whenever you finally upgraded your boots to a better sounding version of it, did you dump your original or you prefer to listen to the original file/ version you receive?

i find that i prefer the crappy sounding versions. i like the murkiness of ti and it also helps add to the legend of listening to an "unauthorized bootleg"

moonbeam levels, wonderful ass and big tall wall are my absolute examples of this

Nvncible1 said:

i agree. i think several of the legendary recordings will lose much of there appeal and 'magic' if they were ever released officially. I love the distorted and raggedy vocals on poor quality boots.

Back in 1996, right before Emancipation came out,I had Right Back Here In My Arms as a bootleg CD which was recorded from KMOJ with DJ Brother Jules and later when Emancipation came out the crystal clear version didn´t sound as bombastic as the crappy bootleg version. I guess I´d have the same feeling if the old version of We Can Funk would be released one day.
I remember being underwhelmed by the legit version of Crucial. The bootleg version sounds much better.

something special about the sound of 100 generation cassette tape bootlegs. the sounds of the tape squealing. and they sounded so space like after being passed 100 times.

I like the imperfections. They made me a fan and have me collecting to this day. Not everything needs to be polished.

Ya'll crazy.

squirrelgrease said:

yup. If I wanted to listen to Prince sounding like he was being strangled in a cave, I'd er... Get some gaffer tape... Fly to Paisley... Er, sorry what were we talking about?

squirrelgrease said:

Nvncible1 said:

If I had a physical copy of an old bootleg with some kind of sentimental or legendary value attached to it, I'd hang on to it, but I don't. I've only been collecting boots for 4 years and my whole collection is digital, so when a better source emerges, the old one gets canned. I've got too much stuff as it is.

However, I do not want better quality or official versions that have been edited in any way.

squirrelgrease said:

My thoughts entirely.

yup!!! i still listen to cassettes ... i tape my cds onto cassette so they will sound better ... warmer ... we've been conned into this digital format ... a format that for many many years could not hold anywhere near the full range of sound that both vinyl and analog do ... most of that music was recorded on analog to begin with .. i was thinking about this the other day ... that i may have enjoyed more recent prince work had it been produced differently ... all the programmed drums sounded like they came off of a casio keyboard from 1985 ... and yes often the upgrade sounds flat and lifeless ... and the mp3s oh my god i cant believe the public fell into that whole racket ... so now they can control the sharing of music with special codes on your music file .. its not for the music or the consumer just the guy trying to make even more money ... all that greed backfired and we are left with a truly crappy sounding product .. the mp3 ..

Nvncible1 said:

I don't keep up with best sources these days, but any copy of Big Tall Wall I've heard has always sounded barely listenable. I would much prefer a better quality version.

I do kinda see your point though. The released version of 'Old Friends 4 Sale' (not referencing the different 85/91 versions here at all, btw) or some of the tracks on Crystal Ball (Sexual Suicide springs to mind) - They sound kinda sterile compared to the versions from bootlegs, which were admittedly, some of the better quality material out there at the time.

I think has a lot to do with the mastering Prince's more recent CD-era albums. The volume is often too high and it often doesn't do justice to the music.

TrevorAyer said:

ive actually done that to my songs. dumped them down to tape and "generationed" them a few times just to get that murky feel to 'em. pretty cool

theeze boots are made for walkin and that's just what they'll do....