Original thread: http://prince.org/msg/7/438560 (which seems to have auto-locked)

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Initinal reporting:

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http://pitchfork.com/news...g-in-june/

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http://www.factmag.com/20...ease-info/

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http://www.rollingstone.c...ic-w466431

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https://consequenceofsoun...n-reissue/

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http://www.billboard.com/...urple-rain

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... and hundreds more articles.

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The set was originally announced for 9 June 2017. However, in recent days there have been some rumors that it has been delayed to 16 June.

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No firm details have been announced WRT the contents other than "two albums of unreleased material and two concert films", though (as per tradition) there is an ongoing thread about a "leaked tracklist" -- it's fake, see update below. Chances are Warners will announce more details around the one year commemoration of Prince's death on 21 April.

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UPDATE (19 April): Actual tracklist has leaked; discuss it here: http://prince.org/msg/7/441220 . Note that details about the "two concert movies" are still unconfirmed, though one of them is apparently the 30 March 1985 one from Syracuse.

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[Edited 4/20/17 11:37am]

Thanks for the info.

Sticky

Unfortunately the other thread self-locked

What's that? Something's burning on the stove. Must be the pasta. Must be the pasta, it's June.

thedoorkeeper said:

So no new info

As noted, the point was to open a new thread. Threads stay open around 2 months, if memory serves, on here. So April 14 - June 14, should probably cover the release of the tracklist, and possibly the release of the album. It's now a sticky, so folks can continue to talk about it.

For me, I'm white-knuckling through the waiting. I know what truly should be on there (and not a bunch of "include The Time and A6 stuff etc), and what shouldn't. I don't have much opinion on the live concerts, but it's assumed they'll be a couple of PR tour shows. Hopefully not Syracuse because we have that. We've seen clips from Landover, MD ("I Would Die 4 U/ Baby I'm A Star"), and Houston ("Take Me With U"), so we know there are great copies of at least those two dates. But knowing Prince, there are copies of almost every date.

So, with that many disks noted being in the set, I am cautiously hopeful that we will not only see the 12" versions of the singles, but some really meaty outtakes. Longer "Computer Blue", hell even WDC with the bass would be a fun addition, but not necessary in my book. If "Wednesday" was a real song, instead of that piano noodling track we've all heard, that'd be nice. Don Batts talked about how "Baby I'm A Star" was such a great piano piece before they mucked it up on Purple Rain - that'd be nice to hear. But again, not necessary. We'll see.

Wow, 2 Albums of Unreleased Material!

Astasheiks said:

Wow, 2 Albums of Unreleased Material!

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That's record label talk, which tends to mean "unreleased (on this particular format)" or even worse. 4Ever was hyped with the announcement that for a bunch of its tracks it would be the "first time on CD" which turned out to be... less than correct.

BartVanHemelen said:

Astasheiks said:

Wow, 2 Albums of Unreleased Material!

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That's record label talk, which tends to mean "unreleased (on this particular format)" or even worse. 4Ever was hyped with the announcement that for a bunch of its tracks it would be the "first time on CD" which turned out to be... less than correct.

I agree with your tempered expectations. We'll see what we get.

Thanks for the warning, I better calm down.

Astasheiks said:

Wow, 2 Albums of Unreleased Material!

Bart is right this time. Previously Unreleased can mean many things. If it said "previous unheard outside Paisley Park", I'd be even more interested. People huffed and puffed about 4Ever, with the edits, or different this or that - a lot of those edits and versions were never on CD before. Ergo "previously unreleased" in this format or medium. It's a trick, but once folks kind of look at things without a filter and with an understanding of how record companies manipulate advertising and press releases, true expectations can be brought up.

