It's been mentioned in a number of threads here, and also on Prince.org. But it seems like it's actually going to happen in the next year. Considering that we start a Bowie box set Speculation Thread the day the current one is announced, I figured we could discuss the release here... This just came up in my Facebook feed: the violet reality To summarize the video: 1. It was compiled and basically finished in 2017 2. 1999 Deluxe was possibly delayed for Piano & Microphone 1983 and again delayed for Originals. 3. It will include Prince's original version of "Jerk Out" (which was going to be on Originals but was bumped off because Jay-Z insisted on including "Love Thy Will Be Done." 4. The original "piano version" of "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" will be included (this version was recorded at his home studio in mid-April 1982, while the released version was done at Sunset Sound later that month). 5. They will not censor the original versions of "Extraloveable" (originally recorded in 1982, released in 2011 as "Xtraloveable") or "Lust U Always". What other songs do you want to see in a deluxe edition? I'd like to hear "If It'll Make U Happy" and "Teacher Teacher."
This will probably be a must-buy for me unless they royally screw it up. I'm suspecting something similar to PR Deluxe.... where we bemoan the stuff that's missing, or the "wrong" versions of certain unreleased tracks.... but in hindsight, we still got a LOT of rarities from the Vault in amazing quality. --"Extraloveable" is one of my favorite rarities EVER, so this needs to come out in studio quality AND unedited. (The less said about Prince's awful 2011 "remake," the better.) --"Purple Music" needs to be on here, multiple versions floating around so I'm not sure which one to pick. --"Turn It Up" is another possibility, along with the long version of "Delirious." (Both are these are circulating in near-studio quality.) --Would they save "Teacher Teacher" for the Parade/SoTT era? Since Prince kept working on it with Wendy & Lisa and it was originally planned for Dream Factory. --At the risk of over-praising Jay-Z, finally releasing "Love Thy Will Be Done" was 100% the right call. And finally, it probably won't be included since it's a cover, but the Prince version of "Do Yourself A Favor" (from 1982) is SOOOO good. (His greatest "old man vocal" ever??) Hopefully a studio-quality version sees the light of day at some point.
I've never been happy with my original 1999 release, not a lot of excitement in the grooves. So rather than buy/look for a better release I'm looking forward to this deluxe issue.
That's a good point. I don't think it's a problem for them to "double up" on songs that were worked on in different eras. A Dream Factory release will have different versions of "Strange Relationship" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man", so why not give us different versions of unreleased songs? Agreed, I totally forgot about that one! Great track.
This really makes no sense to me: "2. 1999 Deluxe was possibly delayed for Piano & Microphone 1983 and again delayed for Originals." Not at all saying it isn't true, but wouldn't the sales of a 1999 deluxe dwarf the other two combined? Anyway, business shenanigans aside (who cares?), BRING IT ON!
For details, watch the video. It's just two people talking, but they explain how they learned their information. It seems vault archivist Michael Howe fast-tracked Piano & Microphone 1983, which he pretty much admitted in interviews. I'm guessing that the Estate has more say in these matters than Warner Brothers or Sony.
Nice tidbit from Peggy McGreary: Prince Remembered by Three Key Women in His Life I would suspect that we get that in a deluxe edition! Does that mean we get a longer version of "Irresistible Bitch" too?
patience........ in the next few years i believe we will get a plethora of prince re-issues, comps, live, and vault stuff. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ lots of it, to be made
Are you replying to anybody in particular? I'm not impatient. I just want to discuss an upcoming release.
no no no no one in particular at all. \i just firmly believe that the powers that be (whoever they may be) will milk the proverbial cow for all it is worth as fast as they possibly can. everything, and i mean everything, will get re-released, and i doubt it will take very long. they seem to be releasing in three's right now, they may even up that to four's or five's if the stuff sells well enough.
Oh absolutely, I agree. I appreciate that the Estate is getting the catalog back in print, so that people can discover these great albums that were sometimes ignored by the general public upon release. The deluxe versions are interesting, because every Prince fan would do it differently. And since a lot of these outtakes were mixed to cassette and never 1/2" masters, they can either release the cassette mixes (I suspect that they did this for many tracks on the PR deluxe) or recreate the mixes from the multitracks (which was done with Originals, minus "Love Thy Will Be Done"). It's a Catch 22: either release Prince's mixes (usually done quickly as they weren't intended for release) in cassette quality, or recreate the mix and deal with the fan's objections (the excessive use of reverb rather than delay, backing vocals done at later dates, etc). I'm just thankful I can enjoy the songs. Had Prince properly mixed everything that he gave to others, fans would be listening to "authentic" masters.
Not sure why I never noticed this article from April: Coming soon from Prince's vault: New 'Originals' album, documentaries and more
I really am looking forward to this - the idea of having an HQ copy of Extraloveable is just amazing.
Confirmed by the Star Tribune in their recent article about Paisley Park. Prince's estate to assume management of Paisley Park
Rumor online is that there will be two CD versions: 1) A four disc set (unknown what that will contain) and 2) a 10-disc super deluxe version with 30 unreleased songs, a live disc (or two?) from the 1999 tour and a DVD of a live concert. It is supposed to be released before Christmas this year.
This should be fun to explore when it comes out. Hopefully there is some live stuff in the set. His catalogue needs more live releases.
My wallet is already aching. And my mouth is drooling. I'm not a Prince expert, so I have no idea what is rumoured to exist from that era, apart from what I know from http://www.princevault.com So it might be that the album is spread over 2 discs, a disc with single versions, B-sides & remixes and then the rest. Maybe 2 live discs and some discs with outtakes/alternative versions plus a DVD. OK, I'll wait for the official announcement, but I hope this is a good one.
4 discs of 1999 is perfect for me, assuming it includes edits, mixes and maybe some rough/alternate takes. 10 discs is stretching my shelf space/interest level - but 4 works.
Oh, that's right, "Irresistible Bitch" IS considered "1999-era". It confuses me, because it's actually a Purple Rain outtake, but ended up as a late 1999 B-side.