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14 AUGUST 2017
visit MUSIC FEATURE
There are around 140
Diamond albums in the
world: ones that have
sold ten million copies or more
according to the Record Industry
Association of America. There are
somewhat fewer good Diamond
albums. What we have here,
according to US music biz bible
Billboard, is the best Diamond
album of all.
It's better than Songs In The
Key of Life. Better than Physical
Graffiti or Dark Side of the Moon.
It's a bit better than Abbey Road,
a fair way ahead of Adele's 21 and
a whole freakin' shedload better
than Kenny G's Breathless.
"Purple Rain is certainly in
contention for the most perfect
album in rock or pop history,"
Billboard opined in its recent
rating of 90 Diamond albums,
"expertly flowing from track to
track while delighting, surprising
and astounding at each bend."
Well, all right! Of course,
the very idea of winning the
All-Time Album Olympics is as
fundamentally daft as any listicle
anywhere, but it's hard to find
a chink in the paisley armour
of the late great Purple One's
blockbuster breakthrough of 1984.
The 2015 Paisley Park remaster
was overseen by the funkmeister
himself, and the pearly sheen is
right up in yer mascara from the
first wobbly church organ chords
of Let's Go Crazy .
That classic '80s gated snare
drum cracks like a rubber balloon
busting on a taut bass player's
butt. The synths shimmer like
shiny tinfoil, and that weird
Would Die 4 U morphs into Baby
I'm A Star on side two. Incredibly,
they were both recorded live at
a Minneapolis Club before being
twiddled Zappa-style back at
Paisley HQ.
Bookending that side are the
most iconic of all Prince's tunes,
When Doves Cry and Purple Rain,
two songs as remarkable for their
bare-boned craft as the epicness
of their production.
How does he gets his "yow
yow yows" to boing like a Jew's
harp in the Doves intro? How
does his shriek register sound
like nails down a blackboard on
The Beautiful Ones? Exactly what
is that cyber synapse crackle
in I Would Die 4 U? You won't
get answers here, just another
chance to wonder.
Sadly, what you won't get
either with this splendid new
vinyl pressing is From the Vault &
Previously Unreleased, the bonus
disc accompanying the Deluxe CD
edition. No Electric Intercourse,
no Wonderful Ass, no Velvet Kitty
Cat and no, er, We Can F-ck.
What you will get is a smashing
metallic mirror effect where
the old white floral border and
back used to be, an inner sleeve
with almost legible lyrics, and
that much-lamented addition to
the cherished old vinyl relic: the
original foldout poster for your
bedroom wall.
Look at him there in his purple
suede boots and quilted paisley
pants suit with its diagonal button
flies. Flouncy white lace frilling
from sleeves and collar and
inexplicable silver chains hanging
from his sharply padded right
shoulder. Damn. We won’t see his
like again. But we’ll always have
Purple Rain. MD
scrabbly woodblock percussion
thing sounds like a really clean
weird scrabbly woodblock
percussion thing.
Take Me With U slides in on a
slick of glitter vaseline, as indelibly
propulsive as any hit from the
great synth scare of '84, but it's
the back half of side one that
holds the highest density of sonic
delights in this 44 minutes.
The futuristic go-go of
Computer Life segues into the oh-
so-naughty fan tale Darling Nikki
like they're one long robot jam,
culminating in what must surely
be rock's first gospel bubble bath.
He pulls a similar trick when I
The remastered vinyl edition of Prince's Purple Rain has either sat
plum or hovered near the top of JB's vinyl chart since it was released
by Warner a little over a month ago. Michael Dwyer investigates.
Take Me With U slides in on a slick of
glitter vaseline, as indelibly propulsive as
any hit from the great synth scare of '84
st154_087_MUSIC-VinylRevival.indd 1 21/7/17 4:13 pm