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

Never listened to too much of these later Prince records. As some of you mentioned Musicology is pretty quiet at least on my vinyl. I'm very impressed with 3121 and it may be my favorite Prince record at the moment. How did this not get much radio play when it was released? I remember hearing Cinnamon girl all over the radio but nothing from 3121.

 

My copy of Planet Earth is flat and silent. Sounds great. It’s far from my favorite Prince album, but it has its moments.

I haven’t listened to either 3121 or Musicology yet because my copies have issues. One record of Musicology has a large gouge in the side of the vinyl! It sucks. And 3121 is warped, and the cover has a big gash right on Prince’s head. Amazon replacements on the way.

I thought it was amusing that they replicated the annoying, non-closing flap on Musicology. I’ve always hated that CD packaging. In vinyl dimensions, it’s absurd. What happens if they reissue N.E.W.S. on vinyl? From day one I’ve loathed opening that CD packaging. I can’t imagine doing that on 12” scale.

 

I picked up "3121" at an indie today. $29.

I've had this on CD since it came out and always felt it was way too loud to enjoy. This LP issue lets the songs breathe and you can finally get inside of them instead of having a ton of bass thrown at your ears.

QC is fine as far as I can tell.

 

Good question. Te Amo Corazon was the first release from the album, but it came out what felt like 6 months before the release (or maybe longer). Then Black Sweat came out. Then Prince played Fury on SNL. This all happened before the album finally came out. He really pushed this album including offering a prize of a concert for a few people who had tickets hidden in the CD. He was even planning on a film accompanying this album (which is why you see ‘The Music’ printed on the label.) There are still hopes the film will see the light of day.

The album hit number 1 on the charts, but sank quickly after that and as Prince normally does with every project he lost interest. I still think it’s his best album since The Gold Experience.

 

I'm really pleased with these. They sound and look great.

The 3121, Planet Earth and Lotus Flower triology is one of my Favorite Prince periods.

I listened to the abandoned Tamar album Milk and Honey the day before these got released. I think it's a great sister album to 3121. Shame it didn't get a release.

You could put together one amazing album from those 3 albums.

I hope they continue with these reissues.

 

Interesting that you mentioned these as part of a trilogy. I've always thought of 3121 and Planet Earth were part of a trilogy as well, but I always considered Musicology to be the opening chapter in the trilogy. It sounded, thematically and stylistically, in keeping with the other two. A bit more overtly commercial in places (and a bit stiff and forced at times), but otherwise similar.

Lotus Flower always sounded like its own thing to me. It's like nothing else in his catalog, but it's sporadically brilliant. Some of the best guitar work of his career. MPLSound always seemed like an odd pairing. Overtly commercial-sounding, but with no songs that sounded like hits. Kind of strange. But given that we're talking about Prince, I guess that shouldn't be all that surprising. His career was rife with head-scratching decisions.

But I agree that he did some of the best music of his career during this period. And I also agree that if you distilled these albums down to one single album, it would be as good as anything since the original run with the Revolution (including SOTT). JMO.

 

I remember all of that. I also remember that "Black Sweat" got a fair amount of airplay. I think I even heard that one more than I had heard "Musicology" or "Cinnamon Girl." Airplay was still a bit more regionally-based at the time, so that explains why other markets might not have heard it as much.

 

A number of the songs that appear on 3121, Planet Earth and Lotus Flower are all from the same sessions originally recorded in late 2004 with Michael Bland and Sonny T. 3121, Wall of Berlin, Planet Earth, Guitar, Colonized Mind, Love Like Jazz, From the Lotus and Back To the Lotus. There was an early 2007 configuration of Lotus Flower that contained a lot of the tracks that ended up on Planet Earth.

There are a number of other great songs from this period that have been released that make me hope for a vault release from this Period. You have Deliverance, The Morning After, I am, Touch Me, Sunrise Sunset, No One Else, In Large Room With No Light remake, Turn Me Loose and F. U. N. K.

 

That's interesting. I guess it shouldn't surprise me, given how wildly eclectic Prince is, that these songs all came from the same sessions.

 

Anybody pick up the CDs ? I'd like to know if there is an upgrade in the masterings?

 

I agree, not my favorite but this is sounding especially great on vinyl. Somewhere Here on Earth\Future Baby Mama with their jazzy vibe was giving goose bumps.

 

Looking forward to Diamonds and Pearls for sure.

I'd get Emancipation on vinyl - I suspect it would be a 6 LP set.

 

Listening to 3121 as I post this. At the very least I can confirm what has been reported before; the vinyl is pretty quiet. I hadn't heard much from this album, but I did catch his performance of Fury on SNL and thought this ain't bad. His backup dancers...

 

Jeez, I'd hope not - the sides would average 15 minutes each! 4-LPs would average 22.5 minutes a side, which is probably too much in this day and age. 5-LPs might be better, but the side breaks would be weird. Perhaps 4 1/2 LPs could work, with the 10th side having some design etched into it? This way, each CD could be evenly split on three sides of vinyl (averaging 20 minutes each). Not that I put much thought into this or anything...

 

A 5lp set would work well as the album is 180 mins long. This would enable all sides to be 20 min or less, so sound quality would not be compromised .

Can't wait for that - Mirror Ball on vinyl as well would be awesome. That may fit on to a 4lp set, but 5 would be great.

 

It's really not that different to the "Around the world in a day" Lp sleeve from 1985.

 

Shhhhh... he might slap a tariff on 'em.

 

These are already dropping in price in the UK, Amazon has Planet Earth for £27.99 and the other 2 are £29 something.

 

How about separate releases ... Emancipation Vol 1, Vol 2 and so on?

 

I just hope the releases keep coming.

 

Nah. That will just jack up the overall price.

 

Then 3121 goes up in price as the other two fall

Will pull the trigger when they are combined around £72, that is what they are worth

 

More info about the Rave set was posted on Dr. Funkenberry’s Instagram feed.

Here is a photo posted on French seller fnac.com:

 

Any word on the vinyl? I'm not really a fan of the album(s), but if they are indeed doing a vinyl release of Rave In2/Un2, that gives me more hope that we will someday see re-releases of albums like The Gold Experience, Emmancipation, and (dare I hope) Crystal Ball. Fingers crossed on this.