Prince – The Rainbow Children

Hi all,

I saw some beautiful and expensive Mint sealed copies listed here. Just want to warn you about my story...

A friend of mine picked-up for me a so called "Mint sealed" copy of a Japanese press in Paris () from a store which is listing here and many others "Mint sealed" nice records.

My friend is not a collector/expert and despite the shrink had been opened and the record checked, he didn't see the very light hairlines and spindle marks difficult to see at day light.

The record is more or less NM all around and an insert was missing. It costed me probably twice the price I should have been paying for. It's not bad grading, it's simply robbery.

So, be careful, famous old records still sealed are pretty rare on the market. Only real collectors and very serious stores like some I'm in touch with in Japan and the US can be trusted. And unfortunately more and more robbers like that shop in Paris are re-sealing records to make more money faster. I gave it a try. Too bad for me. A second try is not necessary, just don't buy anything from that guy.

I’ve recently acquired this pressing. As others have mentioned, it’s true, there are some visible fine scratches (rash marks) in areas, likely from the original paper sleeves, and Side D in particular looks poorly pressed with marks and undulations in the vinyl BUT none of this significantly affects the sound quality…generally quiet, clear and dynamic throughout on my copy. I’d suggest placing the LPs in some poly lined sleeves asap to avoid any further damage from those paper sleeves and don’t dismiss this pressing just based on appearance…listen…this is one of my favourite Prince albums ☮️

Although I own this, I would say to anyone to be very careful about buying it especially at the eye watering prices. All of Prince's releases pressed by Redline were pressed with varying degrees of quality control, in my experience. When this was released it was announced that only 500 were manufactured (I see 1000 in another comment but the blurb at the time was 500). I have seen 3 copies of this in my life (including my own copy) and every single one was pressed poorly with non-fill all over the place (especially on side 4). My (originally sealed) copy sounds ok-ish but if you were inspecting it as a collector you wouldn't consider it as a viable record and not for £100+ let alone £500 or £1000. They were pressed on flimsy vinyl too. All I am saying is, if a copy you are buying is open, ask the seller to be very specific about the condition of the discs-knowing the quality of the pressing as I do, I would not pay such a price despite the album being (in my opinion) excellent musically. I am sure a repress is in the offing once Prince's estate is sorted out properly. When it is I would love for Emancipation to be released on 3 LPS (my cassettes are now ragged) as well as Chaos & Disorder (another mid 90s bit of dynamite) and Crystal Ball as a 4 LP spectacular. Fingers crossed. Happy hunting one and all. I know having originals is the ideal but really this was not a "great" pressing so just be careful with your hard earned money.