DotsofU said:

ooooooooh and I just got the e-mail from the Prince store with the t-shirts with the America cover art on it.

J*sus C*r*st what is wrong with these people

oh, and I love your username!

FrankieCoco1 said:

From Warners Archive Facebook page: “WE CELEBRATE THE 40 TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION’S AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY, WITH THE RELEASE OF: “AMERICA (12” VERSION)” STREAMING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN STEREO AND DOLBY ATMOS, FROM MIDNIGHT (LOCAL TIME) ON JULY 4th. Originally released in October 1985, “America”, which Prince described as “straightforwardly patriotic”, was the fourth and final single to be taken from Around The World In A Day, released five months earlier. The 12” version of the track weighs in at 21 minutes 41 seconds and has been newly remastered in stereo by Bernie Grundman for its first-ever streaming release. The single and album versions of the song were edited down from this epic performance, which was only cut short as the tape ran out. “America” has also been meticulously mixed in a new Dolby Atmos presentation from the original multi-track master tapes by @prince’s protege and Best Engineered Grammy nominee Chris James.” So yes a remastered version and an Atmos mix. Looking forward to listening (having had the vinyl 12” for around 40 years, then ripping it to digital about 20 years ago). The Atmos mix will be good to hear what’s buried in there. [Edited 7/3/25 14:30pm]

Cool, let's hear it It's about time all those single tracks that only exist on LP get digitalized!

.

When did Prince say it was “straightforwardly patriotic”? I always understood those lyrics to be very ambiguous at best, but IDK maybe that's just me?

.

Also, there's no such thing as "single and album versions", it's one and the same.

FJODOR said:

FrankieCoco1 said:

Looks like the track time for this digital release is 21:41 ( https://www.qobuz.com/nz-...kcoejvfaza ). On the 1985 12” vinyl it was indicated on the label as 21:46 (see images on this eBay listing https://ebay.us/m/ijuLs1 ). Note also that on the version of it on that French Warners compilation CD, ‘Black Archives: Minneapolis Funk’, which apparently is a needle drop rip, the timing states 21:46. However, Prince Vault says that the version on this is a “slightly shortened of 15 seconds (for unknown reason)’ - https://princevault.com/i...polis_Funk So I’m looking forward to the ‘eagle eared’ amongst us, commenting if there is any shortening of this new release, compared with the original 12” vinyl version. Perhaps Bernie Grundman has taken off some of the silence, or worse started the fade too early! [Edited 7/3/25 21:46pm]

it'll play 0.04% faster and people will complain until their jaw falls off.

might not

but they usually do

[Edited 7/3/25 21:49pm]

I already saw some spectrum analyses where people complain about loudness wars and notice a strange thing at about 10:10 - 10:15, and say there are stereo issues at around that mark and some clipping.

Probably nothing I'd ever notice, not being an audiophile, so hopefully nothing to make a fuss about. I for one would like to have nothing to complain about and just rejoice.

FrankieCoco1 said:

Looks like the track time for this digital release is 21:41 ( https://www.qobuz.com/nz-...kcoejvfaza ). On the 1985 12” vinyl it was indicated on the label as 21:46 (see images on this eBay listing https://ebay.us/m/ijuLs1 ). Note also that on the version of it on that French Warners compilation CD, ‘Black Archives: Minneapolis Funk’, which apparently is a needle drop rip, the timing states 21:46. However, Prince Vault says that the version on this is a “slightly shortened of 15 seconds (for unknown reason)’ - https://princevault.com/i...polis_Funk So I’m looking forward to the ‘eagle eared’ amongst us, commenting if there is any shortening of this new release, compared with the original 12” vinyl version. Perhaps Bernie Grundman has taken off some of the silence, or worse started the fade too early! [Edited 7/3/25 21:46pm]

IDK if it was a needledrop, but my assumptions about the edit was always that it was so it would fit on a single CD, but I now see the whole thing clocks at 68mn, so it can't be that. Odd.

