"Some late-breaking bad news for Miles Davis fans: Warner Bros. has canceled the release of The Last Word: The Warner Bros. Years, a four-CD box set that we announced in our July issue."We deeply regret the fact that we will not be releasing [the box set] on August 20," David Dorn, VP of Media Relations for Warner Strategic Marketing, tells ICE. "Our commitment has always been to offer consumers the best possible audio and video products for the best possible value. Due to developing circumstances beyond our control, we felt that this box set would not, in its finished form, meet our standards, or the standards our customers expect from our products."

As we reported in July, The Last Word would have included every track from the late trumpeter's three studio albums recorded between 1985 and 1991, fleshed out with soundtrack recordings and outside collaborations. Eleven previously unreleased performances also had been cleared, but reissue co-producer Matt Pierson told ICE that Prince refused to allow the inclusion of three compositions
("Jailbait," "Penetration" and "Can I Play With U?") that would have marked the first officially released glimpses into his fabled collaborations with Davis.

"A small amount of advance copies (sans artwork) were sent out."

If anyone finds these tracks, please share.

I am crying about not being able to listen to miles' material. I dont give a shit about the three tunes he did with prince, they suck anyway. that material is way overrated (but prince fans, not MD fans). what really sucks is that we can thank prince for the cancelling of the release.

Prince, you tosser...You couldn't just let the historians and musicologists do their job, could you? When are you going to own up to your legacy?

"Can I Play With U?" is a great tune imo, Prince...

And they couldn't release it without the Prince tracks or with 3 other songs? Pfff...

?
[This message was edited Wed Feb 26 2:57:22 PST 2003 by IstenSzek]

Are these tracks available anywhere?

There goes Warner blamming Prince once again. Hey people don't fall into this trap. Why should Prince help out Warner in any way? So they can screw him once again? Eat me Warner Brothers

Way to go P.

'nuff said.

I would really like to hear these recordings. But one has to ask him/herself... Did you really think even for a brief moment Prince would agree to release the material he took part in? For so many reasons I knew that wasn't going to happen.

Correct me if I'm wrong but during the 1st Celebration tour I heard that Prince owns alot of Miles unreleased material in the vault, maybe at some point he will release those to the fans?

i have all three songs and i only hear mile on "can i play with u".the other 2 are on the original madhouse 24.

I do not think Prince has time to dilly-dally around not releasing Miles Davis material, "Roadhouse Garden" and other quality vault material, or a live compilation.

He is middle-aged now. He should start thinking of building his legacy. He has the quality goods in his vaults gathering dust.


The problem is, Prince thinks he has those to fall back on some day; to release them EVENTUALLY. The problem is: by that time, WILL ANYONE CARE? Will he find a distributer willing to put up the $$$ to package it all, will there be enough interested customers to dish out the $$$ for vault material lacking newness,videos,hype,or demand?


Prince has made the mistake of screwing the public with those 90's contractual obligation cd's and most people have given up on him being able NOT to dissapoint. He's hurt his legacy SEVERELY: HE cannot afford anymore "Newpower Soul"'s, anymore "Crystal Ball" fiascos (one may argue that NPGMC 2002 is developing into the same scenario), or media games.


If Prince is smart he will realize that NOW is the time for his best Vault goods and only the best studio work to see the light of day. I think in 10 years, no one will care about ANY Prince work, except to remember he was that guy that sang, "Kiss".

Additionally, hasn't his freedom come at a big cost? He actually had more annual output with Warner (albums, cd's,videos, ep's) than on his own. If Prince didn't own NPGMC, on would conclude that NPG Records has a tighter leash oround Prince than Warners ever did. Warner did a better job of presenting Prince as a serious ARTIST with intregrity and who you could ever take seriously. Prince and NPG records do not promote Prince as he should be.

I remember Madonna once saying Prince's videos are bad for an artist as big as he is(was). The same goes for how he is letting his legacy unfold.

Release the Miles stuff. Release the good vault goods. Put "Newpower soul" out of print.

pimpytheclown said:

theC
right on.i was thinking the same thing.warners made prince put out albums that hit a certain standard.they would never let him release something like ONA.and his output has definately slowed since he left warner.hasn't he made enough money.can't he release the songs so his fans can hear em???if he loves his songs so much let them free 2 be heard by the public.Which one is it Prince...LOVE OR MONEY???

Oh, whatever. I refuse to believe that Prince was the only thing stopping the release of this set. They could just as easily release this without the Prince tracks, so there has to be another reason. Stop being so damned quick to blame Prince for everything.

First of all, what's the source of this information? Fans are already having a hissy fit and don't even know if this is true.

Secondly, if it is true, I would guess that Warner Bros wants to maintain ownership of the Master Recordings and if that's the case we all know hell will have to freeze over before Prince gives Warner Bros his masters again. So, if there are Prince penned tracks for Miles Davis we may never hear them as long as Warner Bros insists on owning the master recordings of anything Miles Davis touched.

