Purple Rain

Philly_Q

I knew this would ruffle some feathers, there's a lot of love and reverence for Prince on this forum... he was a talented chap but his music doesn't do anything for me.

TeleMaster said:

You mean you don't like it. That's fine, don't trash the song as though it's objective fact though. 

It isn't necessary to preface every statement with "in my opinion".  I think it's implied.

Pabcrane

idiotwind said:

 This is the video of the live performance which was cleaned up for the record

As a slight aside, Wendy's purple Rickenbacker looks like it's been modded like Marty Wilson-Piper's from The Church - except Marty's has a wraparound bridge 

axisus

It's a top drawer classic. Doesn't mean that everyone has to like it of course

Hottubes

sweepy said:

So, is Comfortably Numb also crap ? Purple Rain is quite rightly a classic imho 

Yes Comfortably numb is shite, imho

Aornic

I'm assuming you mean the official version from the movie, which is supposed to be the climax of the story acted through his character singing and the reactions of the audience, particularly his father I think. It's not meant to be a music video, despite what the YouTube upload is titled.

That being said:

Prince's shows were so high energy back in the day, with the band firing on all cylinders in a tight manner and him running around (on uppers if the rumours are to be believed) as bandleader - directing them constantly and pulling out bursts of spontaenous improvisations all around with drums, keyboards, bass and whatnot.

In that context, Purple Rain being a slower and drawn out jam for him to express himself through lead playing makes a lot of sense. It's a very personal song, even though its title can't be taken literally, and he really put himself into it each time. In this one instance of each night, the band followed suit with the movie and stayed quite solemn and emotionless and let Prince do his thing.

And that thing is why I love the song. But hey different strokes.

lukedlb

TeleMaster said:

You mean you don't like it. That's fine, don't trash the song as though it's objective fact though. 

Second that

DefaultM

HAL9000 said:

We all like different things. I can’t stand John Lennon’s Imagine but enough people think it’s a classic so I guess I’m in a minority on that one.

Yes thank you its fucking dreadful.

EricTheWeary

DefaultM said:

HAL9000 said:

We all like different things. I can’t stand John Lennon’s Imagine but enough people think it’s a classic so I guess I’m in a minority on that one.

Yes thank you its fucking dreadful.

I’m not keen on it but I like lots of stuff that other people aren’t keen on so whatever. But part of the problem, I think, with Imagine and to some extent the same with Purple Rain is that it is so often lauded as a classic that the reality can only be disappointing. They become songs that are name checked by people who just don’t know very much music as if ten million other songs didn’t exist. 

I did wonder if Imagine came up much on Desert Island Discs but couldn’t find anything to support that. The most popular non classical choices being Wonderful World, Je Ne Regrette Rien, Fly me to the Moon and Bring Me Sunshine. However, the most popular non classical artists are The Beatles. If you only knew music through seventy years of the show you might accept that the Fab Four had joined the classical canon. 

Anyway, Aynsley always does a nice Purple Rain if you prefer it more laid back.

https://youtu.be/usmKAti_Xws

RocknRollDave

I like lots of Prince's material and he was phenomenally gifted live too. 
I tend to like the slightly later stuff rather than the 80's era, just because I have an aversion to the 80's sound in general. 

With that in mind, Purple Rain isn't one of my favourite songs of his. I don't hate it, but I'd never stick the original studio version on to listen to for fun. A decent live recording of it tends to up the appeal for me, and there are some iconinc moments in the song, but, yeah.....maybe a tad overrated as a song.

CaseOfAce

I've always assumed it's one of those songs you have to hear in the context of the movie it featured in at the time it was made.(see also Shallow / Star Is Born remake) which gives it added weight / emotional poignancy. Heard in isolation in the present it probably doesn't have the same impact?
It has been somewhat beaten into the ground in recent times when literally every cover band and celebrity artist / group played it as a tribute to Prince passing away.
What a talent though - and how unfortunate I saw him during his "slave / lawsuit" era at Birmingham NEC. Still ranks as one of the dullest gigs I've ever been to - this was during the time he was refusing to play his (old) hits and we got served up an over-rehearsed funk band taking no chances delivering a fresh from the fridge stone cold by the numbers performance. Lord I wished I'd have seen him in the early 80s doing Controversy et al....

DeeTee

There's a guy who plays bars where I am who plays Purple Rain almost note for note on a 12 string acoustic, bends and all. Even if I didn't like the song, I'd have been impressed by that. I bought him a drink.

SlopeSoarer

fastonebaz said:

Wtf is purple rain anyway? 

The story of... "Purple Rain". I'm sure you'll enjoy it:-)

fastonebaz

SlopeSoarer said:

fastonebaz said:

Wtf is purple rain anyway? 

The story of... "Purple Rain". I'm sure you'll enjoy it:-)

Enjoyable read cheers

soma1975

JerkMoans said:

Heresy!

No mate it was Prince. 

Philly_Q

EricTheWeary said:

Anyway, Aynsley always does a nice Purple Rain if you prefer it more laid back.

https://youtu.be/usmKAti_Xws

I clicked on that just to see if it was Ainsley Harriott.  I was disappointed.

TeleMaster

Philly_Q said:

I knew this would ruffle some feathers, there's a lot of love and reverence for Prince on this forum... he was a talented chap but his music doesn't do anything for me.

TeleMaster said:

You mean you don't like it. That's fine, don't trash the song as though it's objective fact though. 

It isn't necessary to preface every statement with "in my opinion".  I think it's implied.

I'm sure you've met a lot of people who believe that their opinion is more valid than others, especially when it comes to music, film, art tastes. If you like X you're wrong. If you like XY you're right etc. 

There are plenty of people who will shit all over something you like, and will refuse to accept that it's completely subjective because they have a profound dislike for it.

So to me, it's not implied. You say something in such a decisive way, I'm reading it as it's said. 

Anacharsis

TeleMaster said:

There are plenty of people who will shit all over something you like, and will refuse to accept that it's completely subjective because they have a profound dislike for it.

So to me, it's not implied. You say something in such a decisive way, I'm reading it as it's said. 

That's been my experience as well. People who don't qualify their opinions as such are quite likely not to respect the opinions of others.

Shrews

I remember watching purple Rain not long after it came out on video. I didn't really like Prince at the time but actually thought the film was really good. I bought a 12 inch of 1999/Little Red Corvette not long after and found I really started to like his music.

He got a little bit lost around the Lovesexy/Black Album era and I lost interest in his music but still think the whole Purple Rain soundtrack is a good album and the film underrated. Not sure if I've ever seen it on TV?

The song itself remains one of his best IMO, if not THE best. But then again, I also love John Lennon's Imagine. Each to their own!  Hated his version of 'Stand By Me' though! (Lennon, not Prince!)

Voxman

fastonebaz said:

Watched his official video for the first time. 

It's SUCH A BORING SONG and everyone in the video looks really bored and emotion less.  Why on earth does anyone celebrate this song. 

Wtf is purple rain anyway? 

I actually like it. And if you play it properly it uses a great chord but which is just a murderous stretch to  get your fingers around!

BillDL

I have never really been "into" Prince (Symbol), but I do admire his talents on guitar and in songwriting.  He was a fantastic showman, and I think that Purple Rain is one of those songs that needs some sort of spectacle or special affects for it to come alive, as exemplified by this: