R.I.P Prince

[kingricefan]

I think they aren't expecting the remastered edition of 1999 to sell anywhere near the copies that the remastered edition of Purple Rain sold. Most people only know Prince from the music for Purple Rain unfortunately. There's 30 years of music that he produced after PR but that's not what he's known for. The only other songs most people would even know him by are Kiss and Raspberry Beret. When he released Around The World In A Day, the follow up to PR, the sound/songs were so different from what the new fans wanted (they just wanted more in the vein of PR) and they started to turn their backs on him and the music. His antics with the press/Warner Bros. didn't help either. By the beginning of the 90's folks just grew weary of the negative publicity and left him altogether, even though the music he was making was incredible. It would be wonderful to see 1999 or Little Red Corvette make it back onto the singles chart again. I'm excited to hear what's on the other cd's- there's tons of songs that I have never heard before. 1999 was the album that made me a life long fan so it really holds a special place in my heart and memories.

 

[Gerald]

I think they aren't expecting the remastered edition of 1999 to sell anywhere near the copies that the remastered edition of Purple Rain sold. Most people only know Prince from the music for Purple Rain unfortunately. There's 30 years of music that he produced after PR but that's not what he's known for. The only other songs most people would even know him by are Kiss and Raspberry Beret. When he released Around The World In A Day, the follow up to PR, the sound/songs were so different from what the new fans wanted (they just wanted more in the vein of PR) and they started to turn their backs on him and the music. His antics with the press/Warner Bros. didn't help either. By the beginning of the 90's folks just grew weary of the negative publicity and left him altogether, even though the music he was making was incredible. It would be wonderful to see 1999 or Little Red Corvette make it back onto the singles chart again. I'm excited to hear what's on the other cd's- there's tons of songs that I have never heard before. 1999 was the album that made me a life long fan so it really holds a special place in my heart and memories.

Purple Rain is probably what he's most known for, yeah. Because the film really stikes a chord with many people. I know people who are not fans or not even strictly music fans, but they love that film.
Probably even Sign of the Times is not that well-known to the casual listener, even if it's regarded as his best album by music enthusiasts.
And then with The Most Beautiful Girl in the World you get that same effect as the Purple Rain film. Everyone just LOVES it somehow.

There's a lot on this release that I haven't heard either, although I'm not sure why something like this isn't on it. Or is it not an official remix?

 

[kingricefan]

Purple Rain is probably what he's most known for, yeah. Because the film really stikes a chord with many people. I know people who are not fans or not even strictly music fans, but they love that film.
Probably even Sign of the Times is not that well-known to the casual listener, even if it's regarded as his best album by music enthusiasts.
And then with The Most Beautiful Girl in the World you get that same effect as the Purple Rain film. Everyone just LOVES it somehow.

There's a lot on this release that I haven't heard either, although I'm not sure why something like this isn't on it. Or is it not an official remix?

This sounds like someone just slowed it down. I can't hear any difference other than that.

 

[Gerald]

This sounds like someone just slowed it down. I can't hear any difference other than that.

I had the same feeling, but I wasn't sure if there still weren't some other small differences as well.

Did he never do a remix of 1999 at the time of the original release. The longest version is the album version?

There are remixes of Little Red Corvette on it, but not of other songs it looks like.

 

[kingricefan]

I don't believe there are any other versions of 1999 other than what's on the album.

 

[Gerald]

I don't believe there are any other versions of 1999 other than what's on the album.

I wonder why he didn't do a remix, when he did one of Little Red Corvette. The latter charted higher in the US, but still 1999 made it to number 12. 1999 made it to 14 here, the other singles didn't chart.
I was surprised that Little Red Corvette and Delirious did better in the US than 1999.

Purple Rain (the single) made it to number 1 here (for 4 weeks) and only made number 2 in the US.

 

[Gerald]

I get the feeling he was already doing longer versions since the first album. This sounds very much like an extended version to me:



Or perhaps it's more like, he would shorten a song for a single release, and he would record the long version first. It's quite hard to say.

 

[Gerald]

It's possible since many songs on the 1999 album are already quite long, he felt it wasn't needed to do extended versions. Little Red Corvette and Delirious are the shortest.

This is also a fantastic version of International Lover that's on the new release.

 

[kingricefan]

I have avoided listening to any of the new songs that are being released from the 1999 album. I want to experience those songs as new. I usually won't read any of the excerpts that are released ahead of a new King novel either.

 

[Gerald]

I have avoided listening to any of the new songs that are being released from the 1999 album. I want to experience those songs as new. I usually won't read any of the excerpts that are released ahead of a new King novel either.

They could have included the New Master EP with the newly recorded version of 1999. I'm not sure if I ever heard that, but it's not online anywhere I think. I don't know how massively different it is.

1999: The New Master - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[kingricefan]

They could have included the New Master EP with the newly recorded version of 1999. I'm not sure if I ever heard that, but it's not online anywhere I think. I don't know how massively different it is.

1999: The New Master - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Most Prince fans hate the 'New Master' re-recording of 1999. I sure am not a fan of it.

 

[Gerald]

I listened to the full 1999 reissue on Youtube. And it's very good, great vault tracks and the Detroit concert is very good too and very well recorded. It's just that I find 80 euro a lot for this. The question is whether it will ever drop in price, because it seems they're going to do only one run of this and not reprint them - so likely in time they will become rare and only increase in price. My main interest though is the two discs of vault tracks, and to pay 80 euro mainly for that is a lot.
If they're gonna do more of these of other albums, it's gonna be costly to collect all the vault tracks.

I noticed that especially for Graffiti Bridge he used a lot of older songs. Can't Stop This Feeling I Got, New Power Generation, We Can Funk, Tick Tick Bang are all reworkings of much earlier songs.

