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Purple Rain Deluxe Edition Prince and The Revolution album
Warner Bros. Records
albumIt’s nice that it sounds better for the fans but I live in the now. I don’t have to go backwards to celebrate.
As the result of Prince and Warner Bros Records settling their decades long dispute over the publishing rights to Prince’s Warner tenure catalogue, in April 2014 plans to release a remastered version of Purple Rain finally received Prince’s seal of approval, just in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original LPs release. Prince himself would undertake the task revamping the sound quality of the 1984 master tape using the state of the art equipment of Paisley Park Studios. This work was completed by Joshua Welton, working under Prince’s supervision, in early 2015. The release was scheduled for that summer. A second disc containing extended cuts and edits of the album’s original promotional singles and their B-sides was expected to accompany the release, slated for June 2015 on the anniversary. Yet when hearing Warner’s plans to accompany the release with a third disc filled with previously unreleased era outtakes, Prince withdrew his cooperation and the release was postponed.
With project on hiatus for the interim, the Purple Rain remaster was revisited following Prince’s death in April 2016 and was released on 23 July 2017 as a triple disc Deluxe Edition titled Purple Rain Deluxe (Expanded) Edition. The first disc of the deluxe contained Welton’s ‘Paisley Park Remaster’ of 2015, with the second disc curating fifteen single edits and their extended remixes. To the delight of fans, the hotly anticipated third disc published eleven tracks gleaned from the vault, laid down over a variety in sessions spanning from April 1983 to September 1984 long after the release of Purple Rain. The recording took place across a variety of studios, particularly Prince’s rehearsal space the Flying Cloud Drive warehouse, Minnesota, during the same period which delivered the iconic album. Although all these studio outtakes had for decades been in wide circulation as bootleg cassette tapes, Purple Rain Deluxe gives the first opportunity to own these hugely popular and legendary tracks officially and in the sound quality they deserved.
Purple Rain Deluxe peaked at number 4 in the US Billboard 200 and at number 7 in the UK, and also a top-20 hit in most territories where it was sold. The set’s commercial success in issuing previously unavailable material from Prince’s vault, inaugurated a series of other Deluxe Editions issuing remastered versions of Prince’s most commercially successful albums. The run was upscaled to more highly priced Super Deluxe packages with subsequent editions and have published many more tracks from Prince’s fabled vault.
Recording
The vault disc begins with the much revered The Dance Electric, produced at Flying Cloud Warehouse in August 1984, and famously later given to Andre Cymone in reward for his service, when quitting Prince’s band to rerecord for his self-titled debut solo LP A.C.. During the shooting of the Purple Rain movie production had relocated to Hollywood owing to the cold Minnesota winter. It was at Sunset Sound in January 1983 Prince recorded Electric Intercourse and was intended for Purple Rain soundtrack before being replaced with The Beautiful Ones. In the following month Prince also recorded Love And Sex, and too was withdrawn from the soundtrack. The studio version of Possessed of March 1984 is yet another outtake and was performed frequently during Purple Rain Tour. The song was only previously commercially available as its live version captured during the tour and was thereby released in the VHS Prince And The Revolution: Live featuring simulcast footage from that show. The studio version, released in Purple Rain Deluxe was recorded with The Revolution at their previous warehouse in Louis Park.
Both Velvet Kitty Cat and Katrina’s Paper Dolls also date from 1983 and were created for Vanity 6 to overdub their vocals for the band’s abandoned second LP. Recorded on New Year’s Eve in 1983 at Sunset Sound and after again being reworked in 1986, We Can Fuck was revisited a third time in 1990 when subsequently cleaned up and retitled We Can Funk as released on Graffiti Bridge featuring George Clinton’s guest vocals. Prince’s growing infatuation with Wendy Melvoin’s sister Susannah gives inspiration for Wonderful Ass, which Prince recorded at his Kiowa Trail home studio in 1983, the version of the song included in Purple Rain Deluxe is a later reworking overdubbed by Wendy and Lisa in September 1984.
