Alan

Like many serious fans, i have always loved your writing and accounts of Prince matters. The recent interview with OKP was so satisfying to read. Your liner notes in 1993, your articles, your 'goodbye' to Prince have been the kind of stuff we long times need right now. I hope you can somehow insert yourself into the discussions taking place now to determine what to do with his vault work...how best to make money but preserve his legacy by not 'selling out'. We fans feel we knew him and this is why it has been so painful for so many but you actually DID know him. You were privy to business discussions that most were not. For example, you would know if Prince would have ever entertrained release of certain live shows or live videos. There must be a reason why he did not actually release much live material despite recording everything. OR, maybe you know it was b/c WB would not allow. So, i can not think of anyone better to dive in and make the right decisions on behalf of him. There are so many ways to make $$ and remain true to him.

Blue Ray releases of the most incredible live material....i'm thinking those mid 80s after shows (Camden Palace)....offical releases of every amazing tour ...those elaborate sets and incredibly put together productions MUST be seen by more than us fans.

As for music, I like your idea of revisiting all of his material...some of it sounds terrible. I don't even play SOTT or The Black Album b/c they sound so bad. They need a complete refresh job so we can hear what he actually intended and they should also have associated out takes released too.

Finally, you could bring together former band mates or engineers who would be keenly interested in preserving Prince's legacy and helping prepare the material. All of you would know what Prince was most proud of, what he may have been blocked from releaseing....even the stuff that he would not want released. This is a unique opportunity to say the least and i hope you are not just waiting for a call. I hope you do something to insert yourself.

Right now, we fans don't even have any offical merchandise to buy to celebrate his life ...I canjust imagine the amzazing numbers of unseen photographs that can be used in his honour at this time.

RB

Alan, please!

...and ask jay z to pay you and quest and sheila for the work... you are the only people i could imagin to do the work in the best way. yeah, that would be the best for princes work and for the fans ... inside you know what to do....

[Edited 6/13/16 8:20am]

JoeyCococo said:

We need someone who appreciates Prince's entire catalogue, not just the 80's material or material featuring familiy members and close friends. That rules out Alan Leeds and some of the other people mentioned.

[Edited 6/13/16 12:49pm]

You are not going to find one person that can represent ans speak for all of Prince many phases. Michael B Nelson may be someone who is most in tune with what Prince was doing right now (Pangea??). What I am saying is that an overseer is required...someone who understood Prince, his motives, someone privy to past business discussions and just as importantly, somoene who loves music. Alan Leeds is that guy. Plus, he has experience doing this for the James Brown material.

Alan can decide to bring in whoever he feels would make the right decisions. Thsi is an enormous project and you need a pro, not just someone who realy loved Prince...you need someone who truly cared and is experienced in this kind of thing. Let's do it right.

Trust me - if someone like Alan does not get pulled into this, we're going to see 17 diff releases of Purple Rain and 1999 in the coming months/years. The 'experts' will focus right in on the most popular Prince material and not the 40 year history.

As for the comment about this not being Alan's decision but the familie's. I agree. I hope they are listening. I really hope Tyka Nelson is as intelligent as Prince was and can understand how best to preserve Prince's legacy and make money too. what I'm saying is that Alan should do whatever he can, lean on whatever contacts he has to insert himself. The family is grieving...they liekly could use some very good advice.

JoeyCococo said:

Alan

Like many serious fans, i have always loved your writing and accounts of Prince matters. The recent interview with OKP was so satisfying to read. Your liner notes in 1993, your articles, your 'goodbye' to Prince have been the kind of stuff we long times need right now. I hope you can somehow insert yourself into the discussions taking place now to determine what to do with his vault work...how best to make money but preserve his legacy by not 'selling out'. We fans feel we knew him and this is why it has been so painful for so many but you actually DID know him. You were privy to business discussions that most were not. For example, you would know if Prince would have ever entertrained release of certain live shows or live videos. There must be a reason why he did not actually release much live material despite recording everything. OR, maybe you know it was b/c WB would not allow. So, i can not think of anyone better to dive in and make the right decisions on behalf of him. There are so many ways to make $$ and remain true to him.

