I had heard many of the songs before on various boots without knowing which period most were from. On the SDE they are in context and I am able to appreciate them better.

I was describing this to friend recently.

I mentioned the set includes 6 LPs of unreleased tracks but I had heard around 70-80% of them already.

He mentioned that I am like the child who goes rummaging around his parents wardrobe mid November looking for hidden Christmas presents then wondering why there are no surprises come December 25th.

Any "spoiling" is completely down to me but to be honest I still enjoy the fact that all these songs are available in good quality and all in the same set.

I already look forward to the next set knowing that it will be similar situation.

This will continue until the mid 90s and later periods where leaking of outtakes became much rarer.

CaseysCousin said:

NO!

I think I heard about 1/2 to 2/3 of what was on SOTT:SDE before, but it was either in horrible quality or snippets.

Hearing all of this in high quality was a very nice surprise.

I still think leaving off Good Love, original Crucial, etc. was a mistake. They should have just included everything on THIS release instead of asking people to rely on previous releases.

Quite the opposite. If anything it's added to it.

No

herb4 said:

...and thanks to the magic of bootlegs we know who the narrator of the Cocoa Boys story is and how it ended the first time

No.

Bootlegged tracks gave me years of (early) enjoyment.

The SDE released provided clear sounding audio, slightly different mixes, etc.

There was definitely a bit of a trade-off. I really didn't know much about his bootlegs until I discovered this site within a few days of his death. The first two years after that brought so much joy and excitement as I got my hands on a variety of bootleg material in a rather piecemeal fashion, It perhaps was my favorite thing I have ever done in listening to music, with each new discovery filling me with admiration for Prince as well as the shear fun of making a few dozen playlists of the material. The experience was also be mixed with some grief about what we all lost. So, listening to SOTT SDE can't compete with the process above, but I still enjoy it. Like some othere have said, I don't listen to it as much as I would if it all was entirely new to me. However, I am really glad to have it. Also, I certainly don't regret the bootleg experience for a minute. Nothing Can Compare...

Not in the least. Bootlegs are what kept me into Prince during times it was hard to be fan. At points when I did not like what he was putting out at the time I could always lean on boots from other periods. I'm not taking anything away from him. He's a legend. But for people to say they love everything he put out throughout his long career is ridiculoius.

If it were not for a really impressive bootleg catalog I would have left a long time ago.

Everything is new and a treasure to me, I've just heard before Large Room, Wally, Adonis, Witness, A Place and I thinks that's it, so it's great to discover this amount of material.

Dandroppedadime said:

Dandroppedadime said:

I hate the chewed tape on Wally!!!! Just wanted to get that off my chest.

It IS irritating, especially when it's not on the boot version.

For me, it was a little anticlimactic, but hearing much beloved boots now in studio quality is very satisfying. Especially Large Room.

iveivan said:

I had heard many of the songs before on various boots without knowing which period most were from. On the SDE they are in context and I am able to appreciate them better.

-

That.

Plus the remastered, much better sound quality.

And the chronological thing.

And the fact we're able to relive the 1986-1987 vibe.

-

udo said:

No.

Bootlegged tracks gave me years of (early) enjoyment.

The SDE released provided clear sounding audio, slightly different mixes, etc.

Me too. There was nothing more exciting in my life than getting bootlegged songs like Witness 4 the Prosecution, A Place in Heaven (Prince vocal), All My Dreams, Welcome 2 the Rat Race (as I thought it was called) etc in 1990. A lot of these songs are still my favourites, and I've been listening to them for 30 years instead of just hearing them for the first time. Lots of these I haven't heard (When the Dawn of the Morning Comes, Love and Sex, There's Something I like About Being Your Fool etc), so it's amazing, lots to learn and enjoy. But back then I was completely obsessed and so hearing unreleased songs then--I just can't explain the pure joy they gave me!