That compilation came from a good place, but the tracks selection was awful, though, not because the songs were bad per se, but because what should have reflected the Minneapolis Sound in its purest form ended-up being an odd mix of songs that don't really go together. Some tracks are plain new jack swing, when others, like Dorothy Parker, America and A Love Bizarre, reflect that point where Prince precisely tried to evade the Mpls sound because everyone else was doing it. OK, it could be argues it's called Minneapolis Funk, not Sound, but still... There's a much better Minneapolis sound anthology waiting to be curated IMHO (TBH I'm rather surprised no label ever did it when the 80s came back in fashion in the 2000s, there were so many comps of niche 80s subgenres made at the time, or did I miss something?).

It was a local French project though, nothing to do with WB US, and Prince probably wasn't even aware of its existence.

This is great to have, ita about time! Though it is a bit repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I was jamming it the other day. But after 10 minutes it fizzles out. I feel like going in and editing it down to 7/10 minutes (for myself use) but willing I even ever listen to it.

Anywho, tracks like this make me wonder how many other songs continue way longer than the album versions released

bluegangsta said:

Personally, I think this is one of his worst extended versions. The video version is much better.

Having said that, Chris James actually did a great job with the Atmos mix. The lead vocal is super clear, without the instrumental taking a backseat.

But, of course, it's another missed opportunity for this Estate. This single release should have included the album version, video version and both edits of Girl. And that's just the bare minimum.

Honest, IDK how Prince fans could ever possibly ever complain about a 20+ minutes killer funk jam with touches of psychedelia. Clearly a rocker's problem, not a funkateer's one At the time this was amazing, no one released extended mixes that were that long! + technically it wasn't even made for the single, it was literally Prince giving the fans access to an unedited session that he would usually have left in the vault, so it was quite a nice present for the fans!

.

As for the song being released alone as opposed to the whole single, the marketing reasoning behind dropping stuff online one at a time is usually that each new release will boost vews on social media and streaming platforms algorythm. In this digital age where the attention span is super short, with 100,000 new songs being uploaded to Spotify every day (which is probably more than the total amount of songs released on disc in a year when we were young!! I mean seriously, those numbers are vertiginous, that's 3,6 billions new songs a year, 20% of each now being made by AI apparently. How will future music historians even find their way in such a jungle?), you need to be ever present, so it makes sense that they'd release each separate track on a separate day.

FragileUndertow said:

This is great to have, ita about time! Though it is a bit repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I was jamming it the other day. But after 10 minutes it fizzles out. I feel like going in and editing it down to 7/10 minutes (for myself use) but willing I even ever listen to it.

Again, a rocker's problem that doesn't concern funk and electronic music audiences. When the groove is good, the longer the better. I've already caught myself listening to it basically just focusing on the bass and drums the whole time, and it gets so hypnotic at a certain point!!

Anywho, tracks like this make me wonder how many other songs continue way longer than the album versions released

Most of them according to several sources I read over the years. And bootlegs tend to show this as well.

The estate is just trolling us at this point . Never been more depressed about the state of princes legacy.

bluegangsta said:

dave1dmarx said:

The single "edits" of both America and Girl are merely early fades, which ine can do many manipulating the volume button. Can't wait to hear that Atmos mix tho.

It's a single re-release. That's where edits belong - not wasting space as an extra disc/LP on a bloated boxset.

It's not a single re-release, though

It's a drop of the 12" version of "America", in Atmos no less, on July 4th.

Or is there a physical re-release of the single I'm not aware of?

dave1dmarx said:

bluegangsta said:

Personally, I think this is one of his worst extended versions. The video version is much better.

Having said that, Chris James actually did a great job with the Atmos mix. The lead vocal is super clear, without the instrumental taking a backseat.

But, of course, it's another missed opportunity for this Estate. This single release should have included the album version, video version and both edits of Girl. And that's just the bare minimum.

The single "edits" of both America and Girl are merely early fades, which ine can do many manipulating the volume button. Can't wait to hear that Atmos mix tho.

It's a nice Atmos mix. James did a great job. I'd have liked to hear him punch up the bass guitar a bit more though, but maybe that would have taken it too far from the original mix.

Very enjoyable. Hoping we a get a physical version of this on the anticipated ATWIAD Expanded Edition.

