Purple Rain (2017

I'm not sure I'll be saying anything that hasn't been said elsewhere, and perhaps more eloquently, but will at least add to the critical mass of opinion that says this is an outstanding album. Its sheer brilliance has been slightly overshadowed by its commercial success, but listening back to it, over twenty years later, I am struck by how adventurous and indeed avant-garde it is - very few mainstream albums have deviated more from the traditional verse chorus structure we associate with popular music. The most striking example of this is what was the first single from the album, "When Dove's Cry". The first twenty seconds of this are an utterly blistering salvo from Prince's guitar - effortlessly demonstrating beyond all doubt we are in the presence of a master. Incredibly heavy, the thread is taken up by a brief chanting type vocal, followed by the sparsest of keyboard riffs, and then just the sound of Bobby Z's drums and Prince saying "Dig if you will, a picture ...". There is no chorus , and there is possibly very little by the way of melody. Nevertheless, the track packs an incredible punch, and with lines like "maybe I'm just like my father, too bold, maybe you're just like me mother, she's never satisfied" the sense that this is something very real heightens the power of the song. It finishes with a keyboard line spiralling into the upper register and Prince telling his lover "don't cry". It shouldn't work, it doesn't sound like anything else, but work it does. The title track, intended as the finale, again breaks all the rules. Clocking in at over eight minutes, it is the power ballad shredded and reconstituted by Prince's fertile imagination. Stunningly it was recorded live, but the playing is impeccable, and the song is as complex as anything else you will hear in the world of popular music. The beautiful intro, and Prince's opening lines "I never meant to cause you any sorrow / I never meant to cause you any pain" are a wonderful start, but what truly takes the song into greatness is the long coda, with it's simple guitar motif, but underpinned by a bass line of irresistible force. Prince's vocal interjections lift the slow fade that little bit more, but the final phase, where the cellos search for the final chord without finding it make this track an entirely original triumph. The much discussed "Darling Nikki" - one rude word giving it international notoriety, is if anything an update on Norwegian Wood. A casual encounter gives rise to a brief tryst, with the girl vanishing in the morning. Slightly less coy admittedly, it's swaggering sexual charge provided by Prince's powerful guitar work, and devastating wordless vocals make it a powerful piece of work. Computer Blue is another example of Prince's confidence in simply ignoring standard forms. The song starts with some potentially steamy dialogue, some squalling keyboards and Prince asking "Where is my love life?". After some heavy riffing and vocal digressions the track segues into something quite different, again without verse or chorus. Prince ties it all back in at the end by repeating the initial riff, fading out with a great scream. Let's Go Crazy is another high point. A great spoken word intro, starting off as if Prince were leading a pentecostalist marriage service, and finishing with with one of the all time great incendiary slashes of power guitar. The Beautiful Ones boasts one of the finest and most convincing vocal performances on the album up against impressive competition some great guitar playing, fine lyrics - "The Beautiful Ones, they hurt you every time" with Prince sounding in real plausible spiritual anguish - "Do you want him, or do you want me, cos I want you", swelling crescendos, a mysterious intro and again no real chorus. Take me with you is another wonderful song, and Baby I'm a Star is a declaration of intent. Prince has it all on this album, amazing guitar, drums like you've never heard before, truly emotional lyrics, sounding like a man who knew that very shortly he would have the world at his feet. Arguably it's not his greatest album, but what the hell. A great album it is. A stunningly original piece of work.

Great cd

Quality product all sealed and brand new as described

Do you remember how good this sounded back in 1984? That's how good it sounds now. Prince was a frustrated creative genius, looking for an outlet. In 84 he got into a flow state, and pumped out this whole album of winners. And made a movie around them. He never did anything comparable again. There's so much here to enjoy. From the unhinged sermon at the start of Let's Go Crazy, to the red-hot guitar solo at its end. The simple, youthful freshness of Take Me With You. The smouldering, gritty heat of When Doves Cry, with its arresting opening soundscape. The pained, neurotic falsetto of The Beautiful Ones. We could go on and on... In an era when everyone else was making synth pop, Prince was doing something much, much earthier, more creative and original. There is real diversity of styles here, and yet the album is a convincing unity. The title track is an extremely ambitious ballad - whether on not you think it a success. Personally I do. It's hard to compare Prince here to other artists, he's so individual. I reckon his main influences are his own earlier work! I like to listen to this album right through. By the end, I feel completely satisfied.

