I'm not an audio expert so I don't know. But who cares anyway? It's all we have, we are not going to get a newly remastered version anytime this century.

Better having the one we have than not having it at all.

What Prince album would be?

my main issue with the set is so much of it was already officially released. Some 'songs' were just edits with a diffrent mix or simply just a different mix.

Compared to Prince's 80s CD catalog, Crystal Ball is an audio production masterpiece. The older tracks on CB may have had to undergo extensive work to get anything at all, considering the reported state of The Vault's contents.

Prince's re-recording of past works may not be all about lyrical content. It's reasonable to speculate that his tapes are dust.

novabrkr said:

What Prince album would be?

TRC

squirrelgrease said:

It's reasonable to speculate that his tapes are dust.

Don't start that talk up again, it gives me nightmares!

it just sounds liek prince whacked all the tracks 2gther and used a volume leveller 2 me...maybe i was being abit dramatic there ...but it still dosent sound very clear........I mean If T could do it with teh 12 inch Archives with viynls why couldnt prince from fucking master tapes....grrrr

the scary thing is in the Peach and Black intervire Prince talked about how easy it was to remaster now...just use a computer!

No! rematering is an art form. only true experts should touch the tapes. Prince is not a sound expert!

OnlyNDaUsa said:

the scary thing is in the Peach and Black intervire Prince talked about how easy it was to remaster now...just use a computer!

No! rematering is an art form. only true experts should touch the tapes. Prince is not a sound expert!

.....maybe thats why then ......the bright sunny future of havin beautifully remastered classics has just gone abit cloudier cuz of your comment...i hate you!!

Graycap23 said:

novabrkr said:

What Prince album would be?

TRC

The record has a fairly full sound throughout, but the audio is distorted on several parts of the record due to too hot levels or too much limiting.

Optimus2 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

the scary thing is in the Peach and Black intervire Prince talked about how easy it was to remaster now...just use a computer!

No! rematering is an art form. only true experts should touch the tapes. Prince is not a sound expert!

.....maybe thats why then ......the bright sunny future of havin beautifully remastered classics has just gone abit cloudier cuz of your comment...i hate you!!

I know! that idea scares me!

NouveauDance said:

squirrelgrease said:

It's reasonable to speculate that his tapes are dust.

Don't start that talk up again, it gives me nightmares!

I know. It's pretty sad to think about. But at least three insiders have told of the same scenario.

At least there are lawyers somewhere with copies of the Vault stuff, though it sounds like they were hastily made, non-archival backups.

But on the bright side, he can easily re-record everything, change the lyrics and have Andy add a stellar rap to those legacy songs.

paisleypark4 said:

I think it was done very well. I could say I haven't heard a more crystal clear album in a ling time.

I disagree....your obviously slightly deaf because of years of playing funky purple music 2 loud while dancin with ya mamas thong on, while lip-syncin 2 Adore and Pussy Control...most probably teh Crystal Ball version cuz its more funky! ....joking!

squirrelgrease said:

Compared to Prince's 80s CD catalog, Crystal Ball is an audio production masterpiece. The older tracks on CB may have had to undergo extensive work to get anything at all, considering the reported state of The Vault's contents.

Prince's re-recording of past works may not be all about lyrical content. It's reasonable to speculate that his tapes are dust.

I don't get why his tapes would be dust.

I've got tapes I've had since about 1985, that still play and sound fine.

Also for instance The Beach Smile Sessions have have just come out, they would have been far older. Did prince use a shity kind of tape or something or just store them in a damp garage.

I always thought it sounded good. What struck me is I thought many of the songs had been remastered or cleaned up to sound more up to date, but the bootlegs of Acknowledge Me and Dream Factory sound identical....so I think he used quite forward thinking sounds even back then....

No, it's the songs.

squirrelgrease said:

NouveauDance said:

Don't start that talk up again, it gives me nightmares!

I know. It's pretty sad to think about. But at least three insiders have told of the same scenario.

At least there are lawyers somewhere with copies of the Vault stuff, though it sounds like they were hastily made, non-archival backups.

But on the bright side, he can easily re-record everything, change the lyrics and have Andy add a stellar rap to those legacy songs.

Really?! That's interesting! Can you tell us more?

When i got it, it was a super-treat, and I could not stop playing Crystal Ball over and over....so, from this side - nope

OnlyNDaUsa said:

my main issue with the set is so much of it was already officially released. Some 'songs' were just edits with a diffrent mix or simply just a different mix.

Let's see.... "Dark," "Pussy Control," "Good Love." Those first two songs I mentioned were obviously remixes. "Good Love" never appeared on a "Prince album" until "Crystal Ball," plus to my knowledge it was more of a lesser known song, which is probably why he included it, even though it was, as you say an edited version. "The Ride" as far as I know only got released on "The Undertaker" and "The Sacrifice Of Victor" videos but it was never on an album, but yeah you could say that it was kinda misleading that he chose to dub the material on the album as "previously bootlegged" when some of it seemingly wasn't.

