I know the vault is legendary and all,b ut is there a possiblity there may be nothing left in it...
Between all of his official releases and the hundreds of bootlegs existing,,is it safe to say we've heard all of it

Prince should realize that already 30-40 cds of outtakes are around, and theres probably just as many more uncirculated, but in the hands of the leggers...not to mention the videos.

God forbid, at his demise, the unscrupulous ones will profit.

Does Miles Davis' estate profit from the newly released 4 cd set from 1970 ?

Things leaked out alot less starting in the 90's. We ain't heard it all.

Universaluv said:

Things leaked out less in the 90's cuz there was less music being made. How can you create without inspiration?

When you think of "the Vault" what image comes through to your mind's eye? Is it something like a huge bank Vault with a giant combantion lock?

What the Vault actually is: it's a large sized room where he can safely store Items of media value like old video tapes and such. There is much more in that vault then songs. The Vault will never be depleated.

FanofDaFascist said:

His inspiration changed in the 90's, but it wasn't non-existent.

MickG said:

Yes. I've seen "The Vault" (or rather, the closed door to it) in person. Also, there's a picture of said door in the Chaos and Disorder liner notes.

matt said:

Cool enough answer, but I don't understand the "Yes" part.

somedaysoon said:

We haven't heard it all. A look at the list of unreleased material in any of the Uptown books tells you there are still hundreds of songs that are not circulating. Add to this alternative mixes and edits of tracks, all the live and rehersal stuff - PLUS after the mid-90s details on unreleased material gets real sketchy, so there is PLENTY of stuff still to be heard.

MickG said:

My mistake -- I was responding to only your second question. It does, in fact, look rather like a bank vault door.

I want the 80's material from the vault and that's about it. Read the Vault, and look how the quality DROPPED from the likes of In All my Dreams and No Light in a Large Room to songs like Poor Little Bastard and 20/20. He can keep those.

NouveauDance said:

Exactly! Plus there's all the tracks which are not known about or recorded in
Uptown publications, including almost everything recorded from 1996 onwards.

WonderU said:

I dig 20/20.

also, the vault contains 'quality' versions of all bootleged tracks that are in the public domain. not only do we not have it all, we dont have what we do got in decent quality either.