I know this has been brought up a zillion times, but I feel since Prince has become a JW he won't remaster his catalog of music. I've seem him state in a lot of interviews he dosen't like to go backwards in his music. So I find it hard to believe that he'll remaster anything he's done in the past.
Plus a lot of his early music is overly sexual. I'd be afraid that he'd edit a lot of the music if he did so.

I think he will...just to control the future of all of the recordings. I think we'll get remasters one by one as he gains control of each one.

I still have (gulp) hope.

Well I'm not holding my breath.

WB are all for it, but Prince seems very on/off about the whole thing
(I think the lyrical content of a lot of his earlier albums are a bit
of a sticking point with him). Just look at the situation with all the
albums that Prince DOES own the masters to and could easily remaster
and re-release anytime he wants... They're all deleted.

I hope it happens,but somehow I doubt it

Well, put it this way...
Prince own the masters to 'The Gold Experience' outright. He could re-release
it tomorrow through NPG Records if he wanted to. It isn't tied up with any WB
issues (they were merely contracted distibutors for that record and have no
say in what happens to it). The problem is that he DOESN'T want to release it.
It contains far too much bad language and general lyrical content that he
doesn't agree with anymore. He knows that an 'edited' version would be
unacceptable to the fans, but he can't condone it's release it 'as is' in
his current moral/spiritual position. So as things stand at the moment...
It will never be released again. Sad but true.
[Edited 12/31/04 10:35am]

BorisFishpaw said:

Fuck me, that sucks.

Prince is free to do what he likes, it's his life and his career - but I really do hope he comes to his senses on this (and related) issues soon

Why remaster ?
No need to !
He'needs to make NEW good music
i agree with him
[Edited 12/31/04 12:40pm]

Dewrede said:

Because to a large majority of us want to hear SOTT, 1999, Purple Rain, Controversy, Dirty Mind, Around The World In A Day, Parade, Lovesexy and The Black Album mastered with modern equiptment so they don't sound thin and over peaked. You can't even hear some of the subtle parts on the current CDs that you can on the original vinyl.

U people are crazy if u think they wont be released...if anything, Prince has WB by the balls and is holdin out for what HE wants. There's TOO much money at stake
for either side to not want come to terms.


I'd rather see a release for the SPUN soundtrack at this point anyway.

Dewrede said:

What do you mean there's "no need to"? Many of his early albums ('Controversy' and 'Dirty Mind' especially) sound like shit on CD! The sound quality is flat and lifeless.In 2004,he made alot of new fans who are now gonna go back and buy the older albums.It's a shame they'll have to listen to second-rate copies with lousy sound.

Dirty Mind was a demo on a record
it's supposed to sound raw like that

DavidEye said:

Dewrede said:

I feel the need to quote myself again

no, i haven't given up. he will no doubt slowly but surely gain the masters 2 all of his songs, even though he will probably re record but with fresher content 2 suit who he is and wants 2 become 2day.

I'll never give up hope, but that doesn't mean I'm optimistic.

I doubt Warners will ever just hand over the masters to Prince - they are like a goose that keeps laying golden eggs, after all - a constant source of income. I mean, there was that whole thing where MJ bought the rights to lots of Beatle songs from under the nose of Paul McCartney - in the end, Prince's masters would only go to a highest bidder if they ever went up for sale.

Besides, I thought Prince's idea was to re-record his music and therefore own the new versions? I always thought that would be a monumental waste of time when he could be doing new music instead - but an album of re-recorded greatest hits might be jolly, although I know everyone hated what he did with 1999.

metalorange said:

Warners should never just hand over the masters to Prince - for one, it's not his to hand over too, and two, it's a business transaction, and it should only go to the highest bidder, if the seller wants to sell.

Kind of a stale-mate situation maybe - Prince is too stubborn to let them re-release them because of his beliefs and he isn't with them any more, but they can't release them without his consent.

Prince did re-record his back catalogue, and other than from a voyeuristic point of view, I hope they never see the light of day.

This is a situation where the originator of the art is not always the best person to ascertain their wealth. Prince dis-regards his past recordings because of the language and themes expressed - it seems like he's running from his past rather than just accepting that was once where he stood.

Dewrede said:

Compare the vinyl to the CD...

Neversin.

