6 keepers
keeper avg .666
What can I say about one of the best-selling and critically-lauded albums of all time. Of course it wasn't even the best-selling album that year; that would be a tough feat when you're up against The Boss' career-defining "Born In The USA" and a definitive Bob Marley greatest hits compilation. But Purple Rain's success would make the impact of Prince's commercial breakthrough "1999" seem cute by comparison, and produce several charting hits, including 2 reaching #1, 2 more Top 10, and one more Top 40. It was kind of a big deal.
Being the first of Prince's albums to truly utilize his backing band, it has more of a live sound compared to Prince's previous albums to varying degrees; all the songs except "Darling Nikki" and "When Doves Cry" were recorded with the band, and the last 3 songs on the album were recorded live at a gig. The spacious "Let's Go Crazy" and "The Beautiful Ones" are obviously a completely different animal from the clubby, bone-dry production of hits like "1999" and "Little Red Corvette," and the lush "Take Me with U"***** (charted #25) presages the more psychedelic direction he would take on subsequent albums.
Though the word "iconic" lost all its meaning years ago, it seems apropos to era-defining singles "Let's Go Crazy"*****, the wildly experimental "When Doves Cry"****, and the poignant title song**** (hitting #1,#1, and #2 respectively). Nothing I can add except to point out that "Purple Rain" was consciously inspired by Journey's "Open Arms" (1981), a song that 100% of music intelligentsia would dismiss as drivel. At least the tempo and chord progression are really close and exactly the same (respectively). Indeed, Prince knew it was so similar that he (to his credit) asked "Open Arms" co-writer Jonathan Cain if it was too close; Cain (to his credit) answered he was cool with it. The atmospheric "I Would Die 4 U"***** soared on a frantic drum machine groove (charting #8). And "Darling Nikki"**** is noteworthy enough for its aggressively sparse production and comically raunchy subject matter, but Tipper Gore and the PMRC made it legendary by making it part of the "Filthy Fifteen." I'm sure that didn't help sales at all (ha ha).
Finally, the remaining tracks suffer by being merely less-memorable than the "classics". "Computer Blue" and "Baby I'm a Star" are fun but relatively mindless hop up and down dance numbers which wouldn't sound out of place on Prince's previous albums. The slinky ballad "The Beautiful Ones" featured prominently in the feature length film (that the album was taken from), and like "Baby I'm a Star," makes more sense in the film's context. Impressively, these are the only songs that don't sound important to this day.
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