Oh my creator

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I have recently discovered the Sign 'o' the Times rehearsal bootleg - If anyone out there hasn't heard it - just find it - Words fail me, but I think it's fair to say that it's as satisfying and compelling as anything he has released.

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The audio quality is great, the music is great, and the live performance has this amazing energy that doesn't exist in the studio albums.

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So the thing that really befuddles me, is that this (and loads of other equally amazing material) is out there - unofficially. Yet, WB (or the estate) - or whoever don't seem to be able to officially release this?

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Very upside down.

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Surely it's a missed opportunity.

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Having said that - I'm not sure how I feel about the prospect of an official release - I'm glad I have the music, but I do feel it would be nice if the wider world could be easily exposed to the genius. - I can imagine the 5* reviews that some of this material would recieve.

mclihah2 said:

So the thing that really befuddles me, is that this (and loads of other equally amazing material) is out there - unofficially. Yet, WB (or the estate) - or whoever don't seem to be able to officially release this?

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Amazing. These are 30 year old recordings. Yet here you are, bitching about how WBR or the estate won't release this NOW, despite it being said over and over again that HIS ESTATE HAS NOT YET BEEN SETTLED. Which is, BTW, Prince's fault because he left a mess instead of taking care of business.

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Oh, and plenty of us have been advocating for deluxe box sets etc. for decades and have been urging Prince to properly curate his back catalogue. Where were you then?

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Funny how so many of you have suddenly picked up this interest in seeing this released after 21 April 2016, yet stayed completely silent on this topic for decades. Oh, and still you cannot put the blame where it should be: with Prince. Because he's the one who blocked their release when he was alive, and he's the reason everything is in a holding pattern right now (except for 4Ever and PR Deluxe, both of which stem from the deal he signed in 2014).

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But hey, why bother with facts, right?

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[Edited 10/3/17 4:32am]

Chill out Bart.. I'm on your side.... seriously

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I absolutely love Prince's music, and think the guy was a really awkward person - I feel the same way about Steve Jobs - I am able to separate the man from the music.

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Always has bugged me how Prince has been very awkward about releasing material - especially since he moaned about the fact that WB wouldn't let him release more music - But the universe sometimes gives us these amazingly talented people that are very awkward to live with.

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Having said that - at least he was the creator of this music - so I did respect his right to be as awkward as he wanted with the release schedules etc. It was his right -

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However, Prince is now dead, and we are now in another phase - he didn't leave a will, or formally express his wishes - so the conversation has now changed. That is the reason that people like me have stayed silent for decades, and that is why we are bringing this up now.

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Having said that... I only heard this stuff recently... have only seen some of these videos and heard some of these boots after he has died.

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Let's be friends about this

[Edited 10/3/17 4:54am]

BartVanHemelen said:

mclihah2 said:

So the thing that really befuddles me, is that this (and loads of other equally amazing material) is out there - unofficially. Yet, WB (or the estate) - or whoever don't seem to be able to officially release this?

.

Amazing. These are 30 year old recordings. Yet here you are, bitching about how WBR or the estate won't release this NOW, despite it being said over and over again that HIS ESTATE HAS NOT YET BEEN SETTLED. Which is, BTW, Prince's fault because he left a mess instead of taking care of business.

.

Oh, and plenty of us have been advocating for deluxe box sets etc. for decades and have been urging Prince to properly curate his back catalogue. Where were you then?

.

Funny how so many of you have suddenly picked up this interest in seeing this released after 21 April 2016, yet stayed completely silent on this topic for decades. Oh, and still you cannot put the blame where it should be: with Prince. Because he's the one who blocked their release when he was alive, and he's the reason everything is in a holding pattern right now (except for 4Ever and PR Deluxe, both of which stem from the deal he signed in 2014).

.

But hey, why bother with facts, right?

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[Edited 10/3/17 4:32am]

There are dozens of things that I have wished Prince released over the last 30 years.

However, you can't MAKE someone else do something no matter how much YOU want it.

If there is one artist who has dropped his humanly share of material, its Prince. He dropped over 40 official albums, not including compilations or related artists albums, which if included would easily bring the number to well over 50. We all know many of Prince's related artists' albums were executed with his vision through and through, in essence, de facto Prince albums. Not to mention movies, official videos, and EPs.

