I started another thread explaining how I'm organizing my collection. That got me to thinking about what is and what is not in my collection.

Do you save everything you come across? How comprehensives do you want your collection to be?

OFFICIALLY RELEASED MUSIC: When it comes to Prince's officially released music I keep almost everything. Some exceptions:

If a maxi-single has 5 different remixes of a song I might not feel obligated to keep all 5, particular if it's a song I don't like. I'll pick one or two of the better remixes and ditch the rest. Also, if it was remixed by someone other than Prince I feel less pressure to keep it.

If a maxi-single has the originial album version I usually won't save that since I already have a copy. (I will double check PrinveVault to see if it truly is identical to the album version -- sometimes it's not because it include a segue or other minor difference).

I often debate with myself about how much of the associated artist music to keep. On the one hand, I really don't like some of it and realisitically will never listen to it. On the other hand, the completist in me wants to hang onto to. I usually end up keeping associated artists' albums, but I won't keep their remixes unless I really like the song.

BOOTLEGS (Studio): If I have multiple copies of a bootleg song I'll ditch the ones with poor audio quality and hang on only to those with decent quality.

If I don't like a bootleg I stash it in an archive rather than keeping it with my main collection.

BOOTLEGS (Live): I'm not really into the live stuff, so I keep very little of this. But even if I was into the concerts it would be difficult to be a completist with these because there are so, so many.

With all of that said...

There have been times in the past I deleted something and regretted it. That's why I started moving stuff to an archive folder rather than completley deleting it. That way I have it, but it's not cluttering up my primarly library.

Hell no. A lot of the unreleased stuff is crap. Its time we acknowledged this. I get that like many other artists haing fans who are 'completists" regardless if its with music, lit, etc etc. But lord no.

rdhull said:

RJOrion said:

rdhull said:

Hell no. A lot of the unreleased stuff is crap. Its time we acknowledged this. I get that like many other artists haing fans who are 'completists" regardless if its with music, lit, etc etc. But lord no.

so true...im still trying to unhear "Moonbeam Levels"

Moonbeam Levels is good tho. Its an 'essence of Prince' song, encapsulating the 1999 era quite well.

rdhull said:

Hell no. A lot of the unreleased stuff is crap. Its time we acknowledged this. I get that like many other artists haing fans who are 'completists" regardless if its with music, lit, etc etc. But lord no.

Yes, I strongly agree. I like some of this unreleased stuff, but much of it is crap. There's a reason it was hidden away in the vault.

Like I said, I used to delete many of the bootleg songs because of this, but I'd occassionally end up regretting it. That's why I've come up with the compromise of storing them in an archive folder on an external drive so that I have them if I ever change my mind, but they don't clutter up my library/main collection.

lurker316 said:

rdhull said:

Hell no. A lot of the unreleased stuff is crap. Its time we acknowledged this. I get that like many other artists haing fans who are 'completists" regardless if its with music, lit, etc etc. But lord no.

Yes, I strongly agree. I like some of this unreleased stuff, but much of it is crap. There's a reason it was hidden away in the vault.

Like I said, I used to delete many of the bootleg songs because of this, but I'd occassionally end up regretting it. That's why I've come up with the compromise of storing them in an archive folder on an external drive so that I have them if I ever change my mind, but they don't clutter up my library/main collection.

IMHO

i think that is what Prince did, too.

The only thing I've changed is that I no longer care about audience recordings. With so many studio/soundboard recordings out there, I think audience recordings are horrible. Especially when you have people talking or screaming over the music.

rdhull said:

Hell no. A lot of the unreleased stuff is crap. Its time we acknowledged this. I get that like many other artists haing fans who are 'completists" regardless if its with music, lit, etc etc. But lord no.

I'm echoing this. It feels like overkill to save every thing that leaks out. It's interesting to hear for a minute, but to hold onto it long term just because? Nope. Much of the shitty quality stuff (which far outweights the good or very good quality stuff) deafens our senses. It's created a culture of quasi-perfection entitlement. We've heard the worst and now expect everything to be some unrealistic crystal quality 8K sounding material. "If the boot is this bad, it can only get better." It's impossible, and unreasonable. While it's nice to hear things Prince did, I think it's important to keep it in perspective.

Hoarding shitty digital files doesn't make anyone a bigger fan or more devoted to the cause than another. Frankly, from Prince's point of view, it makes that person less of a fan because they're collecting illegal material that is his bread and butter without any compensation.

I somethings think if Prince were more street and unfiltered, he'd have just said, "I don't come to your job and knock the dicks out of your mouth. Stop fucking with me." (He sorta did in "pFUNK.")

