Hi Keith

I just recently read online about a new Prince 'best of' album coming out this year. Is this confirmed? What is the tracklist? Will it feature any unreleased material? Does this mean we might be on our way to having Prince's Warner Bros' albums re-released and remastered?

Thanks,

David Russell
Los Angeles

Hi David,

Prince's "Ultimate" collection will be released March 14 through Rhino. The two-disc set features many of Prince's most famous singles, including "When Doves Cry," "Purple Rain," "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "1999" and "Diamonds and Pearls." It also boasts out-of-print remixes of "Let's Go Crazy," "She's Always in My Hair," "Cream," "U Got the Look" and more.

Interestingly, when the set was first announced a few weeks ago, the track list was different. It originally included "Purple Medley," the 12" version of the classic "Erotic City," "Sexy MF" and the acoustic version of "7." The track list has now been revised, dropping those four tracks in favor of "Delirious," the original version of "7" and the special dance mix of "Let's Work." (I have to say, I'm disappointed to see "Erotic City" dropped from the lineup.)

Here is the "Ultimate" track list:

Disc one:
"I Wanna Be Your Lover"
"Uptown"
"Controversy"
"1999"
"Delirious"
"When Doves Cry"
"I Would Die 4 U"
"Purple Rain"
"Sign 'O' the Times"
"I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man"
"Alphabet St."
"Diamonds And Pearls"
"Gett Off"
"Money Don't Matter 2 Night"
"7"
"Nothing Compares 2 U"
"My Name Is Prince"

Disc two:
"Let's Go Crazy" Special Dance Mix
"Little Red Corvette" Dance Remix
"Let's Work" Dance Remix
"Pop Life" Fresh Dance Mix
"She's Always In My Hair" 12" Version
"Raspberry Beret" 12" Version
"Kiss" Extended Version
"U Got The Look" Long Look
"Hot Thing" Extended Remix
"Thieves in the Temple" Remix
"Cream" N.P.G. Mix

The tracklist changed slightly, supposedly at Prince's request. The interesting thing about this set is that it is supposed to be re-mastered, which is the first time Prince has allowed Warners to do that. Hopefully it is, I wonder if anyone will notice the difference?...

Still it doesn't seem worth the purchase in my opinion. If 7 acoustic and purple medley were still on there I might have considered it. For a 2-disc collection it's better to buy 'the hits' imo.

december said:

I haven't got much from disc 2 so for me it's definately worth buying. I have Purple Medley on CD single and it's not worth the space it takes to be honest.

I would probably never listen to the whole remix of hot thing, but I will always listen to I Wish U Heaven 1,2,3.... too bad for me!

I'll definitely buy it. If for nothing else, to get the Let's Work Dance Remix and the Let's Go Crazy Remix. I wish they had the Sexy Dancer 12". March is going to be really busy.

"Little Red Corvette" Dance Remix.


"So you'll NEVER FORGET!!!!!"

love that part . . .

For me it's worth the purchase a) for the remastered aspect & b) to finally get
all the 2nd disc (minus Thieves In The Temple & Cream) on CD (I got the vinyl but it's always good to have em on a CD!!!)

Lovin the thought of the She's Always In My Hair 12" remastered!!

metalorange said:

You can check for yourself already if you want to.
Just dig out this CD single released in 1999...

The single edit on this release was remastered.
Check it out for yourself and compare it to the
one on the current 1999 CD album release.

BorisFishpaw said:

To be honest, I'm not that interested in buying the single JUST to see if it sounds different

So in your opinion, is there much difference?

metalorange said:

Yes, definitely. It's much cleaner and balanced sounding. You can hear everything
that's going on in the record much better.

It's not so much that it sounds different or anything. If you played it on it's
own you'd just think "yeah, it's 1999, so what?". But if you then play the CD
album version you realize that it sounds dull and flat compared to the single.

I'll buy it, but it is missing a lot, its like Prince dosent exist after 1992 or something, and the leap from 1984 to 1987 except in remixes. Also some of the early material is sorely underepresented, how many I wanna be your lover starting albums do u need.

Who actually decides what goes on these compilations?
Why does "Money don't matter" keep showing up on them? A very nice song but not a classic. It's not like they need to come up with filler material. There are other great songs that are being missed.
Here is my opinion of what mistakes were made with this upcoming release.

