Purple Rain (album)
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| Purple Rain | ||
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| Soundtrack by Prince and The Revolution | ||
| Released | June 25, 1984 | |
| Recorded | First Avenue, Minneapolis, St. Louis Park warehouse, Sunset Sound; August 1983 – March 1984 | |
| Genre | Rock, Pop, Funk | |
| Length | 43:48 | |
| Label | Warner Bros. Records | |
| Producer(s) | Prince and the Revolution | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Prince and The Revolution chronology | ||
| 1999 (1982) |
Purple Rain (1984) |
Around the World in a Day (1985) |
Music from the Motion Picture Purple Rain (also called just Purple Rain) is a soundtrack album by Prince and The Revolution. It was released by Warner Bros. Records on June 25, 1984 and was Prince's sixth album. As was often the case, Prince wrote all of the songs on the album. Some of the tracks had portions recorded live when Prince performed on August 3, 1983 at the First Avenue club in Minneapolis. This show was a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theater. It was also the first appearance in Prince's band "The Revolution" by Wendy Melvoin, his guitarist in the Purple Rain film and for a few years afterwards.
Contents |
[edit] Songs
"Take Me with U" was originally written for the Apollonia 6 album, but was later pulled for Purple Rain. An unfortunate result of this addition was making crucial cuts to the suite-like "Computer Blue", which circulates amongst collectors in a superior, though unreleased extended version (a portion of this second section of "Computer Blue" can be heard in the film Purple Rain as Prince walks in on the men of The Revolution rehearsing). The song "Darling Nikki" is notable for its lyrical content, which eventually led to the use of Parental Advisory stickers and imprints on album covers by ways of Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center.
[edit] Awards
Prince won three Grammy Awards for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV Special (Purple Rain) and Best R&B Song (songwriter) (Chaka Khan's "I Feel for You") and was nominated for Album of the Year (Purple Rain). "Purple Rain" (the song) also won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score in 1985. [1]
[edit] Critics' Praise
In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Purple Rain the 73rd greatest album of all time; in 2001 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 18. In 1989, it was rated #2 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 72 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
[edit] Sales and chart positions
Purple Rain sold 13 million units in the United States, earning a Diamond Award from the Recording Industry Association of America. According to Billboard magazine, the album spent 24 consecutive weeks at #1 (August 4, 1984 to February 9, 1985), becoming one of the top soundtracks ever. Two songs from Purple Rain, "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy", would top the U.S. singles charts and were hits around the world, while the title track would go to number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
[edit] Charts
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard R&B Albums | 1 |
| UK Albums Chart | 7 |
[edit] Track listing
- "Let's Go Crazy" – 4:39
- "Take Me with U" – 3:58
- "The Beautiful Ones" – 5:17
- "Computer Blue" – 3:56
- "Darling Nikki" – 4:13
- "When Doves Cry" – 5:52
- "I Would Die 4 U" – 2:56
- "Baby I'm a Star" – 4:45
- "Purple Rain" – 8:42
All songs written by Prince, except "Computer Blue", words by Prince, Wendy and Lisa, music by John L. Nelson, Wendy, Lisa and Prince.
[edit] Singles and Hot 100 Chart placings
- "When Doves Cry" (U.S. #1, R&B #1, UK #6, Australia #1)
- "When Doves Cry"
- "17 Days"
- "Let's Go Crazy" (U.S. #1, UK #7, Australia #1)
- "Let's Go Crazy"
- "Erotic City"
- "Purple Rain" (U.S. #2, UK #8)
- "Purple Rain"
- "God" (vocal)
- "God" (instrumental) — UK version only
- "I Would Die 4 U" (U.S. #8, UK #58)
- "I Would Die 4 U"
- "Another Lonely Christmas"
- "Take Me with U" (U.S. #25)
- "Take Me with U"
- "Baby I'm a Star"
[edit] Personnel
- Prince: Guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals.
- Brownmark: Bass guitar, vocals.
- Lisa Coleman: Keyboards, piano, sitar, vocals.
- Dr. Fink: Keyboards, organ, vocals.
- Bobby Z.: Drums, percussion.
- David Coleman: Violin.
- Suzie Katayama: Violin, viola.
- Novi Novog: Cello.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- This album was mentioned in a 2004 Chappelle's Show skit which parodied Prince.
- In the popular video game Mortal Kombat, one playable character named Rain is given a curiously purple outfit.This is an obvious reference to Prince acknowledged by the character developers as a sort of red herring but in later games given a full background.
- The term "Purple Rain" first appears in the song "Ventura Highway" by the group America in their 1972 album Homecoming, and refers to LSD. Prince's song does not.
- Mariah Carey covered "The Beautiful Ones" on her 1997 album, Butterfly.
- Indie band Rilo Kiley played a Purple Rain clip at the end of their song "Spectacular Views" live.
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[edit] Notes
- ^ "Purple Rain", Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at AwardsDatabase.Oscars.org; last accessed September 9, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Purple Rain lyrics
