well..I dusted it off and took it for a spin the other day.. and after listening to a lot of older music (just been in that mood lately) I got a taste of some nicely crafted music.. then I popped this in...

and these songs really do have a nice craft to them. Its a very short and to the point record.. but the songs are very well done.. I realize this wasnt something Prince was looking forward to releasing, and warner threw this together as a final part of the contract.. but all in all.. they are really great songs..

I'd consider it a very memorable album by prince and consider it for anyone who is looking for that side of his music... due to the "craft"

ALL MUSIC Review

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Upon leaving Warner Brothers in 1996, Prince agreed to let the label release a collection of unreleased recordings from his legendary prodigious vaults at some point in the future. Warner unveiled that collection, unimaginatively titled The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, in the summer of 1999. Instead of an official release for several of Prince's legendary songs though, The Vault is a brief collection (under 40 minutes) of ten songs, recorded between 1985 and 1994 according to the liner notes — though they all feel like Graffiti Bridge (or maybe Symbol) outtakes. That's not a complaint, actually. There's a wonderful carefree feeling to the record, heavy on jazz and light funk, constantly swinging, and nearly always engaging. Only the title track has the necessary weight to announce itself as a major addition to his official catalog, but that doesn't matter since the songs are all enjoyable. After all, it's hard not to be impressed with Prince's songcraft or the casually sophisticated flair to the musicianship throughout the album. That might not be what most observers expected from The Vault, but consider this — of these ten songs, eight tracks have never been heavily bootlegged before. That means that even some hardcore followers may not have heard all of this material, which is noteworthy in itself. But the nicest thing about the compilation is that even though it's a minor addition to his catalog, it holds together as an album better than Come or Chaos & Disorder, the two other Warner-era odds-and-ends collections, or even the tossed-off New Power Soul. It's an unassuming, jazzy little record that's damn near irresistible

Sdldawn said:

Nope.

Prince put the album together, including the artwork, along with Chaos & Disorder, delivering them both to Warners, as is, they had no say in the tracklist or artwork.

Great stuff, though!

It was the first album to officially include an "(Extended Version)"

When you look at the artwork, though, you can tell that Prince didn't give a shit at all!

A shot which looks to be from '92/'93 with him closing his eyes as if to be totally bored.
And then the back cover where he's hanging his head in "shame" for being with WB? (just a speculation)

And what is that stuff to the right of him on the front? Gears of a clock?
I could say what I think, but I'm sure I missed that thread back in '99!!!

Schöne Grüße

NouveauDance said:

oh okay, but I do remember some remark aboutnot supporting it on his website.. or at least thats what I got out of the remark...
[Edited 10/4/05 13:23pm]

Oh, yeah!

That picture of his vault behind the cd. Hilarious!
(is there really anything in it?)

artwork is horrible.. if prince did have something to do with it... that would pretty much sum it up..

Sdldawn said:

Prince considers the release a "contractual obligation" and thus has 'washed his hands of it', so to speak - Same goes for Come, The Black Album, C&D.

BTW, the artwork was originally used in the Neo Manifesto book (the back pic of him sat down with his head lowered).
[Edited 10/4/05 13:30pm]