*NEW MIX* J.Bo - Minneapolis Nights Volume 1: A Quiet Storm - 21-Apr-2026 ***EXCLUSIVE***

Always cry for love, never cry for pain...

WARNING: Not advisable listening for those already deep in their feelings...

Minneapolis Nights is my tribute to Prince on, today, the 10th anniversary of his passing. In the style of a long-format, late-night radio show so expect deep cuts, alternative versions and unreleased demos, freed from his famed Vault, with lyrical themes including mortality, loss, betrayal, bitterness, regret, heartbreak, unrequited love and longing...

Believe it or not, I started this mix when he was still alive in late 2015. I was just incorporating a song from what turned out to be his final album, when the tragic news occurred and I dropped the idea. I couldn't bring myself to listen to much of his music over the following few years and then it seemed like his estate would be carefully archiving and releasing the treasure trove of unreleased songs from his Vault, rendering projects like this pointless. However, hindsight shows that has not happened as they continue to fumble his legacy and let down us fans with cancelled projects, half-baked re-releases and a focus on things fans don't really need, like a stage musical!. The looming significance of today's date, marking a decade since he took the elevator up, sparked me to pick up this project and finish it. I have made very few changes over the original - just adding one newly leaked track, changing the version of another, and replacing a third with a better quality source.

The most difficult thing about a mix like this is curation and dealing with an artist known for being one the most prolific musical geniuses ever witnessed, with approximately 1,000 songs released over his career and a reputed 8,000 more sat in The Vault. A significant number of these have leaked in various qualities over the years, and groups of die-hard fans (ahem) have huddled in private groups to trade amongst themselves for many years. Choosing 20 tracks from this weight of material required a tightly focused concept and strict sonic, musical and lyrical rules to narrow things down as much as possible. Even then... well, you can see the subtitle "Volume 1" and draw your own conclusions about my future plans for this series!

For casual fans, you will not find the big 'hits' on this collection, and very little from his most famous run of albums at the peak of his fame for Warner Brothers. So what can you expect? A not for the faint-hearted, heart-wrenching ride through the depths of human emotion, including some of the most personal songs of his career, typically either unreleased or obscure alternative versions hidden away on fan-club only material and limited release Japanese singles! I tried to stick with laid back muscial energy, although had to allow for some of these emotional tracks to reach their peaks. I have a fondness for spoken word breakdowns like you hear in many classic R&B tracks.

This mix starts the way he his career ended - his final masterpiece, Revelation, from his final album - which now has an ethereal quality as his final message to those of us still somewhere here on earth. There is, of course, incredible musicianship throughout, such as a sublime fretless bass solo on Dreamin' About U, top drawer guitar work across many songs and several beautiful piano and voice pieces. But it is the vocals that really stand out here, with range, power and control rarely seen - for example, the raw emotion on With This Tear, a demo made specifically for Celine Dion's voice. There is the touching lament at the death of the Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist and long time collaborator, Jonathan Melvoin, on The Love We Make. Old Friends 4 Sale is the very first bootleg I ever heard and is still, maybe, my favourite song of all... despite being, effectively, a diss record to Jam & Lewis! Then there is the late-career Grammy winning Call My Name. Of course, there is the the definitive demo version of Nothing Compares 2 U, an all time classic made famous by Sinead O'Connor's cover (without permission!). Listen out for a shockingly personal takedown of (allegedly) Carmen Electra on the I Hate U Extended Version, the additional lyrics getting so uncomfortable that you wonder if you should be listening in at all. And, of course, we end on the only song that could see this mix out - how did he know he would exit this world in April all those years ago?

********** DOWNLOAD + STREAMING LINKS 21-Apr-2026 **********

J.Bo - Minneapolis Nights Volume 1: A Quiet Storm
Source: Serato + Audacity
Duration: 1h19m58s
Format: MP3-320kbps
Size: 183.2MB
Download: CLICK HERE

jbotapes · J.Bo - Minneapolis Nights Volume 1: A Quiet Storm

Such is my dedication to physical media, that I even included front and back covers as well as a CUE sheet in the download so you can burn it to an actual CD! Because as a great man once said...

"Like Books and Black Lives, Albums still matter..."