National newspaper The Australian (Iain Shedden, Saturday 4 September) gives The Vault 4/5 stars and says:



Yes, that's Prince, the artist later to become known as the artist formerly known as the artist you first thought of. Back when he was simultaneously cool and on fire, and had just one name to his, er, name, Prince could knock out a great tune at the drop of a funky bass line. Such was his genius that some of them landed on the cutting-room floor at Paisley Park -- ironic, given the amount of limp dross he has trotted out in recent years, especially the triple album Emancipation. What we have here, then, is a sexy reminder of what he's capable of and a tribute to his main influences. Slinky Al Green-meets-Sly Stone soulfulness abounds in a collection that amounts to his best album since Lovesexy. What was his name again?