NouveauDance said:

I think it has less to do with running from his past than it has to do with Prince's short attention span when it comes to his music. We are talking about someone who averages an album every year. At that pace, at any point in time Prince's number one priority is probably working on his next album. I always got the sense that it was a struggle for him just to promote his current release when the next project was his main agenda .

Basically, remastering 20-year old albums that would mostly profit WB is probably not that high on his to-do list.

I think people are confusing masters with publishing rights.

Universaluv said:

But re-recording his entire back-catalogue and playing the hits year in, year out is on his to-do list?


» NouveauDance
[Edited 1/1/05 11:50am]

NouveauDance said:

Making $87 million playing the hits last year was definitely on his to do list. Has that infamous "re-recorded back catalogue" seen the light of day? Of course not. And please don't say that it is cause Prince talked about doing it.

A friend of mine works for WEA & he said there has been proposals & serious talks about it. I think its just working out the money & timing. ANd the time is now with Prince's popularity. I work in a fairly notable/famous music store & you'd be surprised how many Prince CD's we sell to young and old. There is definetly a new interest in Prince. I think with the success of Andre 3000, Alicia Keys, and "artier" groups like Air name dropping Prince-people want to know what this guy is all about.

As far as I why he should remaster: The vinyl is a far superior transfer (the technology is pretty much the same since around 85-87), but the technology of digital transfers/masters (PMCD's) were really in its infant stages when Prince put out CD's. He really put out all his material when the technology was really in a testing phase. You're really are missing alot on the CD's. The dynamic range is compressed, the clarity is blurred, and the bass is to cold. When you listen to the record, I seriously get a better sounding CD when I copy the vinyl to a stand alone CD-Burner. The sound better then the consumer CD's.

As far as him remastering the Gold Experience and the one's he owns the masters to...well why should he? They were made with pretty good mastering digital transfering & Prince had alot of the stuff people record with now (pro-tools etc) back then. So I don't think there would be much difference, kind of pointless.

I think he should remaster every CD from FOR YOU-to-THE HITS & B-SIDES. The siongle disc albums should become a two disc set with the second disc being 12's, B-Sides, and outtakes. The booklet could have famous pics from the era, quotes, etc. I think it will show the growth of Prince. And it will be a nice tribute to his career.

After Testing the waters with those, & if they do good then he should release the notable associated artists: The Time, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Sheila E., Jill Jones, and Madhouse. He could make one pressing of them & the fans with eat them up.

I could dream right...? But with the success of Bowie's remasters, and all the Jazz remasters-I think the industry knows that they stay in business from catalog titles (music collection standards: Purple Rain, A Love Supreme, The Beatles, Pet Sounds, Ziggy, London Calling) They stay in business because there is always someone who is just getting interested in Jazz, or The Beatles, Or Prince etc. Where the Britney Spears' of the world generate one big check to fund the company & keep it afloat on its so so sales w/ catalog titles. So I think Prince remasters are eventual, and I have hope he will treat his own music as art and preserve/conserve it.

my 2 sense

nero

It's about time this happened.

Both Prince's alleged moral stance on the swearing and content, and his apparent apathy towards any remasters makes no sense. These albums are out there to buy anyway. He and WB should just get on with it.

I for one can't wait for them. They will come, as Marrk said: these albums are out there in the shops anyway, so there is no reason for Prince not to do it (apart from WB issues).

SquirrelMeat said:

There is some confusion here on this subject.

Firstly, the rights to the master recordings currently held by Warner Brothers will progressively revert to Prince, as far as we are aware, according the the contracts he signed. Prince has indicated that this is the case often enough, and his objection appears to be that WB should be returning those rights within a shorter time period than the one to which he has previously agreed.

It's possible that WB are contractually unable to sell/asssign those rights on to a third party without Prince's permission. In any event, such an assignment could not prevent the rights reverting to Prince according to the time period in the original contractual agreement.

Equally, it's quite possible that, when the rights do revert, Prince might have no interest in working on the material further. His objection regarding the masters appears to be that he does not currently have the right to do as he chooses with those masters, whilst WB are able to gather income from them.

Just as Boris points out regarding The Gold Experience, likewise Prince might choose to allow all previous releases to remain deleted once the masters revert to him.

Secondly, as far as publishing rights are concerned, those rights reverted to Prince several years ago, and he has struck a deal with Universal for administration of such rights to his back catalogue.
.