The fact that this track was mixed into Atmos certainly bodes well for the entire album (and hopefully other longer versions and the b-sides) mixed into Atmos as well.

ShellyMcG said:

Is this the 20+ minute version that's already been freely available on YouTube for years? If so, then how is it "dropping" on July 4th? It's been well and truly dropped for a while now. I get that tomorrow is the 4th of July and that that means something to some people in some parts of the world so I can understand why the estate would want to draw attention to this particular song at the moment. But if this is indicative of their intentions now that the vault is "free" then I am very unimpressed.

First time in Atmos. so that can be considered the 'drop'.

Or any true digital version, IIRC.

FJODOR said:

if this is indeed the first sign of an ATWIAD reissue, it's pretty clever and nice - imo.

releasing all the singles from an album, in reversed order from last to first, before a
new teaser of something unreleased.

that way you drum up some excitement among old and new fans and give these
great songs a new turn in the spotlight.

like a roll out for ATWIAD reissue could possibly be:

week 1:

America

week 2:

America single bsides and edits - so basically the full original single

week 3:

Pop Life

week 4:

Pop Life single bsides and edits

week 5:

Paisley Park

week 6:

Paisley Park single bsides and edits

week 7:

Raspberry Beret

week 8:

Raspberry Beret single bsides and edits.

week 9:

New singel/teaser - an outtake from the album

week 10:

New single/teaser - a live cut or alternate version

week 11:

The full package, album with all the extra stuff.


That way the full history of the album and era gets a bit more spotlight and we get to
relive it week by week, instead of having the anouncement that there will be a box in
like 12 weeks and then 1 single and 6 weeks later another and it being outtakes, which
for us is cool just for the moment, but for the catalogue as a whole and for his output
being complete on streaming and other platforms, it would be nice if all the singles got
their own reissue as well, and having them tied to a count down to the reissue of their
respective album would be a nice touch.

That would be cool!

But I wouldn't count on this being the first of all the singles being re-released in reverse order. More likely it's simply the July 4th connection that prompted this being first.

Is it straightforwardly patriotic?

That's not how I hear it.

I understand that trying to link a song to a holiday is like free publicity, but now? It seems tone deaf.

[img]https://static.musictoday.com/news/stores/images/prince/070425/PRN_Email_AmericaTee_070225.jpg[/img]

https://static.musictoday...070225.jpg

Also, I'm not sure they know what "unmistakably" means... Or iconic for that matter.
[Edited 7/5/25 3:53am]

Ndorphinmachina said:

Is it straightforwardly patriotic? That's not how I hear it. I understand that trying to link a song to a holiday is like free publicity, but now? It seems tone deaf. [img]https://static.musictoday.com/news/stores/images/prince/070425/PRN_Email_AmericaTee_070225.jpg[/img] https://static.musictoday...070225.jpg Also, I'm not sure they know what "unmistakably" means... Or iconic for that matter. [Edited 7/5/25 3:53am]

Well, you can't expect them to actually listen to the lyrics before they try to monetize it ...

I'm sure a lot of radio stations are playing "Born in the USA" and "Pink Houses" today too.

keywiz said:

Ndorphinmachina said:

Is it straightforwardly patriotic? That's not how I hear it. I understand that trying to link a song to a holiday is like free publicity, but now? It seems tone deaf. [img]https://static.musictoday.com/news/stores/images/prince/070425/PRN_Email_AmericaTee_070225.jpg[/img] https://static.musictoday...070225.jpg Also, I'm not sure they know what "unmistakably" means... Or iconic for that matter. [Edited 7/5/25 3:53am]

Well, you can't expect them to actually listen to the lyrics before they try to monetize it ...

I'm sure a lot of radio stations are playing "Born in the USA" and "Pink Houses" today too.

I guess it's like everyone and their cousin playing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah a funerals. It's known to have raised a few eyebrows

But what I want - what I really really want - is the America bedsheets and matching towels set. Come on Estate, you're slacking!

ghostof82 said:

But what I want - what I really really want - is the America bedsheets and matching towels set. Come on Estate, you're slacking!

Y'all ran that joke through the ground now...

ffdff123 said:

ghostof82 said:

But what I want - what I really really want - is the America bedsheets and matching towels set. Come on Estate, you're slacking!

