 2015 (assumed)
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Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Eryn Allen Kane vocal overdubs
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May, 2015
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The Brewhouse Studios,Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Orchestral and horn overdubs
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Recording Personnel
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Single version
Streamed version
Unreleased version
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Versions
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Released Versions
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Title
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Length
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Released
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Version
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Additional info
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Baltimore
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4:33
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Baltimore single
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Studio
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Single version with additional overdubs
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Broadcasts/streaming (only)
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