Prince‘s RIAA Platinum-selling fourth studio album, Controversy, was released 40 years ago today, and to commemorate the milestone, a previously unheard solo demo version of one of the record’s tracks, “Do Me, Baby,” has be issued as a digital single.
The “Do Me, Baby” demo is available now as a digital download and via streaming services, while two limited-edition physical versions of the track — on cassette and purple-colored seven-inch vinyl — are scheduled to be released in January 2022.
Prince is credited with co-writing “Do Me, Baby” with his early bassist, Andre Cymone, and recorded the demo in 1979 at two Los Angeles-area studios. A rough mix of the track on cassette was recently discovered in Prince’s vault, and the recording was newly mixed by the artist’s longtime engineer, Chris James, for the single’s release.
Prince eventually recorded a new version of “Do Me, Baby” in June 1981 for the Controversy album.
Controversy peaked at #21 on the Billboard 200, and featured two top-10 hits on the R&B singles chart — the title track and “Let’s Work,” which reached #3 and #9, respectively.
Meanwhile, a new podcast focusing on the 40th anniversary of Controversy, hosted by Estelle, is streaming now at Apple Music.
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