Very small article from todays Metro News in the UK:

2004 could be a big year for the reclusive Prince. Warner Brothers is re-releasing his 1984 film Purple Rain. As well as featuring the classic When Doves Cry, the 20th anniversary release will boast lost footage and two songs never heard before.

Hi:
As much as I love all of Prince's albums, and as exhausted as I am of the Purple Rain Soundtrack at this point in my life...( as I have had an overkill of the material from that album for close to 20 years now...)
I am actually looking forward to the re-release of the motion picture and the Special remastered Editon cd direct from the original master tapes because it needs a major overhaul in the dvd/ cd format.No exceptions!! The cd when you listen to it at this point in 2003 has a nasty hiss on it as well as being recorded way to low for our new millenium sound systems. The dvd is cloudy and the colors are dim and it is not in the animorphic 2:35:1 format, which is what a 16 x 9 widescreen television needs to fill it's size these days.
I am hearing many awesome things about the re-release as there will be deleted scenes added, as well as two songs that were cut from the soundtrack and film, and a possible documentary for the 20th Anniversary dvd set.
Also there is this, "Greatest Hits" tour that Prince will be doing for the next year right here in the United States which will boost it all!!
Purple Rain is a fabulous album and it was what introduced me to Prince in the first place, but in my opinion...Prince's career has so much more to offer than just a Purple Rain nostalgia act. Albums like,
" The Rainbow Children," " Lovesexy," " Sign O The Times,"
" The Gold Experience ( possibly Prince's greatest album!)
and " Diamonds and Pearl's" just to name a few offer up just as much... maybe even more than Purple Rain. Please do not get me wrong, I love "Purple Rain" and it does feature some of Prince's best work, but when I go through Prince's greatest...we'll he is just not finished yet to start naming all the shots.
June of 2004 does mark the official 20th anniversary of this cult classic that revolutionized music in the 1980's as we know it, so yes by all means it does deserve the full 20th anniverary revisited treatment in the dvd format and a full remastered Special Edition of the soundtrack on cd as well. Rumour also has it that a full 24 page full color booklet will be included in the remastered cd version, featuring unreleased photo's of Prince and the Revolution as well as documented insight on this Classic album.
I also have heard that a few songs will be added to the original 9 tunes that rocked everyone's world the very first time we opened up the full color vinyl record back in 1984. It will be a fabulous year for Prince on the nostalgia side as well as creating and releasing a full 14 track cd full of new songs alongside a bunch of new video's...so Let's go Crazy!!
Prince picked the best time to embark on a " Greatest Hits," tour as it will pick up even more as June approaches. I can hardly wait to hear it all!!
Peace:
Nicky Tuzio
e-mail: tuztones@peoplepc.com

I couldn't put it any better. I so agree.
I even do hope that all the campy hangouts of Prince's camp will join as well! I would looove to see Vanity 6 right now in 'lingerie' again, aged or not! And Morris and The Time on stage, Sheila E with that crazy explosive haircut! and probably she has something in mind with that pre-reunion concert she is organising right now. If Prince should participate... that would be something of a reunion for nce, wouldn't it?!
well we'll see anyway wqhat brecommes of it.


But my only qyestion is... which songs are to be added to the album? and where will they put them? i mean, pruple rain was in factg a short album, and there weren't that much songs left, is what susn rogers said, right?!

so could it be - wild guess - :
Electric Intercourse?
Wednesday?
G-Spot?
Computer Blue (long version)?

any more sugestions... anywynone?

(i really should take the time to read my postings first, and correct the errors, before i hit the enter button! )
blablabla

i'm trying to figure out where to put the songs on PR.
Is there going to be any input by Prince himself? Or can Warners just decide on their own, what to do with the original compilation of that album? i know Prince sold every rights he had for the music... but how come he gave them extra songs too..?

maybe that's one of the reasons why he cannot release unreleased stuff just like that, cause someof it is under strict regulations of his former record company...

tuztones said:

At this point, all this is rumour and speculation, not fact. There is no confirmation that Prince will take this tour to America yet you speak about it like it is definite!

