TrivialPursuit said:

I usually don't care one way or the other about covers, in the sense that I don't listen to them, except for a couple of exceptions. For example, I happen to think that Herbie Hancock's version of "Thieves in the Temple" is pretty good, in particular in the context of the album. But you could say it's a completely different song, in a way.

So, if I don't care about covers, what's my opinion about covering previously unreleased songs? I guess it all depends on whether it's done with taste, talented artists, etc. It would have to be done in the form of an album / single project. As others have mentioned, Prince's multitrack recordings shouldn't be used. That would be weird, I think.

It could be a fun little project: 1 "CD" with Prince's original recordings, 1 "CD" with the covers. Why not?

Now I mentioned talented artists, but I don't think I would be against Kylie Minogue covering "Baby Doll", for example, but this is a special case. Are there any other cases like that?

[Edited 3/6/26 13:56pm]

databank said:

pdiddy2011 said:

Many of the responses to this idea center around artists emulating Prince's vision or concept of the song.

When I initially saw the idea, I was thinking about just shopping the written composition. (re: not shop Prince's demo just to copy the entire style and vibe, a la Originals)

Let the artists do what artists do. Form their own expression of the song. I would think many artists would be interested in bringing Prince-penned songs to life. Heaven knows there are enough artists who publicly idolize him.

Then some time later it might be fun to drop the original. OR even do an album with vault material (by Prince) and the same vault material interpeted by other artists (on the same album).

This is mostly how I envisioned it.

Some entirely rerecorded Prince-penned songs, such as Baby Go-Go, If I Love U 2Nite or 5 Women were vastly re-imagined by the artists they were given to.

And theya are all inferior. BUt 5 women and If I lOve U 2Nite are pretty much the same as how Primnce recorded them.

Jjust let them release Prince's versions and leave the songs how they are without others rerecording them and devaluing them like Prince used to let others do back in the day just to get the trqack out. His main hurdle seemed to be WB to release tracks himself so he let whoever record it just to get it out, this isn't needed anymore.

databank said:

If it meant the original versions would also get released, great. Otherwise, zero interest.

NouveauDance said:

If it meant the original versions would also get released, great. Otherwise, zero interest.

Same here. If they did a 2CD set with his original vault material on disc 1 and a second disc with reinterpretations or covers of those songs on disc 1 I would probably buy but wwouldn't

listen to disc 2 as I don't have a use for it and don't expect them to be enjoyable enough after hearing Prince's versions. Teh only reason I bought all those protoge act releases is because they were produced by Prince and he is all over it. I didn't buy any of those albums from Kenny Rogers or Celine Dion just because they rerecorded a Prince track from his vault, hearing them once was bad enough. His versions are out luckily enough so even less reasons to buy those.
But the difference is that Prince was alive back then to make those decisions himself and allow this. He worte With This TEar specifically for Celinne Dion so there is that.
I love Herbiue Hnacock or Kingfish or Eric Gales or Pink Floyd for example buit I don't need to hear there interpretation of a vault track and would rathwer hear Prince s original recording.
And honestly I haven't heard any contemporary 'artist' (using the term extremey loosely here) who has the skills or talent to elevate his vault music.

JorisE73 said:

He worte With This TEar specifically for Celinne Dion so there is that.

.

Absolutely not true at all. Initially intended for Jevetta Steele.

bizzie said:

JorisE73 said:

He worte With This TEar specifically for Celinne Dion so there is that.

.

Absolutely not true at all. Initially intended for Jevetta Steele.

Ah ok, I thought I reqad this in one of the Uptown books.

JorisE73 said:

databank said:

JorisE73 said:

Same here. If they did a 2CD set with his original vault material on disc 1 and a second disc with reinterpretations or covers of those songs on disc 1 I would probably buy but wwouldn't

listen to disc 2 as I don't have a use for it and don't expect them to be enjoyable enough after hearing Prince's versions. Teh only reason I bought all those protoge act releases is because they were produced by Prince and he is all over it. I didn't buy any of those albums from Kenny Rogers or Celine Dion just because they rerecorded a Prince track from his vault, hearing them once was bad enough. His versions are out luckily enough so even less reasons to buy those.
But the difference is that Prince was alive back then to make those decisions himself and allow this. He worte With This TEar specifically for Celinne Dion so there is that.
I love Herbiue Hnacock or Kingfish or Eric Gales or Pink Floyd for example buit I don't need to hear there interpretation of a vault track and would rathwer hear Prince s original recording.
And honestly I haven't heard any contemporary 'artist' (using the term extremey loosely here) who has the skills or talent to elevate his vault music.

