BIGJAYRAFFAS said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

I dont need original albums nor mixes or edits Who DOES need edits? But yes id soooooo much prefer vault tracks as separate releases. Prob more money doing it this way though.

I Like listening to the promo edit of Insatiable, same with the promo edit of Scandalous

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

I dont need original albums nor mixes or edits Who DOES need edits?

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Oh for fuck's sake.

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This SDE is supposed to be the definitive collection of materials from that era. That includes all the edits and remixes etc., remastered in order for people to be able to make playlists and don't get wildly different sound levels etc.

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The cost of properly mastering a track cannot be that expensive, so why bother with skipping some tracks.

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Which makes the D&P set such a disappointment. Yeah, sure, all the Gett Off mixes and edits etc would take up a full CD to the brim (especially when you include the previously unreleased mixes -- and why wouldn't you), but so what? In the end that's not breaking the bank and it makes this the definitive set.

.

Does Johnny Public "need" that? No. So for them you select the highlights and put those on a less expensive set. Ditto for the vinyl lovers.

.

But the hardcore fans deserve *e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g*. They deserve a bang for their bucks. They deserve vault discs that are 75+ minutes long. They deserve not just one concert, but entire tours, as well as soundchecks and rehearsals. Video where possible.

.

If a specific mix only exists on a cassette tape? Give it to me as is. You can reproduce it via a new mix from the multi-track? Give me that as well, but give me the cassette rip so I can compare. Etc. Give Johnny Public a selection of highlights.

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Give me liner notes. Give me detailed tech specs.

.

Currently we don't know exactly what the source is for the video on the Blu-ray, but if I parse the description I suspect the Special Olympics video is from a HD source (which is possible), but all the other video seems to be from upscaled SD sources.

.

Some people are claiming the Glam Slam gig was filmed with film cameras, whcih is possible, but the description does not speak of a scan of that film, and DigitalFilm Tree (who also handled the Syracuse upscale) don't seem to have any experience in that area, and they are the ones who worked on the Blu-ray.

.

In short: the current set is a ridiculous compromise. We deserve everything. The edits & remixes discs is missing at least one crucial track while including two ridiculous edits, and that's a joke.

i mean, if it really DID include everything, then i would say, yes, lets get edits in for every single song on the album, but we all know its not that, not all the remixes are there, and not all the vault songs are either. so if thats the case, WTF do i need an edit for when a new unreleased song could take its place? but its like, who wants IIWYG with an early fade, which misses the best part? who wants an edit of ICNTTPYM? if you dont want the solo, just turn it off yourself!

bizzie said:

the problem is the way these sets are organised

they dont need the original albums

just give me a series of unreleased material please, an official, better version of the work bootleg series.

its just a waste of space and time really to do it this way.

do it like dylan, zappa, etc.

give me a prince 'anthology' set like the beatles had.

not another overstuffed SDE.

bizzie said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

I dont need original albums nor mixes or edits Who DOES need edits?

.

Oh for fuck's sake.

.

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There's help out there:
https://www.online-therap...nline.html

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bizzie said:

.

This SDE is supposed to be the definitive collection of materials from that era. That includes all the edits and remixes etc., remastered in order for people to be able to make playlists and don't get wildly different sound levels etc.

.

The cost of properly mastering a track cannot be that expensive, so why bother with skipping some tracks.

.

Which makes the D&P set such a disappointment. Yeah, sure, all the Gett Off mixes and edits etc would take up a full CD to the brim (especially when you include the previously unreleased mixes -- and why wouldn't you), but so what? In the end that's not breaking the bank and it makes this the definitive set.

.

Does Johnny Public "need" that? No. So for them you select the highlights and put those on a less expensive set. Ditto for the vinyl lovers.

.

But the hardcore fans deserve *e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g*. They deserve a bang for their bucks. They deserve vault discs that are 75+ minutes long. They deserve not just one concert, but entire tours, as well as soundchecks and rehearsals. Video where possible.

.

If a specific mix only exists on a cassette tape? Give it to me as is. You can reproduce it via a new mix from the multi-track? Give me that as well, but give me the cassette rip so I can compare. Etc. Give Johnny Public a selection of highlights.