I keep everything that is unique, i.e. I don't keep singles if they are identical to the album. I keep it all - official, bootleg, live, associated - in the same place in date order with updated metadata.

It doesn't matter if I don't particularly like a song. The collection as a whole tells a story of Prince's musical journey.

airth said:

I keep everything that is unique, i.e. I don't keep singles if they are identical to the album. I keep it all - official, bootleg, live, associated - in the same place in date order with updated metadata.

It doesn't matter if I don't particularly like a song. The collection as a whole tells a story of Prince's musical journey.

airth said:

I keep everything that is unique, i.e. I don't keep singles if they are identical to the album. I keep it all - official, bootleg, live, associated - in the same place in date order with updated metadata.

It doesn't matter if I don't particularly like a song. The collection as a whole tells a story of Prince's musical journey.

Agreed. That's pretty much my policy, too. I'll keep (1) respectable-or-better quality unique versions, and (2) poor quality versions if they're noteworthy and a higher quality doesn't exist (e.g., if I found first instances of early songs recorded on his boom box in the 70s). The former I keep for enjoyment and the latter for curiousity/research.

But a poor-quality version of the 22nd date in a tour of which I have higher quality recordings for other dates? Doesn't interest me. Tracks ripped from official albums or soundboard recordings, those I only keep the highest quality version I can get.

There's no right or wrong answer here. Do what gives you joy.

lurker316 said:

rdhull said:

Hell no. A lot of the unreleased stuff is crap. Its time we acknowledged this. I get that like many other artists haing fans who are 'completists" regardless if its with music, lit, etc etc. But lord no.

Yes, I strongly agree. I like some of this unreleased stuff, but much of it is crap. There's a reason it was hidden away in the vault.

Like I said, I used to delete many of the bootleg songs because of this, but I'd occassionally end up regretting it. That's why I've come up with the compromise of storing them in an archive folder on an external drive so that I have them if I ever change my mind, but they don't clutter up my library/main collection.

"Crap" is usually a matter of personal preference -- and that's fine. You do you. But I've heard Prince songs that didn't resonate with me at the time, only to "rediscover" them a decade or more later and change my mind. That's actually happening a lot now as I revisit entire albums from the second half of his career that I dismissed off-hand after just one listen. In some cases, "younger me" wasn't ready to follow him down whatever musical detour he was exploring at that time.

drfeld said:

"Crap" is usually a matter of personal preference -- and that's fine.

While not speaking for RDHull or others, I think they meant "crap" as in quality that sounds like it was recorded on an 8-track car stereo from a Buick's AM radio in a TG&Y parking lot three spaces over.

But maybe not.

drfeld said:

lurker316 said:

Yes, I strongly agree. I like some of this unreleased stuff, but much of it is crap. There's a reason it was hidden away in the vault.

Like I said, I used to delete many of the bootleg songs because of this, but I'd occassionally end up regretting it. That's why I've come up with the compromise of storing them in an archive folder on an external drive so that I have them if I ever change my mind, but they don't clutter up my library/main collection.

"Crap" is usually a matter of personal preference -- and that's fine. You do you. But I've heard Prince songs that didn't resonate with me at the time, only to "rediscover" them a decade or more later and change my mind. That's actually happening a lot now as I revisit entire albums from the second half of his career that I dismissed off-hand after just one listen. In some cases, "younger me" wasn't ready to follow him down whatever musical detour he was exploring at that time.

Well aren't you special?

rdhull said:

drfeld said:

"Crap" is usually a matter of personal preference -- and that's fine. You do you. But I've heard Prince songs that didn't resonate with me at the time, only to "rediscover" them a decade or more later and change my mind. That's actually happening a lot now as I revisit entire albums from the second half of his career that I dismissed off-hand after just one listen. In some cases, "younger me" wasn't ready to follow him down whatever musical detour he was exploring at that time.

Well aren't you special?

TrivialPursuit said:

drfeld said:

"Crap" is usually a matter of personal preference -- and that's fine.

While not speaking for RDHull or others, I think they meant "crap" as in quality that sounds like it was recorded on an 8-track car stereo from a Buick's AM radio in a TG&Y parking lot three spaces over.

But maybe not.

In that case, yep -- there's a lot of crap.

TrivialPursuit said:

rdhull said:

Well aren't you special?

-

I keep it all.

From the crap to the sublime.

(That's how one can compare it.)

(In all formats as well.)

-

Another thing,

there's always a spark of Princely stardust to be found

even in the crapiest of songs; a sound, a detail, whatever,

that's how I look at it.

Sure, there's released and unreleased stuff that isn't worth listening to more than a couple of times.

