Prince Estate Signs Deal With Sony Music to Re-Release 35 Catalog Albums

Thanks. I was convinced I already had a Prince greatest hits on vinyl (including Nothing Compares 2 U) and hey, yes I do. It’s the 4 album box set Prince 4 Ever from 2017, which has 40 tracks. The track listing is very similar to Hits 1 and 2, but not exactly identical (and is sequenced differently). I either wasn’t aware before now, or had forgotten, but the Prince 4 Ever is mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. So folks looking for Prince hit albums might want to think which one(s) to buy. Good to have a choice.

 

I’m sure we will see the B Sides. Either as a RSD release or only as part of a Hits1-2 + B Sides box set.

 

Any explanation why THE B-SIDES omitted PARADE era?

 

It was the Tchibo limited edition on purple vinyl. I own a copy as well. I haven’t decided if I’m gonna rebuy vol. 1 again or just the second volume.

 

I thought that compilation was generally panned for faults and mastering. I know Kevin Gray does exemplary work but I read a lot of bad reviews at the time.

 

they need to release some new funk

forget the rehashes ...

 

Was it on purple vinyl? I had forgotten. Almost all these reissues are.

 

An important detail is that it hasn’t switched to Sony where you and I are, which may have something to do with the gap in the release schedule, I’m curious to see how they will handle that.

No explanation, except that this set was initally planned to be more expansive, 4 or 5 discs, so I guess they had to chop something. The Hits also ingnored the Parade singles except "Kiss", no "Mountains", no "Girls & Boys", no "Anotherloverholenyohead", likewise Lovesexy was largely ignored. Some of the "missing" songs were used on the singles released concurrently.

 

I guess all the “insider news” and speculation that a Diamond and Pearls boxset was imminent was just that, speculation.

 

There was a discussion a few pages back - it seems the recent court case might delay any archive releases:

Prince Estate Signs Deal With Sony Music to Re-Release 35 Catalog Albums

 

I believe The B-Sides was limited by the length of CDs at the time. That disc is 76 min and change. (So I guess the edit of "Alexa de Paris" could've fit, barely!)
For the most part, they got the track selection right.... I think the Parade tracks were ignored because "Love Or $" is more a jam than an actual "song" with verses and a chorus. Similarly, "Alexa" is an instrumental, and none of those made the cut. (We got the inferior vocal version of "God" over the awesome instrumental take.)

"Mountains" should've made the cut as a #23 U.S. hit. No other Parade singles made the Top 40, and same for every Lovesexy single besides "Alphabet St." Graffiti also got ignored FWIW (just "Thieves") and I guess you could say the same for Love Symbol (two singles out of the five that were released). And, of course, Batman was completely absent due to the legal issues.... although two of its singles showed up on the B-sides released to promote the albums? Odd.

Here's the "B-team" of singles that missed the cut for The Hits 1/2 but appeared on the various singles for "Pink Cashmere," "Peach," and "Controversy":
D.M.S.R.
Paisley Park
Mountains
Girls & Boys
Anotherloverholenyohead
Glam Slam
I Wish U Heaven
Partyman
The Future (Remix)
New Power Generation (Part II)
Money Don't Matter 2 Nite
My Name Is Prince

And just to drill down further, here's how each album shakes out in terms of representation on The Hits 1/2, with a larger number in parentheses to account for the B-side additions. Once you add those last tracks, the songs are more evenly distributed across the various albums.
For You: 1
Prince: 3
Dirty Mind: 4
Controversy: 2
1999: 3 (4)
Purple Rain: 4
ATWIAD: 2 (3)
Parade: 1 (4)
SOTT: 5
Lovesexy: 1 (3)
Batman: 0 (2)
GB: 1 (2)
D&P: 3 (4)
Love Symbol: 2 (3)

 

I don't think there's any doubt that there is such a set in existence in some stage of completion, since for example Michael Bland talked about a "re-release" that they were "working on”. I'm not sure anyone who had insight has said that it was imminent though.

As I mentioned, it was supposed to be four or five discs originally.

That describes many of his song and seems like a weak criteria for exclusion. How is for example "God" any more an actual song in that sense?

Being a Top 40 single doesn't seem to be a criteria, quite far from it actually, "Soft And Wet" only went to #92, "Controversy" went to #70, "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?", "Uptown", "Dirty Mind" and "Do Me, Baby" didn't chart at all and "I Feel For You" and "When You Were Mine" weren't even singles. There is really no such strict and simple logic based in statistics as to why songs were included or not. Personally I prefer those early songs and like that they are inlcuded, but it seems random.

4Ever is much more logic in that way (even if it too makes a few "mistakes", singles like "America", "Anotherloverholenyohead" or "I Wish U Heaven" could have been incuded over things like "Gotta Stop (Messin’ About)", which is a B-side, or "Moonbeam Levels", which they just should have saved for later.)

These were all likely supposed to be part of the compilation before it was pared down, and they probably had masterings prepared so they decided to spread them out on the singles instead. (The only non-single is "D.M.S.R.", which I think is in this company because it wasn't on the early CDs of 1999, and I wonder if using "Part II" of "New Power Generation" was a mistake...)

 

The only egregious error on 4Ever, IMHO, is the atrocious single edit of "Let's Go Crazy" that absolutely butchers that glorious guitar solo at the end. I would rather not hear the song at all than hear it in that version. YMMV.

