Can anyone shed any light on this item:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/...egory=1570


Prince - Black Archives - Minneapolis Funk - French CD
Includes the ORIGINAL FULL LENGTH 21:46 version of AMERICA
STILL SEALED, MINT CONDITION

??

What is this - is it really Prince? Or like a cover version??

This is a pirated version (from vinyl no less) of the 12" version of the song thrown onto a Fernch CD compilation of several 'Minneapolis' artists. Not exactly an official release, but to most Europeans it is.

Jestyr said:

Thanks! So it's just the same as the 12-inch.
A close escape.

Although maybe I should buy it and send it to the Ways of the Pharaoh?

It's legit, though probably not to Prince.

Anxiety said:

Taken from vinyl? That's a pirate, kiddo.

Jestyr said:

I thought this compilation was a WEA release - in which case, why would they use vinyl as source?

I think you can get this comp on amazon.co.uk.

Anxiety said:

Its an official Warner's release.

You can buy it at Amazon France for 15.66 Euros.

http://www.amazon.fr/exec...45-0865754

That's £10.84 or $17.98

Thats weird... When you click on that link, it removes one zero from the URL...

The bit that says B0006AMGU - type an extra zero into the URL to see the page.

BinaryJustin said:

Wow! Binarytastic!

Anxiety said:

WEA gets away with releasing a lot of dodgy compilations because the international laws are very vague about what is and isn't official. That's how all those "Ways of the Pharoah" releases became such an issue. I'm sure you can get this from any number of web sites and shops just like the Brazilian Sign O The Times DVD, but they're still pirates.

Hell, I once was able to buy a bootleg called 'Deposition' in one of my local record shops!
[This message was edited Tue Sep 30 16:57:18 PDT 2003 by Jestyr]

Jestyr said:

There's a difference between a bootleg and a compilation CD.

Deposition is one of thousands of unofficial, unauthorized releases of stolen material (and very good it was at the time - kudos to Thunderball/Moonraker for such a string of releases).

This CD compilation being a WB release is an *official* release - i.e. it was allowed by Prince under the terms of his contract of which he 100% fully agreed to the terms of at the time of signing - thus making it an official release.

Send all complaints to:

Way Of The Dufus
P.O. Dorksville
Sycophantland
UR1 F00L

Does anyone actually own a copy of this CD?

If so, can they say whether or not the long version of America
is taken from vinyl or not.
.

BorisFishpaw said:

Just ordered it from Amazon.fr last week. I expect it to arrive shortly since I'm living in Germany. As soon as it's here, I'll post the info (if no one else gets it earlier ).

Wolf

I can't believe how much that CD went for on Ebay when it looks as if this compilation is still in print.

If I could read French and had a credit card, I could buy a hundred of the things, sell them for £15.00 each and make a killing.

I definitely need the full-length America in CD quality...

Why don't Amazon take PayPal? Its very annoying! I don't want another credit card in my life.

BinaryJustin said:

Well, I haven't tried any UK/US sites but you can also order at www.jpc.de. Just search for "Minneapolis Funk" in the "Pop" category. It sells for 17.99 EUR which makes it more expensive than ordering with amazon.fr. Yet I think they won't accept PayPal either.

Obviously, it's a German site but they offer a translated version - unlike amazon.fr. Well, French are somewhat special concerning their language...

Btw, got the notice today that my copy from amazon.fr was sent out.

Wolf

I can't believe no one here has the original 12"!!!

Do U?

G.

Giovanni777 said:

Yes, I do. I just need it in CD quality.

Romance1600 said:

I knew someone would say the comparison was wrong. All I was saying is that just because something is available by 'official' channels, that doesn't make it official. You have no idea what the terms of Prince's contract were so stop talking out of your ass.

I'm sorry to dissappoint you guys, but these releases are at the chagrin of both Warner Bros. and Prince. WEA is a separate business entity from Warner Bros records and as such has a separate profit center and plays by different rules. Their releases are governed by international laws which are vague about what kinds of quality controls are in place for products released under their banner. Someone can make any type of compilation distribute it through WEA and sell it as 'official' in the european market. You could have a cassette recording of Prince playing racketball and throw it on a compilation of 'minneapolis' artists and sell it under those terms.

Check out this post from amp:

http://groups.google.com/...39&rnum=10

Just because somebody says you can hear what sound like vinyl "pops" doesn't mean its been transferred from vinyl!

There's a very audible "pop" on Kiss. The bit where he sings "My love will be your food". Its on the master tape...

