errant said:

No they have the right to the set of songs that were within. The only thing WB cant do is place his music within another grouping of artists or any other form without his consent. The Ultimate was a joint venture with WB TVT and Prince, who was brought in for input, which he did not give, tracklisting he was given allowances on given his "no cursing" beliefs now, which is why those songs were pulled. True that warner cannot just release compilations "without" his knowledge, BUT he cannot block them from use of what they have, unless the original terms are comprimised. Which is why warner can re-issue PR this year with a 25th anniversary sticker on it, and capitalize, as long as they dont touch anything within or the original form

lastdecember said:

No. I'm sorry. You're just wrong. They had to get Prince's permission to release "Ultimate" as part of the negotiation to get out of his contract was that he gave them "C&D," "The Vault" and one compilation ("TVBOP").

They do not have the right to release any more compilations without his permission and a new agreement, which is what they got when they put out "Ultimate."

errant said:

Prince also gave back shitloads of money besides CD and the Vault, by the way, Vault was not counted, but accepted, big difference, they washed their hands with him at that point. What your missing about the "Ultimate" was the fact that WB wanted to remove the Hits B sides, from PRINT which they did, this was the replacement for it, which Prince agreed to, THE HITS B SIDES is gone now, you can still find hits 1 and hits 2, though they are not in print, they just dont sell anymore. The Bsides was removed due to its list price (53.99) and cost of manufacturing, this is why you got the "Ultimate" which technically is NOT NEW for the most part, all that stuff is within wb right. This release is mainly taking the place (and affordable) to whomever still didnt have the Hits B sides.

lastdecember said:

Hits 1 and Hits 2 are still in print. They're everywhere right now, multiple copies in many stores. And there's a new issue of them in eco-friendly packaging.

So... care to keep going?

I state again, factually, WB did not have the right to release "Ultimate" without Prince's permission/blessing, and he even requested tracklist changes, which they agreed to. The last release they were entitled to was "TVBOP" and no others without new permission and a new contract to do so. That was "Ultimate".

errant said:

Packaging has nothing to do with being in print, what is out there is what is left, big difference the cut off date of "print" past, unless you've worked with the purchasing of record labels music and direct from vendors the difference is not known. True there are shit loads in stores, thats what is out there, dumped, thats it go get them because they aint coming back. What are you stating is what you believe as a "prince fan", you over estimate the mans control, just like others who think he is the one that pulls down the websites and things like that, he does not have that power. The Ultimate was a replacement, for the Hits B Sides set, there was orders to have this removed, this is what was told to vendors wanted to purchase this set, due to tracks,cost packaging etc..it was viewed as a poor representation of Prince and he asked that it be removed, the Ultimate was then brought in, which WB funded, Prince got nothing extra for it, just his normal cut, he allowed advertising, for a select time, at which time TVT was brought in to do the advertising, he did not want WB to do it. So thats what Vendors that did the buying were told, who are unbiased, and really dont care about what we think as Prince Fans, who seem to think he has alot more control than he does. His limits are there, he has some control, but compared to others from his time, he is near the bottom of the control charts.

I'm sorry. I stopped reading about 2 lines in. You're done. After so many years of this, I'm left only feeling that you are a blowhard that has no real information about the music industry. What you present is common knowledge at best and theoretical at worst. Working at Sam Goody for 20 years does not mean you know everything there is to know about the record industry (or anything apparently).

I'm done arguing with you. I'm done reading your posts. Just because it sounded good in your head when you thought it up doesn't mean it's true and it's time I stopped going around and around with you because all you want to do is talk until you're blue in the face trying to convince everyone (including yourself) that you know what you're talking about, that you have connections, etc.

Done. Have fun.

Beatles remasters!

nd33 said:

My dad has been steadily collecting all of The Beatles albums on CD, I think he has them all now from the original albums right up to Love.

What do you think the stereo remasters (and indeed these new Mono remasters) would offer over and above what he has already bought?

Serious question: why would anyone get the Mono versions? I know there's "authenticity", but how do they sound?

Listening to the new mixes on the Love soundtrack, I think we are in for a real treat. Those old songs really cleaned up well!

lastdecember said:

You gotta be kidding.Prince and Madonna have huge,worldwide fanbases who would rush out to buy remasters of their albums.Hell,there are many less popular artists who are having their catalogs upgraded (Lenny Kravitz's first album 'Let Love Rule' for example).Are you gonna tell me that a Lenny Kravitz remaster would sell more copies than a remastered 'Like A Prayer' or 'Sign O The Times'? Trust me,the demand for Prince and Madonna remasters is there.If Warners is too stupid to realize this,well that explains why they are a sinking ship these days.
[Edited 4/8/09 5:51am]

I'm excited.

depends.... if you read the specifics they are messing with the compression and volume of the tracks.... we'll see how it comes across.

errant said:

wow....

Se7en said:

From my post earlier:
"The stereo mixes were done as an after thought for most of their albums, as mixing in stereo was thought of as more of a novelty initially.

