I don't know who remastered or did what, but the Black Album on Tidal sounds pretty damn good. Loud and clear. I'm hearing P say things that I didn't hear as well on that shitty tape copy I had years from '87.

Listening to it in its entirety, P was really funky on this one. There's layers of funk and intensity. I'm not a horns type guy unless it's James Brown or 80's/90's Prince and the horns throughout the album don't sound corny at all compared to his post 2000 output(I don't like the horns on Revelation or Chelsea Rodgers or Da Bourgeoisie, for example).

All in all, very enjoyable and very listenable.

williamb610 said:

Interestingly enough...

When I bought the original dub on blank cassette back in '87/'88 the "Bob. Ain't that a Bitch" ending to Bob George and the "What Kind of fuck ending is that?" from Rockhard In a Funky Place weren't on that version. I guess it was remixed and put back on the released version from the 90's.

Listening to the album all the way through was fun. I even listened to 2 Nigs...Ha! Makes me wonder how funky he was on those hidden albums we don't know about in the Vault(Iron Mountain).

williamb610 said:

Interestingly enough...

When I bought the original dub on blank cassette back in '87/'88 the "Bob. Ain't that a Bitch" ending to Bob George and the "What Kind of fuck ending is that?" from Rockhard In a Funky Place weren't on that version. I guess it was remixed and put back on the released version from the 90's.

Listening to the album all the way through was fun. I even listened to 2 Nigs...Ha! Makes me wonder how funky he was on those hidden albums we don't know about in the Vault(Iron Mountain).

The '94 release is exactly the same as the original 1987 vinyl no remixing was done.

Your tape dub was just a botched up version like the other various pirate copies from 1987/1988 that all suffered from something.

williamb610 said:

Interestingly enough...

When I bought the original dub on blank cassette back in '87/'88 the "Bob. Ain't that a Bitch" ending to Bob George and the "What Kind of fuck ending is that?" from Rockhard In a Funky Place weren't on that version. I guess it was remixed and put back on the released version from the 90's.

Listening to the album all the way through was fun. I even listened to 2 Nigs...Ha! Makes me wonder how funky he was on those hidden albums we don't know about in the Vault(Iron Mountain).

yeah my vinyl boot copy was missing those two parts as well, and also had old friends for sale/all my dreams tacked on to the end. It was a proper bootlegger botch job

Revolution81 said:

williamb610 said:

Interestingly enough...

When I bought the original dub on blank cassette back in '87/'88 the "Bob. Ain't that a Bitch" ending to Bob George and the "What Kind of fuck ending is that?" from Rockhard In a Funky Place weren't on that version. I guess it was remixed and put back on the released version from the 90's.

Listening to the album all the way through was fun. I even listened to 2 Nigs...Ha! Makes me wonder how funky he was on those hidden albums we don't know about in the Vault(Iron Mountain).

yeah my vinyl boot copy was missing those two parts as well, and also had old friends for sale/all my dreams tacked on to the end. It was a proper bootlegger botch job

I had that vinyl version too. I can remember All My Dreams being a divisive song... split the Cwmbran Prince fraternity right down the middle!

SimonCharles said:

Revolution81 said:

yeah my vinyl boot copy was missing those two parts as well, and also had old friends for sale/all my dreams tacked on to the end. It was a proper bootlegger botch job

I had that vinyl version too. I can remember All My Dreams being a divisive song... split the Cwmbran Prince fraternity right down the middle!

Those were the days

williamb610 said:

I don't know who remastered or did what, but the Black Album on Tidal sounds pretty damn good. Loud and clear. I'm hearing P say things that I didn't hear as well on that shitty tape copy I had years from '87.

Listening to it in its entirety, P was really funky on this one. There's layers of funk and intensity. I'm not a horns type guy unless it's James Brown or 80's/90's Prince and the horns throughout the album don't sound corny at all compared to his post 2000 output(I don't like the horns on Revelation or Chelsea Rodgers or Da Bourgeoisie, for example).

All in all, very enjoyable and very listenable.

I don't think the Tidal version can possibly be any different from the 1994 release, unless maybe they've used the LP master as opposed to the CD transfer.

On the other hand if you use bootlegs as a reference... Why in the world didn't you purchase the official release in 94?

williamb610 said:

When I bought the original dub on blank cassette back in '87/'88 the "Bob. Ain't that a Bitch" ending to Bob George and the "What Kind of fuck ending is that?" from Rockhard In a Funky Place weren't on that version. I guess it was remixed and put back on the released version from the 90's.

Both my vinyl & CD bootlegs had all that material intact with no added bonus tracks. The only thing different I noticed when I bought the official CD in '94 was that it sounded (slightly) better than the boots.

databank said:

williamb610 said:

I don't know who remastered or did what, but the Black Album on Tidal sounds pretty damn good. Loud and clear. I'm hearing P say things that I didn't hear as well on that shitty tape copy I had years from '87.

Listening to it in its entirety, P was really funky on this one. There's layers of funk and intensity. I'm not a horns type guy unless it's James Brown or 80's/90's Prince and the horns throughout the album don't sound corny at all compared to his post 2000 output(I don't like the horns on Revelation or Chelsea Rodgers or Da Bourgeoisie, for example).

All in all, very enjoyable and very listenable.

I don't think the Tidal version can possibly be any different from the 1994 release, unless maybe they've used the LP master as opposed to the CD transfer.

On the other hand if you use bootlegs as a reference... Why in the world didn't you purchase the official release in 94?

I bought the official release in '94, BUT...wait for it...wait for it...my car got stolen and with it all of my CDs, including the Black Album.

When I tried to search out the album on CD recently, it shows either used copies or exorbitant prices for an original version. So, I bought it from Tidal.

r they legally allowed to sell this?

luvsexy4all said:

r they legally allowed to sell this?

There's a whole thread discussing that.

http://prince.org/msg/7/448994