Emancipation" and "Crystal Ball", which both would have been masterful as a single or even double disk, but then again we once again complain about those 2 LPS having to many songs, but would we have really rather have not even heard those songs, that we think he should have left off, at all. Not me I was very thankful to have more than enough PRINCE music. God knows I used to scour the earth for that abundance of Prince music in Bootleg form. And this was back in the day before Kazaa and Napster clones. Hell before the modern INTERNET

lmas said:

lol true..and as I said in your other thrread, yeah, I bet some of the songs that people wish were left off these releases would be held in higher regard if they were unreleased and on boot etc.

Happy with them the way they are - I might have chosen a different selection of tracks for CB, but I'm not complaining about what I got. As for Emancipation, while I HAVE put together a one-disc version for my listening pleasure (entitled ABBREVIATION), I figure I have the rest of my life to get into the music I'm not feeling on that album (namely disc 2, which I know other people looove), and if I never get into it, well, whoop de doo.

It's always funny to read the people who say that Prince needs to edit his output... because they cannot reach a unanimous (sp?) agreement as to what to keep and what to edit out. Which basically says that people will never be fully pleased.

Plus, the fact that certain songs that have "outtake" status really suck, but their outtake status alone cause people to hold those songs in high esteem calling for their official release.

So the editors (1) cannot agree on what to keep on the pared down album and (2) would probably go chasing after the "outtakes" that they wanted edited out, only to call for them to be officially released.

rdhull said:

sort of like what if "All my Deams", "Splash" Irresistable Bitch", Erotic City" and the like were included on "Purple Rain" would they be considered the "bad" songs on the LP or just songs "i'm glad he created in the first place" songs.

rdhull said:

Ok i didnt see that when i was posting . so I basically ended up saying it again LOL

lmas said:

You know you kick ass when your B-sides are better than most artists A-sides

Yeah, there's definitely a double standard when it comes to
Prince's official releases and outtakes. I have to say that Prince
get's it right way more often than not. Though there's a big
difference between Emancipation and Crystal Ball.

Crystal Ball is a random collection of outtakes, and isn't really
designed to 'work' as an album in it's own right. It's an
interesting snapshot of previously unreleased tracks that for
whatever reason never quite made it onto any proper albums.
The fact that it's 3 discs is neither here nor there, it could have
easily been 1, 2, 7 or 12 discs really, as it's not meant to
hang together as a cohesive whole (though obviously it's
been sequenced in a way that Prince thinks works best).

Emancipation is different. It IS meant to be listened to as a
cohesive whole, in the same way that Purple Rain, Lovesexy
or The Rainbow Children are (or any other proper Prince album).
Therefore there is a certain validity in discussing whether it's
too long, too short, too varied or not varied enough etc.

I do feel that a lot of outtakes are held in too high esteem.
I'm quite sure that had they been officially released, a lot of
them wouldn't be held in such regard as 'classics'. Of course
there ARE some real gems in the vault that it's a great shame
haven't seen the light of day, but there's usually a very good
reason they didn't make it onto whichever album they were
originally recorded for.

I, like many, like Electric Intercourse a lot, but would you really
have put it on Purple Rain instead of The Beautiful Ones? I think
not! The same goes for G-Spot, would you REALLY have
prefered it to Darling Nikki? Or Crucial instead of Adore on Sign
O' The Times? See, Prince DOES make the right decision the
VAST majority of the time. The same goes for a lot of the so
called 'original versions' of songs that people go on about. Of
course there are the odd tracks where I do genuinely think
the original version was superior to the released one
(Endorphinmachine springs to mind), but on the whole they
are the exception rather than the rule.

BorisFishpaw said:

Thank u for this!

NuPwrSoul said:

agreed , bang on , couldnt have put it better myself !

NuPwrSoul said:

True, and in the case of something like Emancipation, I have seen many threads where the first suggested tracklist for a 2CD set omits songs which the next person insists deserve automatic inclusion in a pared down version. All the contributors believe that a 2CD tracklist would have been a sure-fire winner, but that's where the consensus ends because there's no obvious agreement as to what should feature and what should be excluded.!!!

I would love to hear a perfect version of ELECTRIC INTERCOURSE, I think it is one of his best songs from back in the day, I wouldn't have removed a track off Purple Rain to fit it in but I would have made that a B-SIDE for sure.

Jolajeph