Purple Rain by Prince

Purple Rain by Prince

Buy Purple Rain

Purple Rain by PrincePrince reached the pinnacle of his success in 1984, with the release of the musically potent Purple Rain to accompany the major motion picture of the same name. The sixth studio album by the Minneapolis-based recording artist, it marks a slight departure from his earlier solo work. For the first time, Prince added and fully credited his band, The Revolution, and the production emphasized full band performances and multiple, layered instruments. The resulting hybrid of funk, rock, R&B and synthesized dance beats became one of the most popular and well regarded albums of the 1980s, reaching the top of the charts and selling over 20 million copies worldwide.

Keyboardist Lisa Coleman was one of only two additional musicians (along with guitarist Dez Dickerson) to perform on Prince’s breakthrough double album 1999. Following the tour for that album, Dickerson left the group for “religious reasons” and was replaced by guitarist and vocalist Wendy Melvoin, a childhood friend of Coleman. As mainstream success began to grow for Prince, due in part to the proliferation of MTV, he decided to use his band less sparsely and load up for an ambitious follow-up. Filmed almost entirely in Minneapolis, the movie Purple Rain contains stories behind many of the soundtrack’s songs and uses many musicians from the local scene.

As was the case on all but his earliest albums, Prince composed and arranged all of the songs on this album. However, he did elicit some input from his new band members. Another unique attribute of Purple Rain is the fact that three songs on the album were actually recorded live at the First Avenue Club in Minneapolis with Prince adding some studio touches and edits to these later. The August 1983 show was a benefit concert and is historic as the first live appearance by Melvoin with The Revolution.


Purple Rain by Prince
Released: June 25, 1984 (Warner Brothers)
Produced by: Prince & the Revolution
Recorded: First Avenue & The Warehouse, Minneapolis and The Record Plant & Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, August 1983–March 1984
Side One Side Two
Let’s Go Crazy
Take Me with U
The Beautiful Ones
Computer Blue
Darling Nikki
When Doves Cry
I Would Die 4 U
Baby I’m a Star
Purple Rain
Primary Musicians
Prince – Lead Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards
Wendy Melvoin – Guitars, Vocals
Lisa Coleman – Keyboards, Vocals
Matt Fink – Keyboards
Bobby Z – Drums, Percussion

Generally regarded as the most pop-oriented of Prince’s career, Purple Rain begins the story with Prince narrating along to a church-like organ, speaking about enjoying the here and now on the opener “Let’s Go Crazy”. An electronic drum beat kicks in along with a bouncy organ riff, and it drives this song into a frenzy of wild guitars and intense vocals, until it crashes into a cacophony of whining guitars and screaming. The song was one of two on this album to top the charts.

“Take Me With You” is a duet with Apollonia, who also starred as Prince’s romantic counterpart in the film. The song was originally meant to be on her Apollonia 6 album, but its inclusion on Purple Rain necessitated cuts to the suite-like following song, “Computer Blue”. This latter song melds synthesizers and a quirky, sloshy electronic beat with some guitar elements and perhaps stands out as the most stereotypically “eighties” in sound and style. “Darling Nikki” caused quite a stir with Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center for the racy subject matter addressed in the lyrics. The song itself is sparsely arranged with the emphasis on Prince’s chanted and groaned vocals. The song was not the centerpiece of the album, but it probably helped boost the notoriety of the album with all of the media attention surrounding the risqué lyrics.

“When Doves Cry” is one of the most creative songs on the album. Again, the arrangement is sparse as there is no bass, just an electronic drum beat, synthesized melodic sounds and Prince’s emotive vocals. The layers of sound are subtle and create a smokey, almost psychedelic feel. Written specifically for a sequence in the film, this worldwide hit was the top selling single for the year 1984, according to Billboard magazine.

Prince

The album’s final three tracks were all recorded live in 1983. “I Would Die 4U” is a departure from the rest of the album and is almost anthemic with a repetitive beat, chanted refrain and synthesized sounds. The song fades abruptly into “Baby I’m a Star”, delivered almost like a show tune with theatrical lyrics and a pounding steady, dance beat. Prince’s masterpiece on this album is the closing title track, “Purple Rain”. This song is Prince reaching into his blues and funk influences and coming up with a depth of sound in many layers. The guitars are front and center in this song with the solo soaring above the strings and drums, closing the album on a very high note.

