For those who pre-ordered Prince on vinyl remaster from Amazon, I just got an email. They're telling me it will be delivered by June 15, although I suspect a tad sooner. It's not technically shipped just yet. I thought it was due to be released on the 10th. That might still be a thing.

Anyone else get an update just a bit ago about their shipment?

I got mine on the 13th of May from Amazon uk. How come you in the USA have to wait longer?

Guitarhero said:

I got mine on the 13th of May from Amazon uk. How come you in the USA have to wait longer?

Not sure, but as long as I've looked for it in the past couple of months, it's been on pre-order. For You was released at the end of April I think. I have it already. Amazon US said it's in stock June 14. I assume that's the release date. Usually if they're out of an item, it'll state as much. The rest of his vinyl (not all) is staggered throughout the year. Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999 and Purple Rain are already out. Others come in July, August, October, and even up to December (Come).

TrivialPursuit said:

Anyone in Oz (specifically Sydney) know where to get these reissues - trying to track down the For You reissue - no luck anywhere.

DMarieP said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Not sure, but as long as I've looked for it in the past couple of months, it's been on pre-order. For You was released at the end of April I think. I have it already. Amazon US said it's in stock June 14. I assume that's the release date. Usually if they're out of an item, it'll state as much. The rest of his vinyl (not all) is staggered throughout the year. Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999 and Purple Rain are already out. Others come in July, August, October, and even up to December (Come).

Good to know. I want to get Controversy.

They stopped pressing fanzines back in the 90s.

suomynona said:

DMarieP said:

TrivialPursuit said: Good to know. I want to get Controversy.

They stopped pressing fanzines back in the 90s.

Okay you can take that, and step outside.

Is there anyway we can get a full list and time frame of all the remastered vinyls WB is releasing.

So far we have FOR YOU and PRINCE released, at least in EUROPE.

As well as the already 2011 remastered Vinyls from RHINO records of DIRTY MIND, CONTROVERSY, 1999 and PURPLE RAIN...

Just a reminder not to refer to any of these as REMASTERS.... they're not...

The Controversy, for example, sounds EXACTLY the same as the original issue... it's great that they're reissuing them for folks who don't have them, but they're not remasters, just reissues...

Rimshottbob said:

Just a reminder not to refer to any of these as REMASTERS.... they're not...

The Controversy, for example, sounds EXACTLY the same as the original issue... it's great that they're reissuing them for folks who don't have them, but they're not remasters, just reissues...

but i read they made the sound quality better... also they digitally enhanced the color on the cover such as the PRINCE album...

Well, I admit I haven't heard all of them... but I've heard the For You, 1999 and Controversy reissues and there's definitely no improvement in sound... I have good copies of the originals, and if anything, the reissues are just a touch muddier in sound. They're fine, but they're definitely not remastered.... and in each case of the reissues, the sleeve reproduction is considerably worse in quality that the originals... they tend to look like photocopies of the images, with shallow colours and not much depth to the image, when compared to the beautifully-printed original sleeves....

Rimshottbob said:

Just a reminder not to refer to any of these as REMASTERS.... they're not...

The Controversy, for example, sounds EXACTLY the same as the original issue... it's great that they're reissuing them for folks who don't have them, but they're not remasters, just reissues...

That's untrue. Prince said "the remasters are done", referring to For You, etc. The problem with releasing them in 2014 was that WB wasn't wanting to pay what Prince thought was fair to handle the distribution. (Isn't it ironic that WB is now pay Prince for his own recordings.)

As far as the Rhino issues, someone here contacted Bernie Grudman Mastering to ask whether 1999, Purple Rain, Controversy, and Dirty Mind were remasters or just 180 gram pressings. Bernie himself emailed back and said he did the remastering himself from the original master recordings. People on here have raved about the greater quality of the drums, etc on Dirty Mind.

Even Discogs lists For You as remastered. There's also a remaster credit in the album's artwork. There are only slight differences in artwork on For You. The bolded font on the sleeve is slighty different, the title on the jacket is clearer, as is the picture of Prince. The catalog number is different, and it is on NPG Records/Warner Bros (not the other way around as in the past). And the remastering credit is on it. Kevin Gray did For You.

