+1 on the separate pricing/box size whatever thread. that stuff is unbelievably boring to read.

[Edited 7/1/20 9:44am]

I don't really want to listen to the album or the outtakes anymore until the official release
but to stay in the mood and cheat a bit here and there I have been listening to live tracks
of the Sign O The Times songs.

Latest rediscovery is the officially released (on Andy Allo's Facebook, irrc) live version of:

"Hot Thing" live in Gothenborg, Sweden, 12/08/11

Although I was never too hot on the sampler set, this is a super nice example of what it'd
have been like if he'd grooved out on the songs a bit longer (although I guess that would
have sort of defeated the whole purpose of the sampler set).

Anyway, it's great to actually hear 2 verses and a chorus of the song and the bass slappin'
in the final minutes is awesome. To me, it's a 04:30 minute party

Farfunknugin said:

I finally got around to reading the booklet from the 1999 set. Can't even make out half of it with the Neon/ ant sized font but what I could read was well written, even Duffs antecdotes.. With Chapelle & Kravitz tapped for the Sign O Times booklet I'll be all over that day one.

Just invest in one of these...

I'm old school (i.e., old), so I always buy the CD versions. I've got every Prince album on CD, as well as every CD single (including imports, with their cool packaging and cd graphics) so far. And I don't care what size this box set is, as long as I can fit it through my front door!

ThirdStrike said:

Oh, and btw...are we REALLY actually bitching about the size of the box it comes in?!?!? It can be delivered in a box that's shaped like a steaming pile of dog shit and as long as the same songs are inside, I wouldn't give TWO FUCKS. "Oh, it won't fit on my CD shelf". What the actual FUCK?!?!?!?!?

massing said:

DenDen said:

Amazon UK now down to £159.90 as well.

That's actually an increase from the £143.99 it was when I pre-ordered it.

But still much better than the £199 that they had it at this morning.

psyche2 said:

Kares said:

.

Perhaps it's time for a reality check:
.
– NO release will be 'perfect'.

– Prince's estate is being run by a bank, so I thank God that at least they had the decency of putting someone in charge of the vault who knows something about P and music in general, instead of just letting suits make all decisions.

– 'Purple Rain Deluxe' was NOT a genuine vault release, it was a rush job to try to quickly meet market demand, so there's no point in looking back on its many problems anymore. Sooner or later it will be replaced by a Super Deluxe Edition.
– '1999 SDE' was not "censored", don't be childish. Leaving out 2 problematic songs was an executive decision any record company in the world is entitled to make. They left out tons of other material too.

– The smaller booklet inside the CD version of '1999SDE' was an issue many (myself included) complained about. I believe making the 2 boxes and books the same size is proof they are listening to feedback and working harder to please the majority of fans, but noone can (or should try to) please everybody.
– I'm sure I'll be able to find issues with 'SOTTSDE' too, but regardless: I'm thrilled and can hardly wait to hold it in my hand, after 30+ years of dreaming about being able to hear some of this material in good quality!
.

I'm not too bothered with the size/storage of the box or the format to be honest, but if anything, I reckon having the book in the same dimensions for both formats is a way of cutting down layout and printing budgets. Don't overlook that when justifying the final price of the product.

I really wanted the full size book after buying the Cds. I contacted Paisley Park via email and asked about getting a full sized book. They said they couldn't sell me one but that I was not the only person to contact them about it and to be assured that feedback was being provided to decsion makers. Looks like they were right !

dsimp8 said:

Wow, the number of Howe/Estate apologists has increased tenfold since the Originals release - what's all that about ?

Amazing

VaultCurator said:

Each to their own. Considering that Susan Rogers was the recording engineer on almost every track and had a hand in sequencing all the albums this set covers, I'd rather have her write the entire book. *Edit: Almost [Edited 7/1/20 9:20am]

I was being sarcastic. Haha

udo said:

Vannormal said:

-

We're not paying for 8 CD's or 13 LP + DVD alone,

but also a 120 pages book that goes with it.

-

.

And we have as storage challenge as well with the 'product'.

Think of shelves intended for CD's. Many CD's.

Try to fit a 12" object elegantly in there.

-

I'm sorry but what utter crap.

CD shelves problem ?

really ?

lol

-

Vannormal said:

udo said:

.

And we have as storage challenge as well with the 'product'.

Think of shelves intended for CD's. Many CD's.

Try to fit a 12" object elegantly in there.

-

I'm sorry but what utter crap.

CD shelves problem ?

really ?

.

Really.

Shelves just enough apart vertically any reasonable jewel case sized release fits in there, only limited by amount of CD's.

FunkyStrange said:

Wow, the number of Howe/Estate apologists has increased tenfold since the Originals release - what's all that about ?

Amazing

I don't know if the lack of trying to find something of every release to complain about is neccesarily a flattering look on the other side of things though. All in all I honestly feel like with the exclusion of the PR Deluxe the Estate has done a decent job thus far

ForceofNature said:

FunkyStrange said:

Wow, the number of Howe/Estate apologists has increased tenfold since the Originals release - what's all that about ?

