My copy arrived yesterday, its a lovely package with substantial liner notes- each song is listed in the booklet with a quote from the artist about why they chose the song/when they recorded it/ what Prince meant to them.

Its a lovely little tribute to Prince, the kind of thing the Estate should have done but seems beyond them. Its not overblown/ridiculously expensive,but nonetheless its a handsomely-produced package with genuine care given to it. Some rarities (for me, at least) and lots of 'new' (to me) cover versions that are quite interesting. They (the Estate) could do worse than just let Cherry Red handle future Prince releases. Its suppose to be about the music, after all.

Hope this sells well and Cherry Red can do a second collection next year. There's worse ways of keeping Prince's name 'alive' and in the public conciousness.

Track Listings

Disc: 1

Disc: 2

Disc: 3

As I noted in the previous thread, I find it rather remarkable that it contains an unauthorized first release of Vibrator and that the Estate didn't do anything to stop it (while any artist is free to cover any song, said song has to have been released first, and this requires authorization from the songwriters, something Prince clearly didn't give The Dirty Monroes back in 2003).

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Also, the "songs given to others and covers" concept, as well as the title, is a total rip-off of an old comp from 1998: https://www.discogs.com/m...-Songbook.

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As with Symbolism, the tracklist appears somewhat random and I'm not sure if it really works as a whole listening experience, but it's good to see some Prince-related releases for lack of the Estate releasing something.

Very Interesting. Really Dig the Dove with Purple Rain Background!

databank said:

As I noted in the previous thread, I find it rather remarkable that it contains an unauthorized first release of Vibrator and that the Estate didn't do anything to stop it (while any artist is free to cover any song, said song has to have been released first, and this requires authorization from the songwriters, something Prince clearly didn't give The Dirty Monroes back in 2003).

I don't think a song needs to have been officially released for artists to release their own cover. A few bands did this with "In A Large Room With No Light" before Prince's rerecording was released, according to Princevault:

• The early version of In A Large Room With No Light was in wide circulation among collectors since the end of the eighties and was wrongly believed to be titled Welcome 2 The Rat Race (after a line in the chorus). This song was included on albums and officially released by two acts before Prince released his new version in July 2009. As Ratrace it was first sung by T.M. Stevens and Marco Minnemann’s band named Illegal Aliens on their album International Telephone in 2000 (a promo release). American singer Wil Key released his own version (titled Welcome 2 The Rat Race) on his album Satisfy My Soul in January 2009 (which led to the registration of the song at the ASCAP as Welcome 2 The Rat Race). Since Prince was not associated with those acts and was not involved on these releases which were done without his consent or knowledge at that time, their versions are not listed above and are considered as cover versions although they were released before Prince’s

bozojones said:

databank said:

As I noted in the previous thread, I find it rather remarkable that it contains an unauthorized first release of Vibrator and that the Estate didn't do anything to stop it (while any artist is free to cover any song, said song has to have been released first, and this requires authorization from the songwriters, something Prince clearly didn't give The Dirty Monroes back in 2003).

I don't think a song needs to have been officially released for artists to release their own cover. A few bands did this with "In A Large Room With No Light" before Prince's rerecording was released, according to Princevault:

• The early version of In A Large Room With No Light was in wide circulation among collectors since the end of the eighties and was wrongly believed to be titled Welcome 2 The Rat Race (after a line in the chorus). This song was included on albums and officially released by two acts before Prince released his new version in July 2009. As Ratrace it was first sung by T.M. Stevens and Marco Minnemann’s band named Illegal Aliens on their album International Telephone in 2000 (a promo release). American singer Wil Key released his own version (titled Welcome 2 The Rat Race) on his album Satisfy My Soul in January 2009 (which led to the registration of the song at the ASCAP as Welcome 2 The Rat Race). Since Prince was not associated with those acts and was not involved on these releases which were done without his consent or knowledge at that time, their versions are not listed above and are considered as cover versions although they were released before Prince’s

Look it up, it's called right of first release or something. I assure you one cannot release a song by a songwriter for the first time without such songwriters' consent (which makes sense, just imagine if anyone could steal your demo and release your own song before you do!). I'm aware of those Large Room covers (it's not mentioned in the Pvault text you quoted but some other band had already released it in the mid 90s). It's happened a few times with this song and a few others and people got away with it, either because Prince didn't know or didn't care, but he could have taken legal action and the Estate could, too.

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That said, I don't think harrassing a small indie band or a respected reissues label for something that was originally released 21 years ago would be great publicity for the Estate.

I've now had a full listen and it's a pretty solid collection. There are some fantastic covers on here like Robyn's Jack U Off, Love 2 the 9's by Michelle Mailhot and the hauntingly beautiful Purple Rain by Amanda Palmer. Disc 3 starts off badly with four terrible (in my opinion) covers and the very weird Partyman by Joe Stilgoe towards the end of the disc, but everything here is going to be subjective. In terms of the original tracks there are several that haven't had CD releases before so definitely a must buy for collectors.