The vault disc also publishes three tracks Prince developed out from melodies created by his father John L. Nelson: Computer Blue (issued here in its full so-called ‘hallway speech’ version); and instrumentals Love Theme from Purple Rain and Father’s Song. The disc’s most intriguing tracks Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden are two separate songs sequenced as discovered in a 1998 configuration unearthed when inventorying Paisley Park vault’s contents during the aftermath of Prince’s death in 2016. In September 1998, Prince announced plans to issue a compilation of outtakes entitled Roadhouse Garden, songs he recorded with The Revolution at the Flying Cloud warehouse in 1984, although the compilation was abandoned shortly after. Of those tracks considered for the project, Our Destiny, Roadhouse Garden and Wonderful Ass instead received their debut release in Purple Rain Deluxe.
Purple Rain Deluxe was released on 23 June 2017 two days shy of the the original album’s thirty-third anniversary. Issued in partnership with The Prince Estate and Warner as three editions; Standard version (available only on vinyl) comprised solely the remastered original album; Deluxe Edition packaged (issued in CD and vinyl format) the remastered album and singles edits second disc. Deluxe (Expanded) Edition formed four discs and included the vault tracks plus Prince and The Revolution Live! – the 30 March 1985 Syracuse concert filmed for broadcast during the closing stages of Purple Rain Tour and makes its DVD format debut. Purple Rain Deluxe (Expanded) Edition includes a 36-page colour booklet, with written contributions from the sound engineer for those original recording sessions Susan Rogers, and all five original members of The Revolution.
Live At The Carrier Dome
- Vocals/Guitar
- Prince
- Drums
- Bobby Z.
- Guitar
- Wendy Melvoin
- Keyboards
- Matt “Dr.” Fink
- Lisa Coleman
- Bass Guitar
- Brownmark
- Saxophone
- Eric Leeds
- Dance
- Jerome Benton
- Wally Safford
- Greg Brooks
Performers
- Vocials / All instr.
- Prince
- Guitar
- Wendy Melvoin Let’s Go Crazy, Take Me With U, Computer Blue, I Would Die 4 U, Purple Rain, Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden and We Can Fuck
- Drums
- Bobby Z Let’s Go Crazy, Take Me With U, Computer Blue, I Would Die 4 U, Purple Rain and Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden
- Sheila E God
- Bass Guitar
- BrownMark Let’s Go Crazy, Take Me With U, Computer Blue, I Would Die 4 U, Purple Rain and Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden
- Keyboards
- Lisa Coleman Let’s Go Crazy, Take Me With U, Computer Blue, I Would Die 4 U, Purple Rain, Wonderful Ass, Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden and We Can Fuck
- Matt "Dr" Fink Let’s Go Crazy, Take Me With U, Computer Blue, I Would Die 4 U, Purple Rain and Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden
- Voilin
- Novi Novog Take Me With U, Baby I’m A Star and Purple Rain
- Sid Page Our Destiny
- E. Marcy Dicterow-Vaj Our Destiny
- Cello
- David Coleman Take Me With U, Baby I’m A Star, Purple Rain and Our Destiny
- Suzie Katayama Take Me With U, Baby I’m A Star, Purple Rain and Our Destiny
- Viola
- Laury Woods Our Destiny
- Denyse Buffum Our Destiny
- Double Bass
- Tim Barr Our Destiny
- Annette Atkinson Our Destiny
- Trumpet
- John Liotine Our Destiny
- Saxophone
- Steve Madaio Our Destiny
- Dick Mitchell Our Destiny
Data
- Producer
- Prince
- Label
- NPG Records
- Distribution
- Warner Bros. Records
- Cover/Design
- Ed Thrasher, Laura LiPuma and Alex Tenta
- Released
- 9 years ago on 23 June 2017
- Running Time
- 3:19:26
- US Chart Peak
- 4
- US R&B Peak
- 3
- UK Chart Peak
- 7
- Orig. Formats
-
Tracklist
Disc 1: 2015 Paisley Park Remaster
- (4:39)
- [feat. Apollonia and Lisa Coleman] (3:54)
- (5:13)
- (3:59) 1
- (4:13)
- (5:52)
- (2:51)
- (4:20)
- (8:41)
- Running Time
- 43 min, 54 sec
Disc 2: From The Vault & Previously Unreleased
- The Dance Electric (11:29)
- Love And Sex [feat. Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman] (5:00)
- Computer Blue [Hallway Speech Version] [feat. Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman] (12:18) 1
- Electric Intercourse (4:57)
- Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden [feat. Jill Jones, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman] (6:25) 2 & 3
