40th anniversary of Prince's "Purple Rain" - June 25th

I think it's just a touch awkward as a collection, good songs individually, with three or four standalone belters. I think Let's Go Crazy was his poppiest tune at that point of his career and sounds like a more radio-friendly cousin to Jack U Off from the Controversy album a few years prior. It's a superb opener.

Take Me With U I like most for the co-lead vocals by Apollonia which shows her abilities better than stuff like Sex Shooter, and the strings are enjoyable. A belter.

The Beautiful Ones is for me the second belter with its soaring vocals the like of which were previously heard on Do Me Baby, Something In The Water Does Not Compute, Free and International Lover.

I like Computer Blue with its switch halfway through from a guitar-heavy rocker to a pointedly mellower instrumental. Yes, it's the third belter.

Darling Nikki is the song, I believe, which started the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics stickers on products in the '80s. What was her name who took exception to this song - someone Gore? I'm not in awe of this track. Tipper Gore, that's her, the advocate for social issues, who overheard her young daughter listening to the track.

I like that When Doves Cry has no traditional bass, it gives it a particularly crisp sound, and the vocal melody is pretty unchanged throughout verses and choruses.
Kiss, on the Parade album a couple of years later, also had hardly any bass except on the 12" single version. Away from Purple Rain a moment, I like that Prince, or rather his associate David Z, utilized a couple of seconds of Peggy Lee for Kiss, unmistakably heard below in the first sung lines.



I Would Die 4 U sounds like simplicity itself, if you're Prince. Or maybe it was a complex composition that just sounds simple. It's a belter.

I think Baby I'm A Star is obviously for the benefit of the motion picture and as an album track doesn't get me going. The extended live performances of this number are very enjoyable.

The final song on the album is that which, in a previous life, scared off Stevie Nicks. A country offering to her from Prince which allegedly so overwhelmed her that she refused it. I'm not sure I believe this story but Nicks herself has said it. All she had to do was write the lyrics for the 10 minute instrumental track which eventually found its way here as Purple Rain. It's a belter, yes.


I like that he followed Purple Rain (with which he was still touring) with Around The World In A Day. No publicity, no singles off it for a month after release and no printed name on the cover (on my copy a transparent peel-away sticker you could hardly make out if you weren't looking for it)

It went double platinum. I thought it was great. But lots of people asked for refunds.

Not me.