Blue Ray releases of the most incredible live material....i'm thinking those mid 80s after shows (Camden Palace)....offical releases of every amazing tour ...those elaborate sets and incredibly put together productions MUST be seen by more than us fans.

As for music, I like your idea of revisiting all of his material...some of it sounds terrible. I don't even play SOTT or The Black Album b/c they sound so bad. They need a complete refresh job so we can hear what he actually intended and they should also have associated out takes released too.

Finally, you could bring together former band mates or engineers who would be keenly interested in preserving Prince's legacy and helping prepare the material. All of you would know what Prince was most proud of, what he may have been blocked from releaseing....even the stuff that he would not want released. This is a unique opportunity to say the least and i hope you are not just waiting for a call. I hope you do something to insert yourself.

Right now, we fans don't even have any offical merchandise to buy to celebrate his life ...I canjust imagine the amzazing numbers of unseen photographs that can be used in his honour at this time.

RB

I agree with the premise. Only thing I disagree is Questlove being involved in the process. Only associates that actually was employed by him as bandmates, touring musicians, engineers, and administrative employees for his enterprises should be consulted on how to best curate his musical holdings because they had first-hand experience working with Prince and has an idea on how would have wanted his music presented and heard.

bashraka said:

JoeyCococo said:

Alan

Like many serious fans, i have always loved your writing and accounts of Prince matters. The recent interview with OKP was so satisfying to read. Your liner notes in 1993, your articles, your 'goodbye' to Prince have been the kind of stuff we long times need right now. I hope you can somehow insert yourself into the discussions taking place now to determine what to do with his vault work...how best to make money but preserve his legacy by not 'selling out'. We fans feel we knew him and this is why it has been so painful for so many but you actually DID know him. You were privy to business discussions that most were not. For example, you would know if Prince would have ever entertrained release of certain live shows or live videos. There must be a reason why he did not actually release much live material despite recording everything. OR, maybe you know it was b/c WB would not allow. So, i can not think of anyone better to dive in and make the right decisions on behalf of him. There are so many ways to make $$ and remain true to him.

Blue Ray releases of the most incredible live material....i'm thinking those mid 80s after shows (Camden Palace)....offical releases of every amazing tour ...those elaborate sets and incredibly put together productions MUST be seen by more than us fans.

As for music, I like your idea of revisiting all of his material...some of it sounds terrible. I don't even play SOTT or The Black Album b/c they sound so bad. They need a complete refresh job so we can hear what he actually intended and they should also have associated out takes released too.

Finally, you could bring together former band mates or engineers who would be keenly interested in preserving Prince's legacy and helping prepare the material. All of you would know what Prince was most proud of, what he may have been blocked from releaseing....even the stuff that he would not want released. This is a unique opportunity to say the least and i hope you are not just waiting for a call. I hope you do something to insert yourself.

Right now, we fans don't even have any offical merchandise to buy to celebrate his life ...I canjust imagine the amzazing numbers of unseen photographs that can be used in his honour at this time.

RB

I agree with the premise. Only thing I disagree is Questlove being involved in the process. Only associates that actually was employed by him as bandmates, touring musicians, engineers, and administrative employees for his enterprises should be consulted on how to best curate his musical holdings because they had first-hand experience working with Prince and has an idea on how would have wanted his music presented and heard.

Agreed. Enough with Questlove and Touré.

Genesia said:

bashraka said:

I agree with the premise. Only thing I disagree is Questlove being involved in the process. Only associates that actually was employed by him as bandmates, touring musicians, engineers, and administrative employees for his enterprises should be consulted on how to best curate his musical holdings because they had first-hand experience working with Prince and has an idea on how would have wanted his music presented and heard.

Agreed. Enough with Questlove and Touré.

Questlove you're fired.

paulludvig said:

We need someone who appraciates Prince's entire catalogue, not just the 80's material or material featuring familiy members and close friends. That rules out Alan Leeds and some of the other people mentioned.

I agree. Based on things that have been said in the past I do not want any Revolution era associates in control of this process at all. I do not trust any of them to be objective. They should only be consulted in an advisory capacity.

Guitarhero said:

Genesia said:

Agreed. Enough with Questlove and Touré.

Questlove you're fired.