- Possessed (7:56)
- Wonderful Ass [feat. Lisa Coleman] (6:24) 3
- Velvet Kitty Cat (2:42)
- Katrina's Paper Dolls (3:30)
- We Can Fuck [feat. Jill Jones, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman] (10:17)
- Father's Song (5:30) 1
- Running Time
- 76 min, 47 sec
Disc 3: Single Edits & B-Sides
- When Doves Cry [Single Edit] (3:49)
- 17 Days [B-Side Edit] (3:58)
- Let's Go Crazy [Single Edit] (3:49)
- Let's Go Crazy [Special Dance Mix] (7:36)
- Erotic City [Single Edit] [feat. Sheila E] (3:57)
- Erotic City (Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive) [feat. Sheila E] (7:25)
- Purple Rain [Single Edit] (4:08)
- God [B-Side Edit] (4:04)
- God (Love Theme from Purple Rain) (7:57)
- Another Lonely Christmas [B-Side Edit] (4:56)
- Another Lonely Christmas [Extended Version] (6:52)
- I Would Die 4 U [Single Edit] (2:59)
- I Would Die 4 U [Extended Version] (10:20)
- Baby I'm A Star [B-Side Edit] (2:52)
- Take Me With U [Single Edit] [feat. Apollonia and Lisa Coleman] (3:43)
- Running Time
- 78 min, 45 sec
DVD: Live At The Carrier Dome - 30 March 1985
- (5:30)
- (2:34)
- (4:15)
- (5:10)
- (4:15)
- (4:40)
- (2:00)
- (4:24)
- (5:05)
- (4:15)
- (1:00)
- (8:30)
- (4:30)
- (4:00)
- (7:30)
- (8:15)
- (3:50)
- (10:00)
- (18:24)
- Running Time
- 120 minutes
1 Co-written with John L. Nelson.
2 Our Destiny sung by Lisa Coleman.
3 Intended for release on the aborted 1999 compilation Roadhouse Garden.
Purple Rain Deluxe Edition album review
It had taken a fraction over a year to achieve but along came the release of the first songs that would never have seen light of day had Prince still been alive. Purple Rain Deluxe comprises three CDs (actually, a fourth disc – a DVD reissuing the televised Purple Rain tour is also generously included); the first being the remaster done under Prince’s supervision back in 2015 intended for release to mark the 31st anniversary of the original album but later pulled. Criticisms that came with its eventual release in 2017 was with Welton’s mastering, not being an engineer himself. It is the accompanying discs giving reason to own the collection, everyone knows how Purple Rain sounds like.
The second disc is where fans head first, for it contains the previously vaulted unreleased – some of which treasured jelly indeed. Beyond the much longed for The Dance Electric, Electric Intercourse and Possessed the real find is the full 12-minute version of Computer Blue and a fabulous We Can F**k. The set demonstrates the many faces of Prince – from frivolous (Velvet Kitty Cat) to masterful (Father’s Song), funky (Wonderful Ass) to irreverent (Love And Sex). Although not equalling the quality expected from The Revolution, that and the sound issues reminds us these tracks are clearly and correctly a collection of outtakes. But with sound issues aside Purple Rain Deluxe remains a solid collection nonetheless. The quality of sound as is understood due to the recordings being taken from recordings rather than the master tapes (locked behind legal red tape) themselves. The standout tracks are surely Our Destiny, Computer Blue and We Can Fuck – where Prince’s dexterity astounds – and continues to do so with the sober Father’s Song. Listeners must remind themselves Prince was a mere a 24-year-old at the time of recording in 1983. Sadly, the condition and storage of these tracks, camped in a dusty corner at Warner for more than 35 years, despite their remastering still bear the stamp of bootleg quality even as an official release.
Comprised of edits and B-sides disc three is the one least expected to enjoy however delivers the surprise result from the rest the package. The extended Another Lonely Christmas is the highlight of the entire set and although ordering the same song back to back, despite one being the edit and the other the extended version – appearing no fewer than five times across the disc – is irksome over repeated listening. The package is a wonderful revisit to 1984, the year that (is although is neither his most prolific or greatest) is etched in history as its creator’s most definitive. Purple Rain Deluxe is indeed a celebration deluxe of Prince’s industry-shaping talent.
Purple Rain Deluxe Edition is rated 4 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.
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