SPYZFAN1 said:

Was very surprised (and happy) to see the book included in the Super CD version....I thought it was only going to be included in the vinyl version...The estate really went all out for this package.

indeed....and the book is amazing! I gotta take the time to read through it all.

Am I the only one who struggles to read the peach text on black background?

WhisperingDandelions said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

I'd have gotten per Nielsen to write a piece He did all the hard work for everyone else to benefit from I'd also have gotten some writers from the 80s to do a piece Neal karlen, Nelson George, that would have been very cool

But we got Dave Chappelle! Surely there is no better authority on a 1987 masterwork than a dude who made fun of Prince in a five minute comedy sketch from 2004? It's getting me all geared up for the guy from SNL's "The Prince Show" Parade SDE essay.

No, I have trouble with it too. You have to have it at the right angle with the light to really see it.

ian said:

Am I the only one who struggles to read the peach text on black background?

knock knock

who's there

why hasn't anyone

why hasn't anyone who

why hasn't anyone scanned this thing yet DAMN

lustmealways said:

knock knock

who's there

why hasn't anyone

why hasn't anyone who

why hasn't anyone scanned this thing yet DAMN

I think it'd be hard to scan without damaging it tbh.

kingricefan said:

No, I have trouble with it too. You have to have it at the right angle with the light to really see it.

ian said:

Am I the only one who struggles to read the peach text on black background?

If you haven't already, you might need a colour-blind test. About 40% of men are colour-blind to some degree. I have had trouble reading that text too. I'm badly colour-blind... but it's not as bad as the text in the 1999 SDE book. That shit was invisible to me. Like one of those magic eye pictures that I could never see...

i don't care about pictures or fluff from dave chappelle, i just want a rundown of all the sweet, sweet duane tudahl recording info. some hero do a big writeup here thank u

I wondering what peeps thought of the different text sections in the book:

Foreward: Lenny Kravitz

Interview: Dave Chappelle

Daphne A Brooks article

Andrea Swensson article

Susan Rogers article

My thoughts:

Whilst I understand the decision to use a prominent contemporary (and friend, Lenny Kravitz) to 'validate' the art I am not a fan of the practice. It happens too often and (in Prince's case) I didn't like it back in D&P. I don't like it now. The art should validate itself. In Prince's case, more than any other musician. Ever.

His text was good, though, and emotive (which is the other reason they used it) but I'd be just as happy without it in the book.

The same applies to the Dave Chappelle section, and I'm a big fan of Dave. It's there for the emotion. Just in case people who are buying and reading it are emotional enough about it all already. Again well-written and very D.C.

The article by Daphne A Brooks, however, absolutely should not have been in the book.

I'd like to know what 'creative decision' was made in order to have a brief sociology-esque essay put into a SDE album release. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

Andrea's article, however, was good. I would have liked to seen it edited down a bit, and perhaps sub-sections created = but there were extensive quotes from people who were involved with Prince and SOTT at the time and it was generally a good read.

Well as for Susan Rogers piece.... I absolutely loved it. It was extremely well written, had great flow and the love she has for Prince and his talent really shone through, not in a cringe-worthy Disney way but in a respectful and admiring way.

Has Susan Rogers written a book about her time with Prince. If not, I hope she does if it's as good as her copy in SOTT SDE.

lustmealways said:

parker said:

lustmealways said:

i don't care about pictures or fluff from dave chappelle, i just want a rundown of all the sweet, sweet duane tudahl recording info. some hero do a big writeup here thank u

Go ahead and order then.

we don't all have hundreds of dollars to drop on music. i'd love to swing it, but i can't right now. i'll stream and the estate can get their pennies or w/e.

ThePersian said:

I wondering what peeps thought of the different text sections in the book:

Foreward: Lenny Kravitz

Interview: Dave Chappelle

Daphne A Brooks article

Andrea Swensson article

Susan Rogers article

My thoughts:

The article by Daphne A Brooks, however, absolutely should not have been in the book.

I'd like to know what 'creative decision' was made in order to have a brief sociology-esque essay put into a SDE album release. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

I agree. I can't stand it when writers/fans/whomever put Prince (or anyone for that matter) into a box and define their essence as only consisting of the color of their skin.

As much as I adore Prince, Sign o' the Times is not a magnum opus for "those who did not wake up to 'Morning in America.'