And we can almost assume that the 12" versions of "Let's Go Crazy", "Erotic City", "I Would Die 4 U", "Another Lonely Christmas", "17 Days" will be on there. They've not necessarily been released on CD format before. The 7" versions have on The Hits/The B-Sides and Ultimate and The Very Best Of and 4Ever. So - all that aside, there is still room, if they fill up the CD, for other stuff to include for the fans. This was in the works in 2014 in the WB deal (where he got his masters back, and WB distributed AOA & PE, and PR deluxe was due to be released too). So, whether WB has enhanced that deal we'll find out.

But if anyone thinks it's going to be 160 minutes of 30 some odd never-before-released-ever-in-the-history-of-the-world-songs, they're going to be gravely disappointed.

TrivialPursuit said:

Astasheiks said:

Wow, 2 Albums of Unreleased Material!

Bart is right this time. Previously Unreleased can mean many things. If it said "previous unheard outside Paisley Park", I'd be even more interested. People huffed and puffed about 4Ever, with the edits, or different this or that - a lot of those edits and versions were never on CD before. Ergo "previously unreleased" in this format or medium. It's a trick, but once folks kind of look at things without a filter and with an understanding of how record companies manipulate advertising and press releases, true expectations can be brought up.

And we can almost assume that the 12" versions of "Let's Go Crazy", "Erotic City", "I Would Die 4 U", "Another Lonely Christmas", "17 Days" will be on there. They've not necessarily been released on CD format before. The 7" versions have on The Hits/The B-Sides and Ultimate and The Very Best Of and 4Ever. So - all that aside, there is still room, if they fill up the CD, for other stuff to include for the fans. This was in the works in 2014 in the WB deal (where he got his masters back, and WB distributed AOA & PE, and PR deluxe was due to be released too). So, whether WB has enhanced that deal we'll find out.

But if anyone thinks it's going to be 160 minutes of 30 some odd never-before-released-ever-in-the-history-of-the-world-songs, they're going to be gravely disappointed.

You are probably right, but I seem to remember that the publicity for 4Ever did say 'previously unreleased on CD", whereas this time they just said previously unreleased.

FragileUndertow said:

I thought there was New news

Nope. Still no news ga-news, which is not good ga-news...

TrivialPursuit said:

thedoorkeeper said:

So no new info

I don't have much opinion on the live concerts, but it's assumed they'll be a couple of PR tour shows. Hopefully not Syracuse because we have that. We've seen clips from Landover, MD ("I Would Die 4 U/ Baby I'm A Star"), and Houston ("Take Me With U"), so we know there are great copies of at least those two dates. But knowing Prince, there are copies of almost every date.

I would argue we haven't received Syracuse yet. Sure, it was released on crappy home video many many years ago but I've never seen a great cleaned up copy of that show - it always looked dark and muddy (maybe the source material looks that bad!) but I'd be happy with a cleaned up version of Syracuse on DVD or SD Blu Ray.

Also the WB press release chose its words carefully when describing the 2 live shows being released - the wording suggests they won't necessarily be PR live shows.

Thank God, yipee yay I need a Prince fix.

Right about now,Warners should release a single to get people really excited....create some pre-release hype for this project.They could have taken the extended version of "Computer Blue",put it on purple vinyl and sell it next weekend for Record Store Day.They need to be creative and aggressive with this project!

purplethunder3121 said:

this was clever.

mrmaxwell said:

Official news at last.

SomeSoldier said:

Wouldn't tomorrow be the perfect day to announce the tracklist? It's Easter Monday, the beginning of the celebration week, close to the anniversary but not the actual date, and the release is just a few weeks away...

This week at some point wouldn't be a bad thought. But you know some fan is going to start barking about "they're just using his death to...." Lemme stop 'em right there. Yep, they are, and those same fans are going to buy it and indulge themselves in all of it, even if they say they aren't out o some quasi-moral protest.

TrivialPursuit said:

SomeSoldier said:

To be fair, from now on everything is going to be 'using his death'. ... But it's either that or it's all over...

That is actually one of the most logical things someone's said about all this in a year.

love2thenines2003 said:

Disappointment is around the corner.....in few days all will be clear....don't expect a good news!

you know this, or you guess this?