Y'all ran that joke through the ground now...

Some people never seem to be satisfied by anything, and act like spoiled children that want more toys than they already have. What a life of frustration that must be. The art of simple appeciation and gratitude is slowly dying...

Funkyslap said:

I just want the music. But I'll have a little fun while waiting for it.

databank said:

keywiz said:

Well, you can't expect them to actually listen to the lyrics before they try to monetize it ...

I'm sure a lot of radio stations are playing "Born in the USA" and "Pink Houses" today too.

I guess it's like everyone and their cousin playing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah a funerals. It's known to have raised a few eyebrows

One of my most hilarious memories --

years ago I was at a karaoke bar and at the end of the night the host played "Imagine" and invited the whole room to stand up and sing along.

Watching the looks on people's faces as they were reading the words on the screen and singing along with lyrics like "Imagine there's no heaven" was priceless. It was clear most of them had heard the song 1,000 times but never once paid attention to any of they lyrics beyond the chorus.

Funkyslap said:

Right, it's really hard to understand why people are not happy getting something they've heard a thousand times when there's a treasure trove of unheard music collecting dust in the vault. I don't get it either lol.

Funkyslap said:

We shouldn't have to feel grateful. At the end of the day, we may be fans of Prince, but we are customers of the estate. They are putting out a product we don't like. So we tell them we don't like it and request that they make something available that we do like. Something that we will gladly give them money for.

I'm glad you like it. I'm happy for everyone who likes getting these same old songs released. And I mean that. I'm genuinely happy that there are people out there like yourself who gets enjoyment out of these things. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. And obviously, I'm not alone in that. And expressing that opinion doesn't make us ungrateful. It makes us unhappy customers. The estate aren't releasing anything out of the goodness in their hearts. They're doing it to make money. It's a business. They are not Prince. We have nothing to be grateful to them for.

ShellyMcG said:

They have no idea how to run this business because it's not their area of expertise since they're lawyers. They might have ideas, but they lack vision and clear goals. Prince’s legacy deserves to be in the hands of experienced curators and music professionals.

MIRvmn1 said:

ShellyMcG said:

We shouldn't have to feel grateful. At the end of the day, we may be fans of Prince, but we are customers of the estate. They are putting out a product we don't like. So we tell them we don't like it and request that they make something available that we do like. Something that we will gladly give them money for. I'm glad you like it. I'm happy for everyone who likes getting these same old songs released. And I mean that. I'm genuinely happy that there are people out there like yourself who gets enjoyment out of these things. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. And obviously, I'm not alone in that. And expressing that opinion doesn't make us ungrateful. It makes us unhappy customers. The estate aren't releasing anything out of the goodness in their hearts. They're doing it to make money. It's a business. They are not Prince. We have nothing to be grateful to them for.

They have no idea how to run this business because it's not their area of expertise since they're lawyers. They might have ideas, but they lack vision and clear goals. Prince’s legacy deserves to be in the hands of experienced curators and music professionals.

Yes it does.

One major focus to preserve his legacy is to make his music more accessible to younger generations. License his recordings for use in TV and movies. "Let's Go Crazy" should be used to sell Toyotas or whatever.

The Deluxe Editions with all the bonus tracks are marvelous, but that's obviously a limited market of super hardcore fans. But that needs to be at a pace of at least one a year as none of us are getting any younger.

If this release of a streaming version of the full length "America" is a pre-cursor to the a new ATWIAD set? That's not a bad strategy if it's followed shortly by at least an official announcement of the release date.

If it makes sense to release vault tracks as new albums -- if there any actual full unreleased albums that exist or enough tracks that are related to each other enough that it makes sense to make an 'album' of them - then they should do that. but otherwise, I personally think the 'vault tracks' recorded during the time period of a particular album makes the most sense.

But I don't think there is any one 'perfect' strategy here that will please everyone. Certainly not all of the hardcore fans, among whom, no matter what is released or how we seem to find ways to complain about it.

