databank said:

antonb said:

annoying. Nothing in the UK

That's what y'all get for brexiting

Ha,Ha true. I didnt vote for it though!

antonb said:

Thought my amazon order would come early, no such luck!

Reliving the Crystal Ball trauma all over again?

[Edited 9/20/18 10:18am]

antonb said:

databank said:

That's what y'all get for brexiting

Ha,Ha true. I didnt vote for it though!

Robert Schuman sends his grateful blessing from EU heaven

Interview with Michael Howe in Vulture: http://www.vulture.com/20...rview.html

.

Meet the Guy Tasked With Archiving Prince’s Entire Vault

.

By Dee Lockett

.

Tucked away deep inside a maximum-security storage facility in Hollywood, the contents of Prince’s storied vault are being pored over daily in one of the most laborious research jobs in modern pop culture. Following his death in 2016, Prince’s fabled vault at Paisley Park was opened, and all of its secrets — reportedly “thousands and thousands” of unreleased recordings — moved to Iron Mountain, a data recovery center in Los Angeles, for safekeeping and to begin the work of figuring out what music, exactly, Prince had saved. At the helm of it all is one man: Michael Howe, a former record-label executive and Prince colleague who last year volunteered to oversee the excavation and preservation of Prince’s life work at the request of Prince’s estate, run by his heirs (the six siblings), the bank entrusted as its executor, and Troy Carter, the Spotify exec who also works as the estate’s entertainment adviser.

.

Together, but mostly at Howe’s sole recommendation, they are working to catalog Prince’s archives so that some of it might eventually be released. This week, the estate releases Piano & a Microphone, one of Howe’s many findings that dates back to 1983. It features Prince singing alone at his piano — as he did on his final tour — covering Joni Mitchell and performing “Purple Rain.” Vulture spoke with Howe over the phone about working in total secrecy, protecting Prince’s wishes, and just how much music there is in the vault.

.

[...]

.

When you come across a tape like Piano & a Microphone, what’s the process for verifying it’s from 1983?

.

There are a couple ways we determine it. A lot of the things in the vault have very specific notes or distinguishing characteristics that date them within a couple of months. Or we can identify Prince’s writing, the engineer’s writing, or the kind of tape stock that was used. There are a many number of ways to narrow things down if we’re unsure. Also the material that’s being performed and the creative state that’s in, in some cases, gives us a pretty good idea about things that are less clearly marked. In the case of Piano & a Mic, this recording has floated around in the bootleg and collector community for a number of years, albeit in a very substandard audio quality. I was aware of it and found the performance so captivating.

.

So one of the first things I attempted to do when taking the job was to see if we could locate the master recording, which I assumed was on cassette because of the era and sonic characteristics of it. So we did a bit of detective work and were able to narrow a wide pool of candidates. We spotted this one that had Prince’s handwriting on the label on side B and it said “Cold Coffee & Cocaine” and “Why the Butterflies,” which are the final two songs of the recordings. We were pretty sure we had it. Once we analyzed it, inserted it into the machine, and digitized it, we were fortunately correct.

.

In those moments when you go to play the recording, does your heart ever skip a beat? The tapes could corrupt and the music’s gone forever.

.

It hasn’t happened that often, but I’ve had tapes that have been damaged or needed to be baked.

.

Baked?

.

There’s a phenomenon of magnetic particles shedding on some kinds of analog tapes that makes it difficult or impossible to play them back without further damaging them. They have to be physically baked in a convection oven to reattach the magnetic particles. It’s a bizarre concept, but it works. We’ve had to do that on multiple occasions, but there’s never been a time yet that we’ve come across something that we’ve been salivating to hear that’s been irretrievably damaged.

.

Prince’s personal wishes for how all this music should be commercialized is a big concern to his fans. When you find something like Piano & a Mic, where it’s an already completed nine-song tape vs. you all cherry-picking songs for a compilation, does that signal to you that this is maybe something Prince would’ve eventually put out himself when the time is right?

