I love how Bowie has managed to release nothing new in ages but seemingly every year 1 or 2 great remastered packages come out with the usual bells and whistles. So, with clear light at the end of the tunnel which would you prefer?

1] Say 1 or 2 remasters every year from 2011 onwards

2] Perhaps 5 or more each year i.e.

Batch 1] For U - 1999

Batch 2] Purple Rain - Lovesexy

etc.

OR 3] Release the lot digitally in 1 go via Itunes or scarily via his own website!.

I can't decide, BUT in the interests of QUALITY i.e. attention to detail, good quality sleevenotes, good promo etc I would love just 1 or 2 at the most per year.

I love what Paul MacCartney has just done in the UK with the Band on the Run release, great 1 hr interview teling the story of the album, lots of promo + Live appearance on Later with Jools. REally an excercise in fab marketing - hope that P can do the same.

Another day, another remasters thread.

I'm not too fussy really, the whole lot in a nicely packaged box with a booklet would be tasty, but......whatever really, i would/will be happy just to have the buggers.

Prince may have misspoke when he said he had the rights. I think he will get "for you" in 2013. He may have the tapes but not the rights to copy them.

Give it all to me at one time

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Prince may have misspoke when he said he had the rights. I think he will get "for you" in 2013. He may have the tapes but not the rights to copy them.

No one knows his contract.

It depends on how many we are talkin about??????? Prince has alot of hits , 1 a year could take forever

In a perfect world, I would love 4 Prince 2 start releasing special edition/remastered version of the first 5 albums in 2013. Promote and market this 2 the fullest as well as releasing this online along with CDs! Include some previously unreleased bonus tracks (unreleased track, alternate versions, rare mixes), a nice booklet, and a limited dvd documentary on each album (with interviews with band members, recording engineers, mangers, even fans, etc.). If all of this is in place, I know this will be a win 4 Prince hands-down! Come 2014, he should go all out as far market and promotion and put a special edition/remastered version of "Purple Rain" album out. I think Prince and Warner Bros. should release a directors cut of the film on DVD/Blu-Ray, include alternate takes and deleted stuff on there.

releasing this online

rgsince81 said:

It depends on how many we are talkin about??????? Prince has alot of hits , 1 a year could take forever

that's a point, so from 'For u onwards where will the cut off point for remasters be? - I guess up to TGE ?.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Prince may have misspoke when he said he had the rights. I think he will get "for you" in 2013. He may have the tapes but not the rights to copy them.

Oh, I highly doubt that. The turn of events is unknown, but a deal was probably struck at some point to fast-forward the ownership process. Money talks. Also, WB could still end up being the label of choice to distribute the remastered albums, possibly as part of the deal. The entire music business is in turmoil, so anything can happen and accelerating certain processes may be in the best interest of all parties involved.

Of course, Prince could have been throwing a bullshit party at the expense of our podcast friends, but what had he to gain by doing that? Would he really want to come here and see more threads about what a tool he is?

Are we totally sure Prince even has plans for unlimited retail distribution of his catalog when he attains rights to it? He performs many of his old hits live -- largely sanitized and probably in part out of obligation -- but to re-release much of his older, particularly raunchy work, and in a way that recelebrates it rather than "corrects" it, almost seems antithetical to who he's been over the past several years.

I wouldn't be shocked if we dont see entirely remastered albums, but rather the occasional release of select remastered singles packages, maybe embelished with a few demos and unreleased tracks, mutlimedia content, interviews, etc.

Lammastide said:

Are we totally sure Prince even has plans for unlimited retail distribution of his catalog when he attains rights to it? He performs many of his old hits live -- largely sanitized and probably in part out of obligation -- but to re-release much of his older, particularly raunchy work, and in a way that recelebrates it rather than "corrects" it, almost seems antithetical to who he's been over the past several years.

I wouldn't be shocked if we dont see entirely remastered albums, but rather the occasional release of select remastered singles packages, maybe embelished with a few demos and unreleased tracks, mutlimedia content, interviews, etc.

Yep.

A special edition Box Set, of all the albums ranging from 1978-1995...With some awesome booklets, posters, That would be amazing.. Throw a $99 price tag on it, and I'll be all over that quicker than you can say "Bring the foot spray".

