For You
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCHVR4V/?tag=imwan-20

Prince
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCD4K3B/?tag=imwan-20

Dirty Mind
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCKF67M/?tag=imwan-20

Controversy
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCNJ7Z8/?tag=imwan-20

1999
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCGNBN2/?tag=imwan-20

Around The World In A Day
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCJRNDL/?tag=imwan-20

Sign O' The Times
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCL1KH7/?tag=imwan-20

Lovesexy
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCLHF4G/?tag=imwan-20

Come
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCC7VPG/?tag=imwan-20

The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCKF67N/?tag=imwan-20

The Hits 1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCHSMMC/?tag=imwan-20

The Hits 2
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCB87Q4/?tag=imwan-20

Description
For You:
"Every time you go into the recording booth, you have to play like this is your only shot.” —Prince, 1978

The album credits on Prince’s debut album say it all: “Produced, arranged, composed, and performed by Prince.” When Prince entered the studio to lay down the tracks on For You, the stakes were high. Not only was it a chance to prove himself to the world as a talented songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer — but at only 19 years old, he was about to become the youngest artist in Warner Bros. history to produce his own album and record every part on it himself.

Prince:
“This one’s a lot nastier.” —Prince, 1979

Prince began work on his sophomore album just seven months after releasing his debut. The album pulses with an electric energy, especially on the dance singles “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” Prince would perform both of those songs on his national television debut on American Bandstand following the release of Prince, showcasing his increasing interest in transferring the energy of the studio to the stage. Prince was performed, recorded and produced by Prince, with two members of his live band, the drummer Bobby “Z.” Rivkin and bassist André Cymone, credited as “heaven-sent helpers.”

Dirty Mind:
"I said to myself, ‘If I could put my blood stream on vinyl, then this is what it would be.’" —Prince, Ebony, 1986

Dirty Mind is the sound of Prince’s musical vision being fully realized. After toiling away in the studio for three years attempting to concoct the perfect genre-defying mix of rock, synth pop, funk and new wave, his third album for Warner Bros. Records finally unleashed the pent-up energy that had been simmering at Prince’s live shows. The recordings heard on Dirty Mind were originally intended to be demos, but Prince found the material to be so powerfully honest and of-the-moment that he wanted it released urgently. After a brief back and forth with Warner Bros. — the label was concerned that the sexually explicit and controversial lyrics on songs like “Head” and “Sister” would make radio airplay impossible — Prince prevailed and Dirty Mind was released on October 8, 1980.

Controversy:
“More than my songs have to do with sex, they have to do with one human’s love for another, which goes deeper than anything political that anybody could possibly write about.” —Prince, 1981

Released in October 1981, Controversy captures Prince’s evolving worldview, and brings his songs out of the bedroom and onto the dancefloor and into the streets to protest the political tension that would come to define the era. “We need a new breed — leaders, stand up, organize,” Prince proclaims on “Sexuality,” setting forth a new mission statement: that the personal (and sexual) is also political, and that the quickest route to liberation is to “let your body be free.” When Controversy was released, The New York Times declared that “Prince’s black-white synthesis isn’t just a picture of what could be, it’s a prophecy.”

1999:
“I didn’t want to do a double album, but I just kept writing…” —Prince, 1982

Considered one of the most iconic and influential double albums in rock history, Prince’s 1999 was released at a major turning point in the artist’s career. After years of struggling to break out of the R&B charts, he experienced his first true pop crossover moment with the mega-hits “Little Red Corvette,” “1999,” and “Delirious, “ shattering barriers with his revolutionary blend of rock, funk, R&B and new wave pop, and making history by being one of the first Black artists to have their videos in heavy rotation on MTV. Musically, 1999 achieved something rare in pop music: It capitalized on a very specific mood from the time it was created, yet the resulting sound is timeless, and its appeal has endured for decades.