Purple Rain was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry list of sound recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important”. Prince also won two Grammy Awards in 1985 for the album. However, he also announced that year that he would stop touring and making music videos after the release of his next album, Around the World in a Day, which ultimately led to the disbandment of the short-lived “Revolution”.

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1984 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1984 albums.

 

1999 by Prince

1999 by Prince

Buy 1999

1999 by Prince1999 is a double-length album by Prince, released in late 1982. The album was born out of an extremely prolific songwriting period when there was reportedly four albums worth of material available. It was the fifth studio album by the Minnesota artist born Prince Rogers Nelson, who started his recording career in his late teens in the mid 1970s. This synthesizer and drum machine heavy album marked a decided change in Prince’s sound and contained his first charting hit singles. The album beats on a “computer” theme, which is reflected in the album’s instrumentation and various electronic sounds. Prince credited the movie Blade Runner as an influence on the album’s sound as well as the sets of the corresponding music videos.

Like all his previous albums, 1999 centers on deeply sexual subjects (some have said that Prince sings about sex like B.B. King sings about the blues). However, this album also explored other issues, especially those of mortality and death.

The album is laid out in a very top-heavy fashion, with all the singles coming from the first two sides and sides three and four reserved for strictly album tracks. Further, whether by design or not, the four singles released from 1999 were released in the exact sequence that they appear on the album. The unique cover of the album not only contains symbols and art from past Prince albums, but also tributes his future backing band The Revolution.


1999 by Prince
Released: November 27, 1982 (Warner Brothers)
Produced by: Prince
Recorded: Kiowa Trail Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN &
Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, 1982
Side One Side Two
1999
Little Red Corvette
Delirious
Let’s Pretend We’re Married
D.M.S.R.
Side Three Side Four
Automatic
Something In the Water
(Does Not Compute)
Free
Lady Cab Driver
All the Critics Love U in New York
International Lover
Primary Musicians
Prince – Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Bass, Drums
Dez Dickerson – Guitars, Vocals
Lisa Coleman – Lead & Backing Vocals

The title track, “1999” is an updated version of Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, with an updated notion of turning the Rapture into an excuse to party. On the track, Prince trades lead vocals with Lisa Coleman and Dez Dickerson and built the main riff around the melody of “Monday, Monday” by The Mamas & the Papas. Although the song has become one of his most enduring anthems, “1999” failed to reach the Top 40 when it was originally released.

The next song, “Little Red Corvette”, would become Prince’s first charting hit, peaking at #6 on the Billboard pop singles chart. The song nicely fuses a drum machine beat and slow synth buildup with a full pop hook during the choruses and a classic guitar solo by Dickerson. The highly allegorical lyrics tell of a one-night stand with a beautiful and promiscuous woman in a very poetic fashion;

“I guess I should’ve known by the way you parked your car sideways that it wouldn’t last…”

A couple more songs are even more highly sensualized. “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” is a long funk and R&B tune with such risque lyrics that Tipper Gore reportedly leaped from her couch to save her children’s ears from the raunch. “Automatic” extends to almost ten minutes, setting precedent for the 80s dance remixes which were frequently released on 7″ EPs. This synth-heavy song contains bondage-inspired lyrics, re-enacted in a music video banned from the new MTV.

Delirious single“Delirious” became another Top 10 hit, reaching #8. The song employs an electric version of upbeat country or rockabilly, with a catchy keyboard hook and a fair share of sexual metaphors, ending abruptly with the sound effect of a baby cooing. “Something In the Water (Does Not Compute)” is an ode to a harsh lover, while “Free” is a delicate piano ballad expressing patriotism for America and how fellow Americans should appreciate their freedom. This especially applies to freedom of speech, of which Prince understands the importance from the perspective of a “controversial” artist.

Side four of the album includes “Lady Cab Driver”, which features the vocalist angrily rattling off an endless litany of life’s disappointments above the female wailing of the “cab driver.” “All the Critics Love U in New York” is another experiment into the world of of synthesizers and features the Linn LM-1 drum machine. The closer, “International Lover” is another long sex-centric song to wrap up the double LP.

1999‘s critical and commercial success secured Prince a place in the public psyche, and launched him into the most successful phase of his long career. The album was followed 19 months later by Purple Rain, his most successful album ever, which was also accompanied by a major Hollywood movie.

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1982 Images

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1982 albums.