Something like this..

Instead of the apple, have the love symbol Nice and simple!

andykeen said:

A special edition Box Set, of all the albums ranging from 1978-1995...With some awesome booklets, posters, That would be amazing.. Throw a $99 price tag on it, and I'll be all over that quicker than you can say "Bring the foot spray".

Something like this..

Instead of the apple, have the love symbol Nice and simple!

i would buy that

i love it when remasters are served as a box, it ties the whole thing together nicely

plus you (usually) get some cool extras.

the eurythmics remastered box was a bit more minimal and sleak but it's still one

of my favorit cd possessions. so cool to have all those remastered albums with an

extra track or 2 in one box, with one over arching design.

perhaps release the biggest hit albums separately for every day fans and release

a box set with everything for the hardcores?

Don't count yer chickens......how excited I'll be if this happens will depend on the bonus tracks. I've already got the albums I care about, sound qualitys fine already for me.

I want them done right, first and foremost, because god knows how long it will be till they're done again.

I know not every track, even for each project, could be released, but if all the albums (at least between 1999 and SOTT) is not double CD, I would be disappointed. The thing that worries me is Prince's "in house" way of doing things - I just don't see him doing it right - Not so worried about censoring/editing like some people are (I don't even think he is that ignorant), but the method/time taken to master, the extras, the packaging etc.

Quality Remastering - Check.

Non-Album tracks/mixes/b-sides - Check

Out-takes/Unreleased tracks from project/period - Check

Detailed liner notes - Check

^ My confidence in Prince delivering that is very low.

.

[Edited 11/2/10 16:05pm]

You all know that there is better than CD sound that many other artist's fans are enjoying... and the Beatles still haven't been put it out like this aside from the remixes on LOVE (and thank The Maker that A Day in The Life is on there intact!)

The Beatles are going to rake it in with audiophiles when they put out the 24 bit versions of the remasters!

I Want my Prince remasters served with all the packaging and added apropriate packaging per album just like The Beatles... but... I want the 24 bit 96 hz DVD-Audio remasters!

And if Prince wants to remix in 5.1... I really wouldn't complain...

so go ahead and make 5.1 DVD-Audio re-issues... and win some technical awards to add to the mantle...

ufoclub said:

You all know that there is better than CD sound that many other artist's fans are enjoying... and the Beatles still haven't been put it out like this aside from the remixes on LOVE (and thank The Maker that A Day in The Life is on there intact!)

The Beatles are going to rake it in with audiophiles when they put out the 24 bit versions of the remasters!

I Want my Prince remasters served with all the packaging and added apropriate packaging per album just like The Beatles... but... I want the 24 bit 96 hz DVD-Audio remasters!

And if Prince wants to remix in 5.1... I really wouldn't complain...

so go ahead and make 5.1 DVD-Audio re-issues... and win some technical awards to add to the mantle...

Whatever the best sound quality is around, yeah we want that!

NouveauDance said:

ufoclub said:

You all know that there is better than CD sound that many other artist's fans are enjoying... and the Beatles still haven't been put it out like this aside from the remixes on LOVE (and thank The Maker that A Day in The Life is on there intact!)

The Beatles are going to rake it in with audiophiles when they put out the 24 bit versions of the remasters!

I Want my Prince remasters served with all the packaging and added apropriate packaging per album just like The Beatles... but... I want the 24 bit 96 hz DVD-Audio remasters!

And if Prince wants to remix in 5.1... I really wouldn't complain...

so go ahead and make 5.1 DVD-Audio re-issues... and win some technical awards to add to the mantle...

Whatever the best sound quality is around, yeah we want that!

Listening to true DVD-Audio is amazing. It's like the difference between DVD and a blu-ray. It just sounds more real and more 3D.

ufoclub said:

You all know that there is better than CD sound that many other artist's fans are enjoying... and the Beatles still haven't been put it out like this aside from the remixes on LOVE (and thank The Maker that A Day in The Life is on there intact!)

The Beatles are going to rake it in with audiophiles when they put out the 24 bit versions of the remasters!

I Want my Prince remasters served with all the packaging and added apropriate packaging per album just like The Beatles... but... I want the 24 bit 96 hz DVD-Audio remasters!

