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The release of an EP containing previously unreleased music by Prince, titled Deliverance, has been blocked by a judge – at least for a few weeks.
The EP’s release, was announced earlier this week, it was then rather quickly followed by a lawsuit by Prince’s estate, the suit was made by longtime Prince engineer George Ian Boxill, who had claimed co-writing and co-producing credits with the artist. It was available for pre-order from streaming services and retailers but was pulled late on Wednesday.
During the hearing, Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright of the US District Court issued a temporary restraining order to put a block on Boxill’s planned efforts to release any of Prince’s music and ordered him to “deliver all of the recordings acquired through his work with Paisley Park Enterprises” and return them to the estate, according to the New York Times. The order expires of the 3rd of May, unless the court makes the decision to give an extension.
“Deliverance” was scheduled for release on the small independent label Rogue Music Alliance in apparent defiance of a recent $30 million licensing deal between the estate and Universal Music Group; sources say that the availability of certain recordings currently owned by Warner Music Group were misrepresented by former advisers. Universal is now seeking to nullify the deal. The recordings on Deliverance were said to be made in the 2006-2008 time period, a time covered by the Universal deal.
The songs on the EP included the title track, an eight-minute-plus “Man Opera” containing four titles, along with an extended version of one of those titles, “I Am”, these were all completed by Boxill after Prince’s death. The recordings are surprisingly strong, especially the title track, which is described as a bluesy slow-burner with some brilliant guitar work, featuring gospel-like backing singers and a soaring falsetto vocal from Prince.
Friday marks the one-year anniversary of Prince’s death from an accidental overdose.