johnpiex said:

We have good basic information on most songs via Princevault, except for "Bestest Friend" (4:38).

Let's hope they provide much more info on all songs this time, it looks like they wanna do that.

But again, an uncertain wait till 28 august, or maybe even not.

They actually already could provide that, can do no harm to the official date of release.

It would show some improvement on their lack of decent communication.

-

Why didn't they provide more clear information on "Timeless"?

Why that choice?

Why (not a clear and detailed explanation on) the change of their course on releases? Even if it is pure financial, at least that would be honest and openly clear for all to try to understand.

Why didn't they explained basic info on each track yet? WHy not? Can do no harm. It can even attrack interest from media to write about it, and anxiously want to hear it.

Why only 9 songs?

Why a live song?

Why the artwork?

Why no video's yet?

-

And as far as I understand, Primary Wave has certainly played a somewhat more low-key role in this whole affair, refraining (for the time being) from sending out any unfiltered BS or ambiguous statements (unlike the two lightweights do).

But it does seem that PW are fully on The Estate’s side when it comes to future releases.
Perhaps we should hear more from them, interview them, probe them, see if there is a difference or not (in communication alone).

AvocadosMax said:

Just what is this.. Worse than the Michael Jackson estate and that’s saying something

The estate that is worth anywhere between $2.5 - $5bn? That one that does stuff? I say that as I stare at my Inart 1/6 Dangerous and Smooth Criminal MJ figures and having just enjoyed his biopic. Prince's estate has gone backwards since the heights of the 1999 and SOTT SDE's. Such a shame. Prince should be everywhere, whether people like commercial stuff or not.

trickyjoe7777 said:

Obviously so many things wrong with this but the ultimate kick in the balls for me is trimming Heaven to a radio edit - it's been an absolute grail for me (and many others) to have this pristine with presumably the start and the fuckwits lop over three minutes off of it.

i fucking despair

You will get that with the 'Timeless SDE' release next year

Marrk said:

AvocadosMax said:

Just what is this.. Worse than the Michael Jackson estate and that’s saying something

The estate that is worth anywhere between $2.5 - $5bn? That one that does stuff? I say that as I stare at my Inart 1/6 Dangerous and Smooth Criminal MJ figures and having just enjoyed his biopic. Prince's estate has gone backwards since the heights of the 1999 and SOTT SDE's. Such a shame. Prince should be everywhere, whether people like commercial stuff or not.

Word! The MJ estate are a godzillion times better than McMillions & company. Look even SOTT SDE wasn't perfect. Where the FUCK is the sax version of "Crucial" my personal favorite outtake by a mile

NICKthebrick said:

ShellyMcG said:

shakalakaboom said:

MOST of Prince’s songs over 6 minutes need an edit

What are the exceptions, in your opinion?

shakalakaboom said:

NICKthebrick said:

From reports elsewhere it sounds as if the version of Heaven is the mix Prince intended for The Dawn project.

. . I’m actually happy to hear this, as I’m firmly of the opinion that MOST of Prince’s songs over 6 minutes need an edit. Lots of noodly jamming in that catalogue, and there are so many songs that benefited from a prerelease edit. That 8 minute Heaven really loses steam about the 5 minute mark…. . . Also I don’t care if this is your favorite song and Prince can do no wrong.

Luckily, your opinion is in the minority.

Noodly jamming is the best.

homesquid said:

Marrk said:

The estate that is worth anywhere between $2.5 - $5bn? That one that does stuff? I say that as I stare at my Inart 1/6 Dangerous and Smooth Criminal MJ figures and having just enjoyed his biopic. Prince's estate has gone backwards since the heights of the 1999 and SOTT SDE's. Such a shame. Prince should be everywhere, whether people like commercial stuff or not.

Word! The MJ estate are a godzillion times better than McMillions & company. Look even SOTT SDE wasn't perfect. Where the FUCK is the sax version of "Crucial" my personal favorite outtake by a mile

I would say Prince's estate is now on par with MJ's. MJ's estate has infuriated me more than Prince's but only becaus s he's gone for a longer time than PRince.