How can WEA not be a subsidiary of Warner Music which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. which is a subsidiary of Warner Entertainment Group which is a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner?

I'd forgot about this release till I saw this post.

If I was still into collecting Prince, I would have got this CD already.

Like Boris said, anyone have this wanna confirm the sound quality and such?

I do classify it as an official release.

BinaryJustin said:

Buy it. Enjoy it. It's a transfer from vinyl.

Actually Warner Music Group is a subsidiary of WEA and Time Warner is the parent organization. They recently dropped the AOL from their name.
[This message was edited Wed Oct 1 16:22:14 PDT 2003 by Jestyr]

I have this CD. Its not a transfer from Vinyl.

Its actually fractionally shorter than the vinyl version, but its only seconds.

Its not "re-mastered" so there is little gain, but i needed to get it to keep up the collection of every official release.

I tranfered my vinyl to CD, at a high db, and it actually sounds A LOT better.

Jestyr said:

Ok. That makes collecting (and even buying standard Prince records, if not records at all) a really hard task. According to what you say, most (if not all) European items are simply might be considered illegit.

Let's see. I got here some samples:

CD5 - Cream - 9362-40213-2
(P)&(C) 1991 WEA International Inc. A Time Warner Company.

CD5 - Gett Off - 9362-40188-2
(P)&(C) 1991 WEA International Inc. A Time Warner Company.

CD5 - 7 - 9362-40732-2
(P)&(C) 1991 WEA International Inc. A Time Warner Company.

CD - The Gold Experience - 9362-45999-2
(C)(P) Warner Bros. Records for the U.S. and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the U.S.

CD - Diamonds and Pearls - 7599-25379-2
(C)(P) Warner Bros. Records for the U.S. and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the U.S.

etc. etc.

It simply is a question of rights management. WBR handles the U.S., WEA handles the rest of the world. Same with any other labels who have their respective subsidiaries.

Or do you think we are supposed to buy only U.S. imports if we're living outside the U.S.? I consider this neither intelligent nor intended (by Time Warner *or* Prince).

International markets are different by their very nature. Europeans might be interested in other selections for single release than Japanese people or US-residents. Ever noticed the difference in the respective charts? Ever noticed the variety of Best-of-releases by Bowie released recently? I guess there were 5 to 10 different versions. So it only makes sense to release some compilation over here and not elsewhere. Actually, this series of funk compilations we're talking about is only released in France. There are some other editions like New York Funk Vol.1-3, Detroit Funk etc.

YET. There are indeed some quite suspicious subsidiaries used for "recycling" any content a label owns the right to. See insight-music (spelling) for EMI. Over here in Europe, they only distribute via TV ads.

Wolf

i love cake batter drums

Jestyr said:

Thank You.
We do not see Prince's statements from WB. We have no idea what arrangements or payments are taking place.

SquirrelMeat said:

OK. I am so sick of trying to help out fellow orgers who just live in complete denial. I just figured someone might be very dissappointed if they paid some hard-earned money for this set, only to discover that they could have transferred this to CD from their own vinyl version with better results. So I posted what I knew to be true. But the usual argue-for the-sake-of-arguing crowd have to add their piece in so this time I had to solicit some sort of verification.

Here's an email exchange between me and the guy in France who championed this compilation. I found the web site here:
http://www.fonkadelica.co...chives.htm


From: Haskell, Jesse
To: fonkadelica.fr.fm
Subject: Minneapolis Funk
Sent: Wed 10/1/2003 5:22 PM

Cher M. Augros:

J'ai une question au sujet de votre trouille merveilleuse de « Minneapolis de compilation ». Mes ventilateurs et moi de prince de camarade sommes justes se demandant est-ce que si la version de l'Amérique qui apparaît sur cette compilation (qui n'a jamais été disponible par l'intermédiaire du CD avant que - merci beaucoup) a été transférée directement à partir du vinyle 12 ? libérez. Aucun jugement - simplement une demande de l'information. Nous avons un wager que nous souhaitons arranger avec votre aide.

Merci beaucoup !
Jesse Haskell
Burbank, CA
USA


I received this response:

From: Augros, Chistophe [dj.kauj@worldonline.fr]
To: Haskell, Jesse
Subject: Prince
Sent: Thu 10/2/2003 4:39 PM

Oui, la version du "America" de Prince a été remasterisée à partir du 12' inch vynil.

Christophe Augros


Put that in your translator and smoke it.

bump.

would anyone like to buy a set of Guitar pix from me...he played these bad boys on the JOTY/NPS Tour 1998

NPD313 said:

Nice hijack.