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'Purple Rain', a film written as a semi autobiographical account of a young, talented boy growing up in a tough and poor neighbourhood failed to attract any form of positive recognition. The critics jumped all over it calling it pretentious and a waste of money. The soundtrack, on the ... Read review
Maybe this music by Prince & the Revolution will never quite sound as, well, ... more
revolutionary as it did in 1984 (and nothing else has ever sounded like the extraordinary cooing and fluttering of "When Doves Cry"), but it's a pop landmark in Prince's...
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Maybe this music by Prince&the Revolution will never quite sound as, well, revolutionary ... more
as it did in 1984 (and nothing else has ever sounded like the extraordinary cooing and fluttering of "When Doves Cry"), but it's a pop landmark in Prince's Artistic career. The hit movie was really just a big-screen showcase for Prince to perform these songs (some of them in tear-the-roof-off "live" versions set in a Minneapolis club). It's unclear why that warped sermonette introduces "Let's Go Crazy" (one thing you've got to love about Prince: he's always been weird), but somehow it works. Other highlights include the sexual scorcher "Darling Nikki" (with its crazy backwards coda) and that anthemic title tune. Don't you miss Wendy and Lisa, too? --Jim Emerson
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Advantages: Prince stamps his mark in music history... Disadvantages: Over twenty years old, this album shows its age...
...donned a Louis XIV wig, purple frills, straddling a purple motorbike and rode it as his entrance on stage. We could forget for one moment that it has been over two years since any releases from him. Hard to believe he is soon to be 48.
'Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life….' like a James Brown sermon in The Blues Brothers, we open this album with Prince the Preacher dictating to ... ...this circus piece from the purple big top…..
'When The Doves Cry' was number one in the U.S and number four in the U.K when it was released in June 1984. The first track from this album it cuts to the chase with its hard hitting lyrics with equally cold blooded drum machine. Starting with a riff that would sound at home on a Jimi Hendrix track, the track consists at first of just a voice lowered to sound hard and cold hearted and a ... more
On a sunny day in June, 1958, Minneapolis saw the birth of just another black kid amongst a struggling community. Prince Rogers Nelson , in adult life, became a singer, songwriter, producer, record label owner, multi talented instrumentalist and a studio owner, not to mention one of the most exuberant, exciting and outstanding performers of the twentieth century.
His first UK release came in the form of a single called 'I wanna be your lover.' It entered the charts in January 1980 and failed to even make the top 40. This didn't deter the young singer and dreamt of greater heights. In all honesty, this didn't come along for another 4 years. Not until July 1984.
'Purple Rain', a film written as a semi autobiographical account of a young, talented boy growing up in a tough and poor neighbourhood failed to attract any form of positive recognition. The critics jumped all over it calling it pretentious and a waste of money. The soundtrack, on the other hand had earned Prince World fame. His first real taste of British acclaim came with the single, 'Little Red Corvette,' in April 1983. Prince had needed to maintain is pride by keeping on the same high cloud. 'Purple Rain' arguably became the greatest achievement of his career. A moment in his time, that the artist hasn't really topped since. Even though 'Parade - the soundtrack from 'Under The Cherry Moon' (1986) actually reached a higher position in the album chart , ('Parade' claimed number 4 where as 'Purple Rain' only claimed number 7) it is 'Purple Rain' that stands alone in the corridor of excellence.
His royal purpleness, encaged by an ever growing entourage of purpalies had created an atmosphere of total stardom. Of his own making, he had now reached the summit of God dom and hasn't been able to come down from it since.
His recent performance at the Brits was received with the same exuberance and excitement as if he had donned a Louis XIV wig, purple frills, straddling a purple motorbike and rode it as his entrance on stage. We could forget for one moment that it has been over two years since any releases from him. Hard to believe he is soon to be 48.
'Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life….' like a James Brown sermon in The Blues Brothers, we open this album with Prince the Preacher dictating to us his understanding of life and the after world. He is about to give us his greatest lesson like Sammy Davis Jr telling us to take a dive and swim to Daddy…our eyes are opened as well as our ears. We get ready for a lesson in throwing away care, kicking troubles in the groin and tweaking the nose hairs of strife, yes, its Prince giving us a taste of the album complete with ecstatic keyboards and low guitar riffs. We hear the artist's adaptation of rock, pop and anything gloriously arrogant.
