I thought CB was overly compressed but comparing that vault release to the WB just did, it is like night and day. The oldest track on CB was probably 'movie star'. I think it would have been 15 years old at the time. It sounded great. Now, I get that the latest release is of songs from 30+ years ago but I'm very much guessing that WB had no access to the actual masters. The material sounds very bad...in some cases, only a little better than bootlegs. From what I"m hearing from some there are bootlegs that actually sound better.

It could simply be age of the tapes but I think the issue is the vault is not well catalogued. Prince surely worked on many other tracks besides the 30 he put out with Crystal Ball. Wehre is all that?

Crystal Ball:

-Sourced from the original tapes

-Tapes haven't aged as much in 1997

-Great Sound Quality

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From the "Vault" (Disc 2):

-Probably sourced from either second generation tapes from WB own vault or leaked bootlegs (IMO unlikely sourced from original master tapes)

-Tapes aged over the course of 30 years (more noticiable due to possible second generation tapes being used)

-Good to OK sound quality

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Think that might explain it...

I think the older track in Crystal Ball is "Cloreen Bacon Skin", not Movie Star

'The Dance Electric', 'We Can Fuck' and most likely 'Roadhouse Garden' are all mixed (tinkered with, really) for this release, by the same telltale hands; I suspect they utilized a stem (effectively a digital copy of a m/t) for such purposes. Having such a thing, though, is no sacrosanct for sound quality. The how and why behind these tracks may be 'happenstantial', as part of selections drawn from a larger batch of similarly obtained material (some of which may end up on future compilations or expanded releases).

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The others are variously sourced, from vinyl or cassette tape, many (if not all) in-house (A&R/WB Archives).

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'Our Destiny' is possibly associate-, bootleg- or collector-sourced.

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'Computer Blue (Hallway Version)' appears to be pieced together (reconstructed?) from two or three different sources, all of which have similar but not identical C+/B- sound quality. And it is odd, given that this version circulates among the better connected traders in superior quality from a consistent source.

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'Electric Intercourse', and possibly 'Father's Song' (even if it is an incomplete take), may be the only Vault^tm entries on PR Deluxe.

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[Edited 6/27/17 16:23pm]

coldasice said:

I don't care what they say. The PR unreleased songs are not sourced from Masters. Crystal Ball however was...Crystal Ball is mostly 90's stuff that was finished. He only had to work on a small number of tracks.

Yes, I figure WB did not have the masters too. My other point about CB tracks was that although Prince released just 30, i would bet he prepared far more and then down selected these 30. So, those other ones that did not get released but were mastered/possibly remixed are stored somewhere in his vault. I think b/c nothing is well catalogued, they don't evenb know where they are. If they found them they could turn out a new release sounding much much better than what we just got

Having said all of this and repeatedly voiceing ny concerns with the sound on this release....i thank God for the Vault release. WOWOWOWWO..Love and Sex was not something i had heard but it is AMAZING. The energy....it is infectious. Wonderful Ass....Electric Intercourse is growing on me...

Supreme...

I'd give back Velvet and Katrina for All Day All Night, Baby You're A Trip and G Spot though..

It's scary, but I wonder if at any point Masters were transfered to digital files (because of degrading tape or to save space), thinking the technology woud be good enough... but now they realise it's not so great!??

james said:

It's scary, but I wonder if at any point Masters were transfered to digital files (because of degrading tape or to save space), thinking the technology woud be good enough... but now they realise it's not so great!??

The technology IS good enough. The tapes, however, are likely not what they once were.