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Purple Rain

Warner Bros. Records

Thirty years later, there’s nothing remotely close.

The first album jointly credited to Prince and The Revolution, Purple Rain is also the soundtrack to the movie and has since remained one of the most successful albums of music history, selling over 14 million copies in the US and 6 million elsewhere.

The bulk of the album’s recording took place over the summer of 1983: Computer Blue and Let’s Go Crazy was laid down at the warehouse studio rented by the band to conduct rehearsals for the upcoming tour; Darling Nikki was recorded at Prince’s Kiowa Trail home studio at Chanhassen; and the LP’s final three tracks I Would Die 4 U, Baby I’m A Star and the title track are soundboard recordings from the Revolution’s introductory show Prince and the Revolution staged at First Avenue on 3 August 1983, captured using a mobile studio hired from Record Plant parked outside. The late additions, Take Me With U, The Beautiful Ones and When Doves Cry were tracked at Sunset Sound in California, where further orchestrations were added in early 1984 when the filming of the movie transferred to the sun coast to escape the harsh Minnesota winter. Although Purple Rain is the first LP sharing writing credit with The Revolution, Prince wrote and performed all the instruments solo on Darling Nikki, The Beautiful Ones and When Doves Cry. August 3 is an iconic date not only capturing the live recordings immortalised on the Purple Rain LP but was the first public performance of the newly named band.

Purple Rain, Prince’s most successful album, won two Grammys for best Motion Picture Soundtrack and Rock Performance, plus the Oscar for Best OST. It gathered Grammy nominations for Album Of The Year (losing out of Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down) and Best Production. Purple Rain also won three AMAs for Best Pop Album, Best R&B Album, and Best Single (When Doves Cry).

Purple Rain amassed 1 million sales in the US within its first month, rising rapidly to 8 million sales before the end of 1984. It held the top spot on the Billboard album chart for 12 weeks and remained within its top 10 for 32 weeks. The supporting Purple Rain Tour played nearly 100 shows to a combined audience of 1.7 million. The exposure and resulting momentum saw the album receive its first Platinum certification by RIAA on 29 August 1984, rising to 8 times Platinum before they year was out. Purple Rain eventually climbed to 13 times Platinum by 16 May 1996 with total worldwide sales amounting to 25 million. In the UK, Purple Rain peaked at number 7 in its charts, improved when re-entering at number 4 in the week of Prince’s death in April 2016.

The song Darling Nikki became part of music history, that it was responsible for the album to receive the first ever Parental Advisory warning, following complaints from the Parents Music Resource Center (a movement founded by Al Gore’s outraged wife Tipper Gore), topping its list of ‘Filthy Fifteen’ for lyrical content. This notoriety possibly even contributed to the success of the LP. In 2008, Purple Rain was ranked 2nd in Entertainment Weekly’s best albums ever; placed 18th in VH1’s best albums of all time; Pitchfork’s top album of the 1980s; 2nd in Rolling Stone Magazine’s best albums of the 80s and 8th in their top 500 of all time; and best album of all time on Consequence. Purple Rain was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2011. Following Prince’s death on 21 April 2016, Purple Rain re-entered the Billboard Hot 200 at number 2 and was the highest selling soundtrack album in the US that year.

Released one month ahead of the album, the lead single When Doves Cry, backed with 17 Days, stormed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and hit the number one spot on 7 July 1984 and held that position for five weeks. The single certified Gold by the RIAA on 24 July 1984 and upgraded to Platinum on 21 August at exceeding 1 million sales and would be the biggest hit of Prince’s entire career. The remaining singles followed after the LPs release, continuing with Let’s Go Crazy – backed with Erotic City – held among Prince’s best B-sides – on 29 September 1984 became the LPs second single to top the Billboard singles chart. Third was the title track Purple Rain, charting at number 8 on 17 November. They received their Gold certifications on 7 November and 5 December, 1984. I Would Die 4 U followed that November at the start of the tour and became yet another top 10 hit. The album’s fifth and final single Take Me With U closed off the promotion in January 1985 and charted 25 in the US and 7 in the UK.

To fans’ amazement, on 30 September 1998, fourteen years after the release of the original album, Prince put out a surprise announcement that The Revolution would issue a new record, named Roadhouse Garden and intended for release in 1999. Essentially a compilation comprised of unreleased original studio material recorded by the band between 1983 and their dissolution in 1986, many of these tracks were recorded for their follow up LP to Purple Rain. Believing that album had suffered overexposure, plans to release the songs, that comprised Our Destiny, Roadhouse Garden, Splash, All My Dreams, Empty Room and Wonderful Ass, sounding too similar to Purple Rain the songs had been shelved in favour of Around The World In A Day which took an entirely different creative path much to the record buying public’s chagrin. Disappointingly but not unexpectedly plans for Roadhouse Garden was likewise aborted.

