Hi guys,

(i don't know if this has been reported here before, couldn't find anything about it, but) the first 10 Prince albums are coming out in July as mini-LPs. These will be Japanese SHM-CDs in cardboard sleeves faithfully reproducing (hopefully) every detail of the original LP covers, so it's worth checking out. Keep in mind that these are limited editions, often sold out prior to the release date, so don't forget to preorder in time.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/...key=147611

Cool, I guess Lovesexy is included,

if only these were re-mastered....

thedance said:

they're (most probably) not remastered. Which is a shame, i agree. I think i'll resist buying these, hoping to live long enough to see the day when his entire catalog comes out remastered, with bonus material. Whishful thinking, i know...

Here's a review of the SHMCDs:

http://www.positive-feedb.../shmcd.htm

Very interesting.

Here R the Prince SHMCDs:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/...key=147611

Can anyone confirm if these are remastered?

SoulAlive said:

They are not. Still worth getting for the SHM-CDs and the nice covers though.

not remastered but will sound better anyway.

I'm excited about this, but $25 USD for each is a little steep.

KaresB said:

True

So they are basically just a CD in a cardboard sleeve? Like a CD that looks like a small LP?

So the deal is that SHM discs have a somehow, substantially more clear protective plastic (excuse me - polycarbonate ) layer, but the data layer is still red book specs. Wow. Holy snake-oil.

If your "standard" CD has a clean surface, and your CD player's laser lens is free of dust - you're golden. Investment in a really good player with a quality D/A converter might be a better alternative than re-stocking your collection with SHM releases.

That said, Japan has very high quality standards in the manufacture of CDs. So these possible collectibles won't sound worse than what you already have.

By the way, the glowing SHM reviews seem to be plants. Just sayin'.

Oh, and please correct me if I'm off base here. Anyone have a SHM CD that sounds better than a regular CD?

EmeraldSkies said:

They're fun to collect.I recently ordered four of these CDs by Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio.

daPrettyman said:

That's the only thing that I hate about these reissues

KaresB said:

I'm really starting to believe that Prince's catalog might not ever be remastered.Maybe we'd better just buy these Japanese reissues and enjoy the less-than-perfect sound quality They're fun to collect,too.

squirrelgrease said:

I'm thinking about getting SOTT just to see the difference. It could only help the original horrible mastering. I wouldn't mind getting his first 4 albums also in this new format.

daPrettyman said:

Did U know that Sign O' The Times CD was actually mastered from a cassette version? Seriously.

So glad I still have and play all my vinyl.


.
[Edited 5/29/09 8:56am]

Giovanni777 said:

No, I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised. That's WB for you.

Giovanni777 said:

I never knew that, but it explains a lot. When I bought the CD about a decade ago, it always seemed to me like the sound was really bad compared to my vinyl copy. Is this also the case with 1999, because that vinyl also sounds better to me?

I'm kind of an audio noob, but why can't they go back and just master these off of a pristine vinyl copy? Would that improve the current CD quality?

daPrettyman said:

Can't hurt. Let us know if you get it. I have Japanese copies of Controversy, Dirty Mind and For You. The sound difference is certainly not eye-opening, or even apparent without headphones. And only slightly at that.

Giovanni777 said:

That really puts it into perspective. Unbelievable. I'd never heard this, but it sounds about right.

I caved,and bought a couple of these.They look interesting.

EmeraldSkies said:

Give us a review when you get them.

squirrelgrease said:

Yes, I do have several SHM releases and they do sound slightly better than their previous Japanese version. Which already sounded slightly better than their US or EU edition...

Not sure if i'd be able to afford all of these Prince titles, but if you do, you won't be disappointed. Not only the sound will be better (of course, only if you listen to it through a high quality system), but the cardboard covers are works of art. Seriously. The Japs reproduce every single detail (including cardboard thickness and type, inner covers, original LP labels etc.) beautifully.
[Edited 5/30/09 1:17am]

Giovanni777 said:

Don't be silly Where did you get this from? Perhaps it originates from the fact that most CD manufacturers used U-matic tape as their media of choice for CD pre-mastering at the time?

daPrettyman said:

What do you mean? Most of Prince's Warner albums are very well mastered, including SOTT (don't forget that mastering means keeping the sound as it was intended by the original artist and mixing engineer). It's his later ones that are horribly mastered: The Rainbow Children, Musicology, LotusFlower, MPLSound are prime examples but nearly all of his post-Warner releases sound garbage (and i'm talking only about sound quality now).

KaresB said:

SOTT is HORRIBLY mastered. It is the worst of his WB albums. We have discussed that here many times.

daPrettyman said:

I strongly disagree and i happen to know what i'm talking about. The mastering of Prince albums went downhill ever since Emancipation and it's getting worse with every new release.

KaresB said:

daPrettyman said:

I have a feeling you are mainly concerned with the overall "loudness" of CDs, but it has nothing to do with mastering (it's just a very common misconception that "mastering means compression and boosting gain"). The vast majority of Prince's post-WB albums are very badly mastered - they just sound loud but their dynamic range is horribly squashed, some of them are even badly distorted, a pain to listen to.

If you happen to dislike the sound of SOTT, fine, it's up to you, but it's the sound the mixing engineer and Prince wanted - so don't blame Bernie Grundman for that, he wasn't asked to remix, he was asked to master the record. And he did that well.

KaresB said:

I am not basing it on the "loudness" of the cd. This issue comes when the sound was mastered for cd. The original lp is not muted sounding like the cd issue of SOTT. I'm not going to discount your theory, but there is a distinct difference in the sound of SOTT vs all of his old cd issues. If you listen to the latter reissues of songs from SOTT on albums like The Very Best of, Ultimate, Girl 6, etc. You can hear the difference. We are not saying that Bernie Grudman did a horrible job, but who ever prepared the album for cd didn't do a good job, that's it.

BTW,why would you say his albums after he left WB have been horribly mastered when Bernie Grudman has mastered most of them?