So instead of bitching and moaning about what Prince should/shouldn't do, why don't you all bitch and complain to Warner Bros and say "let Prince own his master recordings" then we may see the Miles Davis tracks released after all.

As far as the other vault material is concerned, as a fan, I would also like to hear more vault material released. But I'm guessing, and this is just a guess, that part of the reason more vault material hasn't been released is because Prince probably wants to reestablish himself first without feeling like he has to rely on his vault material to survive. I believe an album like The Rainbow Children definitely puts Prince back on the path of reestablishing himself as a true artist - regardless of how some fans may or may not like that particular body of work. From Prince's perspective, I believe that he thinks that what he's doing now is infinately more important than what he's already done 10 or 15 years ago. And the time, effort and money involved in releasing those old songs probably just isn't enough to keep him interested... especially while he continues to work on something new. The way I look at it, I'm much more interested in where Prince is at today, and if and when the old vault material is released then that's just gravy for me.

LadyCabDriver said:

theC
Don't be so quick 2 defend him everytime.I have a right 2 view things the way i want don't i??Or should i agree with U because ONLY U KNOW THE REAL INFO ON WHAT'S GOING ON. :ROLL: AND WHAT ABOUT ROADHOUSE GARDEN AND THE MODERAIRES AND TONS OF OTHER STUFF.GIVE ME A BREAK
[This message was edited Sun Aug 4 12:00:14 PDT 2002 by theC]

theC said:

What are you talking about??? His output has definitely slowed since he left Warner??? HUHHH??? What are you talking about? You mean in comparison to the one album a year that he was alotted by Warner Bros? You have to be kidding!

Furthermore, you're contridicting your own statement. First you say "warners made Prince put out albums that hit a certain standard" (whatever that means). Then you say "can't he release the songs so his fans can hear em?? if he loves his songs so much let them free 2 be heard by the public". But you also said warner would never let him release something like ONA. First, I have to say ONA was released as "demo" (at least some of the tracks), and second, just because ONA didn't meet your "standard" doesn't mean that other fans don't love it. You don't think he was releasing the ONA music so it could be heard??? And what about all the downloaded songs from year 1 of the NPGMC, I guess those songs weren't freed to be heard either?

Some you all's narrowmindedness just amazes me. Apparently for some of the fans, Prince is damned if he do and damned if he don't.

abucah said:

theC
A certain standard meant quality material that a wider base could enjoy(not pop though).Although he only put out one album a year.there were always b-sides and single remixes(his experimental or ONA material).And u may be right about the damned if he do damned if he dont.Sad 2 say it's kinda his fault.HE SHOULD NOT HAVE SET THE BAR SO HIGH.HE WAS A LEAN MEAN MUSICAL MACHINE AT ONE TIME.

theC said:

For your information, I am NOT so quick to defend him everytime. But you like to just find any little reasonyou can to pin SOMETHING on him, like in the case of this Miles CD. ...and stop typing in caps, please, that shit is so annoying...

LadyCabDriver said:

theC
I remember Prince sayin he was going 2 release all this music once he got free from WB.Where is all the music???
Does he think his fans still can't keep up.And i'll work on my typing

theC said:

I don't know, and I don't care. It's not going to effect my life either way, if he doesn't release it, fine, if he does, great.

The C

Warner Bros. is a multi-national corporation. Why would you believe anything they are saying. Do you read the newspaper or keep up with the news at all? Warner Brothers is just another greedy corporation doing any and everything to make a profit. They are being investigated by the Justice Department for accounting errors.

Please understand this greedy corporation would not let Prince stop them from releashing a Miles Davis box set. If they want to release a box set they will do so. A few Prince songs are not going to stop them from making a buck.

At one point WB made it appear as if Prince was not of any importance to the company. Now all of sudden he is dictating what they will release and not release. Please tell me you do not belive this.

calldapplwondery83 said:

Finally a voice of reason. The above post makes sense and the punks crying aout it and blaming Prince are just that - punks. Yeah, say something...so FACE can slap you in the mouth like a bitch

Columbia been pimping Miles since he died. I know because I have everything you can think of by Miles and all the box sets that were released since his death. WB released what was called his final studio album after he dies with half finished tracks that they let some hip hop thug patch up and overdub. If they want to cash in on Miles, they can do it without Prince. THere are enough Miles fans that will buy anything that is "new" from Miles. I know because unlike most of you teenage non-jazz listeners, I actually know Miles' career.

the last two posts make an awful lot of sense.

"I'm a pig..so,magic elixir I swill"

the last two posts make an awful lot of sense.

"I'm a pig..so,magic elixir I swill"

the last two posts make an awful lot of sense.

"I'm a pig..so,magic elixir I swill"

the last two posts make an awful lot of sense.

"I'm a pig..so,magic elixir I swill"

Prince please release them. The Fans want U 2. We want to hear this music! What are U waiting for? Let the Fans decide for themselves. Stop keeping everything locked up. Give us the music already. It's good Stuff!