Something else that stikes me as odd, is that Prince's first visit to the Netherlands was with the Dirty Mind tour. He performed in Paradiso, Amsterdam (the best known pop/rock venue in the Netherlands) on 29th of May, 1981.
Yet when you look at the official tour schedule of the Dirty Mind tour, it didn't have any legs outside the US. So I suppose the concerts he did in Europe after he finished the tour in the US (I don't know exactly how many apart from the Dutch gig) are not seen as officially part of the tour.

 

[kingricefan]

I have the remastered 1999 boxed set with all the bells and whistles and have listened to every disc except for the live concert recording. I even bought new headphones so I could just lay back on the floor and immerse myself in the music like I used to do up until anout 15 years ago. I am so amazed by this set!! My mind is totally blown by how great it sounds!! So much better than the Purple Rain remasters. My mouth was hanging open when I listened to Purple Musci. I had never heard this song before (along with most of the other vault tracks) and it is simply fantastic! I love how he mixed it- bass guitar on one side and rhythm guitar on the other. His voice sounds like he's floating above you and not at all part of the song. Crazy good!! There's so much music that is pulled from the background that I never heard before and trust me- I listened to this album hundreds of times over and over.

 

[Gerald]

I think 1999 is one of his best albums. Of all the big hits the title song is my absolute favourite. I think Dirty Mind is where his music became real interesting and unique, Controversy seems a bit of a transitional album, but on 1999 he perfected it. And with Purple Rain he made it accessible to the masses.

It's nice to hear completely different versions of songs you know, like Feel U Up, which I knew as the B-side of Partyman (from the Batman soundtrack). Or Irresistible Bitch.

One thing I wondered is why with some alternate takes he's talking through the recording to other musicians, giving directions. Wouldn't the talking ruin the recording for the album, or could he take that off later?

 

[Gerald]

I love the rawness of Dirty Mind and on Controversy I especially like the title song and Let's Work. But 1999 is his first masterpiece.
In terms of albums I would say his masterpieces are 1999, Purple Rain and Sign o/t Times. Perhaps you could add Parade, but I'm less sure about Around the World in A Day - I like it a lot, but it isn't quite as good as the others.
After that he made many good albums, but I'm not sure I would really consider any of them masterpieces on the same level as those three. With these albums even the B-sides are brilliant.

 

[kingricefan]

I think 1999 is one of his best albums. Of all the big hits the title song is my absolute favourite. I think Dirty Mind is where his music became real interesting and unique, Controversy seems a bit of a transitional album, but on 1999 he perfected it. And with Purple Rain he made it accessible to the masses.

It's nice to hear completely different versions of songs you know, like Feel U Up, which I knew as the B-side of Partyman (from the Batman soundtrack). Or Irresistible Bitch.

One thing I wondered is why with some alternate takes he's talking through the recording to other musicians, giving directions. Wouldn't the talking ruin the recording for the album, or could he take that off later?

I think some of those songs where he's talking would be considered demos. Plus they could always edit out the talking.

 

[Gerald]

I think some of those songs where he's talking would be considered demos. Plus they could always edit out the talking.

It may also be some sort of final rehearsal, where he is fine tuning the way it should be played. And when he's satisfied about that, in the next takes he will stop talking over it.

What is the video quality of the dvd concert in the 1999 set? Is it better than the concert in the Purple Rain set?

 

[Gerald]

I rewatched the concert on the dvd in the Purple Rain Deluxe set. On my previous tv it was hard to see at times what was happening on the stage, because it was so dark. But I now have a QLed which really enhances colours and it looked great on this! Everything was totally visible, a huge difference.

What I like is that they don't seem to have done any overdubs as usual on concert dvd's. This gives you more the feeling of watching an actual concert, mistakes and all. Usually concert dvd's seem just a little too perfect. The background singing on 1999 sounds really bad this way, but apart from that it's great overall.
It also must be the longest version of Purple Rain he did: the guitar solo at the end just won't stop and the instrumental intro is a lot longer too. All the jazzy moments actually are very similar to those on the Sign o/t Times movie - I didn't know at this point jazz was already such an influence on him.

 

[kingricefan]

I rewatched the concert on the dvd in the Purple Rain Deluxe set. On my previous tv it was hard to see at times what was happening on the stage, because it was so dark. But I now have a QLed which really enhances colours and it looked great on this! Everything was totally visible, a huge difference.

What I like is that they don't seem to have done any overdubs as usual on concert dvd's. This gives you more the feeling of watching an actual concert, mistakes and all. Usually concert dvd's seem just a little too perfect. The background singing on 1999 sounds really bad this way, but apart from that it's great overall.
It also must be the longest version of Purple Rain he did: the guitar solo at the end just won't stop and the instrumental intro is a lot longer too. All the jazzy moments actually are very similar to those on the Sign o/t Times movie - I didn't know at this point jazz was already such an influence on him.

The jazz influence came from his father. You're correct about the visibility of the concert- I had seen it before on youtube and it was way too dark to see alot of things that were happening on stage. Now you can see everything!

 

[Gerald]

The jazz influence came from his father. You're correct about the visibility of the concert- I had seen it before on youtube and it was way too dark to see alot of things that were happening on stage. Now you can see everything!

What is the quality of the dvd in the new 1999 set?

I haven't bought it yet, but I think I will soon. It's a lot of money, but it's just money; I probably regret it if it's gone. I'm wondering though if from now on all the releases will be so expensive. I'm hoping for Sign o/t Times or Parade next.

In the past the only Prince release I didn't buy, because I found it too expensive was the Crystal Ball set, which came out after Emancipation. And I kind of regret that now, but it was even more than the 1999 set. Maybe songs from it will reappear on future releases.