Purple Rain [Soundtrack]

In 1984 Prince released what would come to be his biggest selling album: 'Purple Rain'. The soundtrack to his highly successful film of the same name; the album catapulted him to superstardom.
'Purple Rain' isn't just a movie soundtrack though, but a collection of some of the most electrifyingly impressive songs you will ever hear from this decade , or any other for that matter.

Crammed with highly distinctive melodies and sharp hooks; 'Purple Rain' remains one of Prince's most accessible albums, yet it still manages to surprise the listener on multiple playing, and it's the more unorthodox and intriguing songs, such as 'Computer Blue', that impress the most.
Every track on the album is brilliantly crafted, with many of the songs building from gentle openings to fiery climaxes, tracks such as 'When Doves Cry' and 'The Beautiful Ones' have an incredible amount of emotion poured into them and reach heights rarely reached in other Prince songs.

Picking a greatest track is impossible, EVERY song stands out.
The 4 singles taken from the album ('When Doves Cry', 'Lets Go Crazy', 'I Would Die 4 U', and the title track) still impress, but the real masterstroke of the album is with the threesome of 'The Beautiful Ones - Computer Blue - Darling Nikki'.
These three tracks complete what is possibly the greatest sequence of songs on any Prince album ever.

'The Beautiful Ones' is a phenomenal ballad with an outstanding vocal delivery from Prince. The song builds from a wonderfully gentle opening to a conclusion of keyboard bursts and screaming vocals. The song has been a fan favourite since its release and it remains Prince's greatest ballad ever, which is quite a feat considering the quality of his slow jams.
'Computer Blue' has to be the most un-noticed song on the whole album when it comes to critics, which is such a shame because, other than 'The Beautiful Ones', it is probably the strongest song on 'Purple Rain' and deserves much more attention then it gets.
The suite-like 'Computer Blue' is a magnificently structured funk-rock song, containing amongst other things, some fantastic guitar work from Prince.
Introduced by a monologue between Wendy & Lisa the track begins with a clean, crisp drum loop (the drum programming, as with most Prince records, is excellent throughout) and descends it to a frantic clash of synth-bursts and screaming guitar riffs as the song progresses. It's the most fascinating track on the album and completely blew me away when I first heard it. The version found on 'Purple Rain' though is in fact an edit of the full length 11 minute version...the song was cut down to make room for 'Take Me With U' and 'When Doves Cry' at the last minute. As impressive as the album cut is, the extended version is quite magnificent and stands as one of Prince's greatest tracks from the 80's.

'Computer Blue' segues almost seamlessly into 'Darling Nikki'; the only song on the album that caused some controversy upon its release due to its masturbation reference.
The track is wonderfully raunchy featuring some (as usual) excellent synth & guitar work, and is easily the funkiest song on the album.

The rest of the tracks on 'Purple Rain' including the anthemic title tune, the frenzied 'Let's go Crazy', and the pop-perfect 'Take Me With U' impress just as much as the previously mentioned songs and shouldn't be overlooked.

One thing that is always notable about 'Purple Rain' is how raw, yet fresh the music sounds. Prince never bettered the guitar work on this album and only his 95' album 'The Gold Experience', comes close to showing why Prince is as rated on guitar as he is.
Prince's 1984 album isn't his best ('1999' or 'Sign O' The Times would get the credit for that) but no other album quite sounds like it and it's essential buying...I mean it's what made me a Prince fan. ;o)

What can I say about this album. I discovered Prince by accident and was surprised many years ago when I found out that When Doves Cry was his song. The moment the first guitar riff hit the radio, I was in love with that song.
Buying the album years ago then opened the flood gates of my appreciation for Prince. His music, his style and his charisma and daringness to push the boundaries of conventional music are totally unique. Purple Rain was the pinacle of his success. Still relelvant today, his album as well as his other albums should have a firm grasp in the music history books.
Allthough the album didn't do as nearly as well in the UK as it did in the US, this album is still remembered even by thopse who weren't born yet.
Let's Go Crazy, the song which Prince used to talk about God and the devil in a time where it was taboo is a fantastic way to start a album off. Take Me With U is a fantastic road song. The Beautiful Ones made me cry the first time I heard it. A touching song about love, this can raise goosebumps on anyone's arms. Computer Blue and Darling Nicky. Maybe not as recognised as they should be. Computer Blue has a wonderful tune while Darling Nicky I think is one of the best break up songs. When Doves Cry. My favourite Prince song. Just plain genius. I Would Die 4 U and Baby I'm a Star is a great sogn to wake up to. It just makes you wish that you were in the club while he was singing to it. Purple Rain. The best ending to a magnificent album. A behemoth that should of gotten number one in the UK. The lyrics are soulfull, the guitars are spectacular. This song along with The Most Beautiful Girl from The Gold Experience album are the two songs that are nearly just as genius as When Doves Cry. But it's hard to choose a favourite song. Virtually all his albums are great except for a couple hiccups. But this album is a standout for its time and still immensely enjoyable today.

