What do you love/hate about this 3CD package?
Mine are as follows...

LOVE
1. Some of the interchanges e.g. Nothing Compares/Adore/Pink Cashmere and Head/Do Me, Baby
2. The inclusion of never released tracks e.g. Power Fantastic
3. The idea to have an alternative disc i.e. the B-Sides
4. The packaging e.g. liner notes by Alan Leeds
5. Some of the tracks included e.g. Adore

HATE
1. Some of the edits e.g. When Doves Cry
2. Some of the interchanges e.g. Uptown/Let's Go Crazy and Pope/Purple Rain
3. Some of the tracks included e.g. Horny Toad
4. Some of the tracks not included e.g. Anna Stesia
5. That there was no Batdance!

my copy's collectin dust...

I only listen to the b-sides and the non album tracks like Pink Cashmere.
Still don't like 'Hello' or the very end of the b-side CD, Power Fantastic does nothing for me.

Edits. I always hate edits.

And it would have been a bit better had the sequenced order been closer to chronological order of releases (not to be confused with chronological order of single releases), compared to the seemingly haphazard way it was sequenced. It should have been more representative of his musical growth in that aspect.

"Dirty Mind" comes up sometime after "Controversy."

"Soft & Wet," "Uptown" and "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" all come up sometime after "When Doves Cry."

"I Wanna Be Your Lover" comes up after "Controversy" and "Dirty Mind."

"Purple Rain" comes up almost 10 songs after "If I Was Your Girlfriend."

The sequenced order paints a very random picture of Prince the musician, and doesn't hint at his music growth from point to point.

And it's not as comprehensive as it could have been up to that point in time.

What I could do with Prince's catalogue in these matters... oh, yeahhh, babe...ohhh yeahhh...

Anji said:

Hey, Horny Toad is a great b-side and was up until then, not relerased on CD before.

Anna Stesia and Batdance...get the long play CDs fercrissakes.

squirrelgrease said:

I can't imagine Anna Stesia being included but given that it was a 3 double CD package there could have been a few more surprises especially on the Hits 1 and 2. As for getting the albums, I have them both, just thought Batdance might have included as it went to No. 1 in the UK.

I absolutely love this collection. It contains a bunch of brilliant hits, a few obscure gems, but also leaves off enough that if you go buy each of the albums, youre in for even more suprises.

The liner notes are amazing.

The photos are amazing.

Hmmm, I like the Hits-collection for the edits. i already have all the 'normal' versions on cd. Most of the edits are available for the 1st time on cd (I'm not talking about the edits on the B-sides - the suck).
For instance, I'd rather have an edit of When Doves Cry then the original (which everybody already has on PR).

Too bad that they didn't include the edit of Alphabet St.
The edit is much better than the 'original version'...

So,
Pro: edits on Hits 1&2
Con: edits on The B-Sides

Peace,
TheKid

TheKid said:

Yes, I realize this. In the context of a supposedly comprehensive set it leaves something to be desired.


To each their own...

Anji said:

I've always thought the dismissal of all things Batty on the Hits collection was due to royalties/rights with DC Comics on that particular tune. I'm sure it would be complicated with vocal samples from Jack Nicolson, Kim Bassinger and Michael Keaton, not to mention trademarks on the word "Batman" itself.

Overall, I don't mind the Hits/B-sides, especially for the unreleased tracks and all the b-sides that I never had on CD until this set was released. I agree w/The Kid: edits of the Hits were not bad, cuz I already had all the album versions. Edits of the B-sides were pure shiznit. Who the hell wants to listen to Shockadelica *edit* when we know the rubber hits the road on the 12" version??

The photography of Prince was awesome in this set -- love the sepia duotone images of him next to the trees with the big fall leaves. Rock on.

It is full of greatness, but seems like a Warner Brothers scam job.

Some of the B-sides bore me silly nowadays. All these sound effects, but no song.

The edits are fine. The 9-minute versions of the songs didn't top the charts, the 7" mixes did. The edits make for a more accurate "Hits" package. We can still get the albums and, sometimes, the 12"s at good vinyl stores.

As far as Anna Stesia, you were lucky to get Adore, and you already have Lovesexy, so quit complaining.

I love this set.

