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My Prince Estate dreams...
My take on The Vault.
It's going to be hard to please anyone, when it comes to Prince's recordings. The Prince Estate has already started well by releasing an expanded Deluxe offering of Purple Rain, which was an interesting take on how to market Prince's unreleased material. I get that they were pushing it's release because of the taxes due on Prince's assets, but I hope they will re-do this set once they start re-issueing Prince's back catalogue, which is in need of an overhaul. The re-do is needed because even though I understand Prince oversaw the new mastering, it's not perfect, is it?
Same with the unreleased material; most songs are nice, but there are better songs left out of the equation. A missed chance, that. Same with the choice of live material; we know there's LOADS of other material than just a re-hash of something that ought to have been updated and remastered.
But as said, firstly, the easiest opportunity is to remaster the back catalogue with expanded versions of our much loved albums. And I must admit; I love that double or triple disc offering; remastered album, released material, unreleased treasures and a live concert.
This is also the way we finally get remasted material we can compile ourselves; a The Gold Material that comes blasting out of our speakers at the same kind of volume as Soft And Wet, but also the way we can finally complete our collection; with all the extended versions, edits and remixes to complete an album.
I also would not be averse to a box with remastered vinyl singles with original art-design and a nice booklet with liner notes. With a download code for the remastered FLAC's, of course. It's a sign of the times.
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Another opportunity is to start up a series of live performances; for starters a triple album of live material from his entire carreer; from 1979 to 2016, with all his greatest hits in pristine quality.
And it would be awesome if they'd mix it up. For instance; I love the 1987 version of When Doves Cry. More so than the 1984/85 live version. We all know Prince was an amazing arranger; his 2009 live arrangement of Little Red Corvette is a stunner.
Introduce people that know the hits to some songs they know and some versions of songs they don't.
The other must in managing Prince's estate is that there ought to be a series of concert registrations; we want at least one registration of every tour. Give us one standard performance in both audio and video and an expanded version with not-often played variations.
The live experience does not stop there, of course; over the years Prince has done many covers, like Just My Imagination and take it a step further with his guitar playing. Why not a live album with cover versions?
And then we're not even talking after-shows... or stuff like the 2009 Montreux performance, or an 1988 aftershow? Oh myyyy...
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Another nice idea would be to release songs as singles; release his fan-favourites like Joy In Repetition in it's original version on limited edition vinyl, backed with that same version remixed out off The Ball? Instant fan favourite. Use some photography (Jeff Katz) and art design (Laura LiPuma) from the same era and you expand on Prince's legacy that does his material justice. And it would make The Estate a nice buck, I', telling ya.
While we're on the sunject of stand-alone singles; imagine a series of singles where we get different versions of the same song. We know Prince sometimes reworked songs or kept tinkering with them until he got something he liked. Does not mean the vaulted versions are not worth playing.
For instance, the booklet of The Hits mentions Prince recorded several different versions of U Got The Look. I again would loooove to give The Estate my money if they'd release that on limited vinyl, of course with a FLAC download code (grin)
Or mix the two above ideas and release a live EP of a certain song/era. Be inventive, Estate!
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But what I dream of is an Anthology series, like The Beatles released back in the day; they released a carreer spanning television documentary, accompanied by three double discs full of unreleased material of demo's, live material and session material, also accompanied by a book. Follow this link to give you an idea; https://en.wikipedia.org/..._Anthology
So a documentary series on Prince's career, told by the people that were there. Proper journalism showing us where he came from, his visions, his dreams. A team of people interviewing his family friends, band members, people he worked with on stage and behind the scenes, intercut with the released music, unreleased music and live footage.
The great thing is, compared to The Beatles, there is WAY more to show and tell; The Beatles were active for a decade, and the documentary was 6 hours; 2 hours per episode and two discs per album. Imagine the wealth of Prince's career and the opportunities this offers...
I can only dream of people like Duane Tudahl and the people behind the site The Vault and other knowledgeable people advising the Prince Estate on how to tell this story properly.
And I do hope that in the meantime their archivist is up to date and not afraid to reach out to the people that can make this project the dream we all dream of...
Come on, Estate. Make my dreams come true.
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Where do you lot get these ridiculous ideas? PR Deluxe was part of Prince's 2014 deal, simple as that.
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Wut? No. Just... NO. Release entire, unedited concerts. But a compilation of live material is just pointless.
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No it wouldn't. It would be a spectacular waste of time, money and effort. It would appeal to a niche part of an already niche market.
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. The Beatles are waaaaay more popular than Prince ever was. © Bart Van Hemelen
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Ah, the negativity crew. Fun!
2nd; that's why it is MY dream! Thanks for your opinion, though. Bruce Springsteen's really popular live releases are real good and nice to have. >> |
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Considering that some people are actually excited about this year's 1999 RSD release, your SINGLES idea is a good one. Surely everybody that is happy about 1999 single disc would also be happy with a JIR single AND most of the people that are complaining about 1999 would be happy about a JIR 12"... sounds like a winner. Don't hate your neighbors. Hate the media that tells you to hate your neighbors. |
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Still pushing for a 12" with the 1983 Possessed on one side and the 1984 on the other. | |
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The way the Bowie estate handles his catalog is something the Prince people should study. I agree with releasing Prince live concerts the way Springsteen does it. "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato
https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0 | |
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Welcome to "the org", daqueria1998… open your heart, open your mind. | |
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Post here http://prince.org/msg/7/452240 
Ohh purple joy oh purple bliss oh purple rapture! REAL MUSIC by REAL MUSICIANS - Prince "I kind of wish there was a reason for Prince to make the site crash more" ~~ Ben |
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