PRINCE 4EVER
A review by a lifetime fan.
Prince compilations are always a difficult thing to curate. With his massive inventory of music, it's (nearly?) impossible to put all the best into one collection small enough to call it a single release. 1993's "The Hits/B-Sides Collection" was in my opinion a great effort. It had most of the stuff a casual fan could want and some great treats for the hardcore folk. But finding copies on vinyl are next to impossible to find, and to the best of MY knowledge, the treasured B-Sides part of it was never pressed as an LP.
This new collection boasts 40 songs across 4 LPs, spanning from the first album in 1977 through 1993. Much as I would argue (until purple in the face) that he released a tremendous amount of great music far beyond that point, I understand this is a Warner Bros collection, it only includes music before Prince's departure from the media behemoth one year later. That being said, here are my personal pros and cons of this new collection.
The Pros:
Forty tracks! Taking the B-Sides portion of the 93 compilation out of the picture that's over twenty additional tracks.
It sounds great. The mastering is great, and even across the board, which is especially impressive when you consider the time span here.
The songs are arranged in such a way that you never feel stuck in a specific year or album.
This marks the first time the song, "Moonbeam Levels" has ever been released on vinyl. There are other hard-to-find vinyl reliquaries in there as well, such as "Peach," a great non-album version of "Gett Off" with an extra verse, and Prince's duet with Rosie Gaines, "Nothing Compares 2 U." It also includes Batdance, which is not super difficult to come by, but it seems the entire "Batman" album gets ignored by compilations all the time.
Prince prints! When the 93 collection was released, it featured new photos of his royal badness by famed photographer Herb Ritts. Five unreleased images from that shoot are included as framable prints.
All this in a pretty box featuring yet another photo of Prince by Ritts.
The Cons:
I've only got two gripes about this set, but they're big ones. Firstly, The tracks are short. Single edits are one thing, but many of the songs have been shortened to an asinine degree. My theory is, if it fits comfortably on a 7" single, why make it shorter. "Let's Go Crazy" was the first record I ever bought. This version is not only shorter than the single, but to a point of desecration.
Secondly, and shockingly, there is NO CUSSING AT ALL, with the exception of one track. While some songs have been edited to omit the offensive words, "Sexy MF" was left in tact. I know Prince decided to stop cursing on his records. I was there, at the concert following that decision. But he never pretended the past didn't happen. He would even hold the mic out to the crowd so they could say the naughty words in his stead. Prince's best is not necessarily radio friendly. But it makes even less sense to censor most of the songs when it's okay to leave one alone.
All in all, I'm glad to own it. I'm always down to spend money on Prince records, and it makes a nice addition to my collection. (Hoard?). If you don't have a lot of Prince vinyl, it's worth the $50 price tag.
7 1/2 stars out of 10.
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