This Sign SDE really making me appreciate LoveSexy era more. I can now see much better the line from Parade to Sign to what then seemed a wierd and suddend change in direction with LoveSexy.

If you strip out the album covers, the bright color aesthetics, its clear to see the focus and clarity he was striving for in late 87-88 after the creative and personal chaos of the 86-87 period. And you can't tell the LoveSexy story without first going through the Black Album.

LoveSexy is the album he really made for himself. Not sure it ultmately worked for him as by 1992 he seemed lost in chaos again but its going to make a great set someday.

emesem said:

CAL3 said:

emesem said:

This Sign SDE really making me appreciate LoveSexy era more. I can now see much better the line from Parade to Sign to what then seemed a wierd and suddend change in direction with LoveSexy.

If you strip out the album covers, the bright color aesthetics, its clear to see the focus and clarity he was striving for in late 87-88 after the creative and personal chaos of the 86-87 period. And you can't tell the LoveSexy story without first going through the Black Album.

LoveSexy is the album he really made for himself. Not sure it ultmately worked for him as by 1992 he seemed lost in chaos again but its going to make a great set someday.

. Absolutely horrible idea. . Two separate SDE. Period. End of.

correct.

though what else would go in a TBA SDE I have no idea.

CAL3 said:

The albums are inseparately and intricately linked. He even did it during the LoveSexy tour. There is not enough material for separate releases in a SDE box set format. The Black Album was not really ever release and only saw the light of day because Prince wanted to fulfill his contract.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

CAL3 said:

emesem said: . Absolutely horrible idea. . Two separate SDE. Period. End of.

correct.

though what else would go in a TBA SDE I have no idea.

CAL3 said:

I think they are a natural fit. and they bolster the strength of a Lovesexy SDE.

Following the format of the other SDEs, Lovesexy should contain all projects between SOTT and Lovesexy.

The path from despair to rebirth is a good story to tell and the inclusion of the Black Album in a Lovesexy SDE will be a massive draw, just because of the mythology. The estate will need that, as Lovesexy is deemed 'secord tier' in the wider music market.

Putting the black album on streaming so we can kind of make that famous playlist of Crystal Ball or Camille as we're supposed to be doing right now would be a start

SquirrelMeat said:

I think they are a natural fit. and they bolster the strength of a Lovesexy SDE.

Following the format of the other SDEs, Lovesexy should contain all projects between SOTT and Lovesexy.

The path from despair to rebirth is a good story to tell and the inclusion of the Black Album in a Lovesexy SDE will be a massive draw, just because of the mythology. The estate will need that, as Lovesexy is deemed 'secord tier' in the wider music market.

Well put, I also think it is a great idea to combine these two albums in one SDE. Can't wait for it, would love The Black Album remastered like 1999 and SOTT, it would sound so much better than what we have now on CD.

What would the list of outtakes for both look like?

The problem is what do you put on a TBA SDE that isn't already covered by SOTT SDE and that is thematically relevant?

Admitedly, it could contain a bulk of tracks recorded between the release of SOTT and the aborted release of TBA, since the Lovesexy sessions began only after that date and were relatively self-contained (i.e. LS was entirely made of post TBA tracks save W2RIL). But then you drastically reduce the scope of material available for Lovesexy SDE to a period of only a few months.

So IDK. It also depends what's in the vault for each period.

This is a great idea because it supplements for the lack of Vault material on one side, and would make for an incredible (mega deluxe?) presentation that could kick off a resurgance in interest. A release like that would bare the whole story of the time period out for the audience to digest, a story that many of them would otherwise never know without deep knowledge of Prince fanhood & lore. It is exactly the sort of thing the estate should be thinking about. If not this idea, then others like it.

-

Prince has justifiably gotten treatment that many famous pop stars do not have the luxury of getting. In death, this is Prince's second career. The estate's only duty is to archive and act on what is available, package it well, and preserve Prince's name by finding a way to archive and distribute the content. Tell the legend through the music, not by interjecting and putting your twist on it with Podcast interviews, but by cleverly packaging and compiling what was left behind.

-

With Prince you have a real possibility of an entirely new second wing of his career. Much like classic European and other visual artists/painters who became infamous in death, the iconic artists he was always compared to when he was alive. The 80's and 90's pop sound that he pioneered is coming back lately with younger audiences. He also has a lot of humorous music ripe for their little meme culture. If the estate plays it well, they could preserve his career in a way unehard of in pop music. With very little effort, it could be so much more than just diehards buying vinyl re-releases, all you have to do is package it correctly.

-

There are a lot of justifiable complaints about posthumous releases and handlings. My own personal desires aside, I think the estate have been far more respectable to his image than others. And a release like this would be a clever way to present the story. They could be attempting a lot more pursuits and ventures that I personally concoct in my imagination as a fan, but compared to the treatment other artists get, Prince's estate has been fairly smart and produced classy material.

-

They must be doing something right, because I look up the release dates of every SDE for the vault tracks alone. I'm not a consumer of music releases like that anymore. It's rare for me to even know a product is coming out, but for Prince, I have dates memorized and when the release date comes, I find new favorite songs I had never heard in such quality. That is rare for me, I did not do that when Prince was alive, and I do not do that with any other musician. They have something uniquely special and valuable here, I hope they continue with steady releases but do attempt more creative abstract thoughts like LoveSexy/TBA.

They need to come together, for all of the reasons mentioned. But my understanding is that there are stipulations regarding TBA being re-released, i.e. it can't be. If that's true, I'm not sure what it would take that to get it released. It has been 4 years. I would imagine if the Estate could untangle it, they would have by now.