I won't detail current US events, but it is amazing to me how people think they can FORCE someone else to do something (that is a personal decision) just because it's what they want. OR try to shame them into doing what they want.


Maybe Prince just didn't want to be bothered with putting some of that stuff out we wanted. He seemed to like to make new music all the time, so maybe he just didn't want to pull away from new creations to officially release things he didn't release long ago. (Though, he would include an old song on an album many years after inception when it suited his vision.)


Sure, he could have focused on back catalog if he wanted to, but obviously, he didn't, not really.

Blame is not even an issue; that was Prince's choice, and he made it. I'm pretty sure it is his music and was his right.

You all were never statisfied with what Prince gave you when he was alive and you're still not happy now.

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

You all were never statisfied with what Prince gave you when he was alive and you're still not happy now.

This.

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

You all were never statisfied with what Prince gave you when he was alive and you're still not happy now.

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I think that's mostly a fair summary of where I stand (although I would change the word 'happy' to 'satisfied').

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I'm not satisfied, but I am very happy with Prince's music.... I just want more, more, more

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Prince was an amazing artist who brought so much amazing music to the world - He was also very quirky and held back so much amazing stuff from release....because... I don't know why.

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I'm listening to some of these concert rehearsals and am absolutely blow away by how great they are - I am shocked that there is so much more amazing stuff that has never seen the light of day. I want to hear it all.

[Edited 10/3/17 8:53am]

What versions do you have? Sabotage or 4DaFunk? If it's the former then you need the latter.

TheDigitalGardener said:

mclihah2 said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

What versions do you have? Sabotage or 4DaFunk? If it's the former then you need the latter.

Ostensibly both. . I have a bunch of all the sabotage and 4dafunk downloads but never really gone through them properly. Thanks for the heads up. . Basically I like all his material, but can't get into the audience recording bootlegs. I love the soundboard stuff. If you have any more recommendations, I would appreciate. .

I'm sure there are a number of threads you could search through for s/board recommendations. Try not to disregard audience recordings completely though. There have been some incredible shows in amazing quality over the years.

Good luck.

BartVanHemelen said:

mclihah2 said:

So the thing that really befuddles me, is that this (and loads of other equally amazing material) is out there - unofficially. Yet, WB (or the estate) - or whoever don't seem to be able to officially release this?

.

Amazing. These are 30 year old recordings. Yet here you are, bitching about how WBR or the estate won't release this NOW, despite it being said over and over again that HIS ESTATE HAS NOT YET BEEN SETTLED. Which is, BTW, Prince's fault because he left a mess instead of taking care of business.

.

Oh, and plenty of us have been advocating for deluxe box sets etc. for decades and have been urging Prince to properly curate his back catalogue. Where were you then?

.

Funny how so many of you have suddenly picked up this interest in seeing this released after 21 April 2016, yet stayed completely silent on this topic for decades. Oh, and still you cannot put the blame where it should be: with Prince. Because he's the one who blocked their release when he was alive, and he's the reason everything is in a holding pattern right now (except for 4Ever and PR Deluxe, both of which stem from the deal he signed in 2014).

.

But hey, why bother with facts, right?

.

[Edited 10/3/17 4:32am]

Why are you so angry?

I gave them a brief listen some days or weeks ago, the little i heard they are amazing. I need to listen to them through and through.

Are you talking about 4 Those of U On Valium??

Yeah, why not?

Look Ma! Magic! I just responded to a thousand posts about possible Vault releases in one reply!

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

You all were never statisfied with what Prince gave you when he was alive and you're still not happy now.

Ow c'm'on. No artist was so generous, but it was nothing compared to what he was storing
in The Vault, Mr. I'll Be A Legend.

We would have bought every single shit, and even more so there was no aimpeethree.
And Prince's accuracy when coming to what deserves to be released or not, well it fluctuated.
But Yes Wo.Men ain't the subject here. Nor is "satisfaction".

The good stuff sure deserves to be released before we all dead and gone,
even if we educate our kids. Damn, I'm craving for some jam!

BartVanHemelen said:

mclihah2 said:

So the thing that really befuddles me, is that this (and loads of other equally amazing material) is out there - unofficially. Yet, WB (or the estate) - or whoever don't seem to be able to officially release this?

