databank said:

JorisE73 said:

Who has the rights top these albums? WB or Prince?

Most later Paisley Park records (from circa 1987 onwards) are owned by the Estate, but nothing by A6, V6, The Time or Sheila,

There was a remastered and expanded version of The Time's first album back in 2021. Are you saying that was strictly issued by Warners with no involvment from the Estate?

I guess that means it would be difficult to release a deluxe edition of a protege album that included Prince's original version with guide vocals. Not impossible, as the Estate and Warners could strike a deal, but more challenging than one or the other acting unilaterally.

bluegangsta said:

In my opinion, it makes sense to start in May/June 84, just after the Apollonia 6 album was completed (with the exception of Happy Birthday Mr Christian, as that was done quite late), through to April 86, when Life Can Be So Nice was tracked.

In terms of studio material, that could include (at least) the following:

• Our Destiny
• Roadhouse Garden
• All Day, All Night
• Susannah's Pajamas (The Family)
• Mutiny (The Family)
• High Fashion (The Family)
• Desire (The Family)
• 100 MPH (Mazerati)
• Slow Love (84 version)
• Nothing Compares 2 U (The Family)
• Yes/Lisa (The Family)
• Miss Understood (The Family)
• She’s Always In My Hair (Different Version)
• The Dance Electric
• The Screams of Passion (The Family)
• Wonderful Ass (Wendy and Lisa version)
• Strange Relationship (84 version)
• Toy Box (Romance 1600)
• Fish Fries
• Dear Michaelangelo (Romance 1600)
• A Love Bizarre (Romance 1600)
• Sister Fate (Romance 1600)
• Merci for The (Romance 1600)
• Romance 1600
• Yellow (Romance 1600)

For early/alternative versions and so on:

• Around the World In A Day
• She's Always In My Hair
• Temptation (soundcheck version)
• The Ladder (soundcheck version)

For live material, the obvious inclusions would be the First Avenue Birthday show and the America shoot.

Regarding the birthday concert, here's a bit of inside info - when the Purple Rain Deluxe was being prepared, Howe supplied files of the concert to be included. They were remastered by Scott Levitin at WEA Studios in January 2017. Based on the notes, it's literally the same as the version we all have - tracking and drop-outs included.

[Edited 9/15/25 22:29pm]

But I'd add Bedtime Story and Strawberry Lover.

The Estate can't even spell, so I don't hold out hope for Protege expanded releases. They need to go on Prince SDE's from the respective era.

lurker316 said:

databank said:

Most later Paisley Park records (from circa 1987 onwards) are owned by the Estate, but nothing by A6, V6, The Time or Sheila,

There was a remastered and expanded version of The Time's first album back in 2021. Are you saying that was strictly issued by Warners with no involvment from the Estate?

Yes

Just look at the (p) indicia if you want to know who owns a record's masters: https://open.spotify.com/...aPapO9KkL5

I guess that means it would be difficult to release a deluxe edition of a protege album that included Prince's original version with guide vocals. Not impossible, as the Estate and Warners could strike a deal, but more challenging than one or the other acting unilaterally.
Indeed.

databank said:

SoulAlive said:

let's be honest.The estate is never gonna do anything with the protege albums.We'll never get an expanded The Family set...or a 2-CD Romance 1600 set so the only real way to get these tracks is on a Prince SDE.

We don't know that for a fact. I mean yeah, given the direction things seem to be taking, I wouldn't bet on it any time soon, but then again one shouldn't have bet on an ATWIAD SDE with those songs as outtakes either, so in the end, nothing of the sort is being released for the moment... On the long run, who knows, though...

.

I really hope that they prove me wrong but I'm not very optimistic.

A release of all the demos for protege albums will never be released.
Better they just include them on sets like this where there's more interest.
[Edited 9/21/25 11:07am]

leecaldon said:

Yep.

ATWIAD is a bit of an outlier. Songs recorded around the same time period aren't necessarily outtakes from the album. Many of them have different sounding production and would sound completely out of place if included. So I'm not sure I'd want 3 discs of unrelated outtakes recorded at the right time to be included.

I don't know how many demos/early takes/alternate takes/remixes etc exist. Or IF they exist. But I'd love to hear them.
[Edited 9/21/25 19:56pm]

NouveauDance said:

It seems such a pipedream as to be moot - If the estate releases a special edition, remastered Romance 1600 with vault tracks etc, I'll paypal everyone replying to this thread ten thousand quid.

.

