RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

jjam said:

Actually, it appears to be the same source as what was used on Blast From The Past 2.0. Pretty crap if it's been sourced from this boot, although it sounds slightly crisper EQ wise.

Yeah you're 100% right as far as I can tell, I had a listen to these two different versions yesterday night and couldn't really notice any difference. I had completely forgotten that the BFTP 2.0 version existed and was using older, less clear bootleg versions as my mental point of comparison. It is as you say a real shame if this version of the track was taken from a bootleg.

I did the same last night, and they're identical.

KingSausage said:

Hopefully this doesn't revive all the bullshit about Prince intentionally leaking unreleased tracks to bootleggers.

But you know he did. " />

He didn't leak things directly to bootleggers. He did however, give things to fan that would eventually leak, even in the final years of his life.

imprimis said:

jjam said:

Trust me, Moonbeam Levels would have been digitally transferred if it was considered for release on Rave - around this time, the multitracks of his albums were also digitally transferred.

I think it's ridiculously cheap to use a bootleg as the source for this track. I'm not on Twitter but someone should contact Londell about this.

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Suggests the posthumous Purple 'transition team' knows very little as to where to locate these archived materials in their various forms, nor much about their recording history, nor have personnel at their disposal capable of operating vintage equipment for what has not already been digitized in a 2016-convenient format.

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Will the commercial interest down the road be enough to sustain costlier and deeper interrogations of the Vault, if the initial cut-and-paste Hits release, hot on the heals of his passing, wasn't financial incentive enough?

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We may eventually get truly rare material, as subsequent releases will be more dependent on the fanbase rather than the broader public, but don't expect newly mastered or multitrack-sourced recordings (for material from '78-'91), unless those are easily locatable and readily at hand. (PR Deluxe may be a partial exception, as he delivered the bulk of it to WB himself, although likely little beyond possibly EI to excite. I suspect some project/era-inaccurate outtake material may be added to the second disc, however, by the Estate).

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Another complicating circumstance that doesn't bode well for those wishing for the release of his own vocal take versions of the more obscure associated artist songs ('Dance Electric' might be in reach, however).

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[Edited 11/23/16 4:34am]

haha, oh lord, it will wont it? It feels inevitable

In regards Moonbeam Levels i'd say this is the version Prince had ready. Going back to mastertapes from 30 years ago and doing a lot of careful, tedious transfer work doesn't seem his style.

[Edited 11/23/16 16:07pm]

SoulAlive said:

luvgirl said:

Still waiting to buy this. It takes the piss that we in the United Kingdom have had to wait three days to buy it.

In regards Moonbeam Levels i'd say this is the version Prince had ready. Going back to mastertapes from 30 years ago and doing a lot of careful, tedious transfer work doesn't seem his style.

[Edited 11/23/16 16:07pm]

I couldn't disagree more. We hardly saw less than first generation quality versions of tracks released on "Crystal Ball".

If Prince was alive, he wouldn't have sanctioned this version of "Moonbeam Levels" being released, being so protective of his recorded output.

Shame on the Estate.

jjam said:

In regards Moonbeam Levels i'd say this is the version Prince had ready. Going back to mastertapes from 30 years ago and doing a lot of careful, tedious transfer work doesn't seem his style.

[Edited 11/23/16 16:07pm]

I couldn't disagree more. We hardly saw less than first generation quality versions of tracks released on "Crystal Ball".

If Prince was alive, he wouldn't have sanctioned this version of "Moonbeam Levels" being released, being so protective of his recorded output.

Shame on the Estate.

What's wrong with it?

2freaky4church1 said:

It tis a single. Just louder than the boots.

You all watch that ABC listening party?

Those lyrics will freak a nation out.

purplethunder3121 said:

Moonbeam said:

I posted this on Facebook, so I might as well post it here.

