luvgirl said:

gandorb said:

Way to go again Netherlands. The only country that had more Prince top 10s than the US. It also shows their allegiance by having ML in the chart.

Smart bunch of peeps!

sro100 said:

I wasn't planning on buying this but, I, along with others would like to know from those who bought the CD:

Do the songs sound better than in previously released versions?

How's the flow?

Your opinion of it as a collection?

My opinion overall, is that it is good enough as a hits collection. I think the fact it is being sold at a cheap price saves it from being a dreadful cash in. Still most of it is surplus to requirements.

.

The songs sound okay, but the Moonbeam levels sounds a lot like my better quality bootleg mixes of it on Testament, Princes Ivault and The Work 2.0. It actually sounds a bit muddier than the mix the bootleg "Perfect Unreleased Prince" - 2 cds ofsome of the best bootleg mixes ever. The rest of the songs sound pretty good, especially the ones from Sign o the Times, which often have terrible mastering. Singles generally have better sound than Vinyl albums and like others have siad, having these 7 edits is good for preserving my vinyl singles from the 1980s.

In a lot of ways, it covers a few more songs than the Hits and Ultimate, and well anything is an improvement on The Very Best of Prince.

.

Flow I feel is dreadful though, we are greeted by the big hits for the first 5 tracks, 1999, WDC and LGC (Which has two layers of talking at the start!) and then it goes back to the early era and then into Purple Rain, ATWIAD era and finally we deal out the later 80s and 90s on disc two with the exception of 1982's Moonbeam levels, which would sound great anywhere, the majesty of this song would never dim, but putting it between Glam Slam (Uptempo party funk) and the ballad Dimaonds and Pearls (Is bizarre). In many ways Disc 1 is derivative of the Hits 1, which started with big hits and delved back to the beginning) and Disc 2 is The Hits 2 except the 5 erotic masterpieces at the start are back on album 1. Its the structure of those albums, but more random and messy. The sequencing is atrocious, with ballad following funk bomb, rock and roll, ballad, sexballad, slow jam, dancefloor etc.

.

As a collection, its probably about the same as Disc 1 of Ultimate, I still think that the Hits/Bsides was the best, hits album of Prince, and at least then (1993) the shit was up to date, but now we have missed out on the NPG era, which to any new fan is a tragedy, Warners only wanted their Prince product on it and not the NPG era. At the least NPG and the Estate should get out a 2 or 3 CD set of material from 1994 to 2016 and showcase some of the superlative later stuff, but if you are completist like me or just want to get your Purple Rain on and your Raspberry Beret out, then this is for you - 6/10 C+.

Just noticed that three of the songs are straight from the original CD releases. They cut off abruptly at the end where the next song on the CD would have started: "Head", "Let's work" and "Mountains". Very strange considering they could have used radio edits for at least "Let's work" and "Mountains". The "Let's work" edit has never been on CD.

[Edited 11/27/16 4:48am]

djdaffy1227 said:

Just noticed that three of the songs are straight from the original CD releases. They cut off abruptly at the end where the next song on the CD would have started: "Head", "Let's work" and "Mountains". Very strange considering they could have used radio edits for at least "Let's work" and "Mountains". The "Let's work" edit has never been on CD.

[Edited 11/27/16 4:48am]

It's the single edit of Let's Work that's on 4ever.

databank said:

KingSausage said:

databank said:

Is it gonna be between us and WB?

The Steve Hoffman site has some good discussion on the transfers involved here. http://forums.stevehoffma...94/page-17

That's so insane I find it nearly incredible.

I keep thinking we must be crazy, that it can't be from a bootleg.

Or can it?

WB really needs to address this, either deny or explain

I like it.

I LOVE and ENJOY whatever version they put.

LOVE YOU FOREVER PRINCE.

Also, for someone who asked about chart performance:

databank said:

KingSausage said:

databank said: The Steve Hoffman site has some good discussion on the transfers involved here. http://forums.stevehoffma...94/page-17

That's so insane I find it nearly incredible.

I keep thinking we must be crazy, that it can't be from a bootleg.

Or can it?

WB really needs to address this, either deny or explain

If "Moonbeam Levels" is indeed exactly the same version as the best circulating version we had and not a version from a master tape, the remaining question is: is this a decision coming from WB or Prince? We know that Prince used to collect his own bootlegs, even asking fans to send their copies to Paisley Park. We know that at some point he sold VHS copies made from television broadcasts. So I'd bet it's Prince again. Not as a "f**k you" to WB, but out of pure laziness...

olb99 said:

databank said:

That's so insane I find it nearly incredible.

I keep thinking we must be crazy, that it can't be from a bootleg.

