Alexandernvrmind said:

It's true, I think everything has been remastered, at least for TIDAL. I have a feeling PRINCE has handpicked everything on his TIDAL account, even the "INFLUENCES" section, that he just posted a link to on Twitter.

PurpleMedley122 said:

Wrong. From first listen SOTT uses the same garbage master from the CD. Listening side by side with my US 1st Pressing vinyl rip, the vinyl still blows it out of the water. For example, check if you can hear the acoustic strumming panned to the left speaker on the CD/TIDAL version of Play in the Sunshine, cause it's there and a lot more prominent on the vinyl version.

No. It definitely sounds better than the CD. As someone who has complained for years about the shitty quality of the CD. This sounds much better. Maybe your computer has shit speakers?

The album info is pretty detailed too:

Credits

Noodled24 said:

feeluupp said:

Alexandernvrmind said:

derrick31 said:

Alexandernvrmind said:

Wow! Sexy dancer, Head, Bambi...absolutely killer! Goodness wait until I play 1999 It is worth paying for Tidal just to hear these classics in this sound quality Wow!

You are right! Not to mention Empty Room on C-Note sounds great too!

I've been on CNote all day forgot how much I loved it.

Yep..Tidal just might get my dime. The sound quality is amazing and I"m only listening to the $9 version. If Prince keeps giving up the goods I have no complaints.

Alexandernvrmind said:

Wow! Sexy dancer, Head, Bambi...absolutely killer! Goodness wait until I play 1999 It is worth paying for Tidal just to hear these classics in this sound quality Wow!

I already have these on CDs (remember those) and my ipod/iphone to listen to anytime I want to, and they sound great there too, what's the point of paying to hear them again from elsewhere?

FunkyStrange said:

1contessa said:

It's quite obvious that some of the hits on some of the albums are from another source than the rest of the tracks - possibly from one of the compilations. On Parade "Kiss" and "Girls & Boys" are credited to Prince & the Revolution while the rest is only credited to Prince. Similarly on Purple Rain where only "Purple Rain" and "Let's Go Crazy" are credited to Prince & the Revolution.

I highly doubt Prince has remastered anything for Tidal. But if he were to do it, he ought to begin by fixing the muddled and oversteered mess that is AOA. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the backing vocals towards the end of "Breakdown" as one of the worst examples. I'm still baffled that he released that in such poor sound quality.

Listening to Disc 1 of Sign O' The times now on Tidal

Sign O' The Times, It & Hot Thing are not the original versions, the volume levels are almost double on these tracks compared to the other album tracks, pretty crappy when you think about it...

Glad I'm on the free trial.. I'd be pissed off if I was paying $20 a month for this jumbled mess..

Not to mention some of the B-sides are straight rips from vinyl - you can hear the clicks !!

Is it that hard just to get the master copy?

[Edited 9/9/15 0:55am]

terrig said:

derrick31 said:

Alexandernvrmind said: You are right! Not to mention Empty Room on C-Note sounds great too!

I've been on CNote all day forgot how much I loved it.

C-note is great indeed...i loved that Prince era...i guess it is my favorite with the release of the live album and one nite alone..piano...

garneren said:

It's quite obvious that some of the hits on some of the albums are from another source than the rest of the tracks - possibly from one of the compilations. On Parade "Kiss" and "Girls & Boys" are credited to Prince & the Revolution while the rest is only credited to Prince. Similarly on Purple Rain where only "Purple Rain" and "Let's Go Crazy" are credited to Prince & the Revolution.

I highly doubt Prince has remastered anything for Tidal. But if he were to do it, he ought to begin by fixing the muddled and oversteered mess that is AOA. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the backing vocals towards the end of "Breakdown" as one of the worst examples. I'm still baffled that he released that in such poor sound quality.

Why?

There was talk of remasters. Pono mentioned his catalog was being remastered. Tidal is all about hifi music.

Add to that the fact SOTT and other albums sound much better. No artist in history has started their remasters with the album they released last year.

It can only sound better as a result of the "remastering". Audibly there's no difference between 320 kbps and cd quality.

Also, Tidal subscribers paying double for the lossless audio are being ripped off basically.

SquirrelMeat said:

FunkyStrange said:

On most of the albums, most of the big singles have been replaced with the new louder mastered versions from Ultimate.. Listen to Parade.... Kiss & Girls & Boys are WAY louder and blasted to the wall, everything else quiet..

