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

Very happy if CB is issued on vinyl in April.

I guess SST will be remastering like the other straight releases with the crapshoot that is MPO pressing on purple vinyl.

Sony, get ready for lots of returns if you continue to use MPO and not use Optimal like WB did for all the deluxe reissues.

 

It seems they want them to not be available then, or else they'd be on all streaming sites already.

I actually don't understand this sentence, how are the two mutually exclusive? Who is it that has given up on what? Seems like they will continue releasing his "basic" albums as deluxe editions.

 

As stated in the post I quoted, Tidal had a pre-existing exclusive on those titles.

 

The post you quoted was me, I know they're on Tidal, everything has been on Tidal from back when P. was around, so they have a pre-exising deal, but I've never seen anything about them having an exclusive deal for the NPG material that says it cannot be released or streamed anywhere else? If so then the estate does not have it "in their power to do whatever they want". I think we'll have to settle for that we don't actually know where the NPG albums stand.

 

I knew that I’d regret starting my post with “I’m sure...”

Yeah, we don’t know any details outside of what has been stated publicly.

I’m not trying to get in any argument about these albums. I really don’t care that much. But I suspect that, streaming agreements aside, they will eventually do something with them.

I’m not really sure why you’re arguing with me. I just popped on this thread the other night after cranking up Exodus and now I’m in some pissing contest.

 

I'm not trying to argue, I'm just commenting. I'd really like to see the NPG albums be made available and I guess I just got carried away and overpassionate when they were brought up, and maybe with the wrong tone. Sorry...

 

I am still flying high on the SOTT deluxe, so I am super excited for even Diamonds and Pearls getting a potential deluxe treatment. Once the vault got properly looked at, what they have done from the 1999 Deluxe onwards in my opinion has been pure gold

 

No worries, it's easy to get caught up in this stuff!

 

Diamonds & Pearls isn't my favorite album, but there's a lot of good stuff there and I'm really intrigued the Vault tracks...

 

I would really like them to stop doing Deluxe versions of albums that have already been remastered by BG and KG in the 2010's. I really don't dig buying every album again and again and again. While the 1999 and SOTT remasters are nice, its the Vault tracks that we want.

Just release " Vault " stuff for a given time period - like they do for Dylan with the " Bootleg" ongoing series.

 

That dvd is really disappointing. I think you were being kind when you described the direction as amateurish - the crew seem drunk to me!! They can't seem to even frame Prince in the shot properly.

I only saw Prince live once and it was on this tour so I would love a better dvd / blu ray of the tour.

 

As more of a digital fan than vinyl, I am glad there are proper digital reissues and remasters of the released albums overall. For me I was just as interested in the SOTT remaster on CD as I was the Vault tracks and bought it primarily for both equally

Since there really aren't any proper remasters of the remaining albums that have been remastered digitally beyond a couple of HDTracks versions that are minimally different, I am totally cool with the deluxe versions as they have been occurring personally. I see it as a win-win - everyone gets the best of both but those who just want the Vault tracks can buy them digitally or stream them

Of course Vault material will come out in various ways - Piano and A Microphone and Originals for example are themed and specific. But I am totally cool with specific eras of material being tied with the released album that eventually came from said era

 

I'm a fan of both digital and vinyl. And IMO, with the exception of Purple Rain, there has not been a single remaster in this series that hasn't been an improvement over the original. Even the original SOTT Bernie Grundman pressing on vinyl - which was always vastly better than the CD OP - is not as good as the most recent SOTT Grudman remaster. The low-end on the new SOTT is killer, and there's a bit more clarity. It also bests the Kevin Gray 2010, for my money, although it was great, as well. I hope they keep doing these deluxe editions the way they've been doing them. At least until they get through all of the heavy-hitters that haven't seen re-release yet. YMMV.

 

According to 'sources' on Prince.org, the CB reissue will be announced today (Thursday).

And it will be a straightforward reissue, not a remaster.

 

I do prefer the original Euro German pressing of SOTT's to the current remaster. Its a little leaner and meaner in the bass and overall a bit more edge of the seat life to the music. The current is very good thou and agree better than the KG 2010.

 

I guess than means stupid purple vinyl, mastered by SST and hopefully not pressed @ MPO.

 

Well I am glad I grabbed my CB copy for 20 bucks a few years ago in that case, if it is the same mastering lol. Cool that it will be available for people to easily obtain though as opposed to fighting for a copy via secondhand market

 

If true, that's sad news. The OP of CB is a DR6. If ever there was a set in desperate need of a remaster...

 

Even so, I doubt a remaster would improve things and probably sound more brickwalled. I doubt multi-tracks even exist for this kind of vault material. Besides, the original doesn’t sound that bad considering it is DR6.

 

They don’t need multitracks, just the original mixdown tapes. Prince was still working in the analog domain in the late 90s, so if they were able to reassemble the collection from those tapes, the dynamic range could improve. But it really depends what’s in the vault and what is playable.

 

Hopefully it comes with at least a couple of new songs that makes easier the decision to buy stuff we bought more than 20 years ago. I still have the War cassette and the t shirt that came with the online order

 

I’m happy to fork out the cash for CB on vinyl even though I have the original 5-CD edition. I’m dreading the price though

 

Well, none of this is confirmed yet - but the 'source' on the org seems very sure of themselves. Guess we'll find out soon enough...

As for the mastering - Sony have remastered most of their Prince reissues, so I'd be a bit surprised if they don't remaster CB for this release. Maybe they figure that only Prince diehards will buy this, and that they'll buy it no matter what.

Will I buy it no matter what? Probably. I used to have the CB CD set, but I sold it. And I only ripped the files to MP3 in 128kb...

There's something about the prospect of spinning an uncompressed (in terms of data size) version of the 10 minute Crystal Ball that gives me chills.

 

I hope they include War...that would get me to rebuy this.

 

I was just about to post exactly the same thing, word for word.