Last night, something came over me and I dug out my old official "limited edition" cd of the Black Album from '94- it seems like once every other year or so, I'll dig out a classic Prince album and play it all the way through to 1.) reappreciate what made me a fan when I was growing up, 2.) see if, after all of these years, I notice anything new whether it's musically/lyrically/etc..., and 3.) to see how well the music has aged throughout the years.

Needless to say, I forgot how great the album was, every single track. It was also interesting to me, as a 40+ year old fan of hip hop, to listen to "Dead On It" for the 1st time in decades- which, by the way, is more jamming than I used to think but is interesting in terms of criticzing rappers but respecting Rap music.

Anyway, here's my question- why does the mix sound so bad? From the opening seconds of "Le Grind", I thought "Damn, this sounds about as good or bad as the Black Album bootlegs from back in the day!".

Does anyone know why the mix on that sounds so low and rudimentary on that album as opposed to the original cd versions of Parade, Sign O' The Times, and/or LoveSexy?

CoolMF said:

Last night, something came over me and I dug out my old official "limited edition" cd of the Black Album from '94- it seems like once every other year or so, I'll dig out a classic Prince album and play it all the way through to 1.) reappreciate what made me a fan when I was growing up, 2.) see if, after all of these years, I notice anything new whether it's musically/lyrically/etc..., and 3.) to see how well the music has aged throughout the years.

Needless to say, I forgot how great the album was, every single track. It was also interesting to me, as a 40+ year old fan of hip hop, to listen to "Dead On It" for the 1st time in decades- which, by the way, is more jamming than I used to think but is interesting in terms of criticzing rappers but respecting Rap music.

Anyway, here's my question- why does the mix sound so bad? From the opening seconds of "Le Grind", I thought "Damn, this sounds about as good or bad as the Black Album bootlegs from back in the day!".

Does anyone know why the mix on that sounds so low and rudimentary on that album as opposed to the original cd versions of Parade, Sign O' The Times, and/or LoveSexy?

I can assure you that the sound quality is superior to any bootleg of it we had before

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However (IDK but it's my guess) I would assume that the CD transfer was made from the original 1987 master without any improvement (or loudness war if you will), which for one thing made it sound very low by 1994's standards. I'm no expert but I know the CD transfers of everything prior to Batman has been criticized by the audiofiles here as making the albums sound like shit by comparison to the original vinyls. Obviously the same thing happened to TBA.

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Regarding the mix itself I don't remember it being any worse or better than other albums from that era but it wouldn't be delirious to assume Prince wanted the record to sound rushed and "dirty". It was, after all, not supposed to be an official "Prince" album at the time of the original planned release, but some sort of anonymous underground oddity (WB's record stores orders catalogues listed it as "Something" by an artist called Somebody IIRC).

When I bought it new in 1994, my friend and I agreed that it sounded no better than the most recent bootleg version we had gotten around late 1993, which was near-perfect but had a little "bite" to it. Official release sounds perfectly clear, but sterile and too quiet.

fms said:

When I bought it new in 1994, my friend and I agreed that it sounded no better than the most recent bootleg version we had gotten around late 1993, which was near-perfect but had a little "bite" to it. Official release sounds perfectly clear, but sterile and too quiet.

I wasn't aware of this late 93 leak.

I'd heard a lot of versions by the time the album was released and none were as good.

In 1993 there was a CD bootleg that was probably a official vinyl rip with a bit of EQ applied that sounded better than the official CD release. For some whatever reason (maybe to make it sound tougher?) the actual release (even on vinyl) sounds like it's emphasizing midrange and toning down highs and lows. No other Prince album sounds like it had this treatment.

Has anyone ever analyzed the audio to see why Prince was so remorseful of the content of this album? it seems like the audio had some type of psychological implants

The Black Album is a great album, song-wise. We used to listen to it from 3rd generation tapes in the 80s... I have to say I was rather disappointed when the cd came out in '94, since it sounded so muffled. Much worse than his other 80s cds. For me, the bas sound quality is a reason for not playing that cd so much...

My original bootleg version was dubbed too slow. Not by much but enough to make the official version sound really fast an throw off my timing.

I have the TBA "Caporal" CD (that with the 8 outtakes as bonus tracks) and it sounds a lot better than the official 1994 WB release.

Even the TBA CD from "The Black Album Band" sounds better than the WB.

databank said:

fms said:

When I bought it new in 1994, my friend and I agreed that it sounded no better than the most recent bootleg version we had gotten around late 1993, which was near-perfect but had a little "bite" to it. Official release sounds perfectly clear, but sterile and too quiet.

I wasn't aware of this late 93 leak.

I'd heard a lot of versions by the time the album was released and none were as good.

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Nonsense. Direct CD copies of the original release were widely available in the early 1990s.

CoolMF said:

Anyway, here's my question- why does the mix sound so bad? From the opening seconds of "Le Grind", I thought "Damn, this sounds about as good or bad as the Black Album bootlegs from back in the day!".

Does anyone know why the mix on that sounds so low and rudimentary on that album as opposed to the original cd versions of Parade, Sign O' The Times, and/or LoveSexy?

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You seriously couldn't think up a better title for this thread? Hell, why didn't you just go with "question"?

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The official TBA release uses the exact same master as the retracted 1987 one. That one was okay-ish (same as with most of Prince's 1980s output on CD).

Wasn't it supposed to sound kinda filthy? With each album of the 80s is sounded like he was constantly refining his sound, but The Black Album would have interrupted this trend in an effort to silence criticism that he had gotten soft and wasn't as funky anymore. That type of motivation has a negative origin psychologically.

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Then I imagine (and this is obviously speculation) that he listened back to TBA on ecstasy and the combination of poor sound quality with the negative psychological origins resulted in a "negative" trip. Hence the cancellation and replacement with the pristine sounding, positive oriented Lovesexy. I know that when I've rolled and listened to music of poor sound quality it always ruins the experience. I always ended up lunging for music with a more pristine sound production to salvage the trip. Even the cover of Lovesexy with the shedding of clothing....that smacks of something someone would likely feel compelled to do when rolling.

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Has anyone compared "When 2 R In Love" from both albums? I only ever listen to them within the context of their respective albums and the Lovesexy version always comes off sounding cleaner and clearer to me. But that could be because the Black Album version is embedded in all that filthiness.

Poplife88 said:

My original copy was a cassette a buddy gave me in early 88...quality was not good, but omg was it fonky. The bass was crazy deep and the poor quality added something. That thing got played and copied to death that summer. I remember being very excited when the CD finally came out. Yeah, it was good to have it crystal clear, but yeah, it lost something that the tape had. I still love the album, but preferred that ruff cassette!

I did too!! My "best" copy of The Black Album was a CD boot that only had 3-4 tracks - so, for instance, Bob George and Superfunkicalifragisexy were on the same track.

I've been informed that release had bass added to each track to make it funkier. Say what you want, but I'll listen to that CD any day over the official release, especially on "Bob George".