They can't even do it for the double platinum, US Billboard #1 follow up to Purple Rain. Good luck waiting for your Good Question SDE.

Aw Lawd

leecaldon said:

lurker316 said:

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but what about the following tracks. I believe these were all recorded in 1985:

- Evolsidog
- Others Here With Us
- Come Elktra Tuesday
- Heaven

- Call Of The Wild

I realize the last 3 were recorded just after ATWIAD was released, so maybe they'd go better on a Parade SDE?

Others Here With Us seems to sit firmly within the Parade sessions.

And I think that's the whole problem, and a real puzzle for the Estate.

Musically, there's a clear departure from the Rock era, to which ATWIAD belongs, and the spirit of '85/56. Maybe "Heaven" is still somewhat relevant, but take "Come Elektra Tuesday", to me it sounds already as "funny tongue-in-cheek" Prince, the one from "Movie Star" and "Love or Money".
There's a Christopher Tracey's spirit in it, if you will.

It's not because everything was thrown in the D&P box that it's necessarily a good idea. To include the tracks made for Martika may be chronologically relevant, but from an artistic point of view, they don't belong to the project, they sound out of place.

Maybe it would be better to go the Bob Dylan's "Bootleg Series" way. Don't adhere to a strict chronological approach, and assemble songs that make thematic sense when put together.
That said, "Originals" makes for a fine listening, even though it spans across eras. But it flows more like a compilation or a "Best Of".

Prince's versatility is truly problematic here. "Yo Mister" sounds like early nineties New Jack Soul, and is miles away from ATWIAD or Parade or SOTT. Even "Joy In Repetition" is sonically difficult to attach to a specific era, even though its official release locks it to "Graffiti Bridge" (the delayed Linn Tom intro mix being far superior).

There are quite a bunch of other examples, "We Can Fun/ck" works well in all of its renderings, same for "Wonderful Ass", where the sparse version is no lesser or better than the W&L one.
Same goes for "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got", etc.

One could argue an UFO like "Others Here With Us" sits nowhere, even if it chronogically belongs to the Parade era. It's a genuine oddity. The Clare Fischer arrangements are interesting, but they ruin the original intent.


Look at the SOTT SDE tracklist. A lot of the tracks could be considered Parade era sessions, like "Wally", "Crucial" or "All My Dreams". They fit thematically within Parade, although the return of the guitar solos and the absence of Clare Fischer arrangements makes them these estranged tracks that don't belong to either Parade or SOTT.
But that has always been the extra charm of the Vault bootlegs, they sound like belonging to unreleased albums of their own, not like sessions or tracks belonging to a specific one.

Which makes the abandoned 4 (then 3) LP project a true shame, it would have been the greatest kaleidoscope in pop music, giving the Beatles a run for their money.
(I say 4 LP because we know Prince's original intent was to release Camille "anonymously" around the same time as The Dream Factory/Crystal Ball).


Now consider the ATWIAD B-Sides, they could have easily be included in a double LP (with extended versions), they wouldn't sound out of place, the mood, the vocal performances, the production values stem from the same universe.
A fan made an "Around The World In A Day Experience" mp3 file a few years ago, an alternate album tracklist inclusive of all ATWIAD extended versions and B-sides, and it flows very well, it does sound like a cohesive work.

[Edited 9/21/25 21:20pm]

BonnieC said:

leecaldon said:

Others Here With Us seems to sit firmly within the Parade sessions.

And I think that's the whole problem, and a real puzzle for the Estate.

Musically, there's a clear departure from the Rock era, to which ATWIAD belongs, and the spirit of '85/56. Maybe "Heaven" is still somewhat relevant, but take "Come Elektra Tuesday", to me it sounds already as "funny tongue-in-cheek" Prince, the one from "Movie Star" and "Love or Money".
There's a Christopher Tracey's spirit in it, if you will.

It's not because everything was thrown in the D&P box that it's necessarily a good idea. To include the tracks made for Martika may be chronologically relevant, but from an artistic point of view, they don't belong to the project, they sound out of place.

Maybe it would be better to go the Bob Dylan's "Bootleg Series" way. Don't adhere to a strict chronological approach, and assemble songs that make thematic sense when put together.
That said, "Originals" makes for a fine listening, even though it spans across eras. But it flows more like a compilation or a "Best Of".

Prince's versatility is truly problematic here. "Yo Mister" sounds like early nineties New Jack Soul, and is miles away from ATWIAD or Parade or SOTT. Even "Joy In Repetition" is sonically difficult to attach to a specific era, even though its official release locks it to "Graffiti Bridge" (the delayed Linn Tom intro mix being far superior).

