Which bootlegs can we ditch now that they've been officially released in high quality on Sign O' the Times Super Deluxe? And which ones do we need to keep?

I did a quick review this morning. Off the top of my head the only ones I need to to keep (i.e. versions missing from this compliation) are Eggplant with Wendy's vocals and Witness pre-overdubs. People might also want to keep a version of Rebirth of the Flesh that segues into The Ball if they want to sequence a version of Crystal Ball.

There are some other bootles I have that differ from whats on SOTT SDE in that they're shorter, but I don't consider that a reason to keep them. I consider the full versions on SOTT SDE to be the definitive versions.

(MODs: I realize there is already a general thread for SOTT SDE edition, but I don't want this topic to get buried in 20-plus pages. There were unique threads on this topic for both Purple Rain Super Deluxe and 1999 Super Deluxe, so there's precedent for having a standalone thread. Please don't merge it.)

lurker316 said:

Which bootlegs can we ditch now that they've been officially released in high quality on Sign O' the Times Super Deluxe? And which ones do we need to keep?

I did a quick review this morning. Off the top of my head the only ones I need to to keep (i.e. versions missing from this compliation) are Eggplant with Wendy's vocals and Witness pre-overdubs. People might also want to keep a version of Rebirth of the Flesh that segues into The Ball if they want to sequence a version of Crystal Ball.

There are some other bootles I have that differ from whats on SOTT SDE in that they're shorter, but I don't consider that a reason to keep them. I consider the full versions on SOTT SDE to be the definitive versions.

(MODs: I realize there is already a general thread for SOTT SDE edition, but I don't want this topic to get buried in 20-plus pages. There were unique threads on this topic for both Purple Rain Super Deluxe and 1999 Super Deluxe, so there's precedent for having a standalone thread. Please don't merge it.)

Don't we have to keep "The Cocoa Boys", "Strange Relationship" & "Wally". First that comes to mind. Great release that I need still to absorb...Defintely a good job from the Estate & Michael Howe. No complaints at all.

Hold on to "Power Fantastic" as well. The live-in-studio take is interesting but the mix is noticeably different and he definitely made the right call in rerecording vocals later.

Ramzoo said:

Don't we have to keep "The Cocoa Boys", "Strange Relationship" & "Wally". First that comes to mind. Great release that I need still to absorb...Defintely a good job from the Estate & Michael Howe. No complaints at all.

What are different about those?

lurker316 said:

LoveGalore said:

lurker316 said:

What are different about those?

The circulating leak of Cocoa Boys is stripped down and def a very early rough mix. Keep it if you like the options. The other two are definitely the same - with SR being an edit.

Thanks. I just took a closer listen to Cocoa Boys and now I see what you mean. They're very different. Not sure how I missed that the first time.

I realized the Strange Relationship bootleg was an edit -- but based on the post above I thought I might have been missing something else. I think there are a few other songs on this box set that are longer than the circulating bootlegs, but as I mentioned in my initial post, I'm not overly concerned about those.

billymeade said:

I just deleted at least 24 copies of "All My Dreams". That thing showed up in almost every boot for 30 years.

This, and "Moonbeam Levels." Both are top faves, but all those shittastic copies I have are gone.

lurker316 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

billymeade said:

I just deleted at least 24 copies of "All My Dreams". That thing showed up in almost every boot for 30 years.

This, and "Moonbeam Levels." Both are top faves, but all those shittastic copies I have are gone.

Several of my bootlegs copies of All My Dreams were great quality. In fact, they were some of the highest quality boots I had. That being the case, I felt bad deleting them. I just filed them away in an archive folder.

billymeade said:

I just deleted at least 24 copies of "All My Dreams". That thing showed up in almost every boot for 30 years.

If you have the one from foefur maybe keep that one. More Clarity in the highs.

LoveGalore said:

You can toss out your copy of Everybody Want What They Don't Got, Fat Lady Sings, Wally, Cosmic Day, All My Dreams, Can I Play With U? (That specific mix, as several exist), Train, Emotional Pump, Large Room, APIH (both), Strange Relationship, both those Witnesses. The rest is probably worth keeping. [Edited 9/25/20 7:23am]

I haven't actually compared, but I feel like there are some extra organ parts on the official release of Fat Lady Sings, so you might want to hold on to that one too.

