Sorry to put up the millionth thread about the Aladdin DVD but...

Prince has shot so many shows, videos, etc. that never saw the light of day & I'm wondering why this DVD did. After looking at the footage, he should have thought "OK, I spent some money shooting this concert ($35 is my guestimate) but it doesn't look great so I'll shelve it" & moved on with his next project. I mean, he shelved footage that big-time director Kevin Smith shot so it couldn't have been difficult to let this stuff go by the wayside!

I'm a cameraman by trade (video & stills) so it was really hard for me to watch (not that it's any easier for anybody else to watch!). I found myself constantly yelling at the TV (i.e. "Take the camera off of Auto Focus!", "More headroom please!", etc.) when I should have been singing along to the music.

Prince & the more rabid fams need to understand that we're not complaining for no reason (well, some people do but I'm not). It's just that we love the artist & the music & we would like to see it & hear it in the best possible presentation. I don't think that's too much to ask for. In fact, with a perfectionist like Prince, you'd think it would be common sense.

XtrueX said:

I saw Def Leppard last night and they had guys runing around with digital cameras filming for the wide screens and the quality was unbelievable. The show rocked too!

DMSR said:

Ooohh! Def Leppard so DOES Rock! (i've seen um 3 times live) Do you know what they are planning on doing with the footage?

BTW - is anyone else still shell shocked that "take me with you" isn't followed by "Raspberry Berret" on the DVD? I just don't know what to believe in anymore!

creamychemist said:

I don't know but those little cameras could do a much better job than whatever Prince used. Maybe he wanted his face to blurry on purpose to hide his age.

Let's face it, Prince has to financially produce everything he does these days and since his popularity is by no means "mainstream" anymore, perhaps he has to make some sacrifices. Sure in the 80s, he could afford a professional crew, but not anymore unfortunately. I havn't seen the DVD yet, but I'm somewhat relieved that I know not to expect too much visually.

toejam said:

Sure he can... He's just greedy and puts too much faith in idiots like Sam Jennings, who obviously hasn't got a clue of how to work a camera...
He probably used some intern to edit the shit, cos it's cheap labor...
And it isn't that expensive to shoot a show with next to nothing and make it look pretty amazing...
Look at NIN's "...And All That Could Have Been" DVD set...

I just don't understand why he used the DVD format for this release... Cos obviously he doesn't use the space provided on this format...
Grainy picture, shitty sound... What happened to quality?
I guess he forgot to take that with him when he left WB...
I've got 20 year old videotapes that look and sound better than this DVD...

Princey-boy stick to VHS tapes, since you obviously don't have a fucking clue of what DVD's are capable of...

Neversin.

Prince is the Mozart of the 21st Century...a genius in financial ruin...I hope he doesn't get buried in an unmarked grave

rainbowchild said:

What a joke... He doesn't even come close to the genius of Mozart...

Neversin.

i still have to wait a little while to be able to see this dvd.

i've only had the pleasure to see 'the work' via the internet.

that performance was cool and the camerawork was alright.

it didn't strike me at all as amateuristic or whatever.

maybe the picture quality could've been better.

but i didn't expect much from that avi file.

i was impressed with what i saw.

Neversin said:

Beore U go to through a search on the NET.

Do U even know who Mozart is?

Prince is the Mozart of this age, if I had to call it I'd say based on his body of work and his unbelievable range, not to mention his masterful instrumental playing. Not even mozart is accredited with being able to play so many (instrum.) so well.

the dvd is still better than a vhs tape! a half res dvd is better then a full res vhs...

and its not the dv cameras that ruined the picture quality of this dvd, its the way in which they encoded their master edit to put onto dvd... someone fucked up one little setting.

It could easily be corrected before they manufacture more dvd's.

Neversin said:

lmas said:

Yeah, I do... do you??
I just find it pathetic to call Prince the "Mozart of the 21st century"... His output in the "21st century" isn't exactly genius or something, it's mediocre at best...
I don't hear anything genius in shit like "The Rainbow Children" or his Jazz ventures or his mediocre piano work on "One Nite Alone"...

People said the same dumbass ignorant bullshit about him in the 20th century...
Bullshit like "He's the black Mozart"... Pathetic... If there was someone worthy of a title like that it would have been for example Duke Ellington...
Some people here should look further into music than just Prince's music...

Neversin.

Neversin said:

In defense of Sam, he had NOTHING to do with the filming of this show. Sam is a friend and i think name calling (e.g. "idiots like Sam") should have subsided after grade school.

eleven said:

First of all, Prince's organisation has done plenty of namecalling themselves over the years.

Secondly, while you're talking about grade school: you might have noticed that Sam's "talents" make most of Prince's recent output look like something produced by a grade school student. Next time you talk to him, inform him that record sleeves ain't supposed to look like crummy web graphics. He's at best an amateur website designer, he should know he's far out of his depth workign for Prince. Then again, we all know that there hasn't been a professional near PP in ages.

lmas said:

What an incredibly stupid post. You have significantly lowered my faith in the human race.

BartVanHemelen said:

BartVanHemelen said:

Maybe you're thinking of Jeremy - He's the one Prince has hired to do all the graphics on "record sleeves" as of the past two years.


As for "Prince's organisation has done plenty of namecalling themselves over the years."...If this is true then i guess you're no better. "If they can namecall then i'm gonna too" - is that your mentality?
Really you'd probably fit right into his camp then, eh?!

Hey at least the sound was ok...
Whatya want for 9 bucks?

At least he released something

As far as I'm concerned the DVD is nowhere near as bad as people are saying.
I guess I'll just join "Prince & the more rabid fams " in having that mediocre opinion For all those with superior knowledge I bow in constant admiration, but what I own is a half decent little concert of an excellent tour. Maybe its all about expectation levels...

Neversin said:

but you should have continued reading... a genius in financial ruin

Well anyway I felt rainbowchild was funny