Delete Disc 1:
1. Money Don't matter 2 nite
2. Nothing Compares to U
3. My Name Is Prince

Add to Disc 1:
1. If I Was Your Girlfriend
2. Cream
3. Adore or Insatiable or Scandalous or Mountains or The Beautiful Ones or Take Me or 17 Days, I Hate U, When U Were Mine.....I can keep going

Delete Disc 2:
1. Hot Thing (Extended Remix)
2. Cream (N.P.G. Crap Mix)

Add to Disc 2:
1. Erotic City (extended mix)
2. I Wish U Heaven (Part 1,2,3) or Love or $(extended mix)

I must say it is nice to see the extended mixes being released but, I would have rather had a compilation(Box Set) of them all come out.
[Edited 2/28/06 21:47pm]

tane1976 said:

I think the title 'ultimate Prince' is misleading. The Hits was a far more comprehensive selection of songs. Prince has just too many good songs to fit onto one or even two discs. This should have been called 'Some Random Prince Tracks We Put Together'.

Clearly this collection has hedged it's bets - a first disc of hits for non-fans and a second disc aimed more at hardcore fans. The second disc is the only thing worth buying for a Prince fan who most likely has all the other tracks already.

With this, there's now been 3 hits albums, and none of them have yet got it completely right - between a non-chronological order, tracks edited down, non-single releases being included, Batman tracks being ommitted, the mid-90's material being completely ignored, etc...

I think that collection looks pants. Disk 2 looks ok but there's too many duff songs on there and not enough good ones. Why's LRC and RB not on there because although most of us are a little too familair with them they are among his most popular works! Kiss missing is a joke! The older stuff is very sadly missed out and with this being a two disc set, more of this should've been added!!

Xplanet said:

Those songs are included as extended versions.

Fans!
sometimes I give up.

BorisFishPaw: about the 1999 remastered single version, I can probably imagine that it sounds cleaner (and louder) than the version on the original 1999 CD, but I'm wondering if that remaster is a big improvement sound-wise over the single version featured on The Hits/B-sides and Very Best of..... also I'm wondering about a special Australian version of the 1999 single I found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/...nce&n=5174
Are the other tracks on there (Dirty Mind, Sexuality etc.) also remastered?

bonnie184 said:

u should start your own label

Moonbeam said:

I know friend but it just looks empty without them being on the 1st disk and that's the one the casual buyer will look at.

Never heard the RB 12 mind you...

If you have the Hits & the B Sides, you pretty much already have this, with the exception of the extended versions. I'm disappointed. I thought it would be different.

BorisFishpaw said:

For those of you who are unhappy about this collection and have no plans to buy it... As soon as you feel the need to bitch when Prince's Warner albums are never remastered, remember these words "you pretty much already have this"

I really want this. I didn't want The Best Of Prince, but I want this.

should have released a 2 disc set of extended songs. all the extended songs i have heard ( I would die 4u, pop life, she's always in my hair, rasberry beret, little red corvette, kiss etc...) are really really great and would also appeal to mainstream audience. i haven't heard of the remixes listed for this album, but in my experience remixes are rubbish.

metalorange said:

Why would they care if Prince wanted to change the tracklisting? I don't get why that would even enter into Warner's/Rhino's thinking. They own the masters; they don't need to placate him, do they? Although, it was a good idea to get rid of "Purple Medley". "Erotic City" not being on there is a crime, but what can you do? It still sounds more interesting than a typical greatest hits--even if the tracklisting is odd.

u2prnce said:

It is believed (but not confirmed) that Warner's require Prince's permission to remaster any material, even though they own the original masters. It would explain why Warner's have not so far released remastered Prince albums. They needed to keep him happy on this project if there is any hope for the projects to come, hence running the tracklisting by him.

drwatson said:

These ARE the 12 inch/extended versions you mention. The term 'remix' is a bit misleading - they are not 'clubified' versions or anything (well the Cream NPG mix is a bit, but that is from the Cream maxi single). Sometimes extended versions are named 'remixes' for some reason.

1sexymf said:

Good thing I own all of this stuff and I have all of it in it's remastered glory. This set IMHO is a waste of money and time. When will Prince get his due justice from these record companies? This set is wack and in NO way represents the best of Prince. Just my 2 cents.

For those of you who don't have the time,money, skills or will to remaster stuff yourself, I would highly suggest investing in a real good sound system and buying yourself a BBE Sonic Maximizer. That little piece of gear will turn your music inside out. It's unbelievable how much "music" we are missing without the right gear. Even if you don't own a quality sound system, a BBE will enhance any system. Check out out if you get a chance. I've been using one for years and I'd swear by it. -Mg

Graycap23 said:

You can certainly improve your music by putting it through such programs, but I wouldn't call it 're-mastering' as such. Remastering is when original recorded individual tracks (drums, bass, guitar etc) are used to re-record a new master recording using better equipment than was originally available, which is then used to create all the new CDs. So you get CDs with better balance and less muffled instrumentation.

As far as I understand it.

Programs like you talk about mimic the process by raising the volume of the treble, bass, lower static etc but don't recognise individual instrument tracks as such but it's a different process to true 're-mastering'.