LoveGalore said:

You can toss out your copy of Everybody Want What They Don't Got, Fat Lady Sings, Wally, Cosmic Day, All My Dreams, Can I Play With U? (That specific mix, as several exist), Train, Emotional Pump, Large Room, APIH (both), Strange Relationship, both those Witnesses. The rest is probably worth keeping. [Edited 9/25/20 7:23am]

In addition to the ones you list, what about these? They all sound the same to me, but maybe I haven't listened to them close enough:

- Adonis & Bathsheba
- I Need A Man
- Jealous Girl
- Neveh Ni Ecalp A
- Power Fantastic
- Rebirth of the Flash (version with clean exit)
- Teacher, Teacher (1985 version... actually both versions since the other is on 1999 SDE)
- The Ball
- Visions
- When the Dawn of the Morning Comes
- Wondeful Day

lurker316 said:

LoveGalore said:

You can toss out your copy of Everybody Want What They Don't Got, Fat Lady Sings, Wally, Cosmic Day, All My Dreams, Can I Play With U? (That specific mix, as several exist), Train, Emotional Pump, Large Room, APIH (both), Strange Relationship, both those Witnesses. The rest is probably worth keeping. [Edited 9/25/20 7:23am]

In addition to the ones you list, what about these? They all sound the same to me, but maybe I haven't listened to them close enough:

- Adonis & Bathsheba
- I Need A Man
- Jealous Girl
- Neveh Ni Ecalp A
- Power Fantastic
- Rebirth of the Flash (version with clean exit)
- Teacher, Teacher (1985 version... actually both versions since the other is on 1999 SDE)
- The Ball
- Visions
- When the Dawn of the Morning Comes
- Wondeful Day

Are you saying you already had When The Dawn of the Morning Comes?

TwiliteKid said:

Are you saying you already had When The Dawn of the Morning Comes?

I have a song labeled "When the Dawn of the Morning Comes" that I got from a bootleg compilation, but I guess I somehow hadn't listened to it until now. I just played it. It's an instrumental and doesn't sound much like the version on SOTT SDE, so I believe it's a different song.

When I was reviewing that song I also realized I have an instrumental version of "I Need a Man". It's definitely the same music, just no lyrics.

lurker316 said:

lurker316 said:

Are the spectral-revealed lossy tracks worth saving? Any evidence that they pressed old bootleg MP3s to disc or are these cassettes/inferior tape sources?

Hoffman forums sez:

databank said:

APIH (prince) is a new mix so you shouldn't ditch the boot as suggested above.

Oh yeah, the version on SOTT SDE is missing the spoken word intro about listening to environmental records. I'm not sure how I missed that.

MIInsane said:

You gotta keep the boot version of "Wonderful Day" as well.

I see... the version on SOTT SDE appears to be Prince only. They stripped Wendy & Lisa's background vocals.

lurker316 said:

lurker316 said:

lurker316 said:

MIInsane said:

You gotta keep the boot version of "Wonderful Day" as well.

I see... the version on SOTT SDE appears to be Prince only. They stripped Wendy & Lisa's background vocals.

this is all part of the estate's evil plan to remove as many traces of their involvement from these releases as possible. they are allowed to do interviews about working with prince, but their vocals are removed to play their involvement down. i expect the eggplant version with wendy on vocals will never see the light of day.

LoveGalore said:

lurker316 said:

I see... the version on SOTT SDE appears to be Prince only. They stripped Wendy & Lisa's background vocals.

The extended version is the version with Wendy etc.

Yeah, the extended version has Wendy's vocals. But in addition to just being longer than the bootleg, it also sounds like it's a different mix relative to the bootleg -- particularly the intro. Or is that just me?

The only time I would delete anything would be if:

A. I was short on space.

B. I could be arsed going through it all to delete individual tracks.

C. There is no C.

LoveGalore said:

You can toss out your copy of Everybody Want What They Don't Got, Fat Lady Sings, Wally, Cosmic Day, All My Dreams, Can I Play With U? (That specific mix, as several exist), Train, Emotional Pump, Large Room, APIH (both), Strange Relationship, both those Witnesses. The rest is probably worth keeping. [Edited 9/25/20 7:23am]

I keep "All My Dreams" from Charade as it is sequenced with "Old Friends 4 Sale". The one from DF is deleted.

By the way, I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy of this release! I won't buy the vinyl version because I don't have a record player/it's too heavy but i acknowledge the good packaging. Even the cartboard is great (I'll keep the one from the CD version).

MIInsane said:

You gotta keep the boot version of "Wonderful Day" as well.

Right as it is totally different.