As of 4/18/14 Prince is in the news again and not for a name change or wearing assless pants on TV. He is in the news for his music. More specifically, his music from the 80’s. It was announced today that Prince will retain ownership of his master recordings he made for Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers retains the right to digitally remaster and re-release his old catalogue. Being a hardcore fan since 1983 this should be sending thoughts of Little Red Corvette’s and Purple Rain dancing in my head, however I am holding in a wait and see mode.
I believe that I own about 98% of Prince’s music both released and unreleased. Will these reissues contain the proper FULL B-sides from all the albums? Will CONTROVERSY contain BROKEN, the original TICK, TICK, BANG or SHE’S JUST A BABY? Will 1999 contain TURN IT UP, PURPLE MUSIC and MOONBEAM LEVELS? Given The Purple One’s recent religious conversion which has led to him eliminating certain songs forever from his set list and altering lyrics of others, will DARLING NIKKI now be reading a magazine rather than masturbating with it? Will the classic soundtrack contain the 11 minute COMPUTER BLUE and the 30 minute I WOULD DIE 4 U? I could go on and on but the point has been made. For a fan these are legitimate questions. Most hardcore fans are completest like me but if these reissues do not contain these tracks and others my interest will be diminished. The non-inclusion of unreleased tracks from 82-87 would be a possible deal breaker for me. The only reissue that I am enthusiastic about at this moment is SIGN “O” THE TIMES which is mixed extremely low. Hopefully Warner Brother will give each reissue the full deluxe route and each disc will contain a DVD of a professionally shot concert from each era. These are the things that fans want, but Prince has a history of not giving the fans what they want but rather he gives the fans what he thinks we want. A reissue should not consist of a sticker that says it is a reissue and a few new photos thrown in for good measure.
Does this deal also include a remastering and reissuing of his protégé albums as well? For me I would love to see a reissue of The Time’s first three albums, Vanity and Apollonia 6, Sheila E., Jill Jones, Madhouse and my personal favorite The Family. By now it should be no secret that those are Prince albums in disguise. As a fan these are of more interest to me because most have been out-of-print on cd for years. It now makes sense to me why Prince would not allow The Family and The Time, who are still recording, to use their original names. It seems that this has been in the works for years now. Maybe there is a method to his madness after all. However over the years, projects have been announced that have never surfaced. I’m still waiting on CRYSTAL BALL 2, and ROADHOUSE GARDEN but that is another issue. Perhaps now he has all his affairs in order and is finally ready to give his fans what they want.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of PURPLE RAIN and as part of the deal it is a remastering of this classic album as well. I am not up to speed on the whole remastering process but I would assume that it is a time consuming process and with June 25th not far away one would hope that this is not a rushed job. This is an important piece of his legacy and proper care should be taken to make sure that this is done right. Am I excited about the potential reissue of his classic albums? Of course. But as always with Prince I will be more excited when I am holding the purple banana in my hands.(Pause)
Add comment