I guess this is why Jeff Katz did not put out his own photo book of Prince. He saved the SOTT pictures for the this Super Deluxe. I guess now Jeff is going to hold out for the Parade Super Deluxe as he photographed Prince during this era as well. The book and photos are fantastic. I would love to see more outtakes from this era. Bring them on Jeff!

[Edited 9/29/20 16:28pm]

So anyone caught the printing flaw in some editions of this book? Not all of them.

"page 76 and 77 In the middle of the pages you can see in white PAGE 1 backwards, with PAGE 2 under it, similar thing on the following page."

joyinrepetition said:

I guess this is why Jeff Katz did not put out his own photo book of Prince. He saved the SOTT pictures for the this Super Deluxe. I guess now Jeff is going to hold out for the Parade Super Deluxe as he photographed Prince during this era as well. The book and photos are fantastic. I would love to see more outtakes from this era. Bring them on Jeff!

[Edited 9/29/20 16:28pm]

and this is one of the reasons i suspect this set is so damn expensive

instead of being roughly $10-15 per CD which you can buy in any store, this set works out about DOUBLE that cost, probably to pay Katz for his damn photos.. ridiculous

ufoclub said:

So anyone caught the printing flaw in some editions of this book? Not all of them.

"page 76 and 77 In the middle of the pages you can see in white PAGE 1 backwards, with PAGE 2 under it, similar thing on the following page."

i've seen many on twitter, pages printed backwards, upside down etc..then so many with scratched discs, missing discs, double discs.. what a joke for such a damn expensive set, the quality control is so pathetic

FunkyStrange said:

lustmealways said:

i'm waiting for the scan
0 dollars in my hand

.

I see what you did there!

Electrostar said:

FunkyStrange said:

i've seen many on twitter, pages printed backwards, upside down etc..then so many with scratched discs, missing discs, double discs.. what a joke for such a damn expensive set, the quality control is so pathetic

I ripped the DVD to a mp4 file as I have no dvd player on my tv. The DVD is titled "Piasley Park".

Whoa, that's not good.

Jeff Katz is a great photographer, but quite a lot of his live work is out of focus.

Yes there are some which are created with deliberate depth of field, but some are just plain out of focus. Normally described as 'artistic".

i've always felt like i could be a great photographer, but i'm so unsocial that i have no subjects

don't even say "go outside" because everyone does nature, oversaturated genre. i need something cool. tasteful nudes, foreign diplomats, etc.

Someone knows why the song "Train" is not included in the book pages dedicated to detail the vault tracks?

carlos00 said:

Someone knows why the song "Train" is not included in the book pages dedicated to detail the vault tracks?

derailed

lustmealways said:

carlos00 said:

Someone knows why the song "Train" is not included in the book pages dedicated to detail the vault tracks?

derailed

.

(sorry, I'm tired)

carlos00 said:

parker said:

carlos00 said:

Someone knows why the song "Train" is not included in the book pages dedicated to detail the vault tracks?

Train/Eggplant is one entry.

Thanks. It's true.

ian said:

Am I the only one who struggles to read the peach text on black background?

No, you're not.

• It's not a great colour combo at that size
• The peach colour is printed out of CMYK, not a pre-mixed 'spot' colour, so it's not as even and sharp as I'd like. When I look at mine, on some pages one sid eof the letters is little more yellow, the other side alittle more magenta – that's a printing issue, but kinds of inevitable given the way they've made it.
• The choen font, in keeping with the era, is a kind of Bodini – a 'Modern' typeface (not contmeporary, or even recent, and certainly not 'modernist', but 'Modern' is the formal classification nonetheless). Stylisticaly strong, and it matches the many of the 1987 original record sleeves, but in terms of legibility it is a struggle even in black on white. Grotty peach out of black is a big blurggghhh! Notice all the serifs and thin strokes almost vanish despite the pretty huge typesize.

So … no, you're not. It's not your eyes. It's a style over function decision because, like many coffee table books, no-one epxects people to actually READ them.

But I really wanted to read it…

Still, compared to the atrocities of the PR Deluxe and 1999 SDE CD booklets (seriously, i coudl not bear to read them, and I have perfect vision), this is a huge step up – just with glaring flaws that the designers surely warned Trevor Guy about …

Like others, I might sound miserable, but generally really loving everything about this set, including the book