Today is kind of a big deal to me. Today marks the release of what has heretofore been my favorite unreleased Prince song, “Moonbeam Levels”, forever immortalized on a new compilation that casts it as being of the same caliber as his biggest hits. Of the hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of unreleased songs in his massive vault, it is “Moonbeam Levels” that was chosen to share disc space with songs like “Kiss”, “Sign o’ the Times”, and “Diamonds and Pearls”. Curious customers who decide to give Prince a try for the first time because they like “Purple Rain” or “Raspberry Beret” and pick up this 2-disc set will be graced to hear this song as if it is just another highlight in a career full of them, rather than its current status as a deeply beloved gem sitting amongst an endless treasure trove of unreleased goodies that have seen fans pay top dollar for decades for 10th generation cassettes besieged by hiss and distortion muffling most of their sheen. But it is in that world of crazy devotion, those seas of bootlegs by the thousand chronicling a parallel universe of purple grooves and lightning-in-a-bottle concert experiences from which “Moonbeam Levels” comes. No more.

Prince fans have clamored for the release of these countless unpolished jewels to make their way onto official releases for decades, and not just so that we have these songs in superior sound quality. This may seem peculiar (and rightly so), but for so many of us, Prince has been such a constant source of limitless joy that we are so eager to share it. To be a Prince fan is to feel like you’ve stumbled upon the world’s best kept secret – that somehow you’ve tapped into a new and glorious consciousness, and as such, you’re eager to see this Uptown expand its borders as far as its diminutive colossus of a Prince can spread.

And so it is that my brother and I came to buy copies of his albums just to give away to those cashiers who responded well to hearing Prince’s music as we went through a drive-thru. We collected books that documented his feverish recording sessions and used this information to concoct our own alternative Prince albums of unreleased outtakes, agonizing over track sequencing and font sizes and colors for the album covers we designed. As such, this release of a song from his precious vault of music is a momentous occasion rendered so painfully bittersweet by the circumstances of its green light. Surely, as big of a moment as this is, I’m positive that all of us who love Prince would happily exchange it if we could somehow rewrite the history of April 21st such that the world kept turning with is most artful passenger still alive and well. But we are left with small consolations now, and I’m going to try to take what joy I can from these moments as they come.

Nonetheless, any other song chosen to turn the key unlocking Prince’s secret genius would not have had the same personal impact. “Moonbeam Levels” represents a glimpse into Prince’s vulnerability – it is a desperate plea for help from someone who has reached the end of his ability to persevere through the world while feeling so alien in its midst - a humble and hopeful supplication for other-worldly healing. It is this feeling of otherness that unites Prince fans as a community, and I can’t think of a song that better represents that feeling than “Moonbeam Levels”.

This is a song that inspired me through many tough times growing up as an awkward kid in a place in which I never felt that I had a place. This is the song that gave me the username with which I registered on prince.org: it was as Moonbeam that I came to meet the love of my life, Tracy. And it was this song that I played on the piano in the funeral home during the last moments with my father before his cremation.

In a year that has been tough on so many fronts, I’ll take this as a reminder of the strength that I’ve needed to overcome previous hardships. The hope that the majesty of this song can more easily find its way into some other souls in need of solace brings me great joy.

anyone know what stuck Prince so funny. I saw the entire show but it looks like they took it off YouTube, and I don't recall this part. Love seeing him laugh.

Any critic disses it gets beat down.

jjam said:

In regards Moonbeam Levels i'd say this is the version Prince had ready. Going back to mastertapes from 30 years ago and doing a lot of careful, tedious transfer work doesn't seem his style.

[Edited 11/23/16 16:07pm]

I couldn't disagree more. We hardly saw less than first generation quality versions of tracks released on "Crystal Ball".

If Prince was alive, he wouldn't have sanctioned this version of "Moonbeam Levels" being released, being so protective of his recorded output.

Shame on the Estate.

Crystal Ball aint that great, brickwalled audio on it - some of the bootlegs have better dynamics. I don't hear anything off Crystal Ball that sounds better than Moonbeam Levels.

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