Not yet. That seems to be what they're moving the tapes for. True to what we've heard it seems that Prince did, indeed, leave his masters in a state of disarry. I'm sure the next step is to keep them at a benign temperature, moisture free, and then they'll start baking them, using local techs. I can see where the two heirs are coming from, but those tapes must have been worse than we thought. Prince just didn't care. I'm sure the expense of retrofitting the PP vaults with climate control would be more than storing them at a ready-made facility. That doesn't mean they can't be mixed at PP, though.
It seems possible that half of the family approved of the tape transfer, and they didn't tell the other half. I kind of understand why the two sisters are upset, but they should realize that the tapes are really safer stored at Iron Mountain.
Prince Heirs Request Administrator's Removal After It Trucks Away Vault Recordings Now we have a lawsuit being filed from three heirs who want Comerica out. That's not what I wanted to point out, though. According to the article there are 5 potential suitors to handle Prince's archive releases.
At this rate, it might be a long time before we hear any of that material. It seems that continually changing administrators and disagreements among siblings is only slowing things down.
Prince’s Vault Suffered From ‘Water Damage, Mold, Degradation,’ at Paisley Park, Court Documents Say This is an article detailing how the state of the vault was found after Prince died. If it is accurate, it is troubling to say the least.
Hmmm...Yeah, I had read first-hand accounts at Paisley Park of flakes of iron oxide falling off of master tapes in the vault. There's going to be sticky-shed syndrome, dirt, and probably water stains on these tapes. Prince simply did not care about his past, thus no will. The Library of Congress [3] recommends that any tapes needing preservation for a minimum of 10 years should be stored between 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit at 45-50% relative humidity (RH). Large fluctuations in either of these factors should be avoided at all costs. If the tapes need permanent preservation, they should be stored at 46-50 degrees Fahrenheit at 20-30% relative humidity. In the case of magnetic tapes, contrary to traditional preservation storage rules for books and photographic film, colder is certainly not better. If the collections are stored below 46 degrees F, the tape lubricant can separate from the base, ruining the recording. The most important thing is to keep conditions consistent once desirable conditions are achieved. The good news is that miracles have been done with tapes in the past, where people thought that the tapes were unplayable and lost. Then again I've heard of tapes being beyond repair, so I guess it's a case-by-case basis. I usually don't invoke the name, but I wonder if @Steve Hoffman has anything to add, judging by the description supplied above? I mean, this is one of music's most prized archives in the case of Prince.
Prince made many mix-tapes and configurations on cassettes and DATs that he gave out to people. That's how bootlegs have surfaced. If the master tapes aren't available, most of the worthwhile material will have a back-up source. As crappy a format as it might be on.
This is good enough for you? A bunch of cassette tapes encoded to MP3, transferred multiple times over antiquated FTP, with no checksums? This is like saying a dot matrix print of the grand canyon is good enough. No, I mean, I guess you're saying to look on the bright side, but I think some of these protective measures might mitigate whatever damage has been done. After all, there has been magnetic tape that's been preserved since the 1940s. The question is, after the preservation is it as lossy as the above? Again, I think that's probably a case-by-case basis, but I'd like to think that the oldest Prince tapes from the late '70s have some life in them yet, and I won't have to listen to these crap grey market mixes.
One of the saddest realities as a Prince fans is getting what you're given. I agree all measures should be taken before resorting to an inferior format. With that, I'd rather hear something, than not.
Just stumbled on this, which was uploaded a month ago. Prince playing "Controversy" on Ellen DeGeneres in 2004, which was left out of the actual broadcast. Apparently DeGeneres was a fan from the start, even buying For You and "Soft and Wet" around the time they were originally released. Man, I miss the dude.
I still miss him too. I went to see the Sign “O” the Times concert movie in my local cinema last November 22nd. Such a great show. Awesome musicianship and showmanship. So much talent left this earth much too young.
I dont claim to be the biggest Prince fan, though I probably enjoy his music more than I realize. On a whim (I really try and steer clear of the personal lives and movies of musicians/artists I admire) I watched this ... This "documentary" really paints a pretty grim portrait of Prince. Prince experts: Is this at all close to how Prince was? Man, he seemed like the lonliest man on the planet if so. Or is the idea Prince was some recluse lost in his world of music to try and hide the pain a bit over the top and mostly bunk?
One of his close personal assistants at Paisley Park, in the early 2000s, said that he had been "living in Princeworld for quite some time" . He was a deeply complex guy with a lot of that coming from his underexplored childhood and adolescence. Very few famous stars are normal, of course, and he was no exception.
If ones to believe that documentary, he was one of the most miserabley lonely human beings on the planet. Never will know for certain what the truth concerning this is I suppose.
tl;dw, and 5 minutes of that narration drove me up a wall. I'm not saying that nobody I saw speaking in the doc is reliable, or that everything they're saying is stupid - I believe neither of those things - but at the end of the day, even when you narrow your focus on Prince to questions of his art or loneliness or romance, you've got your "four blind men describing an elephant" problem. You seem to focus on the loneliness problem in your OP, so just I'll note that, like many many famous people who are out there for a long time, it becomes impossible to form friendships unless the person or persons go way way back to when you were all struggling (Sheila E., Vanity 4, etc.), or you have to find people genuinely not interested in your professional and celebrity exploits. Several articles published after his death made it clear that he was as healthily socialized as the next person at his Jehovah's Witness (temple? hall?).
If anyone is interested in an original "Black Album", here is your chance (for only $15.000): Prince - Factory Sealed 1987 U.S. "Black Album" LP - One Of The Rarest Records In The World Amazing story: This example is one of five sealed copies discovered in December 2017, in the collection of a former Warner Bros. Records executive who worked on The Black Album. The executive’s daughter had purchased her first turntable and asked her parents to send her some albums. Their record collection had been boxed up in a closet for more than 25 years, and while searching for records that might interest their daughter, they stumbled upon two never-opened Warner Bros. Records mailers. Expecting to find some promo albums inside, they opened these for the first time and discovered five perfect, sealed copies of The Black Album. These had been sent to the executive in December 1987 when the albums were ordered destroyed, and for 30 years, the two mailers had sat unopened among their other boxed up vinyl.
Here is a picture of the complete score, apparently before they cracked one of them open: Rare Vinyl Copies of Prince's 'Black Album' Surface It says "Our research can find only three other U.S. copies of the 1987 LP to have surfaced in the 30 years since The Black Album was pulled; two sold nearly 25 years ago, and a third was sold by us in 2015", so not surprising it's not on Discogs. An original?: Prince - Black Album - For those that are willing to settle for the German pressing there is a cheaper option here (only $8.800): Prince - The Black Album
No. At first a bootleg cassette and then the 1994 Japanese reissue. But it’s the same music, sounding the same.
When it comes to being "healthily socialized", the JWs are well back in the race, since a main tenet of the religion is to not associate with anyone who is not a JW. That will absolutely stunt a person's social and emotional growth. And it is far from healthy. I speak from experience. My mother got involved with the JWs when I was 9 and I was in the religion to some degree until I rebelled at 18, at which time my mother locked me out of her house. (So, yeah, they take it pretty seriously.) It was not easy for me, at 18, to make my way in the world by myself having had no real preparation. I do not advise it! So being as "healthily socialized" as anyone else at the local Kingdom Hall is not a very high bar.
Man, that recordmecca blog has a good Prince story that was published right after he died, and it's frustrating that he teases more stories to come without ever following through.
Point taken, but "loneliest man in the world"? Just sounds like a cheap documentary tagline. Story arcs abound both about his sociability and his giant missing chunks of properly socialized humanity thereof, at the same time.