Or can it?

WB really needs to address this, either deny or explain

If "Moonbeam Levels" is indeed exactly the same version as the best circulating version we had and not a version from a master tape, the remaining question is: is this a decision coming from WB or Prince? We know that Prince used to collect his own bootlegs, even asking fans to send their copies to Paisley Park. We know that at some point he sold VHS copies made from television broadcasts. So I'd bet it's Prince again. Not as a "f**k you" to WB, but out of pure laziness...

well the CO2 version is quite good quality and is longer

though my expectations were low I'm still disappointed.
cosign most of the comments already been made ... ML sounds exactly like the best version I had (at least I can't hear any difference) ... the weird censoring ... the short versions ... some fading out, some cut abruptly ... the overall thin sound quality ... don't let me start talkin about the booklet and the "never seen before" pictures ...

I'm sorry 2 say that but the entire thing looks like a loveless quick release without putting any effort into it ... just 2 catch the christmas sales ... makes me sad
hard 2 believe prince would have confirmed this release ...

2 be perfectly honest I'm more than ever worried 4 future releases and the handling of his legacy ...

Wasn't going to buy this cd, but my inner Prince fam signal said go get it so I did.

Having istened to it over the holiday let me first say thar for most of us, its nothing new except for Moombeam levels. I spent a couple days tryingto figure out why some songs had an asterik by it that says previously unabailbe on cd, there were radio or edited versions. I like most radio versosn so that was ok with me. What struck me most was that on CD 1 I got in a real good old school Prince groove with tracks 6-14 and found myself playing that section over and over. On CD 2, I had two sepereate sets of songs I really liked listening to-5-12 and 15-18.

So overall-its Prince and what do you want me to say-music is still amazing. I was disappointed at the advertised photos which look like they are from the HIts 1 & 2 and B-sides, except for cover shot and the one with the Afro. If you have the money to spend I would go ahead and buy it as it may be while before this one makes it to the resale shop. Complete the collection!!!!

I would have bought this in a heartbeat if Prince was still alive and the money was going to him. I have no desire to fund WB or his heirs though, so I only bought ML on amazon for $1.29. It's nice to finally have a pristine copy of this great song. I have no comment on the "album" as a whole.

I love that we have a pristine version of "Moonbeam Levels", and some of the single edits, but the rest of the material doesn't sound contemporary. Not that it should be brickwalled, but I don't hear any "remastering". The levels from song to song are inconsistent and sound like some of the thin sounding 80's Prince CDs. It's like someone copied songs from CD's for the compilation. I have the new vinyl remasters of "Prince" and "SOTT" and they have more bass and presence than the versions on "4Ever". Sounds like a rush job for Christmas marketing.

I give Prince4Ever a solid 4 out of 5 because it contains alot of the hits that I like and for Moombeam Levels ......but I still prefer The Greatest Hits/B-sides which I give a 4.5 out of 5 because of the B-sides eg. Horny Toad, Hello etc.....and I would have given it a 5 if it had Purple Music, Electric Intercorse, Wonderful Ass etc on it....you know the rare stuff.

[Edited 12/4/16 18:50pm]

[Edited 12/4/16 18:53pm]

I wasnt goin to buy it...because I hate digipaks (Cardboard cases)...but I was in Sainsburys (UK) and seen it was in a Jewel Case so brought it....listening to it now...I love it

techdad5606 said:

I love that we have a pristine version of "Moonbeam Levels", and some of the single edits, but the rest of the material doesn't sound contemporary. Not that it should be brickwalled, but I don't hear any "remastering". The levels from song to song are inconsistent and sound like some of the thin sounding 80's Prince CDs. It's like someone copied songs from CD's for the compilation. I have the new vinyl remasters of "Prince" and "SOTT" and they have more bass and presence than the versions on "4Ever". Sounds like a rush job for Christmas marketing.

"Mountains" in paticular sounds awfull....I Have a 12 inch collection bootlegg and it sounds amazingly clear on there....so cant be that hard to do can it??

I want to get it for 2 reasons:

1) For Moonbeam Levels. Even if its source is questionable, from samples it's the best version I've ever heard. And, if it's the version the Estate says is definitive, then so be it.

2) To support the Estate. To explain, I don't mean to line the family's pockets. I mean to make this a success and to hopefully ensure timely future releases. (If everything that is released fails to sell, what's the motivation to keep releasing anything?)

I haven't bought it yet myself because I'm waiting to see if I get it for Christmas. If I don't, I'll be picking up a copy right away.

Also - I never bought The Very Best Of Prince. There was nothing new on there for me, and I'm not a completist (albums yes, variations of singles - no).