- Erotic City 12" has a bad drop-out at the begning. Why did no one think "Hey, why don't we take the intro of the 7" version, and put that in place of the drop-out?"

Here's the 7".



Here's the 12"




- Computer Blue has a significant drop-out, and sound issue in the begining (right channel).




- Velvet Kitty Cat is lossy sourced.

- Roadhouse Garden could not be more obviously spliced from two sources.

[Edited 6/23/17 0:28am]

Only noticed one dropout on Computer blue @ 3:33. Where did you hear/see others?

Thank you Bluegangsta for your image posts.

I have nothing to regret for the minor dropouts and of the sound quality of some of the tracks on disk 2, as far as we know they could be due to masters conservation so I can stand happy the same with those.

But the distortion at the beginning of "Erotic City (Extended Version)" is an abnormous mistake for an archive release like this, because here we are talking of a regularly released B-Side.

On my side, there's relief thank to the fact that I have the 1989 "Erotic City" German CDS, but I can understand frustration for those who were waiting this release also to finally collect this superb 12" mix on a proper CD.

It's pretty shocking really, to see such a sloppy release from a major label. Also I think the PR remaster itself is much too loud. I'm really happy to hear a bunch of new music this morning, but PR deserves a better remaster.

I had such high hopes, but this release is full of glitches. Just the beginning of Erotic City 12" is shows the lack of care and work put into this release. So sad because I was really rooting for this set and truly believed WB would do us right.
And the album is just louder, if that is what they call remastered nowadays, I expected so much more from Prince overseeing this remaster.

Huge disapointment, I love the unreleased tracks but the quality is just crap. And the version used for Dance Electric is just some unfinished version whereas everybody was hoping for a pristine copy of the much bootlegged complete version. If this is what we get for his greatest achievement from the 80's then what can we expect for his other 80's albums?

[Edited 6/23/17 0:53am]

Am am all for preserving the orginals whilst enhancing the tracks to make them true to life. However instead of looking at waveforms how about actually listening to the tracks and see whether you can tell the difference? ITS THE EARS THAT MATTER NOT YOUR EYES.

maceoparker007 said:

Am am all for preserving the orginals whilst enhancing the tracks to make them true to life. However instead of looking at waveforms how about actually listening to the tracks and see whether you can tell the difference? ITS THE EARS THAT MATTER NOT YOUR EYES.

You can listen to these and hear whats wrong. That's why I THEN went to the frequency and wave forms. This isn't about dynamic range, this is about simple restoration jobs that could have been done, but were ignored.

maceoparker007 said:

Am am all for preserving the orginals whilst enhancing the tracks to make them true to life. However instead of looking at waveforms how about actually listening to the tracks and see whether you can tell the difference? ITS THE EARS THAT MATTER NOT YOUR EYES.

In this topic we are strictly talking of sound defects and dropouts, not remaster issues.

Listen with YOUR EARS to the distortion on EC and return here to tell us if YOUR EYES never detect it.

JorisE73 said:

I had such high hopes, but this release is full of glitches. Just the beginning of Erotic City 12" is shows the lack of care and work put into this release. So sad because I was really rooting for this set and truly believed WB would do us right.
And the album is just louder, if that is what they call remastered nowadays, I expected so much more from Prince overseeing this remaster.

Huge disapointment, I love the unreleased tracks but the quality is just crap. And the version used for Dance Electric is just some unfinished version whereas everybody was hoping for a pristine copy of the much bootlegged complete version. If this is what we get for his greatest achievement from the 80's then what can we expect for his other 80's albums?

[Edited 6/23/17 0:53am]

This reinforce the theory that while Prince was doing its Loudness Wars version* of the album,
WB was left with what they had at disposal in their own vaults, from the material Prince originally gave them for the PR project back in the days. That would explain the odd patchwork (WA, WCF...) of songs.

* Since the label has usually the last word on what is released, it could be that Prince gave them his remaster, and then WB gave it to the usual ear-impaired intern, who thinks Prince should sound like Katy Perry.

- Velvet Kitty Cat is lossy sourced.

That's insane!

I just listened to the second disc before I came here. The glitch at the beginning of Erotic City pissed me off, I must say. I definitely heard it. How could they miss that? How could they take so little care?

I think this collection is really good, I think the entire package needs a revision, though. Get Bernie Grundman to do a definitive, non-brickwalled high fidelity remaster of the main album, and source these extra tracks from their original mixed tapes, and fix all these glitches.