Personally speaking it was great to finally hear songs like "Acknowledge Me" and "Days Of Wild" in crystal clear quality. Actually the whole set was great to me at first, but now I think that if he had've released the original "CB" configuration, or at least if he had've put the songs in chronological order, as opposed to just kind of throwing them all into a blender, then in my opinion, it would've made for a much more cohesive listen.

mushmackalenta said:

squirrelgrease said:

Compared to Prince's 80s CD catalog, Crystal Ball is an audio production masterpiece. The older tracks on CB may have had to undergo extensive work to get anything at all, considering the reported state of The Vault's contents.

Prince's re-recording of past works may not be all about lyrical content. It's reasonable to speculate that his tapes are dust.

I don't get why his tapes would be dust.

I've got tapes I've had since about 1985, that still play and sound fine.

Also for instance The Beach Smile Sessions have have just come out, they would have been far older. Did prince use a shity kind of tape or something or just store them in a damp garage.

I also have tapes from the 80s that still sound fine but his former engineer Hans Martin Buff ( he was his engineer during the Emancipation era) once mentioned in an interview that most of the vault stuff was not really being taken proper care of, and that a lot of the tapes are losing their gum and dissolving.

I´m not an expert but I think you have to literally bake those old tapes in some sort of fruit drying machine in order to save them. Then you can play them ONCE and you have to record what´s on them in that one recording session.

Then again, he´s used tons of samples from old material over the years, like that "The Line" sample on Acknowledge Me, so I´m not too worried about his tapes turning into dust. If that were the case, then how come he could release Splash or use those old samples, right?

anc282 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

my main issue with the set is so much of it was already officially released. Some 'songs' were just edits with a diffrent mix or simply just a different mix.

Let's see.... "Dark," "Pussy Control," "Good Love." Those first two songs I mentioned were obviously remixes. "Good Love" never appeared on a "Prince album" until "Crystal Ball," plus to my knowledge it was more of a lesser known song, which is probably why he included it, even though it was, as you say an edited version. "The Ride" as far as I know only got released on "The Undertaker" and "The Sacrifice Of Victor" videos but it was never on an album, but yeah you could say that it was kinda misleading that he chose to dub the material on the album as "previously bootlegged" when some of it seemingly wasn't.

Personally speaking it was great to finally hear songs like "Acknowledge Me" and "Days Of Wild" in crystal clear quality. Actually the whole set was great to me at first, but now I think that if he had've released the original "CB" configuration, or at least if he had've put the songs in chronological order, as opposed to just kind of throwing them all into a blender, then in my opinion, it would've made for a much more cohesive listen.

it is closer to 1/3 of the songs had been officaly released in some form and more if you count the songs he had recently done on tv.

prior releases:

1. "Love Sign" (Shock G's Silky Remix)‡ - 3:5
2. "So Dark"‡ - 5:14 (recorded 1994)
3. "Tell Me How U Wanna B Done"‡ - 3:16 (recorded 1992)
4. "Interactive" - 3:04 (recorded 1993
5. "Good Love"† - 4:55 (recorded 1986)
6. "18 & Over"* - 5:40 (recorded 1994)
7. "Get Loose"‡ - 3:31 (recorded 1994)
8. "P Control"‡ - 6:00 (recorded 1995)

had been preformed on TV

1. "Acknowledge Me"* - 5:27 (recorded 1993
2. "She Gave Her Angels" - 3:53 (recorded 1996
3. "The Ride" (Live)* - 5:14 (recorded 1995)

[Edited 11/26/11 15:23pm]

Crystal Ball sounds great. What's wrong with it?

ufoclub said:

Crystal Ball sounds great. What's wrong with it?

I dunno just seems 2 be abit muffeled 2 me thats all.....vocals seem clear..its just seems abit washed over..i cant explain it

Optimus2 said:

ufoclub said:

Crystal Ball sounds great. What's wrong with it?

I dunno just seems 2 be abit muffeled 2 me thats all.....vocals seem clear..its just seems abit washed over..i cant explain it

Maybe it's the equipment you are listening to it on? Sounds crystal clear to my ears.

It's not a crappy mp3 you are listening to is it?

TheDigitalGardener said:

Optimus2 said:

I dunno just seems 2 be abit muffeled 2 me thats all.....vocals seem clear..its just seems abit washed over..i cant explain it

Maybe it's the equipment you are listening to it on? Sounds crystal clear to my ears.

It's not a crappy mp3 you are listening to is it?

how very dare you!! i paid £65 POUND for that brand new off amazon.com

i think Prince enjoys the fact that he is one of the most bootlegged artist out there, and i dont think he wanted to put all his best unreleased songs on the album

squirrelgrease said:

NouveauDance said:

Don't start that talk up again, it gives me nightmares!

I know. It's pretty sad to think about. But at least three insiders have told of the same scenario.

At least there are lawyers somewhere with copies of the Vault stuff, though it sounds like they were hastily made, non-archival backups.

But on the bright side, he can easily re-record everything, change the lyrics and have Andy add a stellar rap to those legacy songs.