'Lets Go Crazy' should speak for itself. A mad rush of energy pours out of our speakers and into our brains. We will emerge from this experience fully cleansed and enlightened. I believe that any sudden burst of frighteningly fast drum machines and hysterical guitars good for the soul. It would not be Prince without some yells and screams. This might be the only album where listening is just as good as the visual. We don't need to see Prince having it off with a microphone stand or running his tongue up and down a fret board (ouch), we can experience the whole live thing straight through our speakers. One thing is for sure, this album aims to please, excite, and begs for applause. Prince wormed his way into our hearts and our record collections with this enchanting piece of theatrical performance. There is not much left out of this irrational piece of basically going wild with no sense of direction. One will either love it or hate and skip the rest of the album.. If you keep going with it, listen with an open mind.
'Take Me With You' seems to be a bit of a come down after all the excitement of this first track. A 'duet' with unknown female artist, 'Apollonia.' Prince has always been famed for using good female backing singers with good , strong voices and bringing them to the fore. There are one or two names from the past who owe the start of their careers to Prince. One tends to get the feeling that Prince is very pro women in the industry. As well as constructing his own talent, he sought after creating the same from others. An introduction with hap hazard drums we find ourselves in amongst tambourines and cymbals and enjoying a pretty song that's catchy, inoffensive and perhaps a little childish in its form. Prince went through a stage of using violins to enhance a record. 'Raspberry Beret' was a classic example of using this method. They give femininity to a song and allow the track a fair chunk of jollity and optimism. One to skip along holding hands to….if your twelve….
There then come a further three tracks that I don't fully understand. Experimental is probably the name of the game here. The first of these three is 'The Beautiful Ones.' A ballad of sorts, Prince has the most diverse vocal range. With the power to adapt to low, tension filled drama within the lines of 'When Doves Cry', to the trill, untuneful, feminine to the extreme weirdness of 'The Beautiful Ones.' Using keyboards practically playing a different tune, we experience, probably, the epitome of a naff eighties ballad. There were greats such as 'Broken Wings' by Mister Mister, then you had off the planet, space themed, where's Blake 7 numbers such as this from Prince. A rock theme drifts in towards the end and Prince does what he does the best, screams like a banshee with a few electric guitar riffs thrown in for good measure. By the end, and Prince loves his extended to the hilt endings, the listener has had enough.
'Wendy? Yes Lisa? Is the water warm enough? Yes Lisa? Shall we begin? Yes Lisa…' 'Computer Blue' voices, Wendy and Lisa who had a few unofficial hits of their own back in the early eighties that didn't really amount to much, they had been Prince's two main backing singers. We hear them here reciting some lines in which they sound thoroughly bored. Stranger than strange, this was actually Prince's attempt at a country themed song. Probably the one song that couldn't be any further away from country if it tried. Listenable to its length, it seems to me, like Miami Vice incidental music, probably used in a car chase, with its funkiness and ostentatious ness, it takes a peculiar slant mid way into something so slow that it cries out for the record player to receive a good kick. A raw bass and riff takes hold where ''Computer Blue' left off.
What we are now hearing is 'Darling Nikki.' Known for its explicit lyrics, 'I met her in a hotel lobby, masturbating with a magazine.' A story about a one night fling. It has a disturbing energy and a riff that Hendrix would be proud of. It appears too metal for Prince and his voice must have been in tatters at the end of recording. He wails and screams as if in terrible pain. A tremendous performance but all too short lived as the very end of this track is something played backwards. A kind of accapella verse. Thankfully, due to age and a previously local Woolworths, I have this on vinyl. After several attempts to play it backwards, which certainly didn't do my record player any good what so ever, I believe that the lyrics are, 'hello, how are you' and then something about something coming up….if there is anyone out there with this on vinyl, please help as there is someone here who will not sleep til I find out what that says! Prince's little teaser. Well, we always thought he was a teaser any way…..
The Laurence Llewellyn Bowen of pop dom teases us with the second half of this circus piece from the purple big top…..
'When The Doves Cry' was number one in the U.S and number four in the U.K when it was released in June 1984. The first track from this album it cuts to the chase with its hard hitting lyrics with equally cold blooded drum machine. Starting with a riff that would sound at home on a Jimi Hendrix track, the track consists at first of just a voice lowered to sound hard and cold hearted and a steady drum machine. A powerful track, it is simple and very entrancing. The mix of his voice used in the backing track gives the feel of a continuous thought in the singers head repeating ever word. It is not short of the odd yelp and cry which has always suited Prince far better than Michael Jackson. It is an atmospheric track that enlists the help of a strangled guitar riff as the break. A record ahead of its time, listening to it now, over twenty years on, it is hard to think that its actually been that long since its release. A monumental piece in rock history. It feels just as much apt today for young kids as it was then for the film.
'I Would Die For You' is another creative piece of writing using a drum machine in a different form yet unheard by listeners. The drum machine seems to flicker uncontrollably in the backing track. The lyrics are almost mumbled, as if not to take away the limelight focused upon the unusual usage of the machine. A short number, it allows a simple handful of repeated notes to flow gracefully over the backing track. An inspired piece, again, unheard of until this album.
Straight, and almost without knowing and taking the listener by surprise, we hear the electrifying and glitzy performance of 'Baby I'm A Star,' This track couldn't have had a better title. It full of pretentious arrogance. So much so, that its uplifting for the listeners as one cannot help but feel as if the lyrics could be directed to them. It cries out to be strutted to, wrapped up in sparkly gift wrap with a dirty great bow on the top screaming look at me!!! It has a fantastic fast drum beat throughout, a true stadium piece of work. Some clever backing tracks using keyboards and singers giving it their all. It pours over Prince like it was meant to be his personal theme. Even hints at an audience in the dying seconds to give it that real live theme.
The lights fade, the glitter cast aside and the arms above our heads start to sway hypnotically. 'Purple Rain' is not just a track for the ears but an epic for the soul. One of the finest, still most used ballads, it gives a quality that Meatloaf, I'm afraid just hasn't come close to. It yearns out to us in desperation., that I feel it should be renamed 'Purple Pain.' Prince must have been on the floor in the studio after creating this masterpiece of a broken heart. At a staggering 8 minutes, 45 seconds long, he increasingly becomes more and more distraught towards the end. Unlike James Brown when his guards would come on and throw the cloak over him to drag him off stage, this piece, perhaps too long, equals the complete showmanship of anything ever done by such an artist of this calibre. We are literally crying buckets, it pulls at the strings and has you reaching for the kitchen blades. With incredible clashing of cymbals and strained riffs, and whining violins creeping up the scales, it hardly feels that the track is going to end, we almost feel exhausted when it finally does.Putting cryptic aside, the downfall of The Revolution is a rather sad tale. Prince disburse his fantastic looking army of beautiful people shining blue lights under their chins to make them even more gorgeous after a tour in 1986. His explicit lyrics and over all performance were sensational products of his making yet Prince wanted to reach out to more fans. Knowing that the act had to be 'cleaned' up somewhat, he re emerged the following year with hair cut, more conservative clothes and a not so startling entourage who competed to out show him.
I personally was devoted to the purple, glitzy ear when it was all about super stardom. That I feel, was the best of the eighties. This type of class act, we just don't get anymore. As much as we are two minds over Michael Jackson, we fail to remember that it was twenty years ago when he wowed us with his incredible, precisely choreographed dance routines. Madonna still wasn't a household name and still laughed at to a point, wondering how long she was going to last, when Prince with his gaiety and stupendous cabaret of a travelling circus delighted us and enchanted us where we liked it or not. A professional at his craft, he produced his masterpiece with this album. The very one that we will eventually remember him by.
sam1942 24.02.2006 (24.02.2006)
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Review of Purple Rain (Original Soundtrack) - Prince & The Revolution
...The Songs: 1. Let's Go Crazy 2. Take Me With U 3. The Beautiful Ones 4. Computer Blue 5. Darlin' Nikki 6. When Doves Cry 7. I Would Die 4 U 8. Baby I'm A Star 9. Purple Rain ...
Scapp70 20.07.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Purple Rain (Original Soundtrack) - Prince & The Revolution
Advantages: prince at his most dazzling, accessible and enjoyable Disadvantages: Only 9 songs...17 Days (B-side of When Doves Cry) should have been included for a start
1984 was the year of Purple Rain. The album, the film, the phenomenon. In his native America, Prince spent an astonishing 24 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Album Chart with this masterful mix of explosive, effervescent and tender pop/rock. Assimilating some of the great icons of black music - Hendrix, Little Richard, James Brown - into his already blossoming musical canon, the Purple One struck pure gold. The previous year's double-album "1999" had ... ...as it may seem now, Purple Rain was considered a somewhat left-field success at the time. Once it had cast its spell over audiences across the globe thanks to some truly awesome single releases (When Doves Cry in particular), it of course entered modern pop-culture history...but only then. In Britain, the album was a slow-starter. It took several months to reach its peak position of # 7, but ended up spending almost two years on the chart.
Purple ...
EnglishPatient 06.03.2001 (07.03.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Purple Rain (Original Soundtrack) - Prince & The Revolution
Advantages: Very good, different and original Disadvantages: none
...on the album - PURPLE RAIN - there cant be anyone alive that was about in the 80's that never heard this song.
Its a very slow song, never intended to be a dance hit or anything like that, in fact it fits into no other category that i know apart from 'Prince'... "I never meant 2 cause u any sorrow"
"I never meant 2 cause u any pain"
"I only wanted 2 one time see u laughing"
"I only want to see u laughing in the Purple rain"
An absolute classic.
... ...man with the high voice, I'm sure that if you listened to this album and some of the lyrics then there is something for everyone.
A definate classic from the early Prince, set aside and very much in front of the other music in the charts at that time. ...
Martin.rowley 16.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Purple Rain (Original Soundtrack) - Prince & The Revolution
Advantages: amazing soundtrack,Great to look at Disadvantages: Not nearly long enough for Prince fans
...in the mists of time-The purple one has never again reached such a pinnacle as he did with his band The Revolution, as he did playing The Kid in this semi-autobiographical music fest.It follows the rising sucess of a struggling young musical genius,who goes thru all the angst you d expect from such a film-true love, the ups and downs of quarrelling parents, the fight within himself to become a star, and protect those he loves.The songs are easily ...
genn133423 29.01.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Purple Rain (Original Soundtrack) - Prince & The Revolution
Advantages: prince at his best Disadvantages: only 9 songs!
Purple Rain is an amazing cd. Its so uniqe and original, i have never heard anything like it!
Its a mixture of 80s pop and rock, with princes unique sound. Every song on 'Purple Rain' has something different about it, like the emotional title track, amazing guitar solo on 'Computer blue', 'I Would Die 4 u' is a great sing along kind of song and then theres the daring 'Darling Nikki'.
I have had 'Purple Rain' for quite a while and every time i listen ... ...never gets boring. The fact that there is only 9 songs on this album could actually be a good point, as every one of the songs are excellent and have a different quality and emotion to them.
I think anyone could enjoy 'Purple Rain', i cant think of any bad points about it it is definitly Prince at his best. ...
clytaemnestra 02.03.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Purple Rain (Original Soundtrack) - Prince & The Revolution
Product Information for "Purple Rain (Original Soundtrack) - Prince & The Revolution" »
Product details
Title
Purple Rain (Original Soundtrack)
Performer
Prince & The Revolution
Genre
R&B
Sub Genre
Contemporary R&B
Release Date
02/1995
Recomended Retail Price
10.99 GBP
Original Release Year
1984
Label / Distributor
WEA / Cinram Logistics
Guest Artist(s)
Prince & The Revolution
Producer
Prince; The Revolution
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
75992511025
Catalogue Number
7599251102
SPAR code
AAD
Additional notes
Album Notes
Prince & The Revolution: Prince (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Wendy Melvoin (vocals, guitar); Lisa Coleman, Matt "Dr." Fink (vocals, keyboards); Brown Mark (vocals, bass); Bobby Z (percussion). Additional personnel: Apollonia (vocals); Novi Novog (violin, viola); David Coleman, Suzie Katayama (cello). Engineers include: Susan Rogers, Peggy Mac, David Riukin. A soundtrack to a movie so appalling that it is infinitely wiser to let the record stand on its own merits. While Prince cavorted in purple kitchen foil and rode his Harley in high heels, the real star of the film, the music, was doing all the talking. A knit of funk and rock, a heavily stylized Hendrix guitar lick here and there, and a wilfully danceable backbeat all made for a huge commercial smash, and the first real international introduction for many people to a star-in-waiting. 'Darling Nikki' accidentally set the PMRC ball rolling, but the heady lilt of the title track and the crushing 'When Doves Cry' can pardon him that.
Album Reviews
Vibe (12/99, p.162) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century Entertainment Weekly (10/12/01, p.29) - Ranked #9 in EW's "100 Best Movie Soundtracks" - "...A genre-bending smorgasbord...a monument to mad ambition..." Rolling Stone (11/89) - Ranked #2 in Rolling Stone's "100 Best Albums Of The Eighties" survey.
Titles on disc 1
1.
Let's Go Crazy
2.
Take Me With U
3.
Beautiful Ones
4.
Computer Blue
5.
Darling Nikki
6.
When Doves Cry
7.
I Would Die 4 U
8.
Baby I'm A Star
9.
Purple Rain
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