It appears that the September release will be from the 80's. I'm sure there is some good stuff that we have not heard in the vault from the 80's, but he released a lot of music either himself or through associated artists during that time and we have already heard a lot of unreleased stuff. I think the real treasure trove is from the 00's and 10's because most of that stuff has not leaked and he didn't release as much of the music he recorded during that time frame for various reasons. People are enamored with 80's Prince, but I wish the focus was on releasing the more recent stuff.

I agree. To the very general public, he is seen as the "Purple Rain" guy, and the Estate seems in no hurry to broaden that perspective.

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The problem with the 90s/00s stuff is it probably won't sell very well. Maybe a D&P 25th box could work?

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That 88-90 period is so mysterious, I'd love to see what he had going on then.

donnyenglish said:

It appears that the September release will be from the 80's. I'm sure there is some good stuff that we have not heard in the vault from the 80's, but he released a lot of music either himself or through associated artists during that time and we have already heard a lot of unreleased stuff. I think the real treasure trove is from the 00's and 10's because most of that stuff has not leaked and he didn't release as much of the music he recorded during that time frame for various reasons. People are enamored with 80's Prince, but I wish the focus was on releasing the more recent stuff.

I'm fine with this as a lot of the 90s material is dated sounding due to him playing catch up with the times then. Never was a fan of the NPG material although some of it is okay but I can care less how many versions of the boring Get Wild or Return Of The Bump Squad there are...the base fans didnt buy it then and not going to buy it now...now everntually when they run out I am sure they will pick at it though.

I am super curious about his ealy career stuff that's unreleased...specifically 1978-1981...

Not a lot of bootlegs from this time dribbled out... I bet there's a LOT in The Vault we have no idea about from this period.

I think that there is a lot of stuff that was recorded from 2007 until 2016 that we have no clue about. He didn't release many albums after 2007, but was in the studio a lot. I remember him saying in an interview that he records every day but that the time was not right to release his music and he wanted to wait until the industry changes. We were all blown away by Deliverance when it came out and I think there is a lot more of that stuff.

donnyenglish said:

coldasice said:

donnyenglish said:

I think that there is a lot of stuff that was recorded from 2007 until 2016 that we have no clue about. He didn't release many albums after 2007, but was in the studio a lot. I remember him saying in an interview that he records every day but that the time was not right to release his music and he wanted to wait until the industry changes. We were all blown away by Deliverance when it came out and I think there is a lot more of that stuff.

I don’t consider That a P album. That stuff was completed & mixed by an outside source.

It had some extra stuff added but it was still Prince. It wasn't like Alan Douglas replacing whole instrument sections with studio musicians. (unless you consider The Twinz background vocals on par with Noel Redding and Billy Cox)

It's also likely they haven't ironed out the licensing / rights issues with the post WB material yet either. I'm sure once this is resolved we will see releases from this era.

EmmaMcG said:

I'm much more interested in hearing what he was working on in his final years than anything from the 80s. I've said it before in another thread but if we were to get the Black Is The New Black album then it would very likely be the last time we could say that we have a "new" Prince album.

Yes, I'd rather hear Black Is The New Black or anything else recent but realistically they'll release something like Roadhouse Garden and market it as 'the unreleased follow up to Purple Rain'

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Or if we're lucky maybe Dream Factory and they'll bill it as 'his precursor to the critically acclaimed Sign O' The Times'

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As Dangelus says though the problem with anything post WB is the licensing/ownership rights.

OperatingThetan said:

donnyenglish said:

OperatingThetan said:

I'm primarily interested in the later material. Post 80s or 95 material really needs to be handled by some kind of subscriber service - streaming/download or otherwise - catering to hardcore fans as they are the only credible audience for it. If the estate does not begin meeting the demand for the later material in a timely manner the hardcore audience will dwindle and they won't have a market for a great deal of the vault contents.

THIS. There are those of us that would pay premium money for the obscure stuff. They must act quickly to make the obscure stuff available to us because the next generation won’t care about Black is the New Black, Phase 3, a Piano and Mic box set, etc. All that will be left is greatest hits configurations and that would be a travesty. Take our money before we die.

