starkitty said:

BTW Josh was with him at th e Dakota two days prior to his death,, He clearly thought highly of him regardless of what some on here think; dont be surprised

JudasLChrist said:

Susan Rogers on MPR:

MPR: What do you think will happen to all that stuff (in The Vault)?

Susan Rogers: I don't know, but I would hope that someone who - his attorney, maybe, who was in charge of his affairs - will go through and assign that material to other musicians; musicians he worked with, to finish up and release. I would hope that the material from the 80s would get put in the hands of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman and Bobby Z., the musicians who were part of the original Revolution so we could finish that stuff up the way he liked it, and put it out there.

Yes, please! I really would like to see Susan, Wendy and Lisa as "curators". I think they would be great for it...

To be brutally honest, I didn't even like the idea of 2016 Prince touching it, never mind someone else who was around at the time. Even although they, being more mindful of their capacity, would be less inclined to tinker as Prince may have done.

To this day I can't listen to Crucial on Crystal Ball. The mix is an absolute catastophe. The listening experience is so much better on a fourth generation bootleg.

So, a minor clean-up is all I want to happen. Just put it out as is, warts and all.

mynameisnotsusan said:

Perhaps any decisions about his music should be on hold for 12 months. The next year we'll see a rush of mediocre musical tribute albums, performances, documentaries and "tell all" books. You need time and space to get the best people for the job and create a well thought out and respectful release.

starkitty said:

mynameisnotsusan said:

Maybe more in the sense of speaking of their time together. She was right there with him at his creative pinnacle, especially as far as touring.

so was Sheila, who is actually a musician. I just don't see what cat adds.

her vocals were on most of the tracks. Cat did the choreography for the SOTT show and the U Got the Look video as well as many parts of the Lovesexy tour and certain videos

Sheila E should be there of course (even though she did not play drums on most of the tracks of the Black album or Lovesexy) but because she was attached to the and on them.

The both definately played a big part in those 2 albums

I'm not saying Cat needs to have musical direction, but I think it makes a difference. She is friends with many of those from the 1983-1986 years as well. And there was supposed to be a follow up show @ first Avenue after Bobby Z initial one, and she was going to be a part of it with the Revolution.

What about all the footage? Didn't Kevin Smith say Prince shot a ton of high production music videos that were never released? All those self documentaries inside Paisley Park. All the video of rehearsals and concerts probably going back to the early 80s.

EnDoRpHn said:

Susan Rogers is one of the last people Prince would want anywhere near the vault.

This is from the retracted Ebony interview that he gave in December 2015 (the full text is online if you know where to look):

"There was one engineer who said that their sole purpose in life was to get the stuff out of the
vault, and get it copied so it wasn’t lost to the world. I’m trying to figure out if that’s illegal.
Should I fear for my safety that you might need some medical attention? You want to come
up in my vault and you feel like that belongs to you and that’s your purpose? You better find
something to do. That’s scary."

You may not like it, but those are his own words, written in response to her interview with BBC last year. He clearly resented the intrusion.

[Edited 4/24/16 13:05pm]

.

Yes I've seen this and I've read and watched her interviews. It's too bad he felt that way about it. I think he took what she said way out of context. She was saying that he was so prolific at recording that she felt this stuff needed to be preserved and cataloged so it was not lost. Hence they started the "Vault". She then went on to say she hoped that it get's digitized because the analog tapes degrade after time and it would be a shame if this material was lost to the world. She did not imply or suggest she would be involved in any way. She just seemed like a huge fan gushing how wonderful this stuff was. She was very passionate It didn't seem sinister as Prince made it sound. Then again I don't know her personally. Prince does.

.

I'd like her to be involved with the material she was a part of. She is an engineer so there may not be a whole lot for her to do anyways. The thing is there is probably so many different types of stuff in the Vault. There's finished audio tracks or outtakes. Then there are probably tons of demos. Some polished and some very rough. Then you have videos, concerts, and possibly movies. So some things need far less involvement than others.

