To my ears, there was no question that these were remastered. I'm so happy that I'm not the only vinyl geek on the .org.

electricberet said:

I wrote to Bernie Grundman Mastering to ask about the reissues, and this is the response I got:

Yes those titles were remastered at our studio by Bernie. We received the original tapes and remastered them, using the original first pressings as references.

We did the work back in January of this year.

There you have it. Prince's master tapes still exist (if any of you were worried about that), and these reissues are definitely remastered.

My main thought after listening to them was that they are not going to sound any better than they do on these reissues. I'd like to have digital remasters to take in the car or to the gym, but I'm grateful for what we've now got.

So this is the next best thing short of a remastered Deluxe CD with all the trimmings. So why isn't this a sticky already???

[Edited 5/17/11 10:59am]

runphilrun said:

electricberet said:

I wrote to Bernie Grundman Mastering to ask about the reissues, and this is the response I got:

Yes those titles were remastered at our studio by Bernie. We received the original tapes and remastered them, using the original first pressings as references.

We did the work back in January of this year.

There you have it. Prince's master tapes still exist (if any of you were worried about that), and these reissues are definitely remastered.

My main thought after listening to them was that they are not going to sound any better than they do on these reissues. I'd like to have digital remasters to take in the car or to the gym, but I'm grateful for what we've now got.

So this is the next best thing short of a remastered Deluxe CD with all the trimmings. So why isn't this a sticky already???

[Edited 5/17/11 10:59am]

Good question. At the least, this addresses some of the concerns that have been expressed in threads like this one about the condition of Prince's tapes:

http://prince.org/msg/7/336367

It's clear that the original master tapes of the three albums that were remastered for vinyl this year are doing just fine.

Prince needs to release all his albums 1978-1989 remastered on CD, plus 5 or 6 more volumes of Crystal Ball and concert films for every 80's tour.

802 said:

Prince needs to release all his albums 1978-1989 remastered on CD, plus 5 or 6 more volumes of Crystal Ball and concert films for every 80's tour.

I think that will come someday (at least the remastered original albums), but it doesn't seem like they're in a hurry to get them out. However, it doesn't seem like Prince's JW beliefs are what's getting in the way. By his own statement he now owns the rights to Dirty Mind, and yet we now have a remastered version of that album on vinyl with no censorship whatsoever. That's a very good sign in my opinion.

electricberet said:

802 said:

Prince needs to release all his albums 1978-1989 remastered on CD, plus 5 or 6 more volumes of Crystal Ball and concert films for every 80's tour.

I think that will come someday (at least the remastered original albums), but it doesn't seem like they're in a hurry to get them out. However, it doesn't seem like Prince's JW beliefs are what's getting in the way. By his own statement he now owns the rights to Dirty Mind, and yet we now have a remastered version of that album on vinyl with no censorship whatsoever. That's a very good sign in my opinion.

Totally agree about this being a good sign for the future of re-releases.

electricberet said:

I wrote to Bernie Grundman Mastering to ask about the reissues, and this is the response I got:

Yes those titles were remastered at our studio by Bernie. We received the original tapes and remastered them, using the original first pressings as references.

We did the work back in January of this year.

There you have it. Prince's master tapes still exist (if any of you were worried about that), and these reissues are definitely remastered.

My main thought after listening to them was that they are not going to sound any better than they do on these reissues. I'd like to have digital remasters to take in the car or to the gym, but I'm grateful for what we've now got.

Boom, that's what I'm talking about. You did the research!

Why can't they put this out on blu-ray in that master audio format or

Dolby TrueHD

?

whoops that was a funny cut and paste.

NoVideo said:

Just ordered all 3 from amazon.com for delivery tomorrow. I'm having minor surgery tomorrow morning, so I will look forward to coming home, relaxing, and spending the rest of the evening and night listening to these.

Good for you, I hope your sugery will turn out fine. Let us know how you'v enjoyed these vinyls, I am very tempted to order them myself!

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I wish they would release a collection of the extended versions on 180g

funkaholic1972 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I wish they would release a collection of the extended versions on 180g

then all we would need is an optic turntable.

electricberet said:

I wrote to Bernie Grundman Mastering to ask about the reissues, and this is the response I got:

Yes those titles were remastered at our studio by Bernie. We received the original tapes and remastered them, using the original first pressings as references.

We did the work back in January of this year.

There you have it. Prince's master tapes still exist (if any of you were worried about that), and these reissues are definitely remastered.

My main thought after listening to them was that they are not going to sound any better than they do on these reissues. I'd like to have digital remasters to take in the car or to the gym, but I'm grateful for what we've now got.

But why aren't these re-issues promoted as re-masters?

This doesn't make sense.

After 3 decades REMASTERS are released, albeit on vinyl, and all that happens is BG send you an EMAIL confirming this?

Do you have more proof of this than just that quoted line ?

Tremolina said:

electricberet said:

I wrote to Bernie Grundman Mastering to ask about the reissues, and this is the response I got:

Yes those titles were remastered at our studio by Bernie. We received the original tapes and remastered them, using the original first pressings as references.

We did the work back in January of this year.

There you have it. Prince's master tapes still exist (if any of you were worried about that), and these reissues are definitely remastered.