I will admit to being one of those weirdos that 'norms' (such as yourself) class as 'Prince fans'. A proper, slightly scarily-obsessive Prince fan. I have noticed that Prince is somewhat akin to
Marmite. People either love him; love his eccentric, talented, multi-instrumentalist brand of funk pop rock etc., or hate him; his preening, little-man-syndrome self-indulgence making you want
to pick him up by his immaculately coiffured hair and smash his porcelain head off the nearest table edge. For years I was indifferent, then I bought 'The Hits 1 & 2', together with the B-sides.

And so began a six year obsession with owning all of Prince's music, learning all his licks, listening only to him, defending his albums (no matter how atrocious some were), defending his horrendous
habit of offending everyone with his prima-donna antics, and so on (any other Prince fan will back me up). I am older and wiser now, so I can look somewhat more objectively at my behaviour. I
can still appreciate him, but in a slightly more realistic manner. Enough background, what of 'Purple Rain'?

Prince's early albums were slightly nervous, embarrassed Stevie Wonder-copying funk and soul. Once you got over the fact that (shock!) he played everything himself, then his first two albums
only have a handful of really top quality tunes on them ('Soft and Wet' on 'For You', 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' and 'I Feel For You' on 'Prince'). Precociousness aside, he needed an album full of these tunes.
The number of stonkers increased with each album (granted, the filler material got worse, but hey) and in '82, he released his best effort yet, '1999'.

At this stage, Prince's ego was growing to ever-larger proportions. From reading biographies on him, for this period, he had developed somewhat of a 'me-against-the-word' mentality, which was
evident in songs like 'Partyup', '1999' or 'Uptown' (Prince was always looking for an unobtainable Utopia beyond society's reach). He decided, after the moderate success of '1999', he wanted to become a movie
star. The film, 'Purple Rain', is best described another day (in a suitably scathing-for-his-sheer-self-indulgence review). The music, however, was breathtaking.

Prince's songwriting was, I believe, at the peak of its powers. To be honest, I feel 'Sign of the Times' (which critics always argue is the ultimate example of a Prince album) is over-rated. It is bloated,
several songs are too similar to each other, the musicianship doesn't shine through as much as 'Purple Rain'. But hey, different opinions make the world go round.

The album opens with a bonafide Prince classic, 'Let's Go Crazy'. Prince's obsession with the Linn drum machine is evident from the off, and in this case, it gives the track a machine-like
repetition which really propels the song forward. Fantastic guitar work.

The next song is the companion to the most toe-curlingly cringeworthy scene in the movie (the bike-naked-girl-lake debacle). 'Take Me With You' is best described as midtempo pop, I suppose, with
the lead vocals shared between Prince and Appolonia. It again tells of somewhere else Prince would rather be. The strings in particular, are striking; definitely a forerunner to 'Raspberry Beret'.

The first ballad is up next, the rather unstructured-but-emotional 'The Beautiful Ones'. Prince revisits his familiar themes of lust and longing, bringing the whole thing to a throat-shredding climax.
It was poorly covered by Mariah Carey, but the feeling behind it and the Prince's falsetto still manage to bring a tear to my eye.

'Computer Blue' follows, an unusual tune for Prince. The arrangement is slightly more progressive, as is the virtuosic guitar work. It has no chorus to speak of, and takes a few listens to sink in. When it does,
it stays. Not the best song ever written, but a suitably decent album track.

'Darling Nikki' is the most controversial track on the album, and I believe the most throwaway. It describes a girl masturbating, but in such a way as to drain anything remotely sexually attractive out of it. It
gained Prince notoriety but that is about all I can say about it.

'When Doves Cry' is amazing, a stupendous track in every respect. People always mention how the track has no bass. The thing that really struck me when I bought the album, was the radio edit was only
about three minutes long. The album version had a fantastic organ solo on it, followed by some excellent vocal harmonising. One of his best songs ever.

I am not a big fan of 'I Would Die 4 U'. It works well in the film, but is a little bit weak for Prince. Another relentless Linn hihat pattern ensues, which makes me slightly uncomfortable in its urgency. Skip!

'Baby I'm A Star' is a top-notch, standard issue Prince dance-funk number. It accompanies the triumph in the movie, and as such can only be associated with positive feelings. It consists of braggadocio, Prince
style, telling the world how lovely he is to an admittedly infectious groove. Works as a perfect buildup to...

'Purple Rain'. Seemingly, around this time, Prince heard Bob Seger on the radio, and scoffed at how his 4 chord brand of common nonsense could touch so many hearts. He vowed to bang a couple of chords
together, and 'Purple Rain', the title track, was the result. I love it, it builds to an emotional crescendo, complete with searing guitar solo. It also reminds me of my engagement party, so it can only be good
for me to listen to it.

On the whole, I love 'Purple Rain'. It does a fantastic job of transporting me back to different times (all positive), and it also has that rare quality: it manages to sound quintessentially 80s while also not sounding
like utter dated rubbish. I believe it is better than 'Sign of the Times', but that's just me...plus watching the movie made me listen to The Time.

Morris Day is a legend!

So is classic Prince. Enjoy this, 'Dirty Mind', '1999', 'Sign...', 'Parade', 'The Gold Experience', 'The Rainbow Children' first. Enjoy the rest to a lesser extent, depending on mood.