Let's hope they actually have look for/have access to master (or very low gen) tapes! Also, let's hope they don't digitally limit the hell out of the original album like they did for Purple Rain.
I made my own deluxe edition of this years ago that was the album proper, plus dream factory, Camille, and a slew of outtakes. I could see it being: LP 1-2 SOTT remaster LP 3-4 B-sides, remixes, etc LP 5-6 Dream Factory Lp 7 Camille LP 8-11 outtakes LP 12-13 SOTT Live Show
Sounds great, that many extra disks surely will cover most of all the Dream Factory, Crystal Ball, and Camille tracks we all know and love plus more! The 1999 box set was fantastic both in content and sound quality so I am really excited about this one
I doubt the DVD is the film of the same name, probably something else. Especially when a Blu-Ray edition is available, its a downgrade otherwise
I really hope it's not. And I have the movie soundtrack ripped to audio so I don't need that either. But I do need a proper full show from the SOTT tour...hopefully they put in the extra effort instead of what labels too often do and just bundle stuff they have handy together.
OTOH - rather that just including all of the unreleased tracks from those unreleased albums on the bonus discs, they could opt to release all of those unreleased albums in their entirety (which would be largely redundant - (and arguably a waste of space): Crystal Ball 2CD/3LP Dream Factory 1CD/2LP Camille 1CD/1LP I do wish they'd squeeze all of the Sign O The Times double album on a single CD though (I haven't timed it myself to check if it will all fit, but according to wikipedia it will, as it is (very slightly) under 80 minutes long.
I'm really looking forward to seeing track lists for the super deluxe version, as 6 discs aside from the actual album is a lot of space for unreleased tracks. If stuff from Crystal Ball/Dream Factory/ Camille lost albums gets included which seems inevitable then I'd like to see some possible artwork ideas be incorporated into the presentation. I've always liked S'O'TTs cover, mainly for Prince being in soft focus and slipping out of shot. Genius even in the details. Only owning the CD album and DVD means there is potential for hopefully some great photos/artwork to see the light of day. I really liked what they did with Purple Rain deluxe set - nice and compact but with stylishly designed and plenty to look at, and would be happy if the same formats get applied here. I find it annoying when re-releases are done but the format design keeps being adjusted from one album to the next. I prefer consistency with that kind of thing, just me. And I won't go for it for any price, it has to be fair. I suspect the deluxe set will be priced more reasonably than the big one. Thanks to OP for the news!
You can bet that the DVD won't be the Sign O The Times movie - the rights to that are tangled, WB doesn't have the rights to it, notice the deluxe version of the movie that came out last year was not even released in the U.S. I'd be very surprised if it's included in this set. We'll see. There's no need for them to include the Crystal Ball album. Crystal Ball is Sign O The Times Plus Seven Songs. Those seven will surely be on one of the vault discs. Now, Dream Factory is another thing though, and despite the bits of repetition from SOTT, Dream Factory deserves to be included in full. It fits on one disc, and is a great album on it's own. While the Camille album is Awesome, I'd rather see that as a standalone release, maybe for RSD or something. It could be included here, but again, there's the issue of duplicated tracks.
I definitely would rather the Vault tracks discs be just straight chronological based on recording date, as I believe they ordered them for 1999 deluxe. Including things like Dream Factory and Crystal Ball would make for way too many duplicated tracks and take up room on the disc where the heaps of other outtakes could be! Though I will admit that I would love to have Dream Factory be issued standalone someday...
They could do that - however I definitely do hope they take the "less redendant the better" aporoach! I think that with six bonus disks they could include all of the material from CB/Dream Factory/Camille, and even include the early versions of the SOTT songs that had different mixes for Dream Factory (Strange Relationship for example). That way they still have room to spare for random assorted tracks from that era not associated with those albums
Do you really think they will repeat tracks (those that are in common) several times to have that configuration as a sequence? I think it would seem odd to all but the hardcore fans. There will probably be lots more format design changes along the way as the rights to these album pass from one label to another I also don't think the concert film is what's on the DVD as Warner won't have the rights to release that in every territory. I don't think they should duplicate tracks at all on this Deluxe, that is just odd and would be a waste of space (as there so much else that can be included here). What I envison and hope they do is they just add those tracks that are unique tracks as bonus tracks and then do some or all of the Dream Factory, Camille and/or Crystal Ball albums as separate releases (maybe vinyl only, all of them would work as RSD releases).
They can still do deluxe editions for Parade, Batman, Graffiti Bridge and evening a better Purple Rain.... assuming the Estate’s deal with Sony allows them to license the bonus tracks to WB. All these releases are licensed by the Estate, so I would assume they have the power to pick and choose.
With Purple Rain I think that was more of a one-time blunder considering it looks like they used the remaster Prince himself submitted years back (Josh Welton mastered I believe) and many vault tracks from not ideal sources before a proper look and archival of the actual vault was even done at that point. Some of the sound quality on that was really questionable to say the least! Specifically Our Destiny/Roadhouse Garden and the Hallway Version of CB The 1999 box set I was a lot happier with both in scope of the vault material and with the mastering of the original album - so for this SOTT release I actually am going into it feeling very excited! If it is similar audio quality and presentation as that box set I would be a very happy camper
If they're smart (and I think they are), they'll include all of those tracks as an archive, without preserving the original tracklistings and redundant tracks (I think Dream Factory can be done without any complete duplications with the finished album, so that might work). They can provide a roadmap to reconstruction in the liner notes. Then they get to release the alternative albums Crystal Ball and Camille as RSD (or standalone) vinyl limited editions. It would take a hard-hearted Prince fan not to double dip in that scenario.