Who was the engineer on this? Have they spoken about it?

Is it known if Prince re-recorded entire songs? Or just portions he intended to use for the medley?

This was still some time before he "threatened" to re-record everything ala 1999 TNM. I still wonder if he actually did it...

If he did, while I certainly wouldn't want it to replace the originals. I'd be interested to hear the new/alternate takes on 60-odd percent of his catalog.

Ndorphinmachina said:

Who was the engineer on this? Have they spoken about it?

Is it known if Prince re-recorded entire songs? Or just portions he intended to use for the medley?

This was still some time before he "threatened" to re-record everything ala 1999 TNM. I still wonder if he actually did it...

If he did, while I certainly wouldn't want it to replace the originals. I'd be interested to hear the new/alternate takes on 60-odd percent of his catalog.

.
I think it's pretty safe to say it's not a composite of different recordings, but one tape, recorded as it is (with a bunch of punch-ins).

[Edited 1/20/26 12:04pm]

"Engineered, Mixed and Edited by Ray Hahnfeldt and Steve Durkee"

I would love to know how much he did re-record

I don't believe a thing that he re-recorded (parts or all) of his (then) back catalog.

Wasn't all this just a big frustration outlet?

-

So, if you create a song, and you want to rerecord it to escape the contract you have with a record company... Are you not like sampling yourself?

But i'm not an expert in this.

Just sound silly for him to 'go back', and spend so much time to put up a middle finger to WB.

I've always thought of this as a bit frustration for Prince. 1996 he said he was free, Emancipation. But still he had to wait.

And, by the way, he announced so much things, he didn't do.

Up until his more silent years (or religious years, whatever) starting from 2001, he was recording all the time, trying to keep up with fashions and reinventing himself (Rave...).

This relesed Purple Medley sounds to me like something he would give to his band mates, to hrehearse for live shows. Or just play before a concert. Things he used to do.

Just my opinion.

Kares said:

Germanegro said:

Nah--he probably did not go through with re-recording many more of his older WB-contracted songs. He probably had too much new ideas percolating to spend too much time on such a product and it was likely became a no-starter after he assembled his sampling of self-samples that you can review on the "Rave" concert dvd. The re-recording of songs would not be sampling, btw--more like an act's re-issue of an old title.

>

I wouldn't call Prince trying to "reinvent himself"--too funny, like he ever needed to deliberately do that in order to sell his act! He was always going to be kinda' unique! Unless you're talking about his natural evolvement of character that most of us go through anyway if we're moving forward in our lives, so ain't no thing about that.

>

One of the things that I found cool about Prince's live act is where he would arrange his music in a medley format and also when he'd blend the songs, keeping the show transitions moving smoothly in a clever way without all the stopping and starting and introducing songs like so many others' stage presentation. That seemed like a natural thing for Prince to do and doesn't surprise me that he'd record some of those for a new presentation on some new release. The Purple Medley was probably one of those type of recordings along with some samples punched in.

Vannormal said:

I don't believe a thing that he re-recorded (parts or all) of his (then) back catalog.

Wasn't all this just a big frustration outlet?

-

So, if you create a song, and you want to rerecord it to escape the contract you have with a record company... Are you not like sampling yourself?

But i'm not an expert in this.

Just sound silly for him to 'go back', and spend so much time to put up a middle finger to WB.

I've always thought of this as a bit frustration for Prince. 1996 he said he was free, Emancipation. But still he had to wait.

And, by the way, he announced so much things, he didn't do.

Up until his more silent years (or religious years, whatever) starting from 2001, he was recording all the time, trying to keep up with fashions and reinventing himself (Rave...).

This relesed Purple Medley sounds to me like something he would give to his band mates, to hrehearse for live shows. Or just play before a concert. Things he used to do.

Just my opinion.

Vannormal said:

Another great example of this type of recording by Prince is the CD Single of "Damn U" from the album.

>

There, he presents the tune "2 Whom It May Concern" which is basically a promo for the album that overlays samples of each album song over an original rhythm track and instrumental licks with unique lyrical content.

>

It's actually one of my favorite Prince cuts!

Ndorphinmachina said:

Kares said:

.
I think it's pretty safe to say it's not a composite of different recordings, but one tape, recorded as it is (with a bunch of punch-ins).

[Edited 1/20/26 12:04pm]

So not a "megamix" but a song unto itself? Interesting. That idea never even crossed my mind.

.
That's what I always took it to be. He just played/recorded a medley, not separate, full songs that were later cut up and edited together.
.
I mean there could be a couple of bits of original recordings in there, like the opening Batdance – that's definitely from the original album. But the rest (as much as I remember) sounds the same, it has the same snare and other instrumentation, and most importantly, it has some transitional parts that are not part of the original songs.

Germanegro said:

Another great example of this type of recording by Prince is the CD Single of "Damn U" from the album.

>

There, he presents the tune "2 Whom It May Concern" which is basically a promo for the album that overlays samples of each album song over an original rhythm track and instrumental licks with unique lyrical content.

>

It's actually one of my favorite Prince cuts!

Those are actual samples from the original recordings.
The Purple Medley is a new recording of P playing a medley. So not exactly the same.

Vannormal said:

I don't believe a thing that he re-recorded (parts or all) of his (then) back catalog.

Wasn't all this just a big frustration outlet?

-

So, if you create a song, and you want to rerecord it to escape the contract you have with a record company... Are you not like sampling yourself?

But i'm not an expert in this.

Just sound silly for him to 'go back', and spend so much time to put up a middle finger to WB.

I've always thought of this as a bit frustration for Prince. 1996 he said he was free, Emancipation. But still he had to wait.

And, by the way, he announced so much things, he didn't do.

Up until his more silent years (or religious years, whatever) starting from 2001, he was recording all the time, trying to keep up with fashions and reinventing himself (Rave...).

This relesed Purple Medley sounds to me like something he would give to his band mates, to hrehearse for live shows. Or just play before a concert. Things he used to do.

Just my opinion.

Taylor Swift has done it with her entire catalogue, so it is doable.

.

I recall him claiming that actually he only needed to change one part of a song for it to be considered a new master. So just a synth line or something. 1999 - The New Master used elements from the original.