The focus needs to be finding that balance between what is best commercially while still honoring his legacy. Which will always be a challenge considering the size and content of the vault, and the fact that they apparently haven't yet even catalogued it all. And that Prince was far from the best manager of his own legacy when he was alive.

[Edited 7/6/25 2:51am]

ShellyMcG said:

Funkyslap said:

Some people never seem to be satisfied by anything, and act like spoiled children that want more toys than they already have. What a life of frustration that must be. The art of simple appeciation and gratitude is slowly dying...

We shouldn't have to feel grateful. At the end of the day, we may be fans of Prince, but we are customers of the estate. They are putting out a product we don't like. So we tell them we don't like it and request that they make something available that we do like. Something that we will gladly give them money for. I'm glad you like it. I'm happy for everyone who likes getting these same old songs released. And I mean that. I'm genuinely happy that there are people out there like yourself who gets enjoyment out of these things. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. And obviously, I'm not alone in that. And expressing that opinion doesn't make us ungrateful. It makes us unhappy customers. The estate aren't releasing anything out of the goodness in their hearts. They're doing it to make money. It's a business. They are not Prince. We have nothing to be grateful to them for.

Well, to be fair, they aren't asking us to pay for this. It's a streaming download.

But the Atmos mix is new. And while I get that most people don't care about Atmos, I'm personally a fan a grateful to have it. If not for that, I wouldn't have bothered to stream it as, like many here, I've owned the 12" single for 40 years.

No, they aren't releasing anything out of the goodness of their hearts but it also isn't hard to imagine a situation where we'd get nothing at all. Let's be honest here: if Prince were still alive, we almost certainly wouldn't have gotten the 4 expanded/deluxe editions we've seen thus far.

And clearly this has to be a precursor to a full ATWIAD set as it cost money to have Chris James do the Atmos mix. So there must be a plan to monetize it at some point.

Imagine a world in which an investing team financed an intensive and thorough cataloguing and digitising of the vault, say, four years ago, and the Estate were now flooding the market with remastered deluxe albums every few months with live albums separately, and Blu-ray's too, and we were moaning about it being too much and being unable to keep up, financially and as far as digesting all the material. What a world!

MIRvmn1 said:

They have no idea how to run this business because it's not their area of expertise since they're lawyers. They might have ideas, but they lack vision and clear goals. Prince’s legacy deserves to be in the hands of experienced curators and music professionals.

Beyond that, we've seen zero evidence that Spicebucks and McMillions even like Prince's music all that much, or that they're more than just a little familiar with it. All this incompetence would be easier to swallow if there was a sense that these guys shared a passion for the music itself, but I just don't see it.

dustoff said:

MIRvmn1 said:

They have no idea how to run this business because it's not their area of expertise since they're lawyers. They might have ideas, but they lack vision and clear goals. Prince’s legacy deserves to be in the hands of experienced curators and music professionals.

Beyond that, we've seen zero evidence that Spicebucks and McMillions even like Prince's music all that much, or that they're more than just a little familiar with it. All this incompetence would be easier to swallow if there was a sense that these guys shared a passion for the music itself, but I just don't see it.

This.

Exactly this.

They (probably) only know 'Purple Rain' the edit version, maybe also '1999', IF, they get to the end of the edit versions...

lol.........the Estate is literally trolling the fans.

What a shit show.

Farfunknugin said:

Same.

I thought I had lost hope a while back, but now I realized that part of me assumed that they would at least release some stuff to make money, but now I realize they're too incompetent to even do that.

It would be mind-bogglingly easy for them to release one of the dozens of sound board quality rehearsal/soundcheck jams with some info about when it was recorded- granted, that would also mean they are releasing something I've had for years but at least it's something the general public wouldn't be aware of, and it would show me that they at least have *some* awareness of the magnificence of his career and the value (not just cash value, but artistic value) of what they're sitting on.

Instead they do a Dolby remaster (which is fine, although to most people in most of the ways people listen to music, results in a negligible difference) of a single released 40 years ago, and not even a 12" record with appropriate art and Girl on the b-side etc, but just the digital drop and three fucking T-shirts with "America" embarrassingly written on them.

As if wearing a shirt emblazoned with AMERICA is something most people would be willing to do in 2025.