Around The World In A Day:
“I think the smartest thing I did was record Around the World in a Day right after I finished Purple Rain. I didn’t wait to see what would happen with Purple Rain. That’s why the two albums sound completely different.” —Prince, 1985

In the mid-1980s Prince was moving at an unbelievably fast pace; recording sessions for the follow-up to Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, were already underway before the film had even opened in theaters, and the completed album was released just two weeks after Prince and his band completed their six-month Purple Rain Tour. Few albums showcase Prince’s fiercely independent taste quite like Around the World in a Day, which joyfully whisks his new fans in a dizzying array of sonic directions. Pulling in Middle Eastern instruments like the darbuka drum, finger cymbals and the lute-type guitar the oud, Prince and the Revolution weave a decidedly paisley tapestry of psychedelic, dreamy sounds.

Sign O' The Times:
“I feel that we’re on the brink of something. It is going to be strict and wild and pretty.” — Prince, 1986

More than any other release in his four-decade-long recording career, Prince's iconic double album Sign O' The Times captured the artist in a period of complete reinvention. Primarily recorded between the end of 1985 and beginning of 1987, the era saw the dissolution of his band The Revolution, the end of his engagement to Susannah Melvoin, and the creation (and ultimate abandonment) of the albums Dream Factory, Camille, and Crystal Ball. By the end of that period of transformation, Prince emerged with one of his most urgent and wide-ranging releases to date — an epochal double album that would be hailed as a creative, critical, and commercial triumph. 2 CD album.

Lovesexy:
“Lovesexy was a mind trip, like a psychedelic movie. Either you went with it and had a mind-blowing experience or you didn’t.” —Prince, Rolling Stone, 1990

Lovesexy was not the album that the music industry was expecting Prince to release in 1988. In what Jon Pareles of The New York Times described as “one of the most enjoyable and peculiar moves of the 1980s,” Prince announced that he would follow up the critically revered Sign o’ the Times with The Black Album, a raw collection of hard-rocking, funky dance music. But then, a mere week before its scheduled release, he scrapped his plans and demanded that Warner Bros. destroy all copies of the album. Only one of the songs from that album, “When 2 R in Love,” would be saved from the cutting room floor, and within seven weeks Prince had recorded an all new collection of songs to join it on the album Lovesexy. Lovesexy was a brighter, lighter, and more melodic release, inspired by the more spiritual direction that Prince’s music had started to take in the second half of the decade. “We need love and honesty, peace and harmony, positivity,” he sings in the album’s closing track, echoing the sentiment that courses throughout the album: after confronting society’s deepest troubles in his earlier political work, Lovesexy sought the unite and uplift. In Prince’s words, Lovesexy was his gospel album.

Come:
"Come. Get Wild. Peace." —PRN, 1995 Brit Awards

With the album cover art depicting Prince in front of a cemetery gate, and the years 1958-1993 scrawled under his birth name, it was clear that 1994 would mean the beginning of a new era for a newly reborn artist. Come would be the final album to be released under the name “Prince” until 2001’s The Rainbow Children, and it serves as the first chapter in a new era of his artistry—an era when he would simply be known by his unpronounceable symbol, and would establish himself as a commercially independent, revolutionary force in the music industry.

The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale:
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale is a collection of previously unreleased songs from Prince’s legendary vault that was released by Warner Bros. Records in 1999, shortly before the release of his new studio album on Arista Records, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. Prince (then known as his unpronounceable symbol) had submitted the collection of songs to the label a few years earlier, complete with artwork and a brief liner note: "The enclosed material was written during the period beginning 1/23/1985 and ending 6/18/1994 and was originally intended 4 private use only."

The Hits 1:
Prince’s first compilation ever, The Hits 1, was released as a stand-alone album and as part of a three-disc box set, The Hits/The B-Sides on September 10, 1993. The Hits 1 contains 16 of Prince’s best-known singles released between 1978 and 1993, along with two previously unreleased tracks: “Pink Cashmere” and Prince’s own rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which he had originally written for his protégé act The Family and had recently become a global hit as performed by Sinead O’Connor.

The Hits 2:
Released in conjunction with The Hits 1, and made available as both a stand-alone release and as part of the three-disc box set, The Hits/The B-Sides, The Hits 2 contains some of Prince’s most provocative singles from his early career, including “Head,” “Dirty Mind,” and “Gett Off.” In addition to the 16 popular singles from his first 15 years as a recording artist, The Hits 2 also included the previously unreleased tracks “Peach” and “Pope.”