Haven't heard it myself, but if you're right, that is utter shit! Swapping some songs out would totally ruin the flow of the album in regards to the peaks and valleys that are supposed to be part of the listening experience.

fortuneandserendipity said:

It can only sound better as a result of the "remastering". Audibly there's no difference between 320 kbps and cd quality.

Also, Tidal subscribers paying double for the lossless audio are being ripped off basically.

You're saying there's no difference between a 320kbps mp3 Vs a 1411kbps Flac file?

[Edited 9/9/15 8:56am]

Alexandernvrmind said:

1contessa said:

I already have these on CDs (remember those) and my ipod/iphone to listen to anytime I want to, and they sound great there too, what's the point of paying to hear them again from elsewhere?

Because the sound has been remastered.

why do you keep saying this? the albums sound a bit louder at best, but not better,

they sound the same as what we already have. perhaps you had very bad rips of a

few albums like Sign O The Times, i don't know, but mine sound the same as Tidal.

don't you think that prince and tidal would have screamed it from the rooftops if any

or all of his WB catalogue was now in remastered form streaming on Tidal?

cool - but I will take my Japanese CD pressing

Regarding the sound quality of Sign O' The Times (the album) it is clear to me that some of the tracks are sourced from newer releases.

I'm guessing that "The Cross", "Adore" and "Hot Thing" are taken from the Girl 6 Soundtrack, Sign O' The Times (the song) is probably from Ultimate Prince but the oddity here is that "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" sounds like it's sourced from VINYL and recorded with a not too great cartridge as you can hear clearly inner groove distortion!

I remember that the version of the album on Spotify had the same inconsistencies so I hope that Prince /WB can supply Tidal with newly created masters of the old stuff or at least keep the sources consistent within an album...

[Edited 9/9/15 12:14pm]

purplehippieonthe1 said:

Regarding the sound quality of Sign O' The Times (the album) it is clear to me that some of the tracks are sourced from newer releases.

I'm guessing that "The Cross", "Adore" and "Hot Thing" are taken from the Girl 6 Soundtrack, Sign O' The Times (the song) is probably from Ultimate Prince but the oddity here is that "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" sounds like it's sourced from VINYL and recorded with a not too great cartridge as you can hear clearly inner groove distortion!

I remember that the version of the album on Spotify had the same inconsistencies so I hope that Prince /WB can supply Tidal with newly created masters of the old stuff or at least keep the sources consistent within an album...

So what about "it"? Where would that have come from?

I can't see how sourcing some songs from other releases would serve any purpose?

Noodled24 said:

purplehippieonthe1 said:

Regarding the sound quality of Sign O' The Times (the album) it is clear to me that some of the tracks are sourced from newer releases.

I'm guessing that "The Cross", "Adore" and "Hot Thing" are taken from the Girl 6 Soundtrack, Sign O' The Times (the song) is probably from Ultimate Prince but the oddity here is that "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" sounds like it's sourced from VINYL and recorded with a not too great cartridge as you can hear clearly inner groove distortion!

I remember that the version of the album on Spotify had the same inconsistencies so I hope that Prince /WB can supply Tidal with newly created masters of the old stuff or at least keep the sources consistent within an album...

So what about "it"? Where would that have come from?

I can't see how sourcing some songs from other releases would serve any purpose?

The söng "It" sounds on Tidal almost identical to my MP3 rip from the album - I don't know about the purpose for it but there's a few songs from the old Prince albums on Tidal that sound "hotter", louder than the rest of the album.

try for instance playing the title track from Controversy, first from the Controversy album and then from Ultimate, sounds pretty similar, right? Then put on for instance "Let's Work" and notice the drop in volume. "Controversy" as it is on the Controversy album on Tidal MUST be from a different master than the original CD master.

EDIT: I think I know now a possible reason for this - maybe the record company wants to have the hit songs counted together for statistics so that for instance "Purple Rain" from the album is counted with "Purple Rain" from the compilations so they went with ONE master, meaning you get the same version on Purple Rain, Hits and Ultimate.

PLUS I just noticed that they used the SINGLE version for "Kiss" on the Tidal version of Parade, it ends with the guitar coda instead of ending on the word "kiss" like on the proper album.

[Edited 9/9/15 13:02pm]

Oh You Guys!!!!

As if this stuff is going to ever sound as good as it does in your memory.

I was living in Santa Fe when SOTT came out. I saw the movie a bunch of times at the local art theatre....the jean cocteau.

I remember doing blow in the bathroom before it started.

those were the days!