Yes.

I think by in large you are dealing with the fact that the VAULT is really only gonna sell to diehards. No new fans are coming out to buy a version of "Wonderful Ass" only if they slap a Cardi B rap on there, lets be serious about this. No matter what era they release its only selling to diehards. The problem is that most of the diehards already are saying "they have this already" because we/they were all buying bootlegs all those years and have all that stuff, so a lot seem to be searching for things that neveer made it out there somehow. I think what should happen is something like the band GENESIS did though they did it more with just studio reissues. They took eras and released boxes for them, and to be honest that is what should be done here. Mixing up demos and outtakes from eras is a bad move. Putting songs from the early 80's on the same disc as the Original COME test pressing is not smart. i would box a few years and do a release every 3-4 months. As you do that maybe actually remaster albums and match up tracks from that era/album if that is possible or just do boxes of unrreleased stuff.

[Edited 5/11/18 6:08am]

lastdecember said:

I think by in large you are dealing with the fact that the VAULT is really only gonna sell to diehards. No new fans are coming out to buy a version of "Wonderful Ass" only if they slap a Cardi B rap on there, lets be serious about this. No matter what era they release its only selling to diehards. The problem is that most of the diehards already are saying "they have this already" because we/they were all buying bootlegs all those years and have all that stuff, so a lot seem to be searching for things that neveer made it out there somehow. I think what should happen is something like the band GENESIS did though they did it more with just studio reissues. They took eras and released boxes for them, and to be honest that is what should be done here. Mixing up demos and outtakes from eras is a bad move. Putting songs from the early 80's on the same disc as the Original COME test pressing is not smart. i would box a few years and do a release every 3-4 months. As you do that maybe actually remaster albums and match up tracks from that era/album if that is possible or just do boxes of unrreleased stuff.

[Edited 5/11/18 6:08am]

THIS TOO. Probably the easiest thing to do is to just dump it all on a site and have us pay a monthly subscription. I think we would all pay $20 per month for access to such a site. Or they can do it al la carte. Either way, take my money please while I'm alive. My kids were raised on Prince, love him and have a somewhat sophisticated undersanding of him. I doubt any of them would subscribe to the aforementioned online site or would purchase a Piano & Mic box set. If they wouldn't, then I know the masses wouldn't either. Take our money. We will help keep his legacy alive. You don't have to clean things up too much. Just dump it on a site and we will buy it.

So, we will get a chance to compare the 80's vault with the 00/10's vault very soon based on the new press release that Tidal will be releasing recent music from the vault in 2019. Both releases will be good, but I'm betting that the Tidal release will be all mostly all new to us while we will have heard at least half of what ends up being released by WB this fall.

OperatingThetan said:

Fortunately, we're now going to recieve a post-Warners album of unreleased material from Tidal in 2019: http://variety.com/2018/b...1202807371

Hoping it is a Hit N Run 3. Seem like Prince was on a roll with this stuff...

The Tidal release could also be the live P&AM second show from Atlanta. Someone should follow through with some of Prince's wishes.

Given how bad the stuff he decided to release in recent years was, I am firmly in the 80's (or WB era) vault camp.

Its too bad.. the only people who Give a ## are the hardcore fans.. yet still complain on distribution and content.

sovembol said:

paisleypark4 said:

OperatingThetan said:

Fortunately, we're now going to recieve a post-Warners album of unreleased material from Tidal in 2019: http://variety.com/2018/b...1202807371

Hoping it is a Hit N Run 3. Seem like Prince was on a roll with this stuff...

Phase 3 could be cool...finally give a home to "Free Urself" and "If Eye Could Get Ur Attention", plus whatever else he had ready.

renfield said:

OperatingThetan said:

renfield said:

Phase 3 could be cool...finally give a home to "Free Urself" and "If Eye Could Get Ur Attention", plus whatever else he had ready.

My thoughts also. I liked the sound and direction he seemed to be going in with Phase 3.

Same!!