Classic Rock Bottom

ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 303 PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - PURPLE RAIN (1984)

Disclaimer: All info that does not reside in my brain is gathered from wikipedia.com (mostly because Jon can't stand it) unless otherwise noted.

Well, this truly stinks.  I don't like picking an album for this reason, but due to the untimely death of Prince, your CRB Album of the Week is Purple Rain.  Yes, it was the man's first number one Billboard 200 album.  It spent 24 straight weeks at the top, from August of 1984 into January of 1985.  It sold a butt-load of copies, including 1.5 million units in it's debut week alone (the album is certified Diamond with over 13 million albums sold in the U.S. alone).  Four Top 10 hits came from the album, including two number one hits (When Doves Cry and Let's Go Crazy) and a number two hit (Purple Rain).  The album won two Grammy Awards and an Oscar.  That's some heavy, heavy praise.  And he deserved it.

I totally dig the album and the artists.  I don't own a lot of his work, but it appears to be time to pick some other than this album up. I'm very sad to see so many artists leaving this earthly home, but thankfully we do have some great music that they left for us.  Go listen to some Prince!

Side One:

1. Let's Go Crazy

2. Take Me With U

3. The Beautiful Ones

4. Computer Blue

5. Darling Nikki

Side Two:

6. When Doves Cry

7. I Would Die 4 U

8. Baby I'm A Star

9. Purple Rain

 

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The beginning of "Let's Go Crazy" is especially eerie right now. Just sayin'.

Yeah, this is one of those albums that just about everyone owns. And the bestest thing is that it has something for everyone (except those that like country music), and that's what makes this so good. As with a lot of people, it was 1999 that first grabbed my attention and then this album just reached epic status. The quality albums continued after this, but none reached the status of this one, but they are definite "must haves".

Good thing Tipper ain't a thing no more. She'll wonder why there isn't a parental warning here.

Good luck getting more Prince at this time. Out of curiousity, I checked on Amazon yesterday afternoon and a majority of the Prince albums were out of stock. They'll get more in, but it'll be awhile. If this is the only Prince album you own, you're missing out on a lot of great music.

Same thing happened with Bowie.  

I do have a compilation, but I'd be interested in picking up some albums.  Sirius XM Channel 50 is playing all Prince, and I heard a song called "Damn U" on the way to work this morning that was very cool.  Not rock or funk or really R&B.  Something totally different.

It's off the Love Symbol album.

 

I never was a fan of Prince. I remember the impact this album had on the media back in 1984, and how much it was played on the radio. Heck, even the Heavy Meyal magazine Kerrang! had Prince on the cover in December 1984, and it almost made me not buying the magazine again. But the magazine got a LOT of hate-mail, so they brought back covers with Whitesnake, Saxon, Priest aso again. The magazine also gave this album 5 K's (the highest), and every thime an album got 5 K's, I got interested. But listening to the songs on the radio, and seeing the movie (VHS), convinced me, that this was not for me. I think, that if you think you need 1 album by Prince, this is probably it. I'm not an expert, but even though he was a pretty good guitarist, I don't think he used it much on most of his albums.

Listening to the album now, it sure sounds like 1984. I don't hate this album, not at all, but I have no intention of buying it, never had. He sure was one of a kind, and made some fine music and songs up until the mid 90's (was it Diamond and Pearls, that was the last good Prince-album? I'm no expert), and if he had turned "rockier" than this album, I probably would had tried buying one of his albums, but he certainly didn't.

I have never really understood, why people start buying albums by recently dead artists? I didn't like his music much when he was alive, and because he's now dead, it won't change anything at all for me.

One good thing about Prince, though. He obviously had a great taste in women.

And When Doves Cry is a very good song, indeed. But still not worth my money.

Purple Rain (the song) is imo overrated, even though it's good, but it's not THAT great.

In 1984-85 Purple Rain dominated all music radio and club scenes.  I was a fresh high school graduate who just turned 19 when this was released.  At that time drinking laws were decided by the state, Idaho’s drinking age was 19 at the time, so I got a job at a very popular club working as a bar back – I was very ambitious at the time.  Anyway, as you can imagine this album and most of its tracks were played daily, in the car, at friends, at school, at work etc.  …  For me it was soooo overplayed that I quickly burned out on it, plus I was a rock guy so I liked to make sure everyone knew that.  So did you all I suspect…

 

So how does this sound today?  Still overplayed for me, but I still really like “I Would Die For U” and “Purple Rain”.  And though the more popular cuts, while very good, still feel overplayed to me.  That’s doesn’t mean it’s not a great album, it’s just not something I would pull out of the collection and spin very often if at all.  But me and Niels may be the only ones who don’t own it at this point.

 

My favorite Prince track is Little Red Corvette, that one can’t be overplayed IMO.  Also love Raspberry Beret, but mostly because I like watching Wendy and Lisa in that video.  Those 3 albums, beginning with 1999, were huge (and that’s an understatement) at the time.  He couldn’t do anything wrong, until he became a symbol and then nobody knew what he was doing…

 

He will be missed…

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