NICKthebrick said:

If they were to release these kind of collections regularly say every 6 to 8 months I would be happy with that. Smaller collections you can really digest. Cheaper and more easily assembled. No need for great big books, just simple liner notes. Focus on the music. I actually think this would be the best way forward. Release deluxe editions of albums like they did with Around The World in a Day. Regular smaller vault releases like Timeless. Release live shows on their own seperate releases.

Makes zero sense.

Every other artist can figure this out but these folks can't?

olb99 said:

shakalakaboom said:

MOST of Prince’s songs over 6 minutes need an edit

What are the exceptions, in your opinion?

thanks for asking!

.

Well, i think the album versions of Controversy and Let's Pretend We're Married are perfection. DMSR too. and yet Automatic WEARS ME OUT. Lady Cab Driver: a total jam. but too damn long.

.

I think "Computer Blue" is perfection in its edited album version. I even like the first edit (7 or 8 minutes?), before the one that ended up on the album. that being said: the 14 minute hallway speech version is also perfection. it's not an exact science.

.

Temptation is too damn long. but the meandering story telling and LOOOONG intro of "Condition of the Heart" is exactly the right length.

.

"It's gonna be a beautiful night" is too damn long. somehow "hot thing" is not. ha ha! i don't know.

.

All 7 minutes of "Positivity" slams. Glam Slam needs a minute trimmed off, in addition to that dumb synth string ending.

.

ETC. ETC.

.

all my opinions, and i can't justify or explain any of my choices. oh, and I didn't even bother with the ballads. two words: International Lover.

[Edited 6/11/26 2:06am]

dustoff said:

Noodly jamming is the best.

ha ha! i know, i'm in the minority here. i just like when he gets that groove going and gets to the point. i would say that his best work always benefits from an edit, and the bonus is that the noodly jamming becomes the 12" version. and they are frequently FANTASTIC.

djThunderfunk said:

AvocadosMax said:

ShellyMcG said: You guys who purchase this crap will be the reason why they will continue to only put out half-assed releases Do not give them your money and stop your friends from buying this!!

Yes, and those that don't will be the reason if they don't bother with further vault releases.

It's lose/lose, hence the frustration.

Here's how money people in the entertainment industry think, illustrated by a current situation with sci/fi tv shows:

A new Stargate show was about to go into production. A new Battlestar Galactica show was in the planning stages. Both got cancelled/shelved. Why? Because recent Star Wars (The Acolyte) & Star Trek (Starfleet Academy) shows bombed hard. Fans turned on them because the shows sucked. The creators of the shows were focused on "the message" (aka "woke"), NOT on making good shows that respected the history of the IP. When the fans complained, criticized and explained exactly everything that was wrong with the shows and how/what they should be to make them good. The creators and the industry ignored the real criticism and derided the fans, calling them names. They blamed the fans for the failures all the while claiming to be aiming for a nebulous new and younger audience to take the franchises into the future. Sound familiar? For the most part, the younger audiences didn't show up, at least not in numbers necessary to justify the expense that went into the productions, as the older audiences, that clamored for more of what they've loved and followed for years checked out.

Of course bringing in new fans is essential to growing a franchise/IP/brand into the future, but, it has to be built on top of catering to the original audience (customers) or risks convincing the money men that it's just not worth it to finance future releases.

This is exactly where we are at with the estate which seems to be focused entirely on profit. We can stand our ground and refuse to buy the subpar new stuff, but then it's likely that we will never get the good stuff that we want.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't complain or criticize or let them know what they are doing wrong and what they need to do to make it right. We should keep sharing our opinions and ideas in the hopes eventually someone will listen. But, if we walk, they have no incentive to try to make us happy and will in fact blame us when they choose not to put anything out.

Like I said before... Lose/Lose. I for one have hope that if we continue to engage, eventually, someone will fire Londell and the next guy might listen to us. Maybe not, but I hope...

djThunderfunk said:

MIRvmn1 said:

djThunderfunk said:

I agree and if we don't support and buy Timeless, then the Estate will probably soon go back to more Purple Rain re-releases instead. I also think that the Estate should communicate more and let us know their plans, if Timeless is part of a series of vault albums. [Edited 6/11/26 22:38pm]

.