-

Hell I even collect horrible cover versions of his songs.

Cause rarely, there are good cover versions a&s well.

-

drfeld said:

lurker316 said:

Yes, I strongly agree. I like some of this unreleased stuff, but much of it is crap. There's a reason it was hidden away in the vault.

Like I said, I used to delete many of the bootleg songs because of this, but I'd occassionally end up regretting it. That's why I've come up with the compromise of storing them in an archive folder on an external drive so that I have them if I ever change my mind, but they don't clutter up my library/main collection.

"Crap" is usually a matter of personal preference -- and that's fine. You do you. But I've heard Prince songs that didn't resonate with me at the time, only to "rediscover" them a decade or more later and change my mind. That's actually happening a lot now as I revisit entire albums from the second half of his career that I dismissed off-hand after just one listen. In some cases, "younger me" wasn't ready to follow him down whatever musical detour he was exploring at that time.

Exactly. That's why I stopped deleting songs I don't like and archive them instead. Like you, I realize I may change my mind in the future. And more specifically like you, I used to dismiss stuff from the second half of his career, but now I enjoy it.

TrivialPursuit said:

drfeld said:

"Crap" is usually a matter of personal preference -- and that's fine.

While not speaking for RDHull or others, I think they meant "crap" as in quality that sounds like it was recorded on an 8-track car stereo from a Buick's AM radio in a TG&Y parking lot three spaces over.

But maybe not.

I was referring to both: bootlegs with poor audio quality and bootlegs that are aestheteically unpleasing.

I love Prince, but not every song is a gem. Granted, his offiically released catalogue has some stinkers too, but I think the vault material has a higher percentage of stinkers than the released stuff. I would wager Prince would agree.

lurker316 said:

drfeld said:

"Crap" is usually a matter of personal preference -- and that's fine. You do you. But I've heard Prince songs that didn't resonate with me at the time, only to "rediscover" them a decade or more later and change my mind. That's actually happening a lot now as I revisit entire albums from the second half of his career that I dismissed off-hand after just one listen. In some cases, "younger me" wasn't ready to follow him down whatever musical detour he was exploring at that time.

Exactly. That's why I stopped deleting songs I don't like and archive them instead. Like you, I realize I may change my mind in the future. And more specifically like you, I used to dismiss stuff from the second half of his career, but now I enjoy it.

lurker316 said:

I was referring to both: bootlegs with poor audio quality and bootlegs that are aestheteically unpleasing.

I love Prince, but not every song is a gem. Granted, his offiically released catalogue has some stinkers too, but I think the vault material has a higher percentage of stinkers than the released stuff. I would wager Prince would agree.

True on both counts, for sure. One section of Prince music that I just can't stand is that 1989-1991 echoey, canned dated sound. You hear it a bit on things like "Oopey Boop" or whatthefuckever that song is, plus some remixes around the GB time. It was one of the first times Prince started following trends instead of creating them. A lot of R&B got into that new wall of sound mode around 1988 when people like Rick Wakeman produced Taylor Dayne's first two albums. Everything was big, reverby, some percussion sounded like tin cans or 5-gallon plastic pickle tubs. It was a dicotomy of big sound yet sounding very hollow. That Taylor Dayne approach lasted into the early 90s in music in general, and eventually Prince got away from it.

Prince had a slew of remixes (I honestly forget which song(s) they were though) which embraced that aural aesthetic. It doesn't age very well. In fact, in a year's time - had they been released - they'd have been thought of as cheesy. So to your point, there are a great many stinkers in the bootleg arena. Sometimes, it was probably just Prince playing with sounds, trying ideas, and never intending to put that shit out. He may have saved the best stuff for himself, but thank God he also saved the worst.

Vannormal said:

-

I keep it all.

From the crap to the sublime.

(That's how one can compare it.)

(In all formats as well.)

-

Another thing,

there's always a spark of Princely stardust to be found

even in the crapiest of songs; a sound, a detail, whatever,

that's how I look at it.

Sure, there's released and unreleased stuff that isn't worth listening to more than a couple of times.

-

Hell I even collect horrible cover versions of his songs.

Cause rarely, there are good cover versions a&s well.

-

This is the way.

Like others here I keep all the studio stuff, even if I'm not a fan of it at first, I might be in the future. For example, I recently discovered how much I love 'Warden In The Prison Of Love', even though Prince isn't doing the main vocals (He does instrumentals and backing vocals though). I'd love to hear the version with Prince doing main vocals. I also keep every quality audience recording because there is a good chance we won't be getting a soundboard version anytime soon. I actually listen to audience recordings frequently, as long as the quality ranges from B to A+.