Prince and the Revolution-Purple Rain (1984)
Artist: Prince and the Revolution
Title: Purple Rain
Label: Warner Bros.
Sell Date: 4/25/26
Condition: VG+/VG+
Discogs Last Sold: 4/18/26 VG/generic $9.99
Low: $1.99
Median: $6.99
Average: $7.39
High: $17.65
Current low price: $2.99 G+/G+
Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 16
Have/Want:1197/571
Where Sold: Denver, CO
Time It Took To Sell: 3 years
Where and When Bought: Facebook marketplace
Gwiz-gau Grade: A
Sad To See It Go: No
Although I've always thought the 3 album that preceded it were artistically better, as far as start to finish listening goes, I've always like Purple Rain the best ever since I got it used sometime in 1984. Every track is memorable and Prince always has a way with a phrase. "I don't care where we go, don't care what we do" or "we're all gonna die" or NIkki forever masterbating with a magazine. Sex, death, love, indifference, it is all there is short little asides well beyond the depth of an average pop record.
With Prince, the everpresent guitar is always there even if Wendy and Lisa's keyboards are at the forefront. With pop it's about the vocals anyway but this ain't a Quincy Jones production and there is a little more of a live band Rock sensibility even a bit more so than his later day jam excursions. It is subtle but it is clearly there which is part of why it connected on a mass scale beyond the top 40. A film always helps. If you wanted more of an R&B overtone, Michael Jackson had that covered anyway.
Pop and R&B markets want a singing frontman not a musician to focus on. The players are fine as a backdrop, but if if there was a way to get rid of the distraction with machines and production svengalis that is the most commercially acceptable way to go. Prince could do both but being more comfortable in a band format contributed toward his individual success despite a grinding media box required to sell to the masses that he tried to escape with glyph branding before opting out nearly completely. Now, posthumously, people think of him primarily as a guitarist but back then his playing was an after thought. "It's time we all reach out for something new..."
And that means you too!
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