Rain - Rain

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 catapulted him to genuine mainstream success with the title track and Little Red Corvette. Building upon that breakthrough, he took it a stage further with a scintillating collection of songs that still stand among the best he's ever produced. More than aiming for the commercial jugular, Prince practically redfined what it was, going from a promising wannabe to an all-out superstar... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

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 to it i hear it in a different way, it 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.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Wonderful, blissfully fascinating
Disadvantages: too short!

...It's been too long since Enya's last album, The Memory of Trees. She does seem to take her time between albums, which I suppose isn't too surprising given that her work is all original; no covers, and I imagine all those effects and multi-layering takes time to record. Anyway, A Day Without Rain doesn't disappoint, apart from its relative brevity in these days of 16 - 20 tracks on most albums, and playing times of around an hour. It's surprising, therefore, that this has only twelve tracks. Nevertheless, it has twelve *quality* tracks. Wild Child is possibly the most 'commercial' here, and it's very good; I tend to prefer tracks such as Flora's Secret - wonderful imagery of the lovers in the long grass - and Only Time. Great to listen to: close your eyes and be carried away! Oh, and so what if this CD sounds similar to Enya's previous... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful