jaawwnn said:

jaawwnn said:

hhhhdmt said:

I am revisiting all of Prince's albums , currently on the Hits/B Sides. I was wondering whether, given the sheer quality of many of these songs, whether it would have been a better idea to include them as part of his albums to make the albums even stronger. I mean, his records from that era are great and very consistent but are not free from filler or otherwise ordinary songs (e.d Jack U Off, It, etc).

On the other hand, songs like She's Always in my Hair, 17 Days, Erotic City, How Come You Don't call me anymore, Hello etc are all great or atleast good songs. (In fact, SAIMH is my all time favourite Prince track).

So would you have preferred if his high quality B Sides were included in the albums or do you prefer just the way everything was released?

Calling "It" a filler when it's one of the most avant-garde songs on SOTT

Just say you don't like it but don't start theorizing nonsense.

To reply your question I don't know really, my perception of those album's tracklists is biaised by definition since I know them the way they are. So I wouldn't touch a thing.

For many years, the b-sides were one of those cool inside things known primarily to fans. We all have tunes we think should have been on albums, but the fact is...it was always damned cool to buy a single and hear some freakin' great tune like "She's Always In My Hair" or "Alexa De Paris". It was a perk, because we didn't have to wait a year or two after an album dropped to get new music...we all knew we'd get some extras as each single rolled out. It was definitely sad when that ended.

JediMaster said:

For many years, the b-sides were one of those cool inside things known primarily to fans. We all have tunes we think should have been on albums, but the fact is...it was always damned cool to buy a single and hear some freakin' great tune like "She's Always In My Hair" or "Alexa De Paris". It was a perk, because we didn't have to wait a year or two after an album dropped to get new music...we all knew we'd get some extras as each single rolled out. It was definitely sad when that ended.

Very true

as well, the long version of the album cut and the possible long version of the B side

so that could be around maybe 9 (extra) songs depending on the album:

TrevorAyer said:

I feel the b sides were a huge business mistake No the b sides should not be on other records ... They should have been their own record ... Imagine a record between pr and around the world that had erotic city 17 days Lonely xmas How come u dont call me anymore god 4 the tears in your eyes Shes always in my hair Hello Horny toad Then another xtra album between parade and sott Shockadelica Crystal ball Dream factory Last heart La la he he Rebirth of the flesh Power fantastic Alexa de paris Love or money Sorry but THAT would have been an untoucheable run of great HIT records keeping the dance vibe going between the parade and around the world experiments Pr level sales for a decade instead of just a couple years I listen to my own imaginary albums and they are better than pr and sott in many ways Releasing such great bsides dampered p's run of hit records essentially throwing away his best work to obscurity

Loads of great bands had brilliant b-sides, people who care about these things find out.

As far as your average pop consumer was concerned Prince was already releasing too much stuff. Further flooding the market with a load of new albums, no matter how good they were, was never gonna help.

JediMaster said:

For many years, the b-sides were one of those cool inside things known primarily to fans. We all have tunes we think should have been on albums, but the fact is...it was always damned cool to buy a single and hear some freakin' great tune like "She's Always In My Hair" or "Alexa De Paris". It was a perk, because we didn't have to wait a year or two after an album dropped to get new music...we all knew we'd get some extras as each single rolled out. It was definitely sad when that ended.