2017 reissue

In 2015, the original Purple Rain tapes were remastered at Paisley Park Studios under the supervision of Prince, to remaster the album with state-of-the-art sound in the intention to rerelease the restored album on the 35th anniversary of the original’s issue. Prince later withdrew his cooperation from the project when Warner asked to include a companion disc containing era outtakes. Although completed, the remastered version was held in hiatus until 2016 when following his death, it was released on 23 June 2017 as Purple Rain Deluxe by Warner Bros Records. The Deluxe Edition reissue included the companion Vault disk with era outtakes including those tracks Prince envisioned for Roadhouse Garden. This release re-entered Purple Rain in the US Billboard album chart top ten for a third occasion; in 2017 peaking at number 4.

Prince and the Revolution | Purple Rain
Photography by Larry Williams

Cover story

Purple Rain is doubtlessly the most iconic of Prince’s album covers. The main image is a shot by Ron Slenzak for the movie poster, under the art direction of Ed Thrasher. It captures Apollonia Kotero stood at the top of a short external fire escape stairway with Prince pulled up on the pavement below and sat astride his customised 1981 Hondamatic CM400A motorbike with his trademark love sex symbol emblazoned on its petrol tank. The staircase is actually part of the New York backlot of Warner Bros Studios in Burbank California, shot when the movie’s production transferred to Hollywood in January 1984. That staircase also features in the Spider Man movie of 2002, in the scene which Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst kiss – in the rain.

Because the same image had been taken for the movie poster, which was portrait, flowers were added by Laura LiPuma, graphic designer in Warner’s art department, to square the image for the LP. Having a penchant for fonts, Prince had the rear cover give each track an identity through their own typeface which he chose from a book. The LP’s inner dust sleeve features a still of Lake Minnetonka from the movie – overlaid by the lyric sheet in purple text it was near impossible to read. Its flip side displayed a stylised face drawn by Doug Henders who would illustrate his next album cover. LiPuma would ultimately lead the art direction for five of Prince’s album covers, the others being Around The World In A Day, Parade, Sign O’ The Times and Lovesexy.

Performers

Vocals/Guitar
Prince
Drums
Bobby Z.
Rhythm Guitar
Wendy Melvoin
Keyboards
Matt "Dr." Fink
Lisa Coleman
Bass Guitar
Brownmark
Violin
Novi Novog Take Me With U, Baby I’m A Star and Purple Rain
Cello
David Coleman Take Me With U, Baby I’m A Star and Purple Rain
Suzie Katayama Take Me With U, Baby I’m A Star and Purple Rain

Data

Production
Prince and The Revolution
Label
Warner Bros. Records
Distribution
Warner Bros. Records
Cover/Design
Ron Slenzak, Ed Thrasher and Laura LiPuma
Released
39 years ago on 25 June 1984
Reissued
23 June 2017 as Purple Rain Deluxe
Running Time
43:51
US Chart Peak
1
UK Chart Peak
4
Prince Album
#6
Orig. Formats

Tracklist

  1. Let's Go Crazy (4:39)
  2. Take Me With U [feat. Apollonia and Lisa Coleman] (3:54)
  3. The Beautiful Ones (5:15)
  4. Computer Blue (3:59) 1
  5. Darling Nikki (4:15)
  6. When Doves Cry (5:52)
  7. I Would Die 4 U (2:57)
  8. Baby I'm A Star [feat. Jill Jones] (4:20)
  9. Purple Rain (8:45)

Released as a single

1 Co-written with John L. Nelson, Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin.

Singles from Purple Rain

When Doves Cry, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

When Doves Cry

Warner Bros. Records

Released
16 May 1984
Distribution
Warner Bros. Records / WEA Records
US Chart Peak
1
UK Chart Peak
4
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli
Format
  1. When Doves Cry [Edit] (3:47)
  2. 17 Days (The Rain Will Come Down, Then U Will Have 2 Choose. If U Believe Look 2 The Dawn And U Shall Never Lose.) (3:54)
When Doves Cry, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

When Doves Cry

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
13 June 1984
US Chart Peak
1
UK Chart Peak
4
Cover/Art
Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. When Doves Cry (5:54)
  2. 17 Days (The Rain Will Come Down, Then U Will Have 2 Choose. If U Believe Look 2 The Dawn And U Shall Never Lose.) (3:54)
When Doves Cry, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

When Doves Cry

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
22 June 1984
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
4
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Formats
  1. When Doves Cry (5:52)
  2. 17 Days (3:54)
  3. 1999 (6:22)
  4. D.M.S.R. (8:05)

Issued as 2 x 12" set: Disc 1 tracks 1 and 2; disc 2 tracks 3 and 4. Four track double sided cassette titled Twelve Inches On Tape.