Amazing

I don't know if the lack of trying to find something of every release to complain about is neccesarily a flattering look on the other side of things though. All in all I honestly feel like with the exclusion of the PR Deluxe the Estate has done a decent job thus far

.

We noted the lack of consistency in physical packaging, artwork, etc.

We noticed some censorship (1999 Super Deluxe?).

We noticed some lack of technical standing to release the ultra compressed PR remaster on PR Super

Deluxe. (if I can hear the problem they can hear it much better)

We noticed lack of tracks on PR Super Deluxe.

And you call that `decent`?

Quality standards are quite low over there, in such case.

I can still say that b00tleggars do it better, especially these days.

udo said:

ForceofNature said:

I don't know if the lack of trying to find something of every release to complain about is neccesarily a flattering look on the other side of things though. All in all I honestly feel like with the exclusion of the PR Deluxe the Estate has done a decent job thus far

.

We noted the lack of consistency in physical packaging, artwork, etc.

We noticed some censorship (1999 Super Deluxe?).

We noticed some lack of technical standing to release the ultra compressed PR remaster on PR Super

Deluxe. (if I can hear the problem they can hear it much better)

We noticed lack of tracks on PR Super Deluxe.

And you call that `decent`?

Quality standards are quite low over there, in such case.

I can still say that b00tleggars do it better, especially these days.

- The "ultra compressed remaster" came from Prince and Josh Welton before he even died, the rest of the disks actually are decently mastered on the set (although some tracks came from bad sources). I am extremely sensitive to over compressed albums and the only disk compressed is the one Prince himself delegated the remaster of

In my post I did say "PR Deluxe excluded" too, so ultimately I do have my own issues with the set that you didn't mention such as bad tape sources on Computer Blue Hallway version and a few more of those tracks but ultimately the subsequent deluxes don't have those issues

I dig how they packaged 1999 Deluxe and SOTT Deluxe looks like it will make a great front display for my Prince section of my music shelf. So I dig what they did there and I think the "lack of consistency" is more a personal preference thing than a aspect that is done poorly - for example I personally don't mind their presentaion differing


I am not saying I agree with every decision, however man I think that some people here are incapable of just enjoying something for what it is. Complaining for some folks here, seems to come first above loving Prince's music lol

[Edited 7/2/20 2:06am]

Hoping that we'll get a new post 2day.

Witness 4 The prosecution (Version 2)?

udo said:

udo said:

ForceofNature said:

I don't know if the lack of trying to find something of every release to complain about is neccesarily a flattering look on the other side of things though. All in all I honestly feel like with the exclusion of the PR Deluxe the Estate has done a decent job thus far

.

We noted the lack of consistency in physical packaging, artwork, etc.

We noticed some censorship (1999 Super Deluxe?).

We noticed some lack of technical standing to release the ultra compressed PR remaster on PR Super

Deluxe. (if I can hear the problem they can hear it much better)

We noticed lack of tracks on PR Super Deluxe.

And you call that `decent`?

Quality standards are quite low over there, in such case.

I can still say that b00tleggars do it better, especially these days.

.

Dude, it's really getting tiring. Your "points" have been answered several times before, but again:
– there was no "censorship" (and calling it as such is childish).

– PRDeluxe was NOT a true vault release, in fact the Estate pratically had nothing to do with it, it was just Warners quickly putting out Prince's amateurish remaster coupled with all the cassettes they could find in their drawers.

udo said:

ForceofNature said:

- The "ultra compressed remaster" came from Prince and Josh Welton before he even died,

.

That does not mean Josh or Prince are/were (re)mastering engineers with a decent track record.

Listen to how 1999 was `done` to compare with the work of a proper (re)mastering engineer.

The other tracka apparently and luckily were not mashed through the Prince-approved 'process'.

ForceofNature said:

The "ultra compressed remaster" came from Prince and Josh Welton before he even died

Josh Welton died?!? When? How?

Ok, that wasn't funny. I'll have a coffee, now.

The book won't fit on my CD shelf. Won't fit on my Blu-Ray shelf either. You know what the book will fit on though? My book shelf. I mean, who would have thought?

Personally I'm deligthed to be getting the full sized book with the CD package.

The SOTT SDE CD box is €113.- on amazon.it at the moment, if anyone is looking for a good deal...

Was excited to read through this thread but had the ridiculous notion that there would be intelligent discussion around the actual music!

Need a separate thread for everyone to discuss / complain about the price.

And then another one to bitch about the size of the box.

And then finally discuss the things that actually matter

Kares said:

The SOTT SDE CD box is €113.- on amazon.it at the moment, if anyone is looking for a good deal...

Indeed.

https://www.superdeluxeedition.com/deal/this-weeks-box-set-and-reissue-deals-90/#more-159579

Just ordered my SOTT SDE CD package on Amazon for $159 USD. YAY!!!!!!!