#8 Prince and the Revolution, 'Purple Rain' (1984)
Previously #76
“Dearly beloved/We are gathered here today/To get through this thing called life/Electric word life/It means forever and that's a mighty long time/But I'm here to tell you/There's something else/The after world.” Amongst my favourite opening lyrics of any album, Prince introduces his masterpiece with a faux preacher-like sermon. ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ is the call to arms. ‘Purple Rain’ is the soundtrack to the autobiographical film of the same name and the first to feature Prince’s band, The Revolution, with Prince stepping back ever so slightly from playing everything on the record. Prince lifted the title from the lyrics of America’s 1972 song, ‘Ventura Highway;’ “Wishin' on a falling star/Waitin' for the early train/Sorry boy, but I've been hit by a purple rain.” While original composer of the phrase, Gerry Beckley had no explanation as to what it meant, Prince interpreted it as “When there's blood in the sky – red and blue = purple ... purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/god guide you through the purple rain.” The most Prince explanation ever. The song was originally intended to be a Country duet with Stevie Nicks. Nicks pulled overwhelmed at Prince’s request to write lyrics to his 10-minute instrumental.
The incredibly risqué song, ‘Darling Nikki,’ which closes out side 1 of the record, created such a stir that activist, Tipper Gore (aka Al Gore’s wife) used it as the catalyst to make it mandatory to have that little black and white sticker with the words “Parental Advisory Explicit Content” included on albums with, well, explicit content. Lead single, ‘When Doves Cry’ would become Prince’s first #1 single, with second single, ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ equalling its chart position. The title track, as well as ‘I Would Die 4 U’ and ‘Baby I’m A Star’ were all recorded live at a show at First Avenue in Minneapolis, August 1983. If you listen very carefully to ‘Purple Rain’ you can hear the crowd sounds bleeding through. There were some overdubs, however that drowned most of the crowd out. On release, Prince would become the first artist the #1 song, album and movie in the USA. A cohesive record, each of ‘Purple Rain’s’ 9 tracks is a masterpiece in its own right, but none more so than the epic final track, the song that the album spends 34 minutes building to. The song won a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and it also won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score. It was nominated for Album Of The Year losing out to Lionel Richie’s ‘Can’t Slow Down’ (it did have some bangers, must have come in at #501). It was an album that changed pop music, raising the bar in a time when Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ was dominating the world. It cemented Prince as one of the greatest musicians of all time, proving that six albums in he was only just getting started (he would go on to release a staggering 39 studio albums in the space of 37 years. ‘Purple Rain’ is a jump that I think very few will be able to argue with. A true Top 10 record.
#rs500albums