Questlove? I never mentioned him in my original post. I think he's a great fan and obviously has access that fans like us don't have but I would not consider him someone who should be brought in to work on a project like this. NO NO NO.

We need people who worked with Prince, who he trusted, who understand him.....now, we can't make that call. This is something I am hoping Alan can do. He would know who would be worthwhile to call in.

Certainly he (Alan) can gather opinions from who ever he wants but I would not choose Questlove only b/c he had nothing to do with Prince's vault material, as far as we know.

Sheila, Wendy, Lisa, Michael Bland (maybe), Eric Leeds, Dez Dickerson, Susan Rogers...I think these people should be consulted. Frankly, Manuela and possibly Matye too as they'd know how he personally felt about some of the material.

Guitarhero said:

Genesia said:

Agreed. Enough with Questlove and Touré.

Questlove you're fired.

I don't even want Questlove's or Toure's name mentioned in connection with this.

The only person I trust to be objective and agenda free is Jimmy Jam.

JoeyCococo said:

Guitarhero said:

Questlove you're fired.

Questlove? I never mentioned him in my original post. I think he's a great fan and obviously has access that fans like us don't have but I would not consider him someone who should be brought in to work on a project like this. NO NO NO.

We need people who worked with Prince, who he trusted, who understand him.....now, we can't make that call. This is something I am hoping Alan can do. He would know who would be worthwhile to call in.

Certainly he (Alan) can gather opinions from who ever he wants but I would not choose Questlove only b/c he had nothing to do with Prince's vault material, as far as we know.

Sheila, Wendy, Lisa, Michael Bland (maybe), Eric Leeds, Dez Dickerson, Susan Rogers...I think these people should be consulted. Frankly, Manuela and possibly Matye too as they'd know how he personally felt about some of the material.

Good God, no. The last thing we need is Mayté's overemotionalism or Manuela's self-aggrandizement involved.

Genesia said:

bashraka said:

I agree with the premise. Only thing I disagree is Questlove being involved in the process. Only associates that actually was employed by him as bandmates, touring musicians, engineers, and administrative employees for his enterprises should be consulted on how to best curate his musical holdings because they had first-hand experience working with Prince and has an idea on how would have wanted his music presented and heard.

Agreed. Enough with Questlove and Touré.

sick of both of them.

babynoz said:

paulludvig said:

We need someone who appraciates Prince's entire catalogue, not just the 80's material or material featuring familiy members and close friends. That rules out Alan Leeds and some of the other people mentioned.

I agree. Based on things that have been said in the past I do not want any Revolution era associates in control of this process at all. I do not trust any of them to be objective. They should only be consulted in an advisory capacity.

No one should be allowed to use Prince to promote themself. I fear that will be the case if people from a specific period are allowed to control the legacy.

JoeyCococo said:

Guitarhero said:

Questlove you're fired.

Questlove? I never mentioned him in my original post. I think he's a great fan and obviously has access that fans like us don't have but I would not consider him someone who should be brought in to work on a project like this. NO NO NO.

We need people who worked with Prince, who he trusted, who understand him.....now, we can't make that call. This is something I am hoping Alan can do. He would know who would be worthwhile to call in.

Certainly he (Alan) can gather opinions from who ever he wants but I would not choose Questlove only b/c he had nothing to do with Prince's vault material, as far as we know.

Sheila, Wendy, Lisa, Michael Bland (maybe), Eric Leeds, Dez Dickerson, Susan Rogers...I think these people should be consulted. Frankly, Manuela and possibly Matye too as they'd know how he personally felt about some of the material.

Alan Leeds would favour his brother Eric first, and his friends Wendy and Lisa second. Nothing wrong with that., Those are people who should be consulted, but not the only ones. Prince was more than an 80's act.

As for Susan Rogers. What about the other engineers? What makes SR special, other than she talks a lot.

Genesia said:

JoeyCococo said:

Questlove? I never mentioned him in my original post. I think he's a great fan and obviously has access that fans like us don't have but I would not consider him someone who should be brought in to work on a project like this. NO NO NO.

We need people who worked with Prince, who he trusted, who understand him.....now, we can't make that call. This is something I am hoping Alan can do. He would know who would be worthwhile to call in.