This is one of Prince's outstanding albums. Having it in CD format I have been building up my vinyl collection, so it was a no brainer to get this in vinyl. There isn't one track I don't like, they are all good in their own way. The title track is the last track on side 2 and it sounds awesome on the turntable. An amazing artist who sadly is no longer with us but his fantastic music lives on.

Excellent. If you like Prince you will love this. An amazing live concert. Absolutely brilliant.

I have to say this LP on vinyl is brilliant the remaster from 2017 does the album justice and it's a joy to play, I'm playing it on a Technics SL BD 22 turntable with a Audio Technica AT81CP Cartridge and stylus and I love it, money well spent.

Love this CD album. Invokes a rush of memories from my younger days and takes me right back to 80s and 90s. Delivery didn’t take long at all

Album simple disque vinyle, album neuf sous cellophane, il est épais, très lourd, environ 195 grammes (O_O), vérifié sur la balance. Galette très propre, pas de poussière ou d'autres pollution, exemptes de rayure. Pas de défaut d'ordre cosmétique. Pas de voile. Pas de bruit de surface sur les blancs ni sur les plages musicales, aucun craquement ! Pourvu que cela dure :) ! Qualité de pressage exceptionnelle : Excellente dynamique, excellente richesse spectrale, bonne spatialisation stéréo, un très bon niveau de gravure ce qui permet de ne pas pousser l'ampli dans ses derniers retranchement. Le son de ce vinyle est vraiment plus excellent. Qualitativement un pressage que l'on peut que qualifier d'audiophile. Cet avis sur la technique, bien entendu, concerne l'exemplaire que j'ai reçu; la production des disques vinyles est "industrielle" (me semble-t-il), il est tout à fait possible, probable qu'il y ait des disques bien moins bons et d'autres bien meilleurs. On ne peut qu'espérer que cet échantillon soit représentatif de la qualité moyenne de fabrication de ce disque de Prince et il aurait été particulièrement chanceux d'être tombé sur un exemplaire parfait (tous les gagnants au loto ont néanmoins tenté leurs chances :) ) ou à contrario de tomber sur un échantillon "pourri" et inaudible relèverait de la loi de Murphy mais cela arrive plus souvent que l'on croit, et j'imagine, j'espère que dans ce cas là, Amazon le remplacerait. Somptueuse pochette simple au très beau graphisme! Disque est protégé dans une pochette plus souple artistiquement décorée, le disques est facile à extraire de sa pochette de protection. Les lyrics sont sur une face de la pochette , il n'est pas très aisé de les lire, même illisible parfois, compte tenu de la couleur , violette, de la taille de police et du fond chargé; bel effort quand même. Très beau macaron agrémentant la galette noire. Vous trouverez aussi un poster 72x56 cm plié en 6 ! Là on est dans le bizarre, rock ? pop rock teinté de multiples influences, peu importe, Prince nous propose un bien bel album, musique plus qu'originale, surprenante, pas d'ennui, il se termine avec un sublime "Purple rain" , un plaisir renouvelé en analogique ! Les gouttes de pluie: Face A Lets go crazy *** Take me with u **** The beautiful ones ***** Computer blue *** Darling Nikiki **** Face B When doves cry ***** I would dies 4 U **** Baby I'm a star **** Purple rain ********

Lubię słuchać Prince, a utwór "Purple Rain" jest the best!

Excellent! Sounds AMAZING!

10/10 album! Amazon did a great job in shipping this Record, perfect condition. Sound quality is amazing, consistent throughout. Beautiful artwork and comes with poster.

Prince is god