Purple Rain

Hooray, an artist I've heard of! I've never actually listened to this album though. 'Let's Go Crazy' sure sounds like Footloose. 'Computer Blue' sounds like Kokomo at the beginning. The concept of the "Filthy Fifteen" (of which 'Darling Nikki' is one) made me lol. I knew about it (thanks to Eminem's 'White America') but I never looked at the list before. Let's just say my own "here are 15 problematic songs!!!" list would be a BIT different, even in 1984. This was a very solid album (and very 80s), but it's not quite a 4 for me.

Highlights: 'Take Me with U', 'When Doves Cry'

Probably the most 80’s sounding album there is

Overblown, nauseating 1980s toss for the most part, plainly trying so hard to be weird yet it somehow manages to be utterly vacuous for much of its running time. A few interesting ideas - a broken clock is right a couple of times a day, I guess, but I've no inclination to revisit the complete package whatsoever.

Prince has a grand measly total of 3 albums on this list. The exact same as fucking Aerosmith. Ridiculous.

Since I listened to those other two Prince albums on my journey, my feelings toward funk, synthpop, and new wave as genres have significantly improved. Classic records with those styles were brought to my attention, and even some newer artists have embraced those older sounds into new paths. Thus, I return to Prince on more amicable terms, with arguably the best record he ever made.

While I have yet to see the film Purple Rain, its soundtrack album has been widely regarded. Four of the singles continue to get rotation on the radio, and what's amazing is that the rest of the tracks are as good, if not better. The interweaving of synthetic and organic instruments throughout this record, bolstered by such glossy production, made for an excellent listening experience. Particular highlights for me were the electric guitar soloing in "Let's Go Crazy" and "Computer Blue", the duet Prince does with Apollina Otero as the acoustic guitar strums with the string arrangement on "Take Me With U", the raw, electronic ballad with Prince's passionate singing on "The Beautiful Ones", the hedonistic sex jam "Darling Nikki", the surprising bass-less groove of "When Doves Cry", the buzzing shuffle beat with the synths on "I Would Die 4 U", and the emotional gut-punch that is the closing title track. Prince delivered with such charisma as he explored his sexual nature through a wide range of emotions, without ever coming off as too self-indulgent.

There's not much else that needs to be said for Purple Rain, as it is an excellent record that has withstood the test of time.

Iconic

I grooved to this at points! :) definitely better than the last Prince album we had :)

I'm sure this is technically great but it just wasn't for me

Holy fucking shit.

I said it when we got “Sign ‘O' The Times”; I’ve always been an MJ guy and not a Prince guy, which is to say I’ve always treated Michael’s albums with incredible reverence, and only given the same reverence to Prince’s big singles. Much like back then, this album has made me realize I am a moron for not approaching Prince’s albums in the same way. Somehow, someway, perhaps through either stupidity or some level of buying into the “feud”, I have never heard this specific album in full.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s too ubiquitous in pop culture for me to know nothing about this. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life” & the rest of Prince’s opening speech is one of the most famous verses to start an album ever (though I’ve somehow never heard the rest of the brilliant madness that is “Let’s Go Crazy”), and I think everyone is at least aware of “Purple Rain”’s opening chords & the monstrous guitar solo to end it. I think it’s nearly impossible to have avoided “When Doves Cry” if you’ve heard any ‘80s playlist ever, and I’ve somehow managed to hear “I Would Die 4 U” without knowing it ever transitioned into “Baby I’m a Star”, which further cements my utter ignorance about this whole thing as an album experience.

I mean, what can you really say after listening to that album? Not one miss, not a single bad chord, not a single bad drum hit, and not a single bad note. You wanna talk about notes? Let’s fucking talk about the fact that Prince screeches out his passion in a way that’s infectious as hell. I knew this album leaned a little more into the glam rock sensibilities of the 80s, but I never realized it was THIS deep. His vocals on this thing are a fucking marvel, and it’s made me realize just how much Michael Jackson suddenly thrust some of Prince’s DNA from this album into his own style for everything after Thriller, and most obviously on Bad.

Look, someone else can write paragraphs on paragraphs about this thing; the synth work, the percussion, the guitar (my GOD, the guitar), the near-perfect structure of the album, the overt horniness of “Darling Nikki”, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I can’t do it. I’m just stunned. I’m slapping myself for never giving Prince a fair shake when I was first really trying to get myself into music a decade ago, and I’m slapping myself for never listening to this album in full when I could’ve had the chance all these years later. This is that damn good; I think for my tastes, it’s better than “Sign ‘O’ The Times” on account of the length & energy (though the fact that it’s even in the conversation is a testament to that album), but I’ll let other people say if it’s better than Thriller. That’s a debate I’ve got too much bias on to put my two cents into, but I will at least say this – “Purple Rain” is a far, far, far better closer than “The Lady in My Life” is, and I still love the latter. Hydrogen bomb / coughing baby type shit. This album is a 10, by the way. Maybe higher. I figured that was obvious. Fucking hell.

This was a pop album for sure, but it was not bad. Prince was a weird and cool dude, huh?

Is he sure it's not heliotrope rain?

música para cheirar COCAÍNA e TRANSAR NO PELO

ou eu achei que seria meia boca mas eh bem legal, até. um tamanho normal, ao contrário do outro de 1h e pouca que veio antes.
esse tem uns clássicos e eh bem divertido! o instrumental eh bem massa!!

Much better than sign of the times, and I can see why some people would love this album but to me it's just a bit icky

Darling Nikki is so scandalous! Very poppy album, so I have to dock some points because I don't like the 80s ultra-produced pop sound. 3.5 rounded up to 4*
Highlights: when doves cry, i would die 4 u, purple rain

YES.

Largely on the basis of the four hits - which are so good. I need to watch the movie. But

Solid songs with typical 80s sheen.

Album mit dem ikonischen Song Purple Rain. Insgesamt gutes aber nicht außergewöhnliches Album.

Had to change my trousers twice during the playthrough

'Are we gonna let de-elevator bring us down?' The greatest musician in popular music, at least post-1970, is at his obvious peak on Purple Rain, a nine-track record that feels more like a greatest hits compilation than a soundtrack. Prince's vocals and guitar playing are more rock-centric than on either 1999 or Sign o' the Times, but it's no less locatable in the 1980s. He's still sex-before-all-else, but he's not cumbersomely horny: 'I met her in a hotel lobby / Masturbating with a magazine.' It'd be inaccurate to say that this record achieves its grandeur in the mode of vulnerability, Prince being too aloof to achieve genius thru confession. It's therapy as climax: we all know how it's gonna end, but it hits w/ the same power every time.