.

Give me liner notes. Give me detailed tech specs.

.

.

Although personally I never cared for remixes and edits, mostly I agree. BUT: with Prince, no release can ever be the "last word", "fully comprehensive and complete" – there's always going to be something they'll overlook, or something they find afterwards, even if something as insignificant as a slightly different fadeout used on a single from (let's say) Brazil. You can include 35 different edit of the same song, someone will still complain that this or that is missing. Is it really that important? My personal opinion is that it's not – but I can understand some people are completists when it comes to that kind of material too. (I'm only a completist in the sense of wanting to have a good master of every song and in every version made by Prince. I don't need some DJ's mixes.)
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Regarding the costs: it can indeed cost a few bob to remaster a bunch of extra tracks. It's not like asking an engineer with a laptop to just quickly run them through an Ozone preset. It involves expensive engineers and expensive studios to do it properly.
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Also: while I can accept the aim to release every single version, I do hope it's not bloating the already heavy and overpriced vinyl box set unneccessarily. If you really need 35 edits or mixes of the same song, let's keep those exclusive to the CD box.
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Regarding the need for detailed tech specs and full transparency over creative decisions: absolutely agree.

Bart is right - the SDE's have always been lackluster and not befitting of P's work ethic, artistic vision, or recording process. I hope this changes in the future as we ease out of the Comerica-led works.

Vinyl is the physical record industry's #1 priority and bread-n-butter at the moment, as far as physical releases go. Zero chance they ever consider making stuff exclusive to CD and omitting it from vinyl. They probably literally cut those tracks from the CD version so they wouldn't have to press more records.

Kares said:

Also: while I can accept the aim to release every single version, I do hope it's not bloating the already heavy and overpriced vinyl box set unneccessarily. If you really need 35 edits or mixes of the same song, let's keep those exclusive to the CD box.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

the problem is the way these sets are organised

they dont need the original albums

just give me a series of unreleased material please, an official, better version of the work bootleg series.

its just a waste of space and time really to do it this way.

do it like dylan, zappa, etc.

give me a prince 'anthology' set like the beatles had.

not another overstuffed SDE.

But they need money blah blah blah.

1999 SDE's been out of print 3 years with no repressing's in sight despite every fan casual to fanatic old head to new school wanting to have that as a part of their collections "hey, they said it was limited what do you want, them to press more to make more $$$??!" blah blah blah,

bizzie said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

I dont need original albums nor mixes or edits Who DOES need edits?

.

Oh for fuck's sake.

.

This SDE is supposed to be the definitive collection of materials from that era. That includes all the edits and remixes etc., remastered in order for people to be able to make playlists and don't get wildly different sound levels etc.

.

The cost of properly mastering a track cannot be that expensive, so why bother with skipping some tracks.

.

Which makes the D&P set such a disappointment. Yeah, sure, all the Gett Off mixes and edits etc would take up a full CD to the brim (especially when you include the previously unreleased mixes -- and why wouldn't you), but so what? In the end that's not breaking the bank and it makes this the definitive set.

.

Does Johnny Public "need" that? No. So for them you select the highlights and put those on a less expensive set. Ditto for the vinyl lovers.

.

But the hardcore fans deserve *e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g*. They deserve a bang for their bucks. They deserve vault discs that are 75+ minutes long. They deserve not just one concert, but entire tours, as well as soundchecks and rehearsals. Video where possible.

.

If a specific mix only exists on a cassette tape? Give it to me as is. You can reproduce it via a new mix from the multi-track? Give me that as well, but give me the cassette rip so I can compare. Etc. Give Johnny Public a selection of highlights.

.

Give me liner notes. Give me detailed tech specs.

.

Currently we don't know exactly what the source is for the video on the Blu-ray, but if I parse the description I suspect the Special Olympics video is from a HD source (which is possible), but all the other video seems to be from upscaled SD sources.

.

Some people are claiming the Glam Slam gig was filmed with film cameras, whcih is possible, but the description does not speak of a scan of that film, and DigitalFilm Tree (who also handled the Syracuse upscale) don't seem to have any experience in that area, and they are the ones who worked on the Blu-ray.

.

