ok guys i have a black album vinyl withjapanese(i guess?) plastic around, but as we all now apart from the peach or white vinyls theres none but bootlegs with any visuals on cover or LP now what i want to know is mine a boot leg? because it has on the cover a paradeish era looking visual, and on the back the original symbol (not the name) and track losting among the copyright symbol and Erotic CITY rECORDS ON BOTTOM. Im gunna see if i can figure out how to post pictuures of it. but just warning its hard to see them. because its not an actual printed picture but only black MATTE cover as usual but then on top of the MATTEbackround there is the picture of prince in shiny, same on back so while i try and post the pictures. any body wanna help me out?

it is a bootleg

does it look a little like this?

black print on black backgound. also under the sicker... it says "Nelson"

there is anbother one with a photo from the "U got the Look" single.

[Edited 4/16/12 11:02am]

OnlyNDaUsa said:

it is a bootleg

does it look a little like this?

black print on black backgound. also under the sicker... it says "Nelson"

there is anbother one with a photo from the "U got the Look" single.

[Edited 4/16/12 11:02am]

In my not-so-humble opinion, the BEST vinyl bootleg version of the album out there. Still have mine!

OnlyNDaUsa said:

vvluvfunk said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

it is a bootleg

does it look a little like this?

black print on black backgound. also under the sicker... it says "Nelson"

there is anbother one with a photo from the "U got the Look" single.

[Edited 4/16/12 11:02am]

Ya thats the one... Hey how much would that go for? ......$$$

I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of zero dollars, given that this is a poor quality bootleg of something that later saw an official release.

electricberet said:

vvluvfunk said:

OnlyNDaUsa said: Ya thats the one... Hey how much would that go for? ......$$$

I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of zero dollars, given that this is a poor quality bootleg of something that later saw an official release.

Nah, you could get $5-$15 easy. Not much, but, more than zero...

djThunderfunk said:

electricberet said:

I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of zero dollars, given that this is a poor quality bootleg of something that later saw an official release.

Nah, you could get $5-$15 easy. Not much, but, more than zero...

I guess it might have some value as a large coaster.

djThunderfunk said:

electricberet said:

djThunderfunk said:

Nah, you could get $5-$15 easy. Not much, but, more than zero...

I guess it might have some value as a large coaster.

Considering the high prices and low availability of an official vinyl, and considering that for a bootleg, this one is pretty good quality, there are those that would consider $3 too good to pass up, just to have the tunes on vinyl...

djThunderfunk said:

electricberet said:

I guess it might have some value as a large coaster.

Considering the high prices and low availability of an official vinyl, and considering that for a bootleg, this one is pretty good quality, there are those that would consider $3 too good to pass up, just to have the tunes on vinyl...

At best, the pre-1994 Black Album bootlegs would have been sourced from a CD or a cassette tape. So you are not getting any better sound than you would from playing the official 1994 CD, and in most cases a bootleg version will sound worse.

Don't get me wrong: I still treasure my original Black Album vinyl bootleg, because it reminds me of the time when it wasn't available any other way. But I never listen to it. As I recall, it doesn't even play at the correct speed. The 1994 vinyl, on the other hand, sounds great.

electricberet said:

djThunderfunk said:

Considering the high prices and low availability of an official vinyl, and considering that for a bootleg, this one is pretty good quality, there are those that would consider $3 too good to pass up, just to have the tunes on vinyl...

At best, the pre-1994 Black Album bootlegs would have been sourced from a CD or a cassette tape. So you are not getting any better sound than you would from playing the official 1994 CD, and in most cases a bootleg version will sound worse.

Don't get me wrong: I still treasure my original Black Album vinyl bootleg, because it reminds me of the time when it wasn't available any other way. But I never listen to it. As I recall, it doesn't even play at the correct speed. The 1994 vinyl, on the other hand, sounds great.

This isn't the version with the wrong speed, that would be the one with the U Got The Look pic on the cover.

And I would agree that the official release sounds way better...

That said, there are those out there (not me) who were so used to the sound of this vinyl or, more often than not, cassette copies of a copy of a copy, etc.. of this vinyl and still prefer it to this day. Especially those with multigenerational tape copies where the bass gets thick and muddy.

I've seen many post this opinion here on the org.

I myself do not feel that way, but, I do occasionally enjoy pulling this out and reliving my original experince from 24 years ago. I do the same thing with Charade vinyl and others...

[Edited 4/16/12 21:23pm]

djThunderfunk said:

electricberet said:

At best, the pre-1994 Black Album bootlegs would have been sourced from a CD or a cassette tape. So you are not getting any better sound than you would from playing the official 1994 CD, and in most cases a bootleg version will sound worse.

Don't get me wrong: I still treasure my original Black Album vinyl bootleg, because it reminds me of the time when it wasn't available any other way. But I never listen to it. As I recall, it doesn't even play at the correct speed. The 1994 vinyl, on the other hand, sounds great.

This isn't the version with the wrong speed, that would be the one with the U Got The Look pic on the cover.

And I would agree that the official release sounds way better...

That said, there are those out there (not me) who were so used to the sound of this vinyl or, more often than not, cassette copies of a copy of a copy, etc.. of this vinyl and still prefer it to this day. Especially those with multigenerational tape copies where the bass gets thick and muddy.

I've seen many post this opinion here on the org.

I myself do not feel that way, but, I do occasionally enjoy pulling this out and reliving my original experince from 24 years ago. I do the same thing with Charade vinyl and others...

[Edited 4/16/12 21:23pm]

I think I have the "U Got The Look" version.

Anyway, I guess I understand how some might like to hear the vinyl the way they used to hear it, even if it's not what the album is supposed to sound like. But people need to know that the bootleg sound quality varies from mediocre to worse and that what you hear may not be what Prince wanted it to sound like.

http://www.theblackalbum.info

Enjoy.

I guess it's just me, but that cover image doesn't look right for some reason.

JumpUpOnThe1 said:

I guess it's just me, but that cover image doesn't look right for some reason.

It's not just you. I did a double, & triple take.

The picture on that thing is scaring me.