Certainly he (Alan) can gather opinions from who ever he wants but I would not choose Questlove only b/c he had nothing to do with Prince's vault material, as far as we know.

Sheila, Wendy, Lisa, Michael Bland (maybe), Eric Leeds, Dez Dickerson, Susan Rogers...I think these people should be consulted. Frankly, Manuela and possibly Matye too as they'd know how he personally felt about some of the material.

Good God, no. The last thing we need is Mayté's overemotionalism or Manuela's self-aggrandizement involved.

Ya, I'm with you....

OperatingThetan said:

The same interview where Alan stated the vault contained mostly 'unfinshed' material and that he'd only issue a fraction of it as bonuses on a remaster series? He's the last person I'd want on the job. Other than Shelia E who stated she wanted the vault destroyed. That hasn't stopped fans voting for her to have major input either. Bewildering. [Edited 6/13/16 12:48pm] [Edited 6/13/16 12:49pm]

Indeed!

Genesia said:

JoeyCococo said:

Questlove? I never mentioned him in my original post. I think he's a great fan and obviously has access that fans like us don't have but I would not consider him someone who should be brought in to work on a project like this. NO NO NO.

We need people who worked with Prince, who he trusted, who understand him.....now, we can't make that call. This is something I am hoping Alan can do. He would know who would be worthwhile to call in.

Certainly he (Alan) can gather opinions from who ever he wants but I would not choose Questlove only b/c he had nothing to do with Prince's vault material, as far as we know.

Sheila, Wendy, Lisa, Michael Bland (maybe), Eric Leeds, Dez Dickerson, Susan Rogers...I think these people should be consulted. Frankly, Manuela and possibly Matye too as they'd know how he personally felt about some of the material.

Good God, no. The last thing we need is Mayté's overemotionalism or Manuela's self-aggrandizement involved.

That goes for all of the people mentioned so far in this thread.

OperatingThetan said:

It's probably also worth mentioning that Alan has been a total arsehole toward Prince for about the last decade. He's reversed his opinion slightly since Prince died (probaby because he wants a job or thinks there's money to be made) but still can't resist making barely veiled criticisms in the interview you're refering to. [Edited 6/13/16 12:48pm]

Again - spot on!

Alan, pls disregard all this noise. This message was only for you...no idea how I would send you a private message so i posted here.

I don't understand all this garbage talk of you speaking badly of prince for a decade...Prince was a polarizing character...we all know that. I don't buy any of this crap. Just ignore it all and carry on...

As for Manuela, she seems to get a bad rep here which I do not get. Remember, she is the only one that has done anything of any significance in honour of Prince. This means something to me.

paulludvig said:

babynoz said:

I agree. Based on things that have been said in the past I do not want any Revolution era associates in control of this process at all. I do not trust any of them to be objective. They should only be consulted in an advisory capacity.

No one should be allowed to use Prince to promote themself. I fear that will be the case if people from a specific period are allowed to control the legacy.

Exactly.

JoeyCococo said:

You are not going to find one person that can represent ans speak for all of Prince many phases. Michael B Nelson may be someone who is most in tune with what Prince was doing right now (Pangea??). What I am saying is that an overseer is required...someone who understood Prince, his motives, someone privy to past business discussions and just as importantly, somoene who loves music. Alan Leeds is that guy. Plus, he has experience doing this for the James Brown material.

Alan can decide to bring in whoever he feels would make the right decisions. Thsi is an enormous project and you need a pro, not just someone who realy loved Prince...you need someone who truly cared and is experienced in this kind of thing. Let's do it right.

Trust me - if someone like Alan does not get pulled into this, we're going to see 17 diff releases of Purple Rain and 1999 in the coming months/years. The 'experts' will focus right in on the most popular Prince material and not the 40 year history.

As for the comment about this not being Alan's decision but the familie's. I agree. I hope they are listening. I really hope Tyka Nelson is as intelligent as Prince was and can understand how best to preserve Prince's legacy and make money too. what I'm saying is that Alan should do whatever he can, lean on whatever contacts he has to insert himself. The family is grieving...they liekly could use some very good advice.

Trust me, if someone like Alan gets control of this, all we will get is Revolution rehash.