I would certainly be happy with a Lovesexy SDE that includes any TBA outtakes, if that's the only option. I need to hear Pussy Power!

But that said, with WB losing all of the rights to the non-soundtrack albums next year, the days of SDE's may be over if it's true that they will retain the rights to all of the unreleased WB era material. I don't see Sony and WB cooperating on a release, but stranger things have happened. It could be that Sony releases the album remaster, and then WB releases a companion album of unreleased material from that particular era. I'd rather have it together, but at least there are options.

Oh crap. Well at least we got two great sets out of it.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

But that said, with WB losing all of the rights to the non-soundtrack albums next year, the days of SDE's may be over if it's true that they will retain the rights to all of the unreleased WB era material.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

They need to come together, for all of the reasons mentioned. But my understanding is that there are stipulations regarding TBA being re-released, i.e. it can't be. If that's true, I'm not sure what it would take that to get it released. It has been 4 years. I would imagine if the Estate could untangle it, they would have by now.

TBA was on Tidal so I'm not sure what the matter is. I suspect they just didn't bother. It'd be interesting if anyone had a screenshot of the Tidal page at the time to see if the indicia said WB under exclusive licence from NPG, or just NPG. That would at least tell us if it was still under WB licence so far or not.

It would be cool to have one SDE of these albums to match up with how he presented them in the tour, but from a musical standpoint, TBA really fits more with SOTT than Lovesexy.

TBA is a Sunset Sound album recorded in the same Oct-Dec 1986 sessions that produced the post-Revolution SOTT material (other than W2RIL). You can feel the energy Prince had with Cuz doing the engineering.

Lovesexy wasn't started until after the SOTT tour ended a year later, and it sounds totally different being recorded at Paisley Park.

It would still be cool to have them together, but they really aren't companion albums in any real way.

I really don't understand why wb is dragging its feet on these SDE if they loose the rights soon .. why is Parade even being considered when Around the World in a Day isn't even being discussed? .. and time is running out .. if lovesexy and Black album are combined than are Parade and Around the World being combinded? .. when do we get to hear the numerous completed stand alone ready to go albums prince has alluded to? can wb release those?

TrevorAyer said:

I really don't understand why wb is dragging its feet on these SDE if they loose the rights soon .. why is Parade even being considered when Around the World in a Day isn't even being discussed? .. and time is running out .. if lovesexy and Black album are combined than are Parade and Around the World being combinded? .. when do we get to hear the numerous completed stand alone ready to go albums prince has alluded to? can wb release those?

Time is not running out. It's over. There won't be another WB release before December 31st.

WB must have their reasons. There wasn't much time left by the time the vault was accessible. They also may not have wanted to saturate the market. It's also possible that the Estate did not want to saturate the market (after all, WB can't release anything without the Estate's approval). It must also take a lot of time for Howe to excavate all the material.

I also do not believe there are many albums ready to go. I wish there were. I hope there are. But I don't have high hopes.

If there isn't enough from both albums, which might be the case, since Lovesexy seems to be an experiment in making something QUICK, then that would make sense to me.

LoveGalore said:

databank said:

Time is not running out. It's over. There won't be another WB release before December 31st.

i've heard otherwise. maybe i'm talking to the wrong people, maybe i converse with idiots and frauds, but until the clock strikes january 1st i will live in hope.

lustmealways said:

databank said:

Time is not running out. It's over. There won't be another WB release before December 31st.

i've heard otherwise. maybe i'm talking to the wrong people, maybe i converse with idiots and frauds, but until the clock strikes january 1st i will live in hope.

IDK, the only basis for my statement is the press release. If they press release is wrong then God help the poor Estate because they're in a state of a mess worse than we thought

Yes, that obviously makes the most sense!

I vote for a package with The Black Album + Lovesexy + the original Rave Un2 + all period outtakes, obviously

[Edited 9/29/20 3:57am]

If that means more SDE releases (and thus more previously unreleased music and remasters), then I'm all for combining albums. In an ideal world, all albums should be remastered and released as SDE, but it doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense for some of them. "The Black Album" is a good example, but what should be included on a SDE for "The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale", for example? Or "C-Note"?

.

I don't have a strong opinion about this. It's not like I'm buying the physical box sets and have to look at them sitting on my shelf, with different sizes and all.

Not every album needs to be represented with an 8 disc boxset.

Not every album had as much an impact (or output) as Purple Rain, 1999 and SOTT.

So albums like ATWIAD and Lovesexy, could easily be released in a format like the PR SDE without all the razamataz. 3 disc and DVD. I'd be happy with that.

That also applies to the 1980's associated artist LP's if they every get look in.

I think Lovesexy SDE could def use The Black Album as a marketing booster, at least in the US. I for one have had them side-by-side since 88.

TrevorAyer said:

I really don't understand why wb is dragging its feet on these SDE if they loose the rights soon .. why is Parade even being considered when Around the World in a Day isn't even being discussed? .. and time is running out .. if lovesexy and Black album are combined than are Parade and Around the World being combinded? .. when do we get to hear the numerous completed stand alone ready to go albums prince has alluded to? can wb release those?

I suspect they're gong with the bigger money makers/more well known stuff for deluxe editions.

So my hunch is the next one will be Diamonds and Pearls.

...

Also put me down us bundling THBE with Lovesexy if they decide to do that album (I think it will a be a good while). Releasing those as a double album in the first place would have made a lot of sense (good/evil...dark/light). He even centered the tour around it.

[Edited 9/29/20 7:01am]

herb4 said:

LoveGalore said: