I'm thinking about getting the Foefur remasters for Prince's albums (since I'm sick of the CD's quality and Prince's refusal to remaster the albums). So my question to everyone on the Org is, are the "remasters" any good? Do they actually sound better? Is the mix more dynamic? Are the improvements noticable? Thanks in advance for you're responses!

Oh, and a secondary question, did Foefur ever remaster any of the associated artist albums?

I just don't understand how you can "remaster" without the original tapes as a source to work from?

RRA said:

I just don't understand how you can "remaster" without the original tapes as a source to work from?

I'm pretty sure they just digitally adjusted various bass and treble levels in the songs or something. Maybe the source of their recordings comes from vinyl too, that would probably sound better than the 16-Bit Prince CD's I have so it's bound to be an improvement.

I found them very good, but it all depends on the person. Some people love 'em, others hate 'em. I, as said, love them. Not only did he do (a good amount of) Prince's own records, he "remastered" Jill Jones' album and Madhouse's records.

I personally think they are a big improvement on the original CDs. Take SOTT for example. It's louder (in a good way) and not as murky sounding. The only one I disliked was the Graffiti Bridge remaster and that was only because a)I was expecting the album versions, but Foefur redid the demos (for the most part), and b) the drums on Can't Stop This Feeling I Got annoyed the piss out of me. On GB, the We Can Funk, JIR, and Grand Progression "remasters" were marvellous, though.

For many tracks, on Purple Rain especially, Foefur has used alternate versions of track. Let's Go Crazy had been replaced with the extended dance remix, The Beautiful Ones is the full, unreleased version, Computer Blue is the 7:29 edit, and Darling Nikki has an additional section that was not released officially. He also, usually, throws in some B-Sides of the era. The drums pack more of a punch (especially on the Parade remaster, omfg it's beautiful), in my opinion, as well.

All in all, it's up to U to make an opinion about them, but these are my thoughts on the Foefur "remasters".

PurpleSullivan said:

I found them very good, but it all depends on the person. Some people love 'em, others hate 'em. I, as said, love them. Not only did he do (a good amount of) Prince's own records, he "remastered" Jill Jones' album and Madhouse's records.

I personally think they are a big improvement on the original CDs. Take SOTT for example. It's louder (in a good way) and not as murky sounding. The only one I disliked was the Graffiti Bridge remaster and that was only because a)I was expecting the album versions, but Foefur redid the demos (for the most part), and b) the drums on Can't Stop This Feeling I Got annoyed the piss out of me. On GB, the We Can Funk, JIR, and Grand Progression "remasters" were marvellous, though.

For many tracks, on Purple Rain especially, Foefur has used alternate versions of track. Let's Go Crazy had been replaced with the extended dance remix, The Beautiful Ones is the full, unreleased version, Computer Blue is the 7:29 edit, and Darling Nikki has an additional section that was not released officially. He also, usually, throws in some B-Sides of the era. The drums pack more of a punch (especially on the Parade remaster, omfg it's beautiful), in my opinion, as well.

All in all, it's up to U to make an opinion about them, but these are my thoughts on the Foefur "remasters".

That's what I don't seem keen on about the remasters, how he uses the extended mixes and such. It's great to include them but why replace the edits with the extended? I'm gonna check it out though. Thanks for the quick reply and Happy New Year!

U're welcome and a Happy New Year to U, too.