I'll chime in just to mention that Elvis Presley's estate has done an excellent job with his vault. They have a special series entitled "Follow That Dream" aka FTD (which is actually it's own record label) where they release concerts,studio outtakes, alternate versions, and everything you can think of. FTD also releases DVD/Blu-Rays of concerts,etc. Often, there will be a special FTD edition of a standard mass market release. For example, if Prince had FTD, and a Staples Center 2004 DVD was released, the FTD version would have elaborate artwork and include an extra DVD of the aftershow and possibly the audio from the show on CD. If an album like SOTT was released there would be an FTD version containing a disc of outtakes and alternate versions, etc.

Anyhow, I think this is a good format to follow. I'm not as big an Elvis fan as I am Prince fan, but I took notice to this FTD thing after a visit to Graceland. It's a really nice thing they have going if you're a fan. I bought a few of the products and they are of the highest standards as far as printing, resolution, care, and thoughtfulness. I hope this help whomever is in cahrge out there - check out the elvis shop on his offical site - it could save you a lot of time!

Also, here is a list of FTD releases so you can get an idea. They do them quarterly (4 times a year)

http://www.elvispresleyftd.com/follow_that_dream.html

[Edited 6/13/16 13:06pm]

Genesia said:

JoeyCococo said:

Questlove? I never mentioned him in my original post. I think he's a great fan and obviously has access that fans like us don't have but I would not consider him someone who should be brought in to work on a project like this. NO NO NO.

We need people who worked with Prince, who he trusted, who understand him.....now, we can't make that call. This is something I am hoping Alan can do. He would know who would be worthwhile to call in.

Certainly he (Alan) can gather opinions from who ever he wants but I would not choose Questlove only b/c he had nothing to do with Prince's vault material, as far as we know.

Sheila, Wendy, Lisa, Michael Bland (maybe), Eric Leeds, Dez Dickerson, Susan Rogers...I think these people should be consulted. Frankly, Manuela and possibly Matye too as they'd know how he personally felt about some of the material.

Good God, no. The last thing we need is Mayté's overemotionalism or Manuela's self-aggrandizement involved.

Ain't that the truth.

babynoz said:

JoeyCococo said:

You are not going to find one person that can represent ans speak for all of Prince many phases. Michael B Nelson may be someone who is most in tune with what Prince was doing right now (Pangea??). What I am saying is that an overseer is required...someone who understood Prince, his motives, someone privy to past business discussions and just as importantly, somoene who loves music. Alan Leeds is that guy. Plus, he has experience doing this for the James Brown material.

Alan can decide to bring in whoever he feels would make the right decisions. Thsi is an enormous project and you need a pro, not just someone who realy loved Prince...you need someone who truly cared and is experienced in this kind of thing. Let's do it right.

Trust me - if someone like Alan does not get pulled into this, we're going to see 17 diff releases of Purple Rain and 1999 in the coming months/years. The 'experts' will focus right in on the most popular Prince material and not the 40 year history.

As for the comment about this not being Alan's decision but the familie's. I agree. I hope they are listening. I really hope Tyka Nelson is as intelligent as Prince was and can understand how best to preserve Prince's legacy and make money too. what I'm saying is that Alan should do whatever he can, lean on whatever contacts he has to insert himself. The family is grieving...they liekly could use some very good advice.

Trust me, if someone like Alan gets control of this, all we will get is Revolution rehash.

True!

JoeyCococo said:

Alan, pls disregard all this noise. This message was only for you...no idea how I would send you a private message so i posted here.

I don't understand all this garbage talk of you speaking badly of prince for a decade...Prince was a polarizing character...we all know that. I don't buy any of this crap. Just ignore it all and carry on...

As for Manuela, she seems to get a bad rep here which I do not get. Remember, she is the only one that has done anything of any significance in honour of Prince. This means something to me.

1. Alan has not had contact with Prince since Hector was a pup.

2. Alan Leeds is not a musician.

3. Alan has zero current, first hand knowlege of the vault.

4. Alan is stuck in the 80s.

5. Thankfully Alan has no ability to comply with your wishes because none of this is in his hands to begin with and I hope it stays that way.