And if Prince wants to remix in 5.1... I really wouldn't complain...

so go ahead and make 5.1 DVD-Audio re-issues... and win some technical awards to add to the mantle...

The Beatles put out the USB, but it's 24 bit/44MHz. McCartney had said they were waiting - of course that mean they were waiting for these box sets to sell before pushing something like that out.

I think 5.1 versions make sense for the soundtracks.

In Prince's case, should be a box set going from the debut to the latest CD, or put 2 different box sets out - one from the WB years, and one going from "Emancipation" to now, and put out two different collections... a new 2 disc 2 DVD set compiling the singles, and one CD compiling Prince's personal selections of songs throughout his career that have the most meaning to him. Maybe it was the first song of his he heard on the radio, his first #1 hit, the most personal song he ever wrote, a song he felt was overlooked by the record company or fans, etc.

I'd actually like to see him release archive live soundboard recordings of full length shows.

What's going on now with Beatles and recently Bob Dylan, is that they're rolling out mono versions, because those are considered the definitive versions by the artist. The versions that they spent more time working on, than the stereo versions that were more or less thrown together, and at times were sloppily mixed. That wasn't the case in the late 70s, but I'm sure if Prince has remastered his recordings, he prob. tightened a few things up, and might have re-recorded a few things that he felt needed to be touched up.

My first thought was give it to me 5 at a time. I think that would be a great idea! OR 7/10yrs of ablums at a time. I wouldn't like to see them released all at once because where would the cut off be? I guess the start of the name change? Whatever was released on WB?

One kiss at a time for me.

1978 to 1988 in 1 big box set, with: extended versions, b-sides, outtakes included.

But including 1988 / Lovesexy: this means no remasters till 2018 - right?

[Edited 11/3/10 2:27am]

Why would I want remasters?

Seriously, I don't understand. Because they sound better? I have all the early, "bad" stuff on vinyl and it sounds just fine.

Will the songs be arranged differently? Or will they be longer? Or will there be outtakes included on a remastered album? If so, then I might could get with it.

But just buying a 35-year-old album because it's been remastered, I just don't see me doing that.

Am I missing something?

hmmm. Definately box sets, but split up....something like this

Dream time......

Box 1 - 1978 to 96 - The WB Years - Each album containing a remaster disc, a rarity and unreleased disc, and a DVD containing a live show and the videos (released and unreleased) of the era.

Box 2 1996 to 2010 - The Freedom Years - Each Album containing a remastered disc, Internet only and unreleased tracks, Live DVDs, promos and Ahdio shows.

Box 3 - Royal Jewels - Limited edition box containing gems, like The Rebels album, Madhouse 24, Alternate, remixed and unreleased tracks, The Second Coming film, UTCM in colour, 1976 demos, all the tracks given away to others in their original form, The First Avenue live show from 83, Small club, The Flesh, Madrid 2 Chicago, rerecorded tracks, unreleased remixes etc etc......

What we'll get....

At best, The album remastered with the 12" and b-side added on.

I can care less to be honest....In all fairness...get the album on vinyl and convert it. It will sound better than a remaster cd anyway...I'd rather him just keep making new albums and new music...I heard it already so ... ..Just because something is remastered does not mean I am going to hear it anymore better than I did listening to on vinyl?

Really I dont buy remasters...unless they remaster the vinyl itself....on some gold edition..or a out of print

paisleypark4 said:

I can care less to be honest....In all fairness...get the album on vinyl and convert it. It will sound better than a remaster cd anyway...I'd rather him just keep making new albums and new music...I heard it already so ... ..Just because something is remastered does not mean I am going to hear it anymore better than I did listening to on vinyl?

Really I dont buy remasters...unless they remaster the vinyl itself....on some gold edition..or a out of print

Actually yes, you do hear it better. The Beatles remasters proves this! The sound quality of a careful modern remastering is much better than the past vinyl mastering. And if you hear the DVD-audio versions of songs, it sounds like the difference between the music being in the speakers or having a presence as if it's in the room around you.

Nuances/textures of basslines are some of the most obvious changes throughout entire songs... and I'm sure the same could happen to Prince's stuff!