My main thought after listening to them was that they are not going to sound any better than they do on these reissues. I'd like to have digital remasters to take in the car or to the gym, but I'm grateful for what we've now got.

But why aren't these re-issues promoted as re-masters?

This doesn't make sense.

After 3 decades REMASTERS are released, albeit on vinyl, and all that happens is BG send you an EMAIL confirming this?

Do you have more proof of this than just that quoted line ?

The other proof is BG's initials and the different catalog numbers in the deadwax of the reissues compared to the initial pressings.

I also think it's odd that there isn't much promotion of these, given how long Prince fans have been demanding remasters. But where would they be promoted? Prince's official site?

temptation68 said:

Should I just burn down my in laws home (NOT SERIOUS) for throwing away my PRINCE AND MORRIS DAY album collection. I started buying Prince in 79 age 11. These friggin lunatics tossed them because they said it was the DEVILS music. I have been the Devil towards my husband since I found out the horrid news..... Ugh! Rhino here I come.... Friggin fraggin lunatics

Wow, that's messed up. "devil" or no devil, they should have respected your property.

I started collecting around 79 too and have multiple copies of some stuff. Orgnote me....if you're looking for something.

electricberet said:

Tremolina said:

But why aren't these re-issues promoted as re-masters?

This doesn't make sense.

After 3 decades REMASTERS are released, albeit on vinyl, and all that happens is BG send you an EMAIL confirming this?

Do you have more proof of this than just that quoted line ?

The other proof is BG's initials and the different catalog numbers in the deadwax of the reissues compared to the initial pressings.

I also think it's odd that there isn't much promotion of these, given how long Prince fans have been demanding remasters. But where would they be promoted? Prince's official site?

Rhino record's site should mention something about it.

Hell, this should be BIG news.

electricberet said:

I wrote to Bernie Grundman Mastering to ask about the reissues, and this is the response I got:

Yes those titles were remastered at our studio by Bernie. We received the original tapes and remastered them, using the original first pressings as references.

We did the work back in January of this year.

There you have it. Prince's master tapes still exist (if any of you were worried about that), and these reissues are definitely remastered.

My main thought after listening to them was that they are not going to sound any better than they do on these reissues. I'd like to have digital remasters to take in the car or to the gym, but I'm grateful for what we've now got.

Interesting.

Tremolina said:

electricberet said:

The other proof is BG's initials and the different catalog numbers in the deadwax of the reissues compared to the initial pressings.

I also think it's odd that there isn't much promotion of these, given how long Prince fans have been demanding remasters. But where would they be promoted? Prince's official site?

Rhino record's site should mention something about it.

Hell, this should be BIG news.

I agree. It's possible that the Rhino people just don't realize what they have on their hands. But there's also the fact that Prince himself doesn't like some of this material due to the sex-positive themes and lyrics. Normally you would get some promotion from the artist, but I haven't heard anything from the one outlet Prince has for promotion.

[Edited 5/18/11 12:49pm]

I called Amoeba records yesterday, and the guy that answered said he wasn't even aware there were reissues and the store didn't have them .

The more I think about it, the more this makes sense. Can you see Prince doing promotion for an uncensored remaster of Dirty Mind? We should be glad that he went along with it. That is, assuming he knows this is going on. If not, I hope these don't get yanked from the shelves when the Purple Yoda finds out what happened.

ugh, i'm annoyed... my Amazon.com order tracking says it was "delayed due to external factors". WTF? I want them today, dammit!

NoVideo said:

ugh, i'm annoyed... my Amazon.com order tracking says it was "delayed due to external factors". WTF? I want them today, dammit!

Too bad...Did it leave the warehouse?

Hope your surgery went well.

electricberet said:

NoVideo said:

ugh, i'm annoyed... my Amazon.com order tracking says it was "delayed due to external factors". WTF? I want them today, dammit!

Too bad...Did it leave the warehouse?

Hope your surgery went well.

It did leave the warehouse, so hopefully I'll have them tomorrow

Surgery went very well, thanks! Just got my sinuses fixed, nothing too major. I'm home and relaxing now (and not in any pain, thanks to great meds!). Would love to be listening to these new records, but hopefully i'll get my Prince fix tomorrow - - i'm a huge vinyl junkie and have a nice surround-sound setup with my turntable. Can't wait to hear these! I appreciate you guys giving the heads up on this, otherwise I'd have never known to order them.

I should wait until there's a little more cash available, but I'm dying here!

Mine just arrived! Just put on "Dirty Mind" to start. Absolutely terrific sound, very rich.

[img:$uid]http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o177/B_a_n_d_i_t/princereissues.jpg[/img:$uid]

NoVideo said:

[img:$uid]http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o177/B_a_n_d_i_t/princereissues.jpg[/img:$uid]

Did the controversy album come with the disturbing poster

So the real question is.......how long before the cd version comes out?

Graycap23 said:

So the real question is.......how long before the cd version comes out?

I think they're going to soak as much money as they can out of us vinyl fans first. We might see vinyl reissues of the post-PR albums before we see digital remasters of anything. It wouldn't surprise me if the entire catalog has already been digitally archived by now, but they're waiting for the right time to release the digital versions. But your guess is as good as mine.