New Prince: 4Ever (2016) & Purple Rain Deluxe (2017)

Yes, I just now noticed that there was one more page of replies! I just got caught up.

And the answer is thst nobody made any promises.

 

The problem with The video for Syracuse is that it was too dark. Not sure how they plan on fixing that.

 

Ah, sorry. I guess I was irrational for thinking we'd get two incredible albums of unreleased material when Warner Brothers issued a press release stating that we'd get 2 albums of unreleased material.

Oh, come on! Prince would not have authorised the release of songs titled We Can **** and Wonderful Ass.

 

That is fantastic news. This might be the best any of these tracks have ever sounded.

We are so lucky that Prince officially worked on this set before his death. Otherwise this would either not be coming out until the estate is settled, or would be cobbled together from varying sources like 4Ever.

 

The press release said: "We are pleased to announce our plan to release the remaster of Prince's most iconic album, Purple Rain, along with two incredible albums of previously unreleased Prince music and two complete concert films from the Paisley Park vault on June 9." (Emphasis mine).

I read that to mean that the album was still in the planning stages. Now I know we're getting into semantics here. However, we are talking about a Prince album. It wouldn't be the first time that albums change before release (especially in the world of Prince). My mantra for Prince releases for decades has been "I'll believe it when I see it". The Crystal Ball fiasco, Roadhouse Garden, The Vaults Volumes 1-3, Crystal Ball 2, Milk & Honey, etc etc.

So yeah, nothing was promised. A badly-written press release jumped the gun. For a while, we didn't even know if this would still be coming out!

You do have a point there. I know Prince was heavily involved in the deluxe edition before he passed, but who knows what was proposed, what was changed by him, what was changed by the estate and what was changed by WB. I'd love to see what he initially proposed including.

 

I was dreading that we'd get a ton of contemporary remixes so no complaints here. Still hoping for First Avenue. Sure would be nice to have the live stuff on CD as well but beggars can't be choosers...

 

Come on...you know you want a Will.I.Am remix.

 

I'm really hoping for First Ave too. The information we've gotten so far doesn't have me terribly optimistic, but I can't help feeling we're getting a somewhat incomplete view of what's to come. Nothing's been officially announced.

 

It's also possible Prince respected the value in letting the past being represented accurately, even if he wouldn't write titles of that nature going forward. Not clear on this point.

 

I would prefer another disc of outtakes too. But someone like Prince, it seems like the remixes were central to his art. The Disc 2 on this set (if it's what we understand it to be) seems to provide value in its own right.

First Ave, whether represented as a DVD or audio-only CD, is EXTREMELY relevent to Purple Rain. It SHOULD be on a Purple Rain box.

 

I'm not joining the chorus of complainers regarding disc 2, a bunch of those mixes have never been on CD, long version of Erotic City for instance. And it does make sense to compile them with the album. Honestly I was keeping expectations low (smart mindset with Prince!) and disc 3 has me salivating, very happy over here. Who knows if any of this is even true, nothing has been officially announced yet. I was burned by getting prematurely excited over the Grateful Dead's Long Strange Trip soundtrack from a fake tracklisting...

 

I don't care. I really don't. All I'm hearing is a bunch of poor excuses.

In either case - they have more than enough material to deliver what they announced in the press release. Just because Prince was terrible at seeing-through the projectc he spoke about, that doesn't give WB an excuse to as well.

 

We have something in common then!

I really don't mean to pick on you. It is not personal. Just, as you say, having a discussion on a discussion forum. Please don't take my posts as a personal attack.

We don't know why it differs from the announcement. It could be record company greed, hanging on to something for later... it could be related to the estate. I'm not worried about it, nor am I disappointed like you. It will all come out at some point.

 

Obviously some PR person got their wires crossed and wrote "two albums of unreleased music" when what they should have said was "two albums of alternate versions and outtakes" or "two albums of additional tracks." There were probably never two albums of outtakes planned.

 

Putting aside the fact that Erotic City has been issued on CD before... No one is complaining about the extended mixes. It's the single mixes that are already available on 4Ever, The Very Best of Prince and Ultimate that are a ****ing travesty.

 

But if they don't include that stuff people go "Where are the single versions?"

The Let's Go Crazy single mix should be erased, not remastered!

 

On 4ever that was released 5 months ago.

If you struggle to find that, look for The Hits that is on every shelf labeled "Prince".

Not good enough? Try The Very Best of Prince.

 

That was the European CD single, correct? I had that back in the day. The 12" vinyl sounds much, much better. And since Bernie Grundman mastered the original 12" and is mastering the deluxe edition, this will most likely be the go-to digital version.

Crossing my fingers that a high resolution download will be available on HDTracks, etc.

 

Doesn't matter, they'd still complain. They want everything related to the album, no matter how redundant.

And when record companies put these things together, they don't do it with the assumption that everybody has every other Prince collection. Or that they have every Prince bootleg either.

 

Correct: Prince - Erotic City / I Would Die 4 U

While it wasn't the best transfer, it's much better than the officially released online-digital version.

Then they're idiots who part with their money too easily.

 

Point taken, but with that mindset, you could also complain about reissuing the original album. "If you don't have Purple Rain, the original CD has been in print for three decades. Should be easy to find."

I think it's great to have all the single edits collected on disc 2, including "Let's Go Crazy," and besides, it's too early to say for sure what the actual track list will look like. Maybe it's exactly as reported, or maybe there's something else we will find out when the official announcement is made.

 

Just a thought.

I think the fact that it specifies Electric Intercourse (Studio Version); is a good indication that one of the DVDs will contain the First Avenue concert.

 

Crossing my fingers.

 

I see you haven't learned your lesson about taking pre announcements literally yet.

 

The title is how it was registered by WB. No need to try and score cheap points when I was merely speculating.