August 24, 1999:The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale

The 22nd studio album by Prince, marking his first release under the name Prince since the 1996 Girl 6 soundtrack was released.

It was the final album of previously-unreleased material released by Warner Bros. under his 1992 contract, although they later issued the compilation albums The Very Best Of Prince and Ultimate.

The album was released globally in August 1999, eighteen months after Crystal Ball and three and a half years following the previous Warner Bros. release, the Girl 6 movie soundtrack.

Submitted to Warner Bros. in April 1996, complete with artwork featuring photography from Prince’s 1994 book Neo Manifesto, it was released three years later, just before Prince’s new major label release on a competing label, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (as ).

The album was released under the name Prince due to the period in which the tracks were recorded, although both It’s About That Walk and Sarah were recorded after his name change to .

The album is a collection of unreleased tracks from 1985-1996; however, the dates mentioned in the album credits do not seem accurate:

"The enclosed material was written during the period beginning 1/23/1985 and ending 6/18/1994 and was originally intended for private use only."

Several tracks were considered or utilized for other projects before being released on this album.

The 1985 version of "Old Friends 4 Sale" was part of a 1 May 1985 configuration of "Parade."

"5 Women" was given to Joe Cocker for his album "Night Calls," released in 1992, where the song appeared as "Five Women."

Three tracks ("The Rest Of My Life," "My Little Pill," and "There Is Lonely") were initially recorded for the film "I’ll Do Anything" ("My Little Pill" and "There Is Lonely" were included on a planned soundtrack album, which was later scrapped).

"Extraordinary" was originally meant for Rosie Gaines' intended solo album "Concrete Jungle," and she likely recorded vocals for it, but Prince reclaimed the track before the known versions of "Concrete Jungle" were put together in 1993.

"She Spoke 2 Me" was featured in a shortened form on the "Girl 6" movie soundtrack in 1996.

CD original release

The Rest Of My Life (1:38)

It’s About That Walk (4:26)

She Spoke 2 Me (Extended Remix) (8:19)

5 Women (5:12)

When The Lights Go Down (7:10)

My Little Pill (1:08)

There Is Lonely (2:29)

Old Friends 4 Sale (3:27)

Sarah (2:52)

Extraordinary (2:27)