.

[Edited 6/9/16 8:55am]

feeluupp said:

Is there anyway we can get a full list and time frame of all the remastered vinyls WB is releasing.

So far we have FOR YOU and PRINCE released, at least in EUROPE.

As well as the already 2011 remastered Vinyls from RHINO records of DIRTY MIND, CONTROVERSY, 1999 and PURPLE RAIN...

It's not hard to search Amazon for Prince vinyl, and any of the non-Rhino albums. If it's a remaster coming out, it'll have a pre-order link on the page, and a release date. I've created a wish list with those albums. These are the albums I've found so far:

Prince: June 10
ATWIAD: July 5

Parade: July 19

SOTT: August 23

Lovesexy: October 18

Batman: October 18

Graffiti Bridge: November 22

"New Power Generation" Maxi Single: December 13

Come: December 13

I got this vinyl from amazon.co.uk..... like 3 weeks ago...

And I love it..

Okay, then I stand corrected... I haven't a ton of research on it, so I'll put my hands up there...

I guess what I should have said was 'they did a shitty job with the remasters' (!!)

The cover artwork is uniformly inferior on all the reissues... with far less depth of colour, they really do look like scans of the originals....

as for the sound, on the ones I've heard, they are certainly not better, and in places they are muddier than the originals.... in they are in fact remasters, then that's a hugely wasted opportunity in my ears....

they haven't improved on the originals at all.... but then I haven't heard Dirty Mind - I might be tempted to check that one out to see...

But thanks for correcting me. I'm just disappointed, I guess!

Rimshottbob said:

Just a reminder not to refer to any of these as REMASTERS.... they're not...

The Controversy, for example, sounds EXACTLY the same as the original issue... it's great that they're reissuing them for folks who don't have them, but they're not remasters, just reissues...

That's untrue. Prince said "the remasters are done", referring to For You, etc. The problem with releasing them in 2014 was that WB wasn't wanting to pay what Prince thought was fair to handle the distribution. (Isn't it ironic that WB is now pay Prince for his own recordings.)

As far as the Rhino issues, someone here contacted Bernie Grudman Mastering to ask whether 1999, Purple Rain, Controversy, and Dirty Mind were remasters or just 180 gram pressings. Bernie himself emailed back and said he did the remastering himself from the original master recordings. People on here have raved about the greater quality of the drums, etc on Dirty Mind.

Even Discogs lists For You as remastered. There's also a remaster credit in the album's artwork. There are only slight differences in artwork on For You. The bolded font on the sleeve is slighty different, the title on the jacket is clearer, as is the picture of Prince. The catalog number is different, and it is on NPG Records/Warner Bros (not the other way around as in the past). And the remastering credit is on it. Kevin Gray did For You.

.

[Edited 6/9/16 15:39pm]

Rimshottbob said:

Okay, then I stand corrected... I haven't a ton of research on it, so I'll put my hands up there...

I guess what I should have said was 'they did a shitty job with the remasters' (!!)

The cover artwork is uniformly inferior on all the reissues... with far less depth of colour, they really do look like scans of the originals....

as for the sound, on the ones I've heard, they are certainly not better, and in places they are muddier than the originals.... in they are in fact remasters, then that's a hugely wasted opportunity in my ears....

they haven't improved on the originals at all.... but then I haven't heard Dirty Mind - I might be tempted to check that one out to see...

But thanks for correcting me. I'm just disappointed, I guess!

I suppose it's just that people hear things differently.

I'd highly disagree that For You's artwork is inferior. Even the font for the title, while about 3% different, is clearer and sharper without looking Photoshopped or computer constructed. Ain't no vector shit going on here.

Listen, these remasters aren't going to come out sounding like they were recorded on ProTools today like Phase 1 or 2 does, even if you play them with a diamond stylus and God's turntable. They were recorded on analog, 38 years ago, and even if the original masters are used, they're aged. There's only so much one can do. The EQs are tweaked near capacity in the beginning anyway, so again - you're not going to get a CD quality copy. The technology of 1978 limits even the best of stuff in 2016. They're not going to sound crystal clear, so I'm not sure what people expect to hear.

In comparison, I do believe that other albums (from any random artist) that had a shit mix to begin with on its original release, could have a more recognizable upgrade in audio quality with the remastering process. But to me, For You sounds less hissy, and I can hear instruments a bit clearer. It's not quite as muddy overall. And I dont have the best system set up, but I do have great headphones. (I ain't even going to debate headphones brands w/ anyone. haha)

You'd be hard pressed to prove that Bernie Grudman is a shitty mastering technician for the ones he did.

So far, I'm most interested to hear Dirty Mind's updates. It's still going to be demos, but people have said certain things are better on it. To me, Controversy always had a nice sound to it, as did most of 1999. The ones that are going to be a possible bigger proving ground, IMO, are ATWIAD, and Parade. Those had a powdery haze to some of the songs, and to possibly dust that off a bit would be nice. Lovesexy was nice and clear, too, as was most things after that. You know what could use a clean up? The Black Album. That's some fuzzy shit here and there.

TrivialPursuit said:

Rimshottbob said:

Okay, then I stand corrected... I haven't a ton of research on it, so I'll put my hands up there...

I guess what I should have said was 'they did a shitty job with the remasters' (!!)

The cover artwork is uniformly inferior on all the reissues... with far less depth of colour, they really do look like scans of the originals....

as for the sound, on the ones I've heard, they are certainly not better, and in places they are muddier than the originals.... in they are in fact remasters, then that's a hugely wasted opportunity in my ears....

they haven't improved on the originals at all.... but then I haven't heard Dirty Mind - I might be tempted to check that one out to see...

But thanks for correcting me. I'm just disappointed, I guess!

I suppose it's just that people hear things differently.

I'd highly disagree that For You's artwork is inferior. Even the font for the title, while about 3% different, is clearer and sharper without looking Photoshopped or computer constructed. Ain't no vector shit going on here.

Listen, these remasters aren't going to come out sounding like they were recorded on ProTools today like Phase 1 or 2 does, even if you play them with a diamond stylus and God's turntable. They were recorded on analog, 38 years ago, and even if the original masters are used, they're aged. There's only so much one can do. The EQs are tweaked near capacity in the beginning anyway, so again - you're not going to get a CD quality copy. The technology of 1978 limits even the best of stuff in 2016. They're not going to sound crystal clear, so I'm not sure what people expect to hear.

In comparison, I do believe that other albums (from any random artist) that had a shit mix to begin with on its original release, could have a more recognizable upgrade in audio quality with the remastering process. But to me, For You sounds less hissy, and I can hear instruments a bit clearer. It's not quite as muddy overall. And I dont have the best system set up, but I do have great headphones. (I ain't even going to debate headphones brands w/ anyone. haha)

You'd be hard pressed to prove that Bernie Grudman is a shitty mastering technician for the ones he did.

So far, I'm most interested to hear Dirty Mind's updates. It's still going to be demos, but people have said certain things are better on it. To me, Controversy always had a nice sound to it, as did most of 1999. The ones that are going to be a possible bigger proving ground, IMO, are ATWIAD, and Parade. Those had a powdery haze to some of the songs, and to possibly dust that off a bit would be nice. Lovesexy was nice and clear, too, as was most things after that. You know what could use a clean up? The Black Album. That's some fuzzy shit here and there.

My amazing 11 year old.... rounded up my family to buy me a viny turntable earlier this month for my birthday (Been wanting one for years but never pulled the trigger on it).... and then for Father's Day researched Prince Vinyl on Amazon and directed my girlfriend to order me a couple. Got me Purple Rain and Controversy. I ADORE this kid. Just pre-ordered ATWIAD, Parade and SOTT on Amazon. Got the auto-rip mp3 files with it.... but unfortunately those are from the current digital releases and not the viny remasters.

Rimshottbob said:

Just a reminder not to refer to any of these as REMASTERS.... they're not...

The Controversy, for example, sounds EXACTLY the same as the original issue... it's great that they're reissuing them for folks who don't have them, but they're not remasters, just reissues...

They are remasters. It's been confirmed several times over.

I bought Dirty Mind last week, and listened yesterday. All I can say is WOW. It's pretty amazing.