Sony is releasing these CDs to replace older pressings which were on other labels. The new CDs supposedly all feature the most recent remasters of each album, but they don't include any bonus tracks.

well, you knew they were coming.....no bonus tracks....damn.

i wonder if 'lovesexy' is tracked?

I received lovesexy last night. It is NOT tracked (the reason I bought the new release - HOPING it would be).

thanks

and WTF?

and while i'm here, worth buying???

No way, I almost bought it last night for the same reason. I have the original CD and LP but was hoping to get this for the individual tracks.

Moving on from my disappointment (NO point in dwelling on that!)
How's the mastering sound? Any better then the Warner CD?

Agreed WTF. I appreciate Prince's 'vision' but this was a sore spot. Since there was a release tracked (I believe UK) but was hard to determine if one ordered, obviously it was in response to the customer frustration to the practicableness of that vision).
As reported these are not remasters, just re-releases. I only purchased for the possibility of the tracking (I also picked up Dirty Mind as when I extracted I had a 'pin hole' drop in title track - and the version on Hits is not the same). I have not listened yet to determine if there is any possible sound difference, just validated the tracking.
The packaging (tray!) is the same, no little blurb re the album. Exact lyric booklet. The only diff is there is the Album title is also added to the spine (think Elton John Masters (sic) on the tray.
I believe you are a big fa of this album (I feel it is one of his best) so maybe the tracking will be addressed IF there is every a super deluxe (I believe there is strong rumor that Diamonds and Pearls is next - which is welcome (but not before LoveSexy!), but not sure what they means for a possible future Lovesexy box).
Excuse the (incoherent) rambling...

Re: Lovesexy

I had no idea about the tracking thing problem--I bought it on CD at my local independent store (a new copy, and I doubt I paid more than $10 for it).

Although I now notice the disclaimer that "Songs are in a continuous sequence", the copy I bought has nine individual tracks.

Nothing about it screams "bootleg"...the fine print on the back label says it was "Manufactured in Germany Pressed in Allemagne Record Service Gmbh, Alsdorf", which seems to correspond with this edition https://www.discogs.com/release/3774600-Prince-Lovesexy

It wouldn't be a bootleg, the disc was reissued with the the individual tracks, but as you can attest from your copy, there's no way to know which version you have without playing the CD. It's not a big enough issue for me that I'm willing to keep buying copies to hoping to get the one I want. I just hoped the Sony edition would solve the dilemma.

Agreed - just hoped current would reflect the European. Since I generally listen to albums straight through not a big issue (just killed me back in the day when I wanted to put Anna Stesia on a mix tape). I have been compulsively digitizing my collection for the past year to the point of marital to point of marital discord (inching toward 70% complete though!!), and I was hoping to resolve the issue with this release. Easy enough to determine the lengths and manage manually, but had hoped to save the time involved. First world problem to be sure (considering all the manual manipulation for the Dead (and other Jam band) live releases to 'fix' for the medleys (a 'la Abbey Road Side 2) that have been one of the more time consuming aspects...

Thank you...I crossed paths with a local Prince fanatic last night; I started to ask him about this and as soon as I mentioned "Lovesexy", he interrupted and said "I know exactly what you are about to ask."

What kind of packaging?

I have received jewel cases. Only picked up two titles (Dirty Mind and Lovesexy). The artwork is identical to the previous versions (no extra notes, etc.) Crisper images (definitely Dirty Mind). Each has a sticker on packaging, has a quote from Prince re the album and then the typical 'includes the songs...'. I usually toss the sticker, but since there was a quote and nothing too exciting, decided to clip and keep.

Ironically, The Amazon Music Prime version of Lovesexy does have individual tracks.

I waited forever for a Sign O the Times remaster and when it finally came out a year or two ago, it was stupid paper packaging. Glad that these are jewel cases. I actually put my discs in my old case.