I love this compilation! It is more of an anthology than anything, including many some non-singles in the mix. I think the scattered ordering is nice- any one of us could have put it chronologically, but the ordering here offers a different view of his career. The B-sides disc takes the cake. All of the songs (and I do mean ALL of them) are top notch.

I hate "best ofs" period - I very rarely buy them if I can buy the original albums instead! The Hits/Bsides had the 3rd disc to amuse you for a while but overall there were some great songs there were missing (as people have pointed out) and personally I thought that "the pope" and "pink cashmere" were pretty poor considering there was very little new material on the discs.

The worst thing is: the people who bought only ONE of the discs - the hits 1 or the hits 2. You know how it is... you go to a party at someone's house (who isn't really a fan of Prince) but you spot "the hits 1" and you cringe when you think that THIS is their only Prince album, THIS is their representation of all those years of great work - some cheesy singles (and not the DairyLea kind either!). So sad... they'd have been better off buying a copy of SoTT or Lovesexy.

I've very rarely NOT anti-edit when it comes to music. And certainly not in this case. It's the engineer/producer in me.

Supernova said:

Dig that 1.

well since it was my 1st Prince album,it will always be special 2 me.I love the b-sides cd,& the package gave me a chance 2 get what Prince was about,that set got me in2 Prince thank god.it was so expensive when i bought it 3 years ago,then a year later it was like half the price,but that doesnt matter.

Altho i agree that some of teh b-sides would have been better if,say we had the 12' of Erotic City or She's ALways In My hair,but i have found them along the way newayz so its ok

i don't like that it's a mix of album versions and edits. if they were doing edits, it should have been ALL edits, so they single versions would finally be available on CD.

Anji said:

Just to point out that Batdance didn't actually get to No.1 in the UK. So far the only number one in the UK has been TMBGITW.
[This message was edited Sat Sep 28 4:16:32 PDT 2002 by Borribal]

Yea, "Rub you body until it starts to bleed" is a bit much..lol

The biggest crime of that CD set... fading out "Adore" before it was properly finished! Aaaargh!

Yeah... I hated the fucking edits... what in the fuck were they thinking???

The edits SUCKED.

Actually I don't mind having edits on a hits collection. It's a career overview and not meant to be comprehensive. With edits you have room for more songs and it leaves you wanting more if you're a new fan. If not, it collects them all in one place where normally you'd have to sift through singles. Edits are alright by me. If they're good edits.


I do think however that there could've been a box set at the time containing a 3rd and 4th disc of hits. My brother and I brainstormed about what these would be like and we came up with something that I think is quite good. Tell me what you think?

The Hits 3
1. Batdance
2. Bambi
3. America
4. Computer Blue
5. Darling Nikki
6. Sexuality
7. Sexy Dancer
8. DMSR
9. Private Joy
10. Partyup
11. Partyman
12. Housequake
13. Le Grind
14. Let's Work
15. Let's Pretend We're Married
16. Hot Thing

The Hits 4
1. My Name Is Prince
2. New Power Generation
3. Glam Slam
4. Paisley Park
5. Girls and Boys
6. Take Me With U
7. Mountains
8. I Wish U Heaven
9. The Future
10. Thunder
11. Anotherloverholenyohead
12. Automatic
13. Baby I'm A Star
14. Just As Long As We're Together
15. Willing and Able
16. Lovesexy

I think these have really good flow and feel to them. Of course most of these are lesser hits and album tracks but they're almost all classics and add to his legacy. I think Prince is due up for a thorough career retrospective. That might be the only way we get those damned remasters any time soon.

Mmh, did u recognize: there r so many songs of some albums (sometimes 4 songs taken from one album) and no song at all from the Batman album at all.
Only one b-side '200 ballons'.

Edits and the thought that there's no b-sides from the PARADE LP like "Love or the money" now how can I listen to it if I can't get it anywhere . But on the real, this LP along with Rave informed my love 2 Prince's music.

Doozer said:

oh wow...i never thought of that..i wonder if this is the case...

i would have prefered a "best of" verses a hits collection...

and im assuming this will never happen with Prince being such an arse against Warner...

TRON said:

See that's what I'm talking about TRON. It really doesn't seem like a hits collection with the likes of Prince's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U" and all the b-sides. It's clearly an attempt at more than a hits collection.

SkletonKee said:

And that's truly sad.

TRON said:

I think it's perfect.

me too. glad you agree.