 

Yeah, they could've just as easily left off "Escape" or "200 Balloons" or "God," instead of "Love Or $." I guess they had to cut something to make everything fit. The Parade B-sides are the only notable exclusions, I believe, in terms of actual distinct SONGS and not remixes or "suites" or whatever, although I might be forgetting something else.

They didn't use "Top 40 single" as a criteria for the early stuff... or otherwise "I Wanna Be Your Lover" would be representing the first 4 albums!
Once Prince starts making bonafide hits with 1999, the only non-Top 40 singles included from that point on are "If I Was Your Girlfriend" (which is a classic, so no argument there), "Sexy MF" (#4 in the UK, which might've been a factor), and the non-single "Adore" (which is one of Prince's most beloved hits on R&B radio, so I get that too).

That said, skipping multiple Top 40 singles seems.... odd. "Take Me With U" and "Money Don't Matter 2 Nite" were at least from well-represented albums on Hits 1&2. "Mountains," as I mentioned before, REALLY should've been on there and it's baffling why it was left out. Same with "I Would Die 4 U," an actual Top 10 hit... and short enough to have been added to either Hits 1 or 2 without going over the limit?!?

 

I think one of the advantages of that compilation, and something that makes it worth owning, is it uses those (in some cases, like this, rare) single edits, like them or not (and I don't like that edit either). I'm pretty sure you, and most other Prince fans, have the album version of "Let's Go Crazy" somewhere else.

Right, and when doing that you get Very Best Of, I think the early albums need more reprenstation then that. But I think here they overcompensated and they got too much representation, three songs from Prince and four from Dirty Mind (including songs that are just album tracks), while there's only one each from Parade and Lovesexy seems lopsided the other way, also those two albums stand out in their lack of songs being chronologically each side of Sign wich has five songs (again including a non-single album track). I think The Hits is very unbalanced and it's like someone had some sort of agenda when putting it together (although I can't quite figure out what), I guess the whole bit about one of the discs having explicit songs could have influenced what was picked (i.g. extra Dirty Mind songs).

 

Gotta Stop (Messin' About) was a single A-side in the UK.

 

I Would Die 4 U is on the Hits 2. I agree though that Parade is definitely underrepresented. Mountains absolutely should have been included.

 

I Love the B sides disc so much. Just a great listen. Never listened to the other two CDs. Would love a Parade box.

 

Not remastered by Gray or Grundman, so a hard pass for me. I am glad I bought the 4Ever Vinyl Box Set remastered by KG before prices exploded once all of the Vinyl Retail Sites were sold out. Actually, got my copy at Barnes & Noble the year it was released.

I recall looking at the Prince Website Store when The Hits 1 Purple Vinyl was released, which seemed expensive, so I bought an expensive 1999 Hoodie instead, which lead me down the rabbit hole of getting a few different colors of the 1999 Hoodie, including the Zipper Version. Then bought the Black Jacket with the Symbol of the Titles of the First Half of his Discography. I spent a lot of money to get some Prince Clothing. The material is on the thin side, but the embroidery is well made. Although, I had no more need to buy any more Sports Teams & College Hoodies or ones from my California Surf Shops, as already own more than I need, so I felt less guilty paying a little extra to buy a few of the Prince Hoodies and Jacket.

 

Parade SDE Box Set or The Black Album/Lovesexy SDE Box Set are next on my wish list. Have to be honest that a SDE Box Set for Diamonds and Pearls does not interest me, as I only like about half of the Songs on the Album. Now, if they can package the 2 Women(Diamonds & Pearls) circa Early 1990s within a potential SDE Box Set(hey it beats Scarves and Marbles), then I would be all in.

 

No one wants the 7" single version of songs like "When Doves Cry". I love Kevin Gray. The best in the biz. But please raise your hand if you prefer the version with Prince's guitar solo hacked off the end... I wish Kevin would have been asked to remaster "Purple Rain". That remaster turned out awful...

 

KG did cut this 2009 Vinyl Reissue:

Prince And The Revolution - Purple Rain

 

True. I have the original version on Purple Rain, obviously. But I bought the 4Ever set so that I could have all of the big hit songs in one place. That way, when I'm just in a mood to hear the songs that were (mostly) radio songs, I can do that.

Problem is, while many of those songs were played in their single edits on pop radio, "Let's Go Crazy," as a general rule, was not. In fact, I lived through the 80's, and I never heard that godawful edit until just a few years ago.

When I did, I thought, "What the Hell did they do to my favorite song on Purple Rain? And for God's sake, why? To save literally 5 seconds? WTF?" I still find that edit more unforgivable than any other one on that set. YMMV.

 

I have that version, and it's quite good. It's less hot and bright than Bernie Grundman's OP. Some people will like that (very rich, warm low-end), some will not. I own both, and I'm torn. (KG's 1999 yielded similar results.)

On one hand, Kevin's version is probably more lifelike and perhaps truer to what Prince likely envisioned. On the other hand, Bernie's version has a bracing immediacy to it that's a bit lacking on Kevin's cut.

So, it's just down to personal preference. My usual go-to is the Bernie cut. But every now and then, when I want a less "in your face" version of PR, I'll throw on the KG cut. Both excellent, though. Really can't go wrong either way.

 

Same. If there are any outtakes, on D&B Super Deluxe (if they even release that.), I'll just nab them off iTunes...after listening to them and determining if they are any good. Who knows. Maybe there's a half-album's worth of classic tracks that left off in favor of the crap he released.