The original mastering of the early Prince CDs have plus-plus-plus sound IMO. If you are on the fence in regards to For You, Prince, Dirty Mind and Controversy, I would grab them now before they get remastered because chances are 99+% that the remasters will be a step down. Only reason to wait at this point is if want to wait for possible bonus tracks down the road, and are willing to give up a bit in the sound quality department.

2 ways I know of to get it tracked:

1. The original German cd, which was around at least through the early '00's. For all I know, it may still be tracked.

2. At one time there was a cue sheet with track splits all over the internet. At one time I had a copy, I just checked & I no longer do. At any rate if you can find the cue shoot by Googling; rip your 1 track Lovesexy to your hard drive in the same folder as the cue sheet. Burn a cdr with IMGburn, & voila!

Here's 2 of them. Either rip the cd that you already own to make this legal as a wav file, or if you rip as flac change the cue sheet references. I didn't create either of these, just found them with Google tonight. Save it as .cue with the same name as the cd rip.

FILE "C:\Program Files\CD Wave\Lovesexy.WAV" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Eye No"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "Alphabet St."
INDEX 01 05:46:00
TRACK 03 AUDIO
TITLE "Glam Slam"
INDEX 01 11:25:00
TRACK 04 AUDIO
TITLE "Anna Stesia"
INDEX 01 16:31:00
TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Dance On"
INDEX 01 21:28:00
TRACK 06 AUDIO
TITLE "Lovesexy"
INDEX 01 25:13:42
TRACK 07 AUDIO
TITLE "When 2 R In Love"
INDEX 01 31:01:17
TRACK 08 AUDIO
TITLE "I Wish U Heaven"
INDEX 01 35:01:43
TRACK 09 AUDIO
TITLE "Positivity"
INDEX 01 37:48:47

(From the original poster) "the above information is my cue file for how I split the album cut and paste it with notepad -- change the location of the file at the start, and save as .cue"

Here's another one if that one doesn't work:

REM GENRE Rock
REM DATE 1988
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.95b4"
PERFORMER "Prince"
TITLE "LoveSexy"
FILE "Prince - Lovesexy.wav" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Eye No"
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "Alphabet St."
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 05:46:00
TRACK 03 AUDIO
TITLE "Glam Slam"
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 11:24:00
TRACK 04 AUDIO
TITLE "Anna Stesia"
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 16:30:00
TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Dance On"
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 21:30:00
TRACK 06 AUDIO
TITLE "LoveSexy"
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 25:14:00
TRACK 07 AUDIO
TITLE "When 2 R In Love"
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 31:04:34
TRACK 08 AUDIO
TITLE "I Wish U Heaven"
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 35:03:30
TRACK 09 AUDIO
TITLE "Positivity"
PERFORMER "Prince"
INDEX 01 37:46:58

I’m confused.

I know these are 2022 reissues in jewel cases, but what year is the mastering on these?

Some Amazon reviews say they are remastered and louder, but everyone hears things differently.

Reportedly, these are straight re-issues of previous mastering; not remastered.

Thanks.

Do you know what year the last masters were from that these would be from?

And does this mean these don’t see deluxe editions (aside from the ones that have been deluxe already)?

Far from an expert, but it is my understanding that while there may have been some re-issues throughout the years, there has not been any remastering, so on face value that would indicate same as when first released. There may be exceptions to the a title that I am unaware of, but it appears no need to upgrade. I picked up two only - Dirty Mind as I had a slight issue with my original, and Lovesexy gambling (and losing) that it would be tracked.

I don't know what it means for future deluxe editions. I suspect more to come (I believe Diamonds and Pearls is next - which is a solid album, but I really hope they are going to do a few more from the 80's).

It's the latest remastering for each of the titles. So for 1999 and Sign O The Times, it would be the mastering that were included in the deluxe versions. If the titles haven't been remastered, it will be the mastering from the original CD releases.

I think these were just put out because of the label change...to get Warner Bros. logo off the packaging and get the Sony logo (in this case, Legacy) on the packaging.

Not so much to get the logo off the packaging but to get the titles back onto the market. The label and estate don't make money if there's no product to sell.