Every major artist has had their catalogue remastered and yet the man with the greatest song catalogue ever has terrible sounding work.


Anyone know what's happening? Anyone asked WB via letter or email?

It's a crime all those suberb masterpieces don't sound up to their potential.

MJ's sounmd great;Prince deserves THE BEST becuase he has created THE BEST music; y'll agree?
[Edited 12/14/06 14:18pm]

keenlythegod said:

Wow, I'd always thought The Beatles were major artists... Same with U2...

booyah said:

yes they are.
What are you talking about?

keenlythegod said:

I'm just messing with you. Most Beatles fans agree that their CDs (mastered in 1988) sound horrible, and would love to see the UK albums remastered in all their glory. The US Capitol box sets have been poor substitutes.

And U2 have never had their albums remastered either. My three favorite artists have not had remastered sets...

booyah said:

O.k let's stick to Prince; any news, any attempts to contact WB?

keenlythegod said:

It isn't down to Warners.

keenlythegod said:

WB would love to remaster Prince's back catalogue, but it's not up to them.

BorisFishpaw said:

If it's up to Prince why did he fight for his masters if he already has control over them?

He could at least have it done for his fans.

If he's allowed several hit packages; why not remaster sign of the times to mark the 20th anniversary? Steve hoffman would make this album sound phenomenal.

booyah said:

Question: how do those Beatles US Capitol CDs sound? Forget the packaging and the different song orders - do they sound amazing?

Honestly I think remastering will only happen to a few select Prince albums - ones that seem viable in the marketplace (Dirty Mind thru ATWIAD). I don't see anything else being remastered. Hell, it's hard to find Stevie Wonder remasters - they only sell the same old 5-6 albums.

keenlythegod said:

Warners have the sole right to publish the music Prince did for them. In other words, they have the right to keep printing albums and selling albums, which are created using a set of master tapes. Prince's fight for his masters was not so much the physical tapes but the rights to print and sell the albums. No wonder Warners didn't let him have them as for them this is how they make their money, the masters are like the goose that lays the golden eggs.

The thing is, Warners are not allowed to alter those master recordings in any way - they can't 'remaster' them without Prince's permission. Because Prince wants the entirety of the rights of the masters to himself, no wonder he isn't keen on letting Warners do that - even though he would get royalties from the increased sales!

It has been reported that Warners were only allowed 3 hit compilations as part of Prince's contracts with them - which have now been completed (The Hits/B-sides, The Very Best Of, and Ultimate). Some of the tracks on Ultimate have been remastered - it seems Prince gave his permission for this. Some saw this as a melting of the ice between him and Warners, however he did then block the release of the compilation for 6 months, so perhaps the relationship broke down again.

The bottom line is that Prince isn't keen on helping Warners make more money off his work, and they need Prince's permission to create remastered albums. So it's an impasse until and if Prince relents.

keenlythegod said:

DOesn't he get For U back in 2010 or 2012? That's my guess when all the reissues will start.

PurpleKnight said:

I don't exactly agree with that. I think if he owned the masters, he'd remaster them. Because 1) they really need it 2) it'd bring in a whole lotta cash...and he seems to be after that these days.

Se7en said:

I think it would be everything prior to the name change.

superspaceboy said:

i can see him not wanting to remaster and reissue his back catalog even if he gets ownership of his masters like you said. sure, prince is all about the money, but he IS mr. "always forward, never backwards", and pimp that he is, he likes to be able to brag about how he made his money. "i could have made purple rain part 2", "i could have made a sequel to 1999", etc.

i mean, i really think he believes that to rehash his past material isn't even a viable business decision, even though we harp about it all the time on these forums. i might be wrong, but i've always gotten the vibe that prince sees "going archival" as a kind of weakness or throwing in the towel on some level.

Well who needs remasters when prince can give us stuff like this:

Don't sweat it, Prince knows just what he's doing!

MikeMatronik said:

bllb

Anx said:

full set of remasters featuring Rosie Gaines at back vox!

Anx said:

On the other hand, he did re-record his entire back catalogue with the intention of putting out his own new master versions, so he did at least at one point think it was worth revisiting the past. Of course, if he'd have done that he would have bypassed Warners and got all the money from these 'new' albums for himself, which I'm sure he loved the idea of. But yet another idea that came to nothing...

metalorange said:

do you think he REALLY re-recorded everything, or that he just put out the announcement that he was going to do it and then got bored and moved on to the next thing? unless i'm forgetting something obvious (purple medley?), all i've heard was the lovely 1999 redux and that version of 'starfish and coffee' he did for muppets tonight...if that even counts...

Anx said:

I never thought he could have managed all the songs in a reasonable time-frame without somebody hearing about it. But I asked this like a year ago over at Housequake and I'm sure it was Boris or someone on the level who told me there really were various reports that, yes, he did indeed re-record the whole thing. There was something, I kid you not, about someone saying they had to send Larry out of the room when they were doing the Dirty Mind songs...

Ah, here it is, I hope Boris does not mind me posting his replies on the subject from Housequake:



and from Booyah:


[Edited 12/14/06 17:38pm]

So what happened to this??

Prince has been busy remastering his entire official catalog including the stuff from the 1990’s. There is going to be a big release around Christmas time of this year...

http://www.prince.org/msg/7/191009

CandaceS said:

Graycap is known for his "imaginative" predictions and rumor-filled threads

Anx said:

I was going to say...

I think he tried it out and realized each song would have to be new and fresh in order to get away with it. I think the reaction he received on a few of these (remember pop-life redeux) was not exactly super positive. He also realized he'd have to compete with his past with a newer material, and depending on who you ask, not as good as the originals.

I also think that at the time, he wasn't thinking "remaster"...as in how everyone is remastering like crazy. I think he was thinking "remaster" in terms of "owning" his catalog.

CandaceS said:

I think if one looks at those threads with HUMOR in mind...they suddenly become hysterical.