I hope that all this happens. Though I doubt Prince will be that keen to help Warner Bros out that much since it will be making them more money than him since they own all the rights and everything. Whether they can add unreleased songs without asking Prince's permission, I've no idea. You would have thought he would have complete ownership of songs that never made it to an official release, but who knows? Perhaps it is like in some industries, say you are an inventor for an electronics firm, any work you do is owned by that company if it is released or not, you can't just go to another company or set up your own company with an invention you did on the original companies time, depending on the contract of course. Perhaps a lot of the songs Prince made on Warners time belong to them technically?

If Prince managed to get all his ownership rights back through this RUMOURED Universal deal, I doubt whether alone he has the financial clout to do all the processing and promotion it would need to do justice to a re-issue of Purple Rain.

metalorange said:

Good points, all. Perhaps, if the Universal deal is what we've heard, then WB may have gotten a few concessions out of it as well, such as the rights for a PR re-release with Prince's involvement. I do think that such a deal could be a win-win for WB, Prince and Universal.

Now, I personally am more eager to see a Sign O The Times film and album re-release/ remaster! This could happen, since Universal was the original distributor of the movie for theaters and video. I can dream, can't I?

Yes you can dream.

But then there's the fact that Prince told us (some years ago) that he was planning to rerecord every track ever recorded for Warners. And he was planning to release them also. That's what he said at the time of being, in different interviews. One of the new releases was that crappy re-recorded "1999 - the new version".
I can't believe he fucked up a great tune so bad! He even could've done it far more better with another producer for instance..
So i wonder. Should Prince be able to re-record PURPLE RAIN again? and release it that way, like he once said himself?Now that would be strange, wouldn't it?!

DOROTHYPARK said:[quote]Yes you can dream.

The truth will B revealed Soon...No DREAMS!

I read this and I had to laugh. Keep in mind that you are talking about a CD/LP and VHS/Betamax/Laserdisc that was released in 1984. A lot has changed in the ways of technology and if you feel this way about "Purple Rain," well let's go ahead and just release everything that will be sufficient to play in "our new millenium sound systems." Granted, I am excited as well about the rumored special edition and all that, but I just hope that Prince is able to benefit from all this on a financial basis. Keep in mind that this is through Warner Bros. and he is no longer affiliated with them, so let's just hope that they don't pimp this brother and the "Purple Rain" legacy.

tuztones said:

If this does happen, though, I hope it spurns a few more remastered albums - imo 1999 and SOTT are the shittiest sounding Prince albums on CD. They both sound great on vinyl, but it sounds like they used the vinyl masters for the CD; with it being a higher resolution medium, the sound just sounds washed out and flat.

DOROTHYPARK said:

My guess, Possessed, because it was in the movie, and Wednesday with Jill Jones if the scene is added to the special edition of the movie.

DOROTHYPARK said:

yes, it would be strange, though probably not in a good way. You know he would change all the lyrics to suit his new beliefs, and that would just completely blow goats!

Still, I'm not too worried about these newly recorded versions ever seeing the light of day. Prince said that quite a long time ago, and I think it has fallen the way of many of his various projects (remember "Roadhouse Garden"?). I would love to hear remastered CDs of his early material, but only if its the original, unedited versions.

If it is Warner Bros that is re-releasing Purple Rain and remastering the cd, then where is Prince's involvement?

Is there a deal? Or is this just WB trying to earn some extra money on P's back?

In this relation, who owns the masters now? What's the relation to Universal?... Questions Questinos... I dont' get it anymore...

Now that Sony's begun releasing remixed/remastered SACD hybrids of Bob Dylan's catalog, it's down to Prince and the Beatles for the honor of being the major recording act with the worst, most out-of-date CDs on the market. The Beatles CDs are nearly 17 years old, and a few of Prince's are even older.

