Having just come back into the purple fold after 10 years away, I am very curious about the albums available through the npg club.
This has obviously been discussed many times before, but I have to ask the obvious;
a. Is this music avialable in cd format now, through any channels?
b. Are they worth it? Is there anything in them that we haven't seen before? Basically are they for completests only.

Like I say, apologies if this is old ground.

No (to the CD availability) is the short answer.

The original NPG Music Club downloads in 2001 which consisted of monthly "AHDIO" shows and extra individual mp3 files have never been released officially on CD (I think one month featured all(?) tracks from The Rainbow Children album which has had a CD release and is still available in retail stored and online, another month also had a few preview tracks from what became One Nite Alone - Piano and Voice album which was also released on CD but is now very rare to get hold of and goes for big bucks on ebay)

The NPGMC from 2003 onwards offered albums in DRM licenced wma format, some of which (like N.E.W.S, The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone Live Boxset) were already and are still available on CD. The revamped Chocolate Invasion and Slaughterhouse albums made up from the aforementioned 2001 tracks have never been released on CD.

Are for "are they worth it?" that's a judgement call only you can make. There are some gems in amongst all of Prince's release. Some people hate the "plastic production" as they call it on the 2001 NPGMC tracks but songs like When Eye Lay My Hands On U and Silicon for example are favourites of mine.

do you mean the albums which were released, like N.E.W.S, musicology etc

if so then yes most of these can be found on Amazon.co.uk if you are from the UK.

Or through ebay but beware of sellers who claim to have a 'rare' import which actually translates generally to bootleg


the download only files, then no they and the rights to play em disappeared into the ether with the site.

i do still have my copy of the vanguard jam video as i burned it to cd.

The only ones you won't find on CD are Xpectation, C-NOTE and the NPGMC compilations The Chocolate Invasion and Slaughterhouse (plus the stuff not on these compilations). These were only made available as downloads, and there is currently no legal way to obtain these downloads if you weren't a member of the club at the time.

Some of the more limited CD releases like Rave In2 (the remix CD) and One Night Alone (Piano album) might be expensive since they weren't retail CDs.

Thanks for these replies guys.
Yes, I was referring to Xpectation, C-NOTE The Chocolate Invasion and Slaughterhouse.
I figured they were now unavailable, but Prince being Prince, one day who knows?
N.E.W.S. is another I haven't got, but I will be ordering it soon. That is the only official Prince cd I don't have.

You never know what Lotusflow3r.com is going to bring. It's easy to toss up the mp3s on the new site and let people buy them again.

The songs have all been bootlegged/pirated on pressed silver discs. Some of the songs were released as singles with b-sides.

I would say there's some decent stuff but on the whole there's nothing really mind blowing.

The best thing to be released by the NPGMC/Musicology store was Splash.

other songs worth checkin' out would be

Judas Smile
Why should I do that when I can do this
Supercute
Underneath he Cream
Vavoom
Sex me, Sex me not
Silicon
Hypnoparadise
When I lay My Hands On U.
Dasiy chain
Glasscutter
Magnificent.


I think those are all above average tracks.