Opinions differ when it comes to posthumous releases – Lana Del Rey, for example, hates them. There are some that you don’t want to miss.
After Anderson.Paak had the instruction tattooed on himself a few years ago that no unreleased recordings of his music should be released after his death, Lana del Rey shared a photo of the tattoo and agreed with his opinion. That is of course their right. But anyone who looks at music history in general and the sales figures of lavish deluxe editions in particular, for which even the last studio basement was swept out, quickly suspects: it won’t be that easy. Even artists like Prince, who released things in a very controlled manner throughout their lives, get hit at some point.
Since his death in April 2016, several deluxe editions and even lost albums have been released that Prince actually locked away so well that only he had the key. Still, in many cases one has to admit that when honorable, tasteful, trustworthy people take on a musical legacy, the results can be fascinating and even musically compelling. So here’s a quick look at five albums that ended well.
Prince – PIANO & A MICROPHONE 1983
It’s difficult to pick one of the posthumous Prince releases, because they were all pretty good. But we decide on the nine-song PIANO & A MICROPHONE 1983, which brings you closer to Prince than ever before. In our review we wrote: “The fact that this rough recording survived at all is a sensation: Prince paid very close attention to what was allowed to remain on tape and what was not. This exclusivity legitimizes this release, and in its arbitrary casualness it gives us a few great moments: Prince also plays ‘A Case Of You’ by Joni Mitchell only briefly; his falsetto is sensational. He then moves into the old spiritual ‘Mary Don’t You Weep’, he stays in the head voice, but later penetrates into the darkest vocal registers – a showcase of performance, but not performed with holy seriousness, but with great joy in playing.”
Joy Division – CLOSER
One of the best albums in British music history was also released after the band’s demise and the tragic suicide of their singer Ian Curtis
A good two months after his death, CLOSER hit record stores and gave us immortal songs like “Isolation” and “A Means To An End”, which we have always heard with a stab in the heart.
Mac Miller – CIRCLES
When the rapper, singer, songwriter and producer died in 2018 at the age of 26, he was at the top of his game and working with producer Jon Brion on CIRCLES. It was supposed to be a companion album to his 2018 record SWIMMING, according to a statement. Jon Brion dedicated himself to completing CIRCLES after the rapper’s death “based on his time and conversations with Malcolm.” The two albums SWIMMING and CIRCLES are intended to represent two different styles, but complement each other. Of course it wasn’t planned that CIRCLES would be a sad ending, but this album still turned out beautifully in its melancholic mood. His fans probably think so too. Songs like “Good News” or “Blue World” are still among the most streamed songs in his legacy, which is not lacking in good songs.
Nirvana – MTV UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK
Perfect live recordings like these are of course an obvious choice when a musician passes away tragically too early. Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994, and MTV UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK was released in November of the same year. It was definitely planned, but the iconic significance of this concert, which was recorded on November 18, 1993 at the Sony Music Studios in New York City, of course also and above all resulted from his death. Here you see Cobain again with all of his cool wit, his raw emotionality, his musical genius and his solidarity with weird artists like the Meat Puppets, who he brought onto the stage with him.
The God Machine – ONE LAST LAUGH IN A PLACE OF DYING
A truly special album is the second and last by the band The God Machine. Singer Robin-Proper Sheppard, who now makes music as Sophia, created a masterpiece with his bandmates Jimmy Fernandez on bass and Austin Lynn Austin on drums, deeply sad and powerful at the same time. When the record was released in 1994, the band was history because Fernandez was suffering from an incurable brain tumor and had just died. Even during the recordings in Prague, he and the band knew that it would soon come to an end – and it is this deeply sad mood that can be heard here in every song, in the title and especially in Jimmy Fernandez’s beautiful bass playing.