.

That’s a $64 million question because we don’t know with certainty what Prince would’ve contemplated releasing at some point. It certainly was not in his line of sight at the time, otherwise it would’ve come out. He had pretty strong ideas about what was suitable for release and what wasn’t, but there were times, and I’m paraphrasing, that he said, “All these recordings in the vault at some point would see the light of day after I’m gone.” It represented the notion that a portion of these things would become available. When we are thinking about what might be appropriate for release, the first question is: Is this of the caliber that Prince would’ve deemed suitable for a theoretical release? Are we doing his legacy justice by putting this out there? Without exception, that’s the most important thing and we have to use our best judgement.

.

I gotta say: this release has been well promoted in the press by having various people available for interviews, even for the advance released tracks. Much better than with PR Deluxe.

Jon Bream in the Star Tribune with a long article: http://www.startribune.co...493845601/

.

Billboard interview with Michael Howe: https://www.billboard.com...-interview

.

USA Today article on the album: https://usatoday.com/stor...346752002/

.

BartVanHemelen said:

Ok i have listen to it. 35 minutes later, and im ready for the next release already! HELP!

how I LOOOONG for the days of waiting impatiently for a release date.....sadly a lost era......and this mfer aint helpin

databank said:

Prince practically invented techno in his basement, years before Detroit, and no one knew!

Haha. I'm going to tell them.

luvsexy4all said:

how I LOOOONG for the days of waiting impatiently for a release date.....sadly a lost era......and this mfer aint helpin

Agreed, but hopefully there is enough left and it gets released for our old asses to get by.

I am enjoying this release. It is emotional and I needed that right now.

https://www.dailymail.co....reign.html

Another good review.

SkipperLove said:

https://www.dailymail.co....reign.html

Another good review.

Another good review because the critics are not fans... They are not the ones who have heard this boot 30 years ago, and waiting for a new release... That's why they are good reviews... Lets tally how many good reviews come from the fans about this release..

feeluupp said:

ThirdStrike said:

feeluupp said:

Another good review because the critics are not fans... They are not the ones who have heard this boot 30 years ago, and waiting for a new release... That's why they are good reviews... Lets tally how many good reviews come from the fans about this release..

Ok, here’s a “good review” from a fan of over 35 years. I love it, so speak for yourself.

Make it two

TheKid94 said:

It's not bad music whatsoever. However, its just really underwhelming as a post-humous release. Majority of the songs are just too short. Once I start to enjoy something (Purple Rain) its already over! Of course ill come back to this release frequently because I love his music dearly, but they can do better than this! . Highlights: 17 Days Mary Dont You Weep Why the butterflies

If I may, I think you got it all wrong. The songs are neither too short or too long, they are what they are given that it was a private recording. And it's not about you (or anyone else) enjoying the music. it's not about us. It's about the music.

luvsexy4all said:

iZsaZsa said:

databank said:

Prince practically invented techno in his basement, years before Detroit, and no one knew!

Haha. I'm going to tell them.

You friends with the Detroit Godfathers of techno?

While listening now, this feels like going through his private stuff (which it was before).

This was not supose to be released for main audience, he's just jamming and trying out things, maybe rehearsing for one of that great aftershow moments....

Still listening and filed in the collection though..

Just listened for the first time and I love it. It will be tough to listen to as it does recall memories of his final tour, but I am very glad this has been released.

ok so now that this is out, we can start looking forward to an actual studio album
next year

i wonder how long it will be before we hear more details about the tital release.

Silvertongue7 said:

UNDERWHELMING

I think this says it all - Sheesh - over 1 year since PR Deluxe, and this.

Makes me feel less guilty for listening to the oodles of "Blast From The Past" type compilations that I've been listening to.

Belgian musician Bart Peeters talks (in Dutch) about the anticipation he feels WRT this album in "Start je dag" on VRT radio: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws...n-80-heel/

.