I am of the opinion that the ONA live performance was musically his best tour ever and if I could choose to have one tour on CD it would be that tour. With that being said, if the ONA Live CD was a NPGMC offering I think most of us would be happy. But this is being billed as a commercial release to the masses and it is going to dissappoint many people. It boasts of having hits like "I wanna be your lover", "Do Me Baby", "Adore", "Diamonds and Pearls", etc., etc. But these songs are really just short piano versions that will undoubtedly dissapoint the average listener. It would have been a much better idea to release the Hit and Run show for his first commercial live CD release and the masses would have been very happy and it could have been one of the biggest selling live CD sets. People want to hear the full version of Purple Rain, Kiss, Get Off, Uptown and other songs he played on that tour. They do not want to hear Family Name, or Muse to the Pharoah or Mellow. I do, but they do not. I'm not complaining about getting ONA Live, personally, I am very happy that he is releasing this show, but I think that it will be an overall dissapointment. Not that he is worried about commercial success, but if you are going to do something, do it right.

Donn

Sometimes ya gotta give 'em what they need instead of what they want.

Its 2002 not 1984. Do the ppl even know what they want, if they never hear what they need? If he released a Greatest Hits Live CD then we'd all b pissed 2! I'm extremely happy with the tracklisting and if it doesn't sell then so be it!

Yeah, they know they want familiar hits (talking about casual fans). Though there might be a small portion that will hear it (depending on distribution) and like some of the new stuff. But people shouldn't expect this to be a huge seller.

Well I'm kinda glad that he's doing what he's doing. It's more for *US* ya know? And the people who aren't real big fans will settle for the hits collection rather than something live.

CarrieLee said:

That's what I think too.

Btw, Donny, wrong forum.

what does Prince need most? A modestly priced sell-through of live hits (old music) or a deluxe testament to his strength as a live performer?

The former will likely "put him on the charts", but the later will serve him greater recogniton as a great artist and performer.
[This message was edited Thu Sep 26 11:34:08 PDT 2002 by PFunkjazz]

If you want the hits, Rave2000 is a good place to start. You can even burn an audio version if you only want sound.

mrchristian said:

How do I burn an audio copy?

Well it depends on your CD burner--but my sister's CD Recorder(I think she has a Sony) has an 'AUX' input that lets you record from an outside source. We hook up her DVD player to it. I bought GM's greatest hits on DVD and recorded them onto my own compilation.
With a CD recorder make sure it has a 'Coaxial input' if you're getting one.

Anyone with a CD burner have any info on how to record from DVD to CD?

(edit: i would imagine you'd download the DVD songs onto your computer then copy them onto a blank CD--only the video obviously wouldn't be shown--another thing i do is hook up my DVD player to my receiver and play it just like a CD, no recording needed--but, i like it mobile so i can play it on my Discman)
[This message was edited Thu Sep 26 13:38:10 PDT 2002 by mrchristian]

PFunkjazz said:

Ur right man ! I think that in Europe we r more interested in the musician than in the hitmaker .

Maybe he will use the beautiful full version of Adore from the ONA concert in Hollywood.. Anyone heard that one live?

He did His Best Live Set "Small Club 88" IMHO.I ain't expecting anything close to that.I expect this Set will be Good but that was something else IMHO.

donnyenglish said:

From a marketing and pure consumer point of view, I know where you're coming from. But sometimes I think we (the die hard fans) are more afraid of Prince's commericial failure than Prince is. Personally, I think that The Rainbow Children was another one of those "defining moments" in Prince's career and now is the time for him to capitilize on that. For sure, The Rainbow Children has even alienated a lot of Prince's so-called die hard fans. But as an artist, I believe that what has inspired Prince to create TRC and tour the material is burning inside him to the point where it MUST be expressed. Aritistically and spiritually, I don't even think it's much of an option for him to do what he's doing, this is simply how it has to be for him to be at peace.

As true die hard fans, I think we ought to first want to seek out the artistic experience that Prince shares with us, and then hope for, wish for, the commercial success of the art (in that order).

This in the wrong forum by the way

jimipaisley said:

That's the case really often with a lot of American artists that tour there, moreso than in America.

mrchristian said:

There is a program called SMARTRIPPER which rips the video and audio off of a dvd.Then you can burn it to a vcd or just make an audio cd.You can also make a vcd where the audio is also playable on a regular cd player.I burn them all the time.