In short: the current set is a ridiculous compromise. We deserve everything. The edits & remixes discs is missing at least one crucial track while including two ridiculous edits, and that's a joke.

Good analysis.

This is definitely an attempt at "compromise" by the Estate. perhaps most encapsulated by the notion of rushing Diamonds & Pearls of all albums as his third grandiose SDE like we just completed the holy trinity of GOAT Prince albums: they're aiming for casuals and the hardcore fans, giving us the most imperfect unhappy medium possible.

At least they've heeded the fans wishes to pare down those pesky 2 live shows down to the same exact show spread out on both blu-ray and 2 CDs. All for only the low low price of $350. Take our money as a token of our appreciation for not forcing us to spend the 3 minutes Googling how to rip the audio from a video file for free.

[Edited 8/26/23 5:33am]

[Edited 8/26/23 5:34am]

i guess big lavish packages are a bigger deal, more of a coveted ITEM, not just a mere music release. which makes $$$. but why not just do a big box set of unreleased music then? are fans really buying these for the old albums remastered? i doubt it.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

i guess big lavish packages are a bigger deal, more of a coveted ITEM, not just a mere music release. which makes $$$. but why not just do a big box set of unreleased music then? are fans really buying these for the old albums remastered? i doubt it.

A fair amount probably are.

The low volume mastering of a lot of the OG CDs bum the highs of the playlist crowd. They want to mash up the decades, segue a little "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" into "Lolita", and believe the 80s CDs are the problem because they don't match the maximization levels of Crystal Ball '98, when really they should be demanding the 90s/00s/10s stuff get turned down a couple notches...., oh well.

i thought spotify just makes everything the same level though...

bizzie said:

Kares said:

They should put some out as singles. 8 minute versioin of schoolyard! nice.

dodger07 said:

Ndorphinmachina said:

Having a disc of remixes is tolerable. The radio/single edits are not. They're just taking up space where something infinitely more interesting could be. For the one collector who's going to listen to it once, then go back to listening to the album version like everybody else.

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Again: the vault CDs are barely 60 minutes or so. That's 15 * 3 minutes they're not using. Nothing to do with the single edits.

bizzie said:

Ndorphinmachina said:

Having a disc of remixes is tolerable. The radio/single edits are not. They're just taking up space where something infinitely more interesting could be. For the one collector who's going to listen to it once, then go back to listening to the album version like everybody else.

.

Again: the vault CDs are barely 60 minutes or so. That's 15 * 3 minutes they're not using. Nothing to do with the single edits.

.

Yes, but it filling them up would've meant having to add one more disc to the vinyl box too and it's already too expensive.

[Edited 8/26/23 9:04am]

Kares said:

BIGJAYRAFFAS said:

I think vault tracks should be CD only, this would allow for cheaper smaller sets, and Vinyl releases should be the classic original album Releases could be way easier to produce and get out to the fans this way Not sure if others would agree I personally don't really get the vinyl comeback Nostalgia yes but practicality not so much [Edited 8/25/23 11:26am]

Agreed.

FrankieCoco1 said:

Kares said:

.

Yes, but it filling them up would've meant having to add one more disc to the vinyl box too and it's already too expensive.

[Edited 8/26/23 9:04am]

How much would one extra vinyl add to the cost, maybe £30-40/US $25-35/€25-30? Think most people buying the vinyl box wouldn’t mind that. Maybe they could have gone an extra £50/$50 dollars with the extra disc and a hologram. Bizzie has some valid points but maybe this Estate hasn’t yet got things together, and the labels wanted something out before the fan base die of old age.

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In some countries it's already listed above €400.-, so an extra €30 can very easily price it outside of budget for a LOT of peope.
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Just to give you another example, as a reality check: in my country (Hungary) the gangsters in charge are making us pay the world's highest VAT (27%) so the price of the vinyl box set can perhaps reach as much as €500.-, which is roughly what half of the population makes in a month.

WhisperingDandelions said:

Good analysis.

perhaps most encapsulated by the notion of rushing Diamonds & Pearls of all albums as his third grandiose SDE like we just completed the holy trinity of GOAT Prince albums

It's his second biggest selling album, so surely makes sense from the businiess people's point of view?

Kares said: