This is the CD people are buying the most of now.

I don't have a copy of it and would not want one.

How about y'all on here?

Do you have a copy of it? Yes/No?

Why?

If you're going to buy one, buy the The Hits/B Sides 3CD set (because of all of the otherwise unavailable versions on CD.) If you already have that, then get the Ultimate Prince (because of all the extended versions otherwise unavailable on CD.)

No sense on buying the Very Best Of. Not even to give to a friend who isn't hip to Prince's music. Why? You can make a better mix CD then that -- choosing 17 songs you think they might like.

Don't own it since I already have everything else and this seems like something for a casual listener to enjoy. I have given it as a gift a few times in the past since I know not a lot of people were familiar with most of his music, This is a good way for people to get their feet wet and decide for themselves if they would want to look deeper into his catalogue.

Nope, I've got The Hits/B Sides compilation.

No. I've got all of the original albums, plus the Hits/B-Sides box and Ultimate. Everything on The Very Best is redundant. It's nice that it's out there, but it's for the casual fan who doesn't want to dig any deeper.

I have the Hits/B-sides cassette tapes and a CD version and I have The Ultimate one plus 75% of all the albums in various forms. That's more than enough.

yes, I have them all as I brought them a long time ago when getting into Prince and his catalogue and to be a completist of the physical albums. Do I play it? Not really - it is not really a great collection but more of a "hit and miss" but it is OK to have.

purplethunder3121 said:

Yes I have a copy of this album.

I got it on April 30 2006 on my 30th birthday, some acquaintances who came to my 30th birthday party gave it to me, along with the DVD of Sign o the Times.

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Even if they hadn't I still would have bought it for completeness's sake, just like I have Ultimate (The 12 inches are pretty cool on disc though) The Hits/Bsides and of course the Girl 6 soundtrack.

I know it's a bit basic for us hardcore fans, but I think TVBOP is a great album for the novice and perfect for all the new fans of him.

Nope. I have Ultimate and B sides. When I feel like hearing the hits I put Ultimate on

suomynona said:

If you're going to buy one, buy the The Hits/B Sides 3CD set (because of all of the otherwise unavailable versions on CD.) If you already have that, then get the Ultimate Prince (because of all the extended versions otherwise unavailable on CD.)

No sense on buying the Very Best Of. Not even to give to a friend who isn't hip to Prince's music. Why? You can make a better mix CD then that -- choosing 17 songs you think they might like.

Yes. I never bought it when it came out because I didn't need it; I already had everything. But a friend of mine who is as OCD about Pearl Jam as I am about Prince bought it as a gift for me because it bothered HIM that there was an official release I didn't own. It was a thoughtful gift from one obsessed fan to another!

no

Yes, I have. I bought them a long time ago. I don't remember exactly when.

No, because I already have The Hits, Ultimate and those songs (they should have added an unreleased track to get us to buy it).

Also I always though the tracklist order looked a bit odd, from appearance doesn't seem to flow.

[Edited 5/29/16 1:44am]

Yes...purchased it recently in tribute support.

[Edited 7/11/20 21:56pm]

yes, coz its prince. its good in the car for my non fam family

i also have ultimate and hits/bsides

[Edited 5/29/16 3:17am]

No. I was very adamantly opposed to buying it at the time - I had bought into the battle with Warner's, and it was such a crass cash grab that it turned me off. It was released on the heels of dozens of others "The Very Best of" titles that must have sold well enough to keep pumping them out. There were TV commericals in those days that would advertise these collections, and they all seemed rather superficial. Seeing the Prince commercial was very odd. The titles of these collections also annoyed me - call them "The Biggest Hits of" or something like that, but to imply that the very best of each of these artists just happened to be the radio smashes rubbed me the wrong way.

In time, I realized Prince's battles weren't my battles, but I still find it such a thoughtless release. I understand that it is difficult to satisfy everyone with a single disc for an artist with so much material, but it's just so lazy. No album that completely ignores Dirty Mind, Controversy, Batman, and Symbol can purport to be "the very best" of Prince - there's a lot of important history that's missing there. An unassuming listener could think "Wow! Prince started out with this smash disco hit and then disappeared/spent 4 years doing disco music/read a lot of Nostradamus/insert wild theory here until '1999'". Add to that the fact that Diamonds and Pearls is put on equal footing with Purple Rain with 4 songs, doubling the representation of 1999 and Sign o' the Times. Even the album cover is lazy: of the 9 images, 3 come from Parade and a further 4 come from 1989-1990? To advertise a collection that contains exactly 2 songs from that time period? And hey, let's put on the Dirty Mind album cover but not include any songs from the album!

Unless you got it as a gift or discovered Prince after it came out, there's no reason to own this other than to have absolutely all his official releases.

I particularly disapproved of this collection.

I got it for my birthday. But I wouldn't have bought it myself. Why buy the greatest hits if you already have all the original albums?

I did buy the Hits/the B-sides, but only for the B-sides.

renfield said:

Yes. I never bought it when it came out because I didn't need it; I already had everything. But a friend of mine who is as OCD about Pearl Jam as I am about Prince bought it as a gift for me because it bothered HIM that there was an official release I didn't own. It was a thoughtful gift from one obsessed fan to another!

This is a great anecdote.

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I have 'The Hits/The B-sides'. When I bought it, it really blew me away since I was only in the early stages of being a fan back then. So I have very fond memories of this triple disc. I also have a boot somewhere with exactly the same kind of cover artwork claiming to contain 'The Unreleased Remixes'. Supposedly it's a 'promotional copy' but it's terrible lol, mastering issues and all. I only played it 2 or 3 times ever. In fact I just went to my collection to give it another spin. Still sucks This really was a rip off. The most hilarious title is '1999 - 'Dive With The Whales' version'.

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'Ultimate' is cool with its 12' mixes. I should play it some more. When I feel like dancing I put it on. I like the photos they selected for the album artwork too.

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I even purchased 'The Very Best' but only listened to it once browsing through the booklet. In fact, I only just now really noticed that 'Ultimate' & 'The Very Best' did not select all of the same hits.

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This thread made me dig through my collection looking for the worst P item I have : 'THE MUSIC OF PRINCE : 17 INSTRUMENTAL HITS - Diamonds & Pearls' as played by The Songrise Orchestra in the Hits 'N' Hits series. This is an official release with muzak (elevator music) versions of his hits. It's really really cheesy haha. I remember this was an item you could get in exchange for coupons you'd have to collect from purchases of various household items. I was still living at home at the time (around the time of TMBGITW) and my mom had seen this promo in the newspaper and hidden the newspaper from me cuz she knew I was gonna ask her to buy those products so I could get my hands on this release. I found the newspaper 2 days later. The interesting thing about this release is licensing. The WB hits are on it, but so is TMBGITW, which is announced on the cover as a 'bonus track'. The little booklet shows Elton john, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder & other big hitters suffered through the same process haha.

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I see on Discogs it's not exactly a coveted item https://www.discogs.com/S...se/4819212

No. I did take a photograph of a rack of them in an Asda (Wal-Mart) here in the UK, but that's as far as I got. I didn't buy the greatest hits back in the day when he was alive because of the whole dispute thing, so I was even less inclined to buy this souless cash-grab.

But that's just me.

I just hope that all the folks who are buying these greatest hits will delve into his back catalogue a little deeper than the selection of tracks available here.