There are quite a bunch of other examples, "We Can Fun/ck" works well in all of its renderings, same for "Wonderful Ass", where the sparse version is no lesser or better than the W&L one.
Same goes for "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got", etc.

One could argue an UFO like "Others Here With Us" sits nowhere, even if it chronogically belongs to the Parade era. It's a genuine oddity. The Clare Fischer arrangements are interesting, but they ruin the original intent.


Look at the SOTT SDE tracklist. A lot of the tracks could be considered Parade era sessions, like "Wally", "Crucial" or "All My Dreams". They fit thematically within Parade, although the return of the guitar solos and the absence of Clare Fischer arrangements makes them these estranged tracks that don't belong to either Parade or SOTT.
But that has always been the extra charm of the Vault bootlegs, they sound like belonging to unreleased albums of their own, not like sessions or tracks belonging to a specific one.

Which makes the abandoned 4 (then 3) LP project a true shame, it would have been the greatest kaleidoscope in pop music, giving the Beatles a run for their money.
(I say 4 LP because we know Prince's original intent was to release Camille "anonymously" around the same time as The Dream Factory/Crystal Ball).


Now consider the ATWIAD B-Sides, they could have easily be included in a double LP (with extended versions), they wouldn't sound out of place, the mood, the vocal performances, the production values stem from the same universe.
A fan made an "Around The World In A Day Experience" mp3 file a few years ago, an alternate album tracklist inclusive of all ATWIAD extended versions and B-sides, and it flows very well, it does sound like a cohesive work.

[Edited 9/21/25 21:20pm]

? Camille was already abandoned as a standalone album and incorporated in Crystal Ball 3LP, before that it was Camille 1 LP and Drea m Factory 2LP, so still 3 LPs not 4.
But anyway, I really hope they won't do another compilation like Originals and just make era specific sets with just outtakes and demos spanning from the latest release up to the next release (for example that starting from the day that Purple Rain was released up to ATWIAD release everything between that period as one set) and seperate live sets. I would also like if they do all teh albums like ATWIAD and release that monthly if they are going that route just to have all teh albums and singles in 1 set remastered.

JorisE73 said:

? Camille was already abandoned as a standalone album and incorporated in Crystal Ball 3LP, before that it was Camille 1 LP and Drea m Factory 2LP, so still 3 LPs not 4.

But anyway, I really hope they won't do another compilation like Originals and just make era specific sets with just outtakes and demos spanning from the latest release up to the next release (for example that starting from the day that Purple Rain was released up to ATWIAD release everything between that period as one set) and seperate live sets.

I would also like if they do all teh albums like ATWIAD and release that monthly if they are going that route just to have all teh albums and singles in 1 set remastered.

Yup, my bad. I'm still fixated on the fact that Columbia released the Springsteen "Live 1975–85" 5 LP set and it turned out to be a success, while Warner shat their pants.

Of course, Prince wasn't Bruce in terms of possible audience. Nonetheless, the material was there and it could have been phenomenal in the long run for Prince's career, but that's the way it went, sadly.

I agree about the official albums remastering. Of course fanatics are going to once again complain about unrelased material, saying there's nothing new, but considering how good the ATWIAD remastering is about to sound, I would go this way as well, it would allow for regular releases and keep Prince on the news, the 79-89 run needs to be remastered in its entirety.

These are easy to access 2-tracks, but the contractual implications with Warner may complicate the process, unless all albums are now full property of the Estate.
Even in 2025, I would share their concerns about "market saturation". The best thing would be to consider once and for all Prince as a catalog artist, and not give a damn about strategics and marketing, just let the long tail do its thing.

Now "monthly" is probably waaay too much, even Grundman wouldn't be able to keep it up in order to do the proper job these historical records require.

But I'm with you. We're approaching the tenth anniversary of Prince's passing, and only two albums (1999 and SOTT) have been properly remastered (I leave out the PR Paisley Park Remaster for obvious reasons, and D&P, which wasn't in urgent need of remastering).

I would go as far as to say the SDE treatment has been counterproductive, with everyone focusing mainly on the unreleased material, instead of the availability of the albums with a proper sound, after years of being stuck with those lame Warner CD releases.
It would make more sense to release the albums and the unreleased material separately, while making them part of the same series.

It wouldn't have bothered me if all the SOTT SDE material had been released as a record every trimester ("volume 2", "volume 3"...), it would have kept the media interest fresh during a whole year, and maybe make it more digestible (it was a lot all at once).