[Edited 4/24/16 20:43pm]

SmiggyG said:

EnDoRpHn said:

Susan Rogers is one of the last people Prince would want anywhere near the vault.

This is from the retracted Ebony interview that he gave in December 2015 (the full text is online if you know where to look):

"There was one engineer who said that their sole purpose in life was to get the stuff out of the
vault, and get it copied so it wasn’t lost to the world. I’m trying to figure out if that’s illegal.
Should I fear for my safety that you might need some medical attention? You want to come
up in my vault and you feel like that belongs to you and that’s your purpose? You better find
something to do. That’s scary."

You may not like it, but those are his own words, written in response to her interview with BBC last year. He clearly resented the intrusion.

[Edited 4/24/16 13:05pm]

.

Yes I've seen this and I've read and watched her interviews. It's too bad he felt that way about it. I think he took what she said way out of context. She was saying that he was so prolific at recording that she felt this stuff needed to be preserved and cataloged so it was not lost. Hence they started the "Vault". She then went on to say she hoped that it get's digitized because the analog tapes degrade after time and it would be a shame if this material was lost to the world. She did not imply or suggest she would be involved in any way. She just seemed like a huge fan gushing how wonderful this stuff was. She was very passionate It didn't seem sinister as Prince made it sound. Then again I don't know her personally. Prince does.

.

I'd like her to be involved with the material she was a part of. She is an engineer so there may not be a whole lot for her to do anyways. The thing is there is probably so many different types of stuff in the Vault. There's finished audio tracks or outtakes. Then there are probably tons of demos. Some polished and some very rough. Then you have videos, concerts, and possibly movies. So some things need far less involvement than others.

[Edited 4/24/16 20:43pm]

I think the final point on all of this is that there are reasons -- and they are Prince's -- that they never worked together again. It may not seem reasonable or rational to you or me (hell, I remember feeling like I was hit by a bowling ball when I found out he had disbanded the Revolution), but they are his decisions nonetheless. We don't have to like them. But we do need to accept them, however begrudgingly, because no amount of bit*hing here is going to change them.

V10LETBLUES said:

Yikes! Can't help but feel like we're vultures. Never satisfied while he was here, now all we van think of is going through his stuff and picking at his bones.

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I know what you are saying. I feel like that too. It's a great for coping though and nobody means any disrespect. It makes the future without Prince not as final to talk about this stuff.

paulludvig said:

All of these folks are to self-serving. If they get their hands on the material they will make it look like they wrote everything. They have been able to shape the way we think about Prince's career way to much. Have you read Eric Leeds' 'tribute' to Prince. He only talks about himself and his closest friends from that time. Not one word of praise for Prince as a musician.

I tend to agree with you. I would prefer the unreleased material be released in whatever state Prince finished the song in. There are many reasons why Prince dissassociated himself from these various persons people have been suggesting finish the material. I am hoping Prince made his wishes known as to who should finish the material or at least can remaster the sound for 2016. I always remember Wendy and Lisa's interview for the 20th aniverssary of Purple Rain and how it seemed they took credit for those infamous opening chords as if Prince had not used chords like that until they came along. Prince had similar sounding chords on his first two albums because Prince was influence by Joni Mitchell not by W&L. My concern of having other producers involved is that the quality of the songs may be changed too much and that would ruin the music.

Well, if Prince knew he was dying you can bet your bottom dollar there are several albums that have been mastered, mixed and with artwork along with release schedules and designated outlets ready to go. We already know about Free Urself, and the Atlanta Show. He mentioned two Revolution albums and songs he deliberately kept back from record companies. I think there will be enough finished-no-need-to-touch-it music that can be released without interferance. He setup his preferred outlet for his music last year with Tidal. That may well become the first point of call for any releases for a long time to come.

Who knows, maybe there is a will which says he wants all the music released for free!

Of course, if his death was unexpected and he wasnt prepared, then this could all get very very messy, especially if there is no will.