When I think of all the money I spent on those albums at the time, just for one song The only one I could never bear to buy was Celine Dion. I only heard WTT when I was able to get it online in 2002. As a young French hipster in the 90s, having Celine Dion on display on my shelves was an absolute no go. IDK how it was in the US, but here she was very famous with her French songs, and the incarnation of everything wrong about the music industry. Having that CD would have ruined my reputation, if not my life. No respectable girl would have wanted to be my GF. Hell, I don't think anyone would have ever talked to me again. [Edited 3/6/26 13:39pm]

Honeslty the first time I ever heard of her was when Titanic came out and that little sample of WTT on that Carmen Electra album without even knowing who or what it was.

JorisE73 said:

databank said:

JorisE73 said: When I think of all the money I spent on those albums at the time, just for one song The only one I could never bear to buy was Celine Dion. I only heard WTT when I was able to get it online in 2002. As a young French hipster in the 90s, having Celine Dion on display on my shelves was an absolute no go. IDK how it was in the US, but here she was very famous with her French songs, and the incarnation of everything wrong about the music industry. Having that CD would have ruined my reputation, if not my life. No respectable girl would have wanted to be my GF. Hell, I don't think anyone would have ever talked to me again. [Edited 3/6/26 13:39pm]

Honeslty the first time I ever heard of her was when Titanic came out and that little sample of WTT on that Carmen Electra album without even knowing who or what it was.

She was big in France before that. A total no go as I said.

That said, the WTT and In The Socket samples on CE were huge mysteries to me as well. I wondered what they could possibly be for nearly a decade

FrankieCoco1 said:

databank said:

JorisE73 said:

NouveauDance said:

If it meant the original versions would also get released, great. Otherwise, zero interest.

Same here. If they did a 2CD set with his original vault material on disc 1 and a second disc with reinterpretations or covers of those songs on disc 1 I would probably buy but wwouldn't

listen to disc 2 as I don't have a use for it and don't expect them to be enjoyable enough after hearing Prince's versions. Teh only reason I bought all those protoge act releases is because they were produced by Prince and he is all over it. I didn't buy any of those albums from Kenny Rogers or Celine Dion just because they rerecorded a Prince track from his vault, hearing them once was bad enough. His versions are out luckily enough so even less reasons to buy those.
But the difference is that Prince was alive back then to make those decisions himself and allow this. He worte With This TEar specifically for Celinne Dion so there is that.
I love Herbiue Hnacock or Kingfish or Eric Gales or Pink Floyd for example buit I don't need to hear there interpretation of a vault track and would rathwer hear Prince s original recording.
And honestly I haven't heard any contemporary 'artist' (using the term extremey loosely here) who has the skills or talent to elevate his vault music.

When I think of all the money I spent on those albums at the time, just for one song
The only one I could never bear to buy was Celine Dion. I only heard WTT when I was able to get it online in 2002. As a young French hipster in the 90s, having Celine Dion on display on my shelves was an absolute no go. IDK how it was in the US, but here she was very famous with her French songs, and the incarnation of everything wrong about the music industry. Having that CD would have ruined my reputation, if not my life. No respectable girl would have wanted to be my GF. Hell, I don't think anyone would have ever talked to me again.
[Edited 3/6/26 13:39pm]

ShellyMcG said:

I just think that a move like this would just piss off .ore people than it would satisfy. Fans of other artists aren't going to be all that excited at the prospect of a cover of an unreleased Prince song and Prince fans aren't going to be happy at all that the estate are allowing other artists to release vault material before we've had a chance to hear the Prince version.

Agreed. If I hear Bruno Mars singing I Wonder before I get a clean version in my hands, the estate will have hell to pay.

dustoff said:

databank said:

dustoff said:

Agreed. If I hear Bruno Mars singing I Wonder before I get a clean version in my hands, the estate will have hell to pay.

Good Lord. Bruno Mars again... I'm sorry but y'all world is so tiny That said, based on the reactions, ShellyMcG is probably right. This would probably not be well received by most of the Fandom.

My world is tiny because I don't care for Bruno Mars? I don't follow you.

Though if it makes you feel better, I'll stand corrected: If I hear Bruno Mars anyone singing I Wonder before an official release of the original, the estate will have hell to pay.

Just a reminder: Prince orders tribute alb...e Guardian

JorisE73 said:

FrankieCoco1 said:

JorisE73 said:

Just a reminder: Prince orders tribute alb...e Guardian

I didn’t get the memo from Prince to destroy my CD - I’ll have to fish it out of my collection and set fire to it now.

But serioulsy back in the NPGOnlineLTD days he asked fans to sent thwere bootlegs to Paisley Park and there were some fans who actually did, lol.
I wonder if they got anything in return.

dustoff said:

databank said:

dustoff said: Good Lord. Bruno Mars again... I'm sorry but y'all world is so tiny That said, based on the reactions, ShellyMcG is probably right. This would probably not be well received by most of the Fandom.