I wish Prince would just suck it up and participate in a WB reissue program. This is his legacy we're talking about; does he want to be genuinely forgotten instead of just passe? Or is that question irrelevant because time doesn't exist and all that happy horseshit...?

I can't tell you how happy this makes me, they make a big deal out of all these other movies for their anniversaries...and this one is so deserving, I hope they have really nice packaging for it!!!

Just finally give us a goddammed letterbox DVD for pete's sake and I'll be happy.

TonyC said:

AMEN BROTHER!!! Couldn't agree more!

No, I don't htink it should be re-anything. Maybe on DVD or something, but that should be it. There are some things that you just don't fuck with. Purple Rain, as a movie is one of those things.

I really hope that I dont burst anyones bubble, but I think that if wb rereleases pr and ads the extra footage and songs and prince has no involvement wouldn't that be kind of strange slash corny. Its sort of a catch 22. u really look forward to the new version but in the back of your mind you know that prince had nothing to do with the new version.boy that sucks.I say that if there is anything that they need to rerelease it is sign o the times.that copy that they sold on the internet really sucked bad in the quality dept.I would love to hear a full live version of pr in concert now that would kick ass.

now to me what they need to release on dvd is the PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION..PURPLE RAIN CONCERT..that is and will always b a classic !!!

lace17 said:

co-sign...that concert never gets old 2 me...

does this mean if it does come out will prince and all the other people that were in it will be in it now?

What a shame, should PR be re-released P will always remain a "SLAVE" to WB (the vultures and hyena's of the 21st Century).

PR remains the classic it is due to its gritty film, ordinary acting and droppings on the cutting room floor...my feeling...leave good as alone and whilst reminising in our living rooms with PR of seasons past allow the artist P to keep spreading his inner musical wings to take us through his present journey with him. Isnt that what the current world tour is all about? Letting the past lay gracefully in the past and taking the next wonderful journey with him into his musical future?

Just a thought!

>sa<

SoulAngel said:

Aw, come on. Prince was just as much a slave master when he ran Paisley Park. Why do you think Ingrid Chavez named her album May 19 1992? That's the date her slave contract expired.
Margie Cox, George Clinton and Rosie Gaines all got frustrated by Prince continually postponing release of their albums.
But when he received back in kind (from WB) what he himself had sent out, did he like it? Nooo! Then it's suddenly a big deal and he's a slave and what have we.
And all along it was just about him wanting the money to himself without sharing with WB. Well, I hope he's pleased with what he's earning now on his NPGMC
[This message was edited Fri Oct 24 20:39:14 PDT 2003 by scififilmnerd]

love2thenines2003 said:

Could also be God (Love Theme from Purple Rain) - it only got released in the UK, right? And it was in the movie, so that and either Possesed, Wednesday or Father's Song would be my guesses, as possibly Warners has masters for those and could include them without Prince's co-operation?

Long version of Computer Blue would be cool as well, only that's been heard before plus Warners most likely do not have it, nor do I think Prince would sell it to them.

Maybe he'll do some "competitive" releases on NPGMC to coincide with Warners' release?

scifi,what the hell are you talking about? you know as well as I do that wb had the final say on album release dates, not prince.do you expect him to produce all of these albums,write all of these songs,tour,and while doing this have every release date on target.I understand that it is your opinion but sometimes you need to give some things alittle thought.you say things to get everyone all lathered,but you don't put much though into what you say.Where I come from people call such people jackasses.

Buy the way,has ingrid chavez done anything good since leaving prince.thats what I thought. and rosie 2 for that matter.

okay already with Purple Rain... im waiting for my special edition UNDER THE CHERRY MOON dvd... already have shelf-space reserved between GLITTER and SHOWGIRLS!

I am wet

4 your consideration > The truth is coming !!

WB Prince Back Catalogue owns 2 Prince NOW via UNIVERSAL!!