Someone on the org who acted like they knew alot posted that Warners currently doesn't (or didn't) have access to the original master tapes. So all these unreleased tracks are from cassettes or whatever they had access to. And apparently on Funkenberry today they said that Josh Welton did the Purple Rain album remaster - which explains the brick-walling, and that they called it Paisley Park remaster.

bluegangsta said:

- Erotic City 12" has a bad drop-out at the begning. Why did no one think "Hey, why don't we take the intro of the 7" version, and put that in place of the drop-out?"

Someone with too much time on their hands would have spotted it and then there would be complaints that it's clearly been patched together from different sources.

JudasLChrist said:

I just listened to the second disc before I came here. The glitch at the beginning of Erotic City pissed me off, I must say. I definitely heard it. How could they miss that? How could they take so little care?

Maybe they didn't miss it, maybe the master tapes for the extended version have this fault? Yeah they could have taken the normal version and patched that in there but the world is hardly gonna stop spinning.

If you want a real quality complaint, the end of Let's Go Crazy on the remaster sounds absolutely horrible. You don't need any frequency analysis to see it either, massively distorted. Haven't got the CD to listen to yet, this is me listening to the Amazon auto-rip. it's possible this is a mastered for iTunes version but I'd be surprised if the CD is any better here.

TheEnglishGent said:

JudasLChrist said:

I just listened to the second disc before I came here. The glitch at the beginning of Erotic City pissed me off, I must say. I definitely heard it. How could they miss that? How could they take so little care?

Maybe they didn't miss it, maybe the master tapes for the extended version have this fault? Yeah they could have taken the normal version and patched that in there but the world is hardly gonna stop spinning.

If (and I remark if, I find it strongly difficult to think of) the master tape of EC 12" has really that damage, better avoid it and use directly the 1989 German CDS.

TheEnglishGent said:

bluegangsta said:

- Erotic City 12" has a bad drop-out at the begning. Why did no one think "Hey, why don't we take the intro of the 7" version, and put that in place of the drop-out?"

Someone with too much time on their hands would have spotted it and then there would be complaints that it's clearly been patched together from different sources.

That's absolute bullshit.

If you check the frequencies on the HD 24-bit version the PP remaster are all at 96kHz.

On the Vault tracks: Love And Sex, Computer Blue, Our Destiny/Roadhouse Garden, Velvet Kitty Cat & Katrina's Paper Dolls are all only at 44.1kHz, leading to believe they have come from a low quality source.

Same goes for: When Doves Cry (7'' Single Edit) only 44.1kHz

bluegangsta said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Someone with too much time on their hands would have spotted it and then there would be complaints that it's clearly been patched together from different sources.

That's absolute bullshit.

No, it's humour. Lighten up.

OK had a chance to listen to some tracks after ripping from CD in FLAC format.

That crinkle at the beginning of Erotic City long version is annoying.


Listened to 'Lets Go Crazy' on Disc 1. Its sounds a lot brighter and amped up compared to my original Purple Rain CD.

I am listening on my B&O H6 Heaphones which typically have neutral sound...the treble on Lets Go Crazy is slightly harsh...its obvious Joshua Welton is trying to compensate for all those people with bass heavey headphones (Beats) which often lack treble.

maceoparker007 said:

OK had a chance to listen to some tracks after ripping from CD in FLAC format.

That crinkle at the beginning of Erotic City long version is annoying.


Listened to 'Lets Go Crazy' on Disc 1. Its sounds a lot brighter and amped up compared to my original Purple Rain CD.

I am listening on my B&O H6 Heaphones which typically have neutral sound...the treble on Lets Go Crazy is slightly harsh...its obvious Joshua Welton is trying to compensate for all those people with bass heavey headphones (Beats) which often lack treble.

The whole PP remaster is brickwalled!!!

kremlinshadow said:

maceoparker007 said:

OK had a chance to listen to some tracks after ripping from CD in FLAC format.

That crinkle at the beginning of Erotic City long version is annoying.


Listened to 'Lets Go Crazy' on Disc 1. Its sounds a lot brighter and amped up compared to my original Purple Rain CD.

I am listening on my B&O H6 Heaphones which typically have neutral sound...the treble on Lets Go Crazy is slightly harsh...its obvious Joshua Welton is trying to compensate for all those people with bass heavey headphones (Beats) which often lack treble.

The whole PP remaster is brickwalled!!!