.

Amazing. These are 30 year old recordings. Yet here you are, bitching about how WBR or the estate won't release this NOW, despite it being said over and over again that HIS ESTATE HAS NOT YET BEEN SETTLED. Which is, BTW, Prince's fault because he left a mess instead of taking care of business.

Is it though? If Prince had left a will and it said that his sibling and half siblings get everything we'd still be in the same position. A judge has ruled that the siblings are the legal heirs, so that ruling is essentially the same as if Prince had writtent the same in a will. But, the heirs can't inherit and do anything until the probate process has been finished and all taxes have been paid.

My parents died within a few weeks of each other last year. They had a will and basically no assets, yet it still took nearly 6 months for the legal processes to be carried out. I have a friend who had a well off relative and their estate has been in probate for 9 months and counting. When I start thinking about an estate the size of Prince's it's not really so surprising that it still isn't sorted.

TheEnglishGent said:

BartVanHemelen said:

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Amazing. These are 30 year old recordings. Yet here you are, bitching about how WBR or the estate won't release this NOW, despite it being said over and over again that HIS ESTATE HAS NOT YET BEEN SETTLED. Which is, BTW, Prince's fault because he left a mess instead of taking care of business.

Is it though? If Prince had left a will and it said that his sibling and half siblings get everything we'd still be in the same position.

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Note how there is zero drama over this with Bowie. His (re-)releases just keep on coming, a steady flow. Sure, he had time to prepare, but Prince has had close brushes with death as well.

tomds said:

Because in your eyes everything is prince's fault and he did nothing right.

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I point out specifics, you cannot debunk this and thus you invent some nonsense.

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You don't like his new material only the 80's or so. Looking back it is easy to say where he made a mistake.

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Sorry, but no. I've been advocating for Prince to properly curate his back catalogue for decades. There have been basically three examples of him looking at that: the rubbish Crystal Ball compilation, the hideous "1999 The New Master" and the failure that is the Purple Rain remaster. Meanwhile bootleg labels have produced superior work as far back as the mid-1990s, when a set like City Lights just blew everyone away.

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As I've said numerous time before: right now we should be into at least the third wave of remasters and expanded editions, with each wave containing better sound and more material.

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

You all were never statisfied with what Prince gave you when he was alive

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Prince's entire post-1995 output combined is nowhere as good as City Lights. Dream Factory is better than any album Prince released post-1995. Yet if it was up to Prince we never would have heard those.

BartVanHemelen said:

tomds said:

Because in your eyes everything is prince's fault and he did nothing right.

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I point out specifics, you cannot debunk this and thus you invent some nonsense.

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Oh my, so much drama. We all love the material discussed in the OP though, right?

Poplife88 said:

4 Those of U on Valium is my fave live boot. Ive had it for awhile now and agree it should have an official release with DVD. The audio i have is great but the video I have is very poor quality. It deserves to be seen/heard. Strange Relationship is so damn funky I can't handle it.

Put your foot up on ur neighbor n get off... I'm not done!

My first copy of this set was the vinyl bootleg. Even though I've upgraded several times I still held on to that record. It doesn't even sound good, I'm just nostalgic...

https://www.discogs.com/P...ter/381232

Poplife88 said:

4 Those of U on Valium is my fave live boot. Ive had it for awhile now and agree it should have an official release with DVD. The audio i have is great but the video I have is very poor quality. It deserves to be seen/heard. Strange Relationship is so damn funky I can't handle it.

Same here. Oh-wee-oh, Ooh-oh.
Gives me the funk face on the spot, and pelvis goes by himself.
Gets me in a trance.
Cuz, when Prince says you'll dance, you dance.

What fantastic Organ parts, how he plays with silence is and always be baffling.
Can't get any more musical than that, the fun is so infectious.
It makes me shake my head in disbelief this didn't help cure the ears of the people.
I just wish for more people to be touched by Prince.
It's good for the soul.

Such humour. Brings back to memory the genesis of the legendary imageries,
"Squirrel Meat", "Hit me in the back", Shockadelica, the satin laces in the hair,
the mad scientist glasses, the Prince/Cat male/female twins concept, Jeff Katz program...