I wouldn't want anyone from the old or new days to be in charge.

Give it to people who have curated major collections of recordings from an informed, historical perspective.

Have everyone else be involved on the tracks on a relevant basis, AFTER signing something to the effect that they will not make any claims as to the material.

Sorry, but the number of people with chips on their shoulder and potential claims to this and that is extreme and could result in long legal disputes. Anyone involved should be in it for the legacy -- pay them a fee but make sure they can't litigate.

NO BLOODY PRODUCING! Mix and master, end of.

Listen, there is one, just one, lost Shakespeare play. It's called Cardenio. And the tragedy is that it was found 250 years ago. Only by then it was a bit dated (or rather, it seemed so given the fashion of the time, now it would not seem so). So it was 'fixed'. And guess what happened? The fixed version survives, the original does not. And scholars now consider it prety much worthless (although almost all agree it was genuinely made from a Shakey original).

So even if something sounds sparse and very 1982 and like it might have been finished before the horns went on... just leave it as it bloody well is!

Aerogram said:

I believe the material should be left untouched. It doesn't have any sense to me to have people, whoever, working on the tracks. There's a lot of material that's ready for release anyway and whatever is in more demo-like state should be made available as such for the hardcore fans if not for the masses.

Aerogram said:

I wouldn't want anyone from the old or new days to be in charge.

Give it to people who have curated major collections of recordings from an informed, historical perspective.

Have everyone else be involved on the tracks on a relevant basis, AFTER signing something to the effect that they will not make any claims as to the material.

Sorry, but the number of people with chips on their shoulder and potential claims to this and that is extreme and could result in long legal disputes. Anyone involved should be in it for the legacy -- pay them a fee but make sure they can't litigate.

I agree, but wouldnt Alan Leeds fit that bill? I think he's in the unique position of already having a similar experience with James Brown, and having a long, working relationship with Prince.

funksterr said:

Nope. Just give it to me in whatever state Prince left it in.

Absolutely. All other responses are now null and void.

OldFriends4Sale said:

starkitty said:

mynameisnotsusan said: so was Sheila, who is actually a musician. I just don't see what cat adds.

her vocals were on most of the tracks. Cat did the choreography for the SOTT show and the U Got the Look video as well as many parts of the Lovesexy tour and certain videos

Sheila E should be there of course (even though she did not play drums on most of the tracks of the Black album or Lovesexy) but because she was attached to the and on them.

The both definately played a big part in those 2 albums

I'm not saying Cat needs to have musical direction, but I think it makes a difference. She is friends with many of those from the 1983-1986 years as well. And there was supposed to be a follow up show @ first Avenue after Bobby Z initial one, and she was going to be a part of it with the Revolution.

we'll agree to disagree on the value of her contribution. i see her posts on fb and strongly believe cat now is miles away from cat then, and not in any way that would enhance any prince songs.

.

[Edited 4/25/16 8:53am]

The big question is about raw, unmixed multitracks, before any verb or delay etc. went on. Who gets to be the final authority on those mixes?

Mind you, maybe such tracks are the exception to the rule, and Prince had everything finished in 2.0 stereo before it went into the vault. Hope so! Anyway, I sure would like to find out...

W&L would be the best choice to oversee any upcoming albums of Vault material.

[Edited 4/25/16 8:53am]

databank said:

breakbeat said:

W&L would be the best choice to oversee any upcoming albums of Vault material.

[Edited 4/25/16 8:53am]

No, not really. They should be a source for information, but not the only source.

darkroman said:

Wendy and Lisa would be an amzing choice as they have the talent, creativity and expertise to curate the vault.

.

Hopefully if the worldwide distribution of HitNRun 2 proves to be successful, then hopefully the business people will take this opportunity seriously.

.

On another note, didn't Prince say in an interview that the vault already contained two finished albums by the Revolution and one by Vanity 6. So no work would be required.

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Not to mention the love and respect - which would be equally important for a project like this.