Just in time for holiday shopping and year-end memorials, Warner Bros. Records and Prince's estate are issuing a new two-disc compilation of his greatest hits today, titled "4ever." It's the first new Prince collection to hit stores since his death in April.

The 40-track CD anthology is mostly made up of his biggest singles but also includes one previously unreleased song from 1982, "Moonbeam Levels," plus a few deeper album cuts, such as the early nuggets "Gotta Stop (Messin' About)" and "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" It's available from Amazon and brick-and-mortar stores in physical format.

A slow-grooving, lightly melodic and vaguely spiritual synth-pop tune, "Moonbeam Levels" was previously only available as a bootleg. According to the exhaustive fan site PrinceVault.com, it was recorded during sessions for the "1999" album and then revisited in the studio 1989 but ditched once again. British rock legend Elvis Costello plucked the song out of the vault and covered it during a 2013 fundraising tribute to Prince at Carnegie Hall (the only version currently available online).

Though it maybe had nothing to do with why it was chosen to be released now, "Moonbeam Levels" includes a few lines that ring out hauntingly after his death, including, "I'm looking for a better place to die," and, "He really don't wanna die."

Aside from that one track -- and maybe the 12-page booklet featuring unseen Herb Ritts photos of the Minneapolis legend -- there isn't much about "4ever" to excite even Prince's most passive fans. Warner Bros. has issued compilations like this before, including 1993's three-disc "The Hits/The B-Sides" and 2000's two-LP "Ultimate Prince."

Instead, the Purple Legion is eagerly awaiting the expanded edition of "Purple Rain," reportedly due early next year from Warner Bros. with a second disc of outtakes, bonus tracks, etc. Prince had reportedly agreed to this (long-overdue) reissue before his death. Other possible vault projects like this could be tied up in estate and licensing legal matters through next year.

Here's the full track list on "4ever:"

Disc One:

  • 1. 1999
  • 2. Little Red Corvette
  • 3. When Doves Cry
  • 4. Let's Go Crazy
  • 5. Raspberry Beret
  • 6. I Wanna Be Your Lover
  • 7. Soft and Wet
  • 8. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad
  • 9. Uptown
  • 10. When You Were Mine
  • 11. Head
  • 12. Gotta Stop (Messin' About)
  • 13. Controversy
  • 14. Let's Work
  • 15. Delirious
  • 16. I Would Die 4 U
  • 17. Take Me With U
  • 18. Paisley Park
  • 19. Pop Life
  • 20. Purple Rain

Disc Two:

  • 21. Kiss
  • 22. Sign 'O' The Times
  • 23. Alphabet Street
  • 24. Batdance
  • 25. Thieves In The Temple
  • 26. Cream
  • 27. Mountains
  • 28. Girls & Boys
  • 29. If I Was Your Girlfriend
  • 30. U Got The Look
  • 31. I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man
  • 32. Glam Slam
  • 33. Moonbeam Levels
  • 34. Diamonds and Pearls
  • 35. Gett Off
  • 36. Sexy MF
  • 37. My Name Is Prince
  • 38. 7
  • 39. Peach
  • 40. Nothing Compares 2 U