Let's Go Crazy, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

Let's Go Crazy

Warner Bros. Records

Released
18 July 1984
US Chart Peak
1
UK Chart Peak
No Release
Cover/Art
Ron Slenzak & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. Let's Go Crazy [Edit] (3:46)
  2. Erotic City [Edit] [feat. Sheila E] (3:53)
Let's Go Crazy, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

Let's Go Crazy

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
29 August 1984
US Chart Peak
1
UK Chart Peak
No Release
Cover/Art
Ron Slenzak & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. Let’s Go Crazy [Special Dance Mix] (7:35)
  2. Erotic City (Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive) [feat. Sheila E] (7:24)
Purple Rain, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

Purple Rain

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
10 September 1984
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
8
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. Purple Rain [Long Version] (7:05)
  2. God (Love Theme From Purple Rain) (7:54)
  3. God (3:59)
Purple Rain, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

Purple Rain

Warner Bros. Records

Released
14 September 1984
Distribution
Warner Bros. Records / WEA Records
US Chart Peak
2
UK Chart Peak
8
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. Purple Rain [Short Version] (4:02)
  2. God (3:59)

Also available as a 7" picture disc.

Purple Rain, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

Purple Rain

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
26 September 1984
US Chart Peak
2
UK Chart Peak
No Release
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. Purple Rain (8:45)
  2. God (3:59)
I Would Die 4 U, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

I Would Die 4 U

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
26 November 1984
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
58
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. I Would Die 4 U (2:57)
  2. Another Lonely Christmas (4:51)
  3. Free (5:00)
I Would Die 4 U [US Remix], single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

I Would Die 4 U [US Remix]

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
26 November 1984
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
58
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. I Would Die 4 U [US Remix] (10:15)
  2. Another Lonely Christmas [US Remix] (6:47)

US Remixes same as original extended versions.

I Would Die 4 U, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

I Would Die 4 U

Warner Bros. Records

Released
28 November 1984
US Chart Peak
8
UK Chart Peak
No Release
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. I Would Die 4 U (2:57)
  2. Another Lonely Christmas (4:51)
I Would Die 4 U, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1984)

I Would Die 4 U

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
19 December 1984
US Chart Peak
8
UK Chart Peak
No Release
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. I Would Die 4 U [Extended Version] (10:15)
  2. Another Lonely Christmas [Extended Version] (6:47)
Take Me With U, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1985)

Take Me With U

Warner Bros. Records

Released
25 January 1985
Distribution
Laura LiPuma
US Chart Peak
25
UK Chart Peak
No Release
Cover/Art
Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. Take Me With U [Edit] [feat. Apollonia and Lisa Coleman] (3:42)
  2. Baby I'm A Star [Edit] (2:56)
Let’s Go Crazy / Take Me With U, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1985)

Let’s Go Crazy / Take Me With U

Warner Bros. Records

Released
15 February 1985
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
7
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. Let's Go Crazy [Edit] (3:46)
  2. Take Me With U [feat. Apollonia and Lisa Coleman] (3:51)

Double A-side.

Let’s Go Crazy / Take Me With U, single from Purple Rain, Warner Bros. Records (1985)

Let’s Go Crazy / Take Me With U

Warner Bros. Records

12"/Maxi-Single


Released
15 February 1985
Distribution
WEA Records
US Chart Peak
No Release
UK Chart Peak
7
Cover/Art
Albert Magnoli & Laura LiPuma
Format
  1. Let’s Go Crazy [Special Dance Mix] (7:35)
  2. Take Me With U [feat. Apollonia and Lisa Coleman] (3:51)
  3. Erotic City (Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive) [feat. Sheila E] (7:24)

Double A-side.

Supporting tour

Purple Rain Tour

Purple Rain Tour

1984/5

  • 98 shows from 4 November 1984 to 7 April 1985

Purple Rain – review

Where to begin? Purple Rain could well be Prince’s greatest hits package because in reality it’s exactly what it is. Needing no introduction, Purple Rain, to put it bluntly, is the template album to musical perfection. Thirteen times Platinum, admire it or not, Purple Rain compiles the greatest and best known work of the 80’s and is the album which Prince will always be remembered for and measured by. Prince tried to emulate this level, coming close to it with Sign O’ The Times, he never escaped its shadow. Purple Rain houses some of the greatest music of all time and hails from an era when the media talked of the music rather than a tired obsession with name changes. With songs like Let’s Go Crazy, Take Me With U, Computer Blue, Darling Nikki (the very song we owe the Parental Advisory warning), When Doves Cry… well actually every track on the record, it’s impossible not to call it the definitive LP of the decade. Purple Rain is and always will be the essence of Prince. Essential in every music lover’s collection, ‘iconic’ does not even cover it.

Purple Rain

Related releases

Purple Rain Deluxe Edition
Purple Rain [movie]

Purple Rain [movie]

Warner Bros. Pictures (1984)

About this release

Prince And The Revolution: Live

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