All the time and love was put into making the mono mixes amazing....they're not just the stereo mixes collapsed into mono, they're actually completely different mixes!"

So there is plenty of reason to consider the mono set!

I totally agree with you that the "Love" album sounds absolutely f***ing amazing! BUT, ALL THE SONGS ON THAT ALBUM WERE FULL REMIXES NOT JUST REMASTERS (using a combo of the latest and best classic studio equipment available)...completely different story.

KeithyT said:

I guess it depends on which versions he has been collecting. I get the feeling that there are a bunch of different pressings of the Beatles albums around the world.

My dad has a bunch he bought online. I think this is an example of one of the ones he has:
http://www.amazon.com/Har...420&sr=8-1

Not sure if all the albums are already available in Mono and Stereo versions on CD or not....

Can't really say what these remasters will have over the already available versions until we get to check em out and have a listen.

There's always the chance that they will be "modernised" with the mastering (ie harsh with heavy compression/limiting). But if the same people are involved as with "Love" I think it could be a very nice remastering job.

nd33 said:

OK - that makes more sense. When I hear the term "mono" I think of music coming out of just one side of speakers.

What you're saying is that what comes out of both sides will be different mixes (2 separate channels, just not mixed together for "stereo").

I seem to remember messing around with the balance knob on my car radio and hearing different things.

lastdecember said:

a little while ago, rougly around the same time as the Ultimate collection,
the Hits/Bsides pacakage was re-released in europe very cheaply.

does that mean these were not re-releases but instead a dump load of the
unsold copies? iirc they all had a new releasenumber/barcode that was
not the same as the original release.

also, when ultimate was supposed to be released prince demanded (and also
managed) it be pushed back since it would coincide with the release of his
own new album 3121.

prince complained to the high heavens about TVBOP and he obviously was
not happy with the whole Ultimate package. if he was so involved in it,
why all the hoopla about pushing back the release date and even trying
to get the whole release cancelled?

his whole back catalogue and who owns what or has the right to publish,
repack or re-issue and remaster what seems very muddled.

all i know is that if it was strictly up to warners, we would now have
our re-releases together with every scrap that was left on the cutting
room floor from those albums in expanded-repackaged-deluxe versions.

everyone is being remastered these days. look at miles davis' catalogue.
those remastered and expanded boxes are finger licking good. surely the
prince back catalogue of classic 80s albums would be worth someone's
while as well.

and why do people say warners did not release madonna remasters? they did.
i've got remastered copies of The First Album up to True Blue.

lastdecember said:

Either Prince has agreed to these compilations here (talking about 4 of those compilations which contain material from his WB years) or they can do it without asking him specifically:
http://www.7digital.com/a...lAppearsOn

On a related note: maybe the contracts vary by region, meaning that the European division has more freedom in putting him on compilations... because these are not the only compilations I've seen Prince on... I know of at least one or two Icelandic 80s compilations released in the late-90s that contain Prince songs.

Se7en said:

When talking music being played on a system which has 2 speakers, a mono mix means the exact same thing will be coming out of both speakers.

A true stereo mix will sound wider because there will be differing signals coming out of the left & right speakers.

In the 60's when the Beatles records were getting released, "stereo" sound was in it's infancy. Therefore most of their albums were primarily mixed in mono with the stereo mixes being thrown together quickly to satisfy what may have been considered a novelty market at the time.

The difference's that may be apparent between the mono and stereo mixes are things like different EQing, Effects and even instrument parts that may be absent in one or the other...and obviously the stereo mixes have different instruments panned to one side or the other. Often in the stereo mixes you will hear instruments in either speaker but not in both, so if one of your speakers is not working you will hear only half the parts.

Anyways, the gist of all this is, that alot of time was spent creating the mono mixes for their early albums and the stereo versions of the same albums were thrown together as an afterthought. Hence the differences I described above.
[Edited 4/9/09 22:18pm]

Can't wait. The "love" ablbum released two years ago was excellent.

nd33 said:

Yes, the stereo versions were an afterthought, but that was also 45 years ago. Recording and mixing technology has come a LONG way.

I guess what I am asking is which one will sound better overall, taking time and technology into consideration.

ehuffnsd said:

You wanna know what the messed part about this is? His stank ass will probably wait until he has all of them before even thinking of doing anything with them, if he even does at all. So what are we talking 15 years, because there was a 2 year gap between 1999 and Purple Rain, so that put him having everything from For You to Love Symbol in 2028.
[Edited 4/12/09 5:36am]

Se7en said:

That's true, technology has come along way. But unless they remix the stereo albums from the original multi tracks, they are still the same stereo mixes that were the "afterthoughts". AFAICT, they are only remastering, not remixing, therefore, my eyes are on the mono set

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

I don't trust Prince at all Just because he re-gains ownership of these albums doesn't mean that he will do the right thing and remaster them.He's proven to be very unreliable when it comes to things like this.It's like he wants to erase his past completely and have his fans only buy his new shit.