Still listening to the tracks...but so far yeah I have to agree with you. A wasted release. Will be interesting what the Prince Estate release next, preferably with zero involvement from WB.

Is there a good soul out there who has made a proper original PR vinyl FLAC?

Here's what the liner notes of the "Purple Rain - Homemade Deluxe Edition" say :

The first nine tracks are ripped from the 2008 Rhino Records vinyl reissue of Purple Rain which was mastered by Kevin Gray and provided with kind permission by euimyself.

Is anyone familiar with this 2008 Rhino Records reissue?
Is it any good?

[Edited 6/23/17 3:55am]

KingSausage said:

I sold my German CD single of Erotic City several years ago. I didn't realize it was the only copy of the 12" version I had. I'm so pissed to read about this dropout. I needed a good digital copy of that masterpiece! We Can Fuck. Yeah, WE CAN FUCK UP THE FIRST MAJOR REMASTERED DELUXE EDITION OF A PRINCE CLASSIC. Remember how lots of us jokes that Josh would be involved in doing the remasters? Aaaggh! Did we anger the gods?!

Josh didn't do the EC stuff though...

Got my copy via iTunes this morning.

NOT hearing any dropout at the beginning of EC.

Where is it in the timecode, for civilians?

I see the posted waveform says 00:07 or something... (at seven tenths of a second for a blink and you'll miss it moment?)

If there are quality issues, maybe that is what held up WB and why they decided to label this the PP remaster. Meaning, maybe P delivered a flawed product in WB's eyes and they couldn't come to terms?

Oh, and don't act like y'all are willing to give back your copy for a refund and forget it exists. Cause after years of listening to songs like Wonderful Ass sounding like it was recorded

1. In someone's pocket

2. Down the road at the Chanhassen dinner theater and

3. They STILL had to run for cover a couple times..

4. Then threw their busted TDK in the lake because they had second thoughts...

I'm happy as heck w/my copy.

[Edited 6/23/17 5:05am]

Erotic City is just unforgivable. I really don't believe someone decided it would be OK to put it out like that.

What's with the background hiss on God (Instrumental)? Was that there on the original? I only have a digital recording of the 12" now, but it sounds much cleaner even with its minor crackles and pops.

I fear this release was put together by clowns.

FUNKNROLL said:

Got my copy via iTunes this morning.

NOT hearing any dropout at the beginning of EC.

Where is it in the timecode, for civilians?

I see the posted waveform says 00:07 or something... (at seven tenths of a second for a blink and you'll miss it moment?)

If there are quality issues, maybe that is what held up WB and why they decided to label this the PP remaster. Meaning, maybe P delivered a flawed product in WB's eyes and they couldn't come to terms?

Oh, and don't act like y'all are willing to give back your copy for a refund and forget it exists. Cause after years of listening to songs like Wonderful Ass sounding like it was recorded

1. In someone's pocket

2. Down the road at the Chanhassen dinner theater and

3. They STILL had to run for cover a couple times..

4. Then through their busted TDK in the lake because they had second thoughts...

I'm happy as heck w/my copy.

))

IMHO - just for THe Dance Electric, We can f**k and Fater`s sons it is worth 9,99 USD I paid for it

Though I would definitely not buy vinyl of this release

Lookig forward to future releases

FUNKNROLL said:

Got my copy via iTunes this morning.

NOT hearing any dropout at the beginning of EC.

Where is it in the timecode, for civilians?

I see the posted waveform says 00:07 or something... (at seven tenths of a second for a blink and you'll miss it moment?)

That's interesting because it's glaringly obvious, right at the beginning. If you're not hearing it, it's either been corrected or there's more than one source out there.

KingSausage said:

I sold my German CD single of Erotic City several years ago. I didn't realize it was the only copy of the 12" version I had. I'm so pissed to read about this dropout. I needed a good digital copy of that masterpiece! We Can Fuck. Yeah, WE CAN FUCK UP THE FIRST MAJOR REMASTERED DELUXE EDITION OF A PRINCE CLASSIC. Remember how lots of us jokes that Josh would be involved in doing the remasters? Aaaggh! Did we anger the gods?!

Loudness Wars Editions - music brickwalled for a 50 y.o. market demographic that has time to drive around blasting 35 year old music in their cars, on an aftermarket system that shakes the windows and trunk at stoplights damaging their investments. Or blasting it on the home stereo so loud their apartment/condo neighbors knock on the door. Size of market opportunity = all 8 of them.

Who are these people? Really?

[Edited 6/23/17 4:47am]