I did not bought ATWIAD SE as I never bought vynil repress of anything, I'm not a collector. I was disappointed for the short tracklist of Timeless, I was waiting for a new "Crystal Ball", at least 3 cds.

But I'm gonna buy it as soon as I can, because Timeless is a little step in the right direction: regular releases of vault tracks. I also like the tracklist, it is interesting and I like the idea to have a enjoyable 'album' instead of a heavy archive of alternate versions, demos et similia. The SDE are often unlistenable and some gems are sacrificed there.

I know I'm in the minority here, but despite the great material included on Sign or The Times SDE, I was disappointed. Those three CDs are soulless, packed with material but fail to convey the full extent of Prince's creativity during those years. There's too much, but not enough, at the same time.

I think the estate have to release different stuff for different audience: heavy archives with alternate versions, demos, jams for the hard fans, and light enjoyable albums for... fans, oblivious, but also casual listeners. For example, I think the Roadhouse Gardens tracks were a silly sacrifice, dismembered here and there in different SDEs, abandoned in NPGMC or still unreleased.

And well, I hope a leak of the Timeless album could emerge before end of august, I'd like to hear it this summer.

djThunderfunk said:

djThunderfunk said:

Yes, and those that don't will be the reason if they don't bother with further vault releases.

It's lose/lose, hence the frustration.

Here's how money people in the entertainment industry think, illustrated by a current situation with sci/fi tv shows:

A new Stargate show was about to go into production. A new Battlestar Galactica show was in the planning stages. Both got cancelled/shelved. Why? Because recent Star Wars (The Acolyte) & Star Trek (Starfleet Academy) shows bombed hard. Fans turned on them because the shows sucked. The creators of the shows were focused on "the message" (aka "woke"), NOT on making good shows that respected the history of the IP. When the fans complained, criticized and explained exactly everything that was wrong with the shows and how/what they should be to make them good. The creators and the industry ignored the real criticism and derided the fans, calling them names. They blamed the fans for the failures all the while claiming to be aiming for a nebulous new and younger audience to take the franchises into the future. Sound familiar? For the most part, the younger audiences didn't show up, at least not in numbers necessary to justify the expense that went into the productions, as the older audiences, that clamored for more of what they've loved and followed for years checked out.

Of course bringing in new fans is essential to growing a franchise/IP/brand into the future, but, it has to be built on top of catering to the original audience (customers) or risks convincing the money men that it's just not worth it to finance future releases.

This is exactly where we are at with the estate which seems to be focused entirely on profit. We can stand our ground and refuse to buy the subpar new stuff, but then it's likely that we will never get the good stuff that we want.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't complain or criticize or let them know what they are doing wrong and what they need to do to make it right. We should keep sharing our opinions and ideas in the hopes eventually someone will listen. But, if we walk, they have no incentive to try to make us happy and will in fact blame us when they choose not to put anything out.

Like I said before... Lose/Lose. I for one have hope that if we continue to engage, eventually, someone will fire Londell and the next guy might listen to us. Maybe not, but I hope...

I will buy Timeless because of the reasons you mention here but, regardless if we buy it or not, I'm not optimistic for the future.

On the other hand, I will not buy releases that don't feature any Vault material as I didn't buy ATWIAD last year. Maybe they will, at least, get this message from us : don't release anything if it doesn't include any Vault material. A 4-year-old boy would get it.

[Edited 6/12/26 7:05am]

MIRvmn1 said:

djThunderfunk said:

Here's how money people in the entertainment industry think, illustrated by a current situation with sci/fi tv shows:

I agree and if we don't support and buy Timeless, then the Estate will probably soon go back to more Purple Rain re-releases instead. I also think that the Estate should communicate more and let us know their plans, if Timeless is part of a series of vault albums. [Edited 6/11/26 22:38pm]

interesting. At this point, the Estate will NEVER get a single penny out of my pocket again.

Gooddoctor23 said:

Why isnt this news of a new album a sticky?

And why isn't it on the homepage?