My world is tiny because I don't care for Bruno Mars? I don't follow you.

Though if it makes you feel better, I'll stand corrected: If I hear Bruno Mars anyone singing I Wonder before an official release of the original, the estate will have hell to pay.

The world of many people here seems tiny because they seem to believe the current musical scene is limited to the 25 best selling artists—who, obviously, aren't the most interesting. I already commented about that above.

JorisE73 said:

Just a reminder: Prince orders tribute alb...e Guardian

Prince was notorious for not wanting artists to cover him—something he couldn't do anything about, though, and that was all the more weird thet he, himself, covered others all the time.

.

I can understand the fact that he thought it wasn't fair that anyone can use your song. But then why didn't he live-up to his own satandard and refrain from covering other people's songs?

[Edited 3/9/26 18:44pm]

FrankieCoco1 said:

JorisE73 said:

Just a reminder: Prince orders tribute alb...e Guardian

I didn’t get the memo from Prince to destroy my CD - I’ll have to fish it out of my collection and set fire to it now.

I'm not quite sure he had grounds to do anything about this project. The only thing I could think of is his name on the cover, but in that context, isn't that fair use?

+ there were many other tribute albums bearing his name on the cover, and he didn't sue those labels AFAIK.

I'd say he was just trying his luck with a SLAPP lawsuit.

JorisE73 said:

ShellyMcG said:

JorisE73 said:

But serioulsy back in the NPGOnlineLTD days he asked fans to sent thwere bootlegs to Paisley Park and there were some fans who actually did, lol.
I wonder if they got anything in return.

Laughed at?

It was a funny thing to do indeed!

For Prince's defense, it really seems there were a few years (roughly 1997-2001) when he considered opening the doors to the vault, but it seems WB promptly told he he couldn't do that without them when it came to anything recorded before 1996. Besides CB in 1998, the Rave track and the material we got on NPGMC in 2001, Prince toyed with other similar projects at the time, such as Roadhouse Garden and Crystal Ball II. Without those WB contractual obligations, NPGMC may have been a venue for many more vault releases. Or perhaps Prince would have gotten bored with it and changed his mind anyway as always. But I suspect part of the reason NPGMC was reduced to nearly nothing after the first year was that Prince didn't think it was worth going on with it at that pace with only recent/new material.

databank said:

dustoff said:

My world is tiny because I don't care for Bruno Mars? I don't follow you.

Though if it makes you feel better, I'll stand corrected: If I hear Bruno Mars anyone singing I Wonder before an official release of the original, the estate will have hell to pay.

The world of many people here seems tiny because they seem to believe the current musical scene is limited to the 25 best selling artists—who, obviously, aren't the most interesting. I already commented about that above.

Remember that the Estate has two suits in charge that have no clue about real music, one is the owner of Source magazine, so he's not to be taken seriously.
There only concern is making money so having a obscure indie artist or real musician who doesn't sell anyhow will not be on there radar and they'll always choose those cxommercial clowns/frauds like Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and the like.

databank said:

JorisE73 said:

Just a reminder: Prince orders tribute alb...e Guardian

Prince was notorious for not wanting artists to cover him—something he couldn't do anything about, though, and that was all the more weird thet he, himself, covered others all the time.

.

I can understand the fact that he thought it wasn't fair that anyone can use your song. But then why didn't he live-up to his own satandard and refrain from covering other people's songs?

[Edited 3/9/26 18:44pm]

Maybe his real issue was more that people didn't ask for his permission to cover his songs (because they didn't have to) so he shut it down by default?

JorisE73 said:

databank said:

Prince was notorious for not wanting artists to cover him—something he couldn't do anything about, though, and that was all the more weird thet he, himself, covered others all the time.

.

I can understand the fact that he thought it wasn't fair that anyone can use your song. But then why didn't he live-up to his own satandard and refrain from covering other people's songs?

[Edited 3/9/26 18:44pm]

Maybe his real issue was more that people didn't ask for his permission to cover his songs (because they didn't have to) so he shut it down by default?

IDK why he targeted that one project, though, people covered him all the time.

[Edited 3/10/26 11:51am]

JorisE73 said:

databank said:

The world of many people here seems tiny because they seem to believe the current musical scene is limited to the 25 best selling artists—who, obviously, aren't the most interesting. I already commented about that above.

Remember that the Estate has two suits in charge that have no clue about real music, one is the owner of Source magazine, so he's not to be taken seriously.
There only concern is making money so having a obscure indie artist or real musician who doesn't sell anyhow will not be on there radar and they'll always choose those cxommercial clowns/frauds like Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and the like.

Yeah but I wasn't necessarily suggesting they do that.

Since we were in a hypothetical scenario, my point wasn't to assume for the worst, but for the best

What if the estate did anything worth while?