My guess is that they're too fixated on "making the news", but this is 2025, no one cares amidst the neverending noise, just release regularly and let music lovers collect'em all in time.
But this kind of long-term approach, investment with no immediate return seems to be antithetical to their mindset (to be fair, it appears the whole mindset of not just business, but society).

[Edited 9/22/25 12:41pm]

BonnieC said:

JorisE73 said:

? Camille was already abandoned as a standalone album and incorporated in Crystal Ball 3LP, before that it was Camille 1 LP and Drea m Factory 2LP, so still 3 LPs not 4.

But anyway, I really hope they won't do another compilation like Originals and just make era specific sets with just outtakes and demos spanning from the latest release up to the next release (for example that starting from the day that Purple Rain was released up to ATWIAD release everything between that period as one set) and seperate live sets.

I would also like if they do all teh albums like ATWIAD and release that monthly if they are going that route just to have all teh albums and singles in 1 set remastered.

Yup, my bad. I'm still fixated on the fact that Columbia released the Springsteen "Live 1975–85" 5 LP set and it turned out to be a success, while Warner shat their pants.

Of course, Prince wasn't Bruce in terms of possible audience. Nonetheless, the material was there and it could have been phenomenal in the long run for Prince's career, but that's the way it went, sadly.

I agree about the official albums remastering. Of course fanatics are going to once again complain about unrelased material, saying there's nothing new, but considering how good the ATWIAD remastering is about to sound, I would go this way as well, it would allow for regular releases and keep Prince on the news, the 79-89 run needs to be remastered in its entirety.

These are easy to access 2-tracks, but the contractual implications with Warner may complicate the process, unless all albums are now full property of the Estate.
Even in 2025, I would share their concerns about "market saturation". The best thing would be to consider once and for all Prince as a catalog artist, and not give a damn about strategics and marketing, just let the long tail do its thing.

Now "monthly" is probably waaay too much, even Grundman wouldn't be able to keep it up in order to do the proper job these historical records require.

But I'm with you. We're approaching the tenth anniversary of Prince's passing, and only two albums (1999 and SOTT) have been properly remastered (I leave out the PR Paisley Park Remaster for obvious reasons, and D&P, which wasn't in urgent need of remastering).

I would go as far as to say the SDE treatment has been counterproductive, with everyone focusing mainly on the unreleased material, instead of the availability of the albums with a proper sound, after years of being stuck with those lame Warner CD releases.
It would make more sense to release the albums and the unreleased material separately, while making them part of the same series.

It wouldn't have bothered me if all the SOTT SDE material had been released as a record every trimester ("volume 2", "volume 3"...), it would have kept the media interest fresh during a whole year, and maybe make it more digestible (it was a lot all at once).

My guess is that they're too fixated on "making the news", but this is 2025, no one cares amidst the neverending noise, just release regularly and let music lovers collect'em all in time.
But this kind of long-term approach, investment with no immediate return seems to be antithetical to their mindset (to be fair, it appears the whole mindset of not just business, but society).

[Edited 9/22/25 12:41pm]

With all teh complaints of the SDE just being to expensive, splitting it up and releasing it in batches in a afordable price range over a period of 3-6 months would have kept him in the news and teh releases in teh p[icture for a lot longer than those couple of weeks teh SDEs had

leecaldon said:

bizzie said:

Why do you lot keep rehashing topics that have been done to death mere months ago?

.

https://prince.org/msg/7/471555

I don't know about the others, but I do it to get a response from you.

This is where I just want a like buttton.

MendesCity said:

leecaldon said:

I don't know about the others, but I do it to get a response from you.

This is where I just want a like buttton.

Here, My Dear:

Was "Hey Hannigan" from this era....?

msicfan said:

It’s been proven many times that “Hey Hannigan” was the first go at a sorta AI generated (well early computer) attempt to recreate a Prince song in the style of 1985. Debunked many times, although there is still a theory that Prince was the one who worked on the code to create it. Not sure what the source is for that knowledge but I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong or light-heartedly rumour mungering [sic].

By the way, not that it looks like there will be an Around The World In A Day vault release but surely the instrumental named Paisley Park would be in with a shout of being included

https://princevault.com/i...trumental)
[Edited 9/23/25 20:58pm]

Most Likely 2 would have been interesting.

One thing the Estate should do is create an online platform to share unreleased songs (including songs/versions not already on SDE’s)…If they aren’t going to release them for now.

nv34 said:

Exactly!