The UK show Top Of The Pops 2 recently played "When Doves Cry"...and while it was playing, mentioned something interesting. I guess the BBC wouldn't bother mentioning this if there's absolutely no truth behind it..

"Rumours are running wild of an imminent extended re-release of Purple Rain; To be named 'Purple Rain: The Truth.'"

If that's true it sucks for me 'cause I just bought the DVD at the weekend!

[Hmmm, sounds a little like random rumoring to me, but you never know... -Ben]

axlfilth said:

don't worry, it's not going to happen.

it was just more npgmc gibberish.

the gap is far too wide between p & wb for this to happen until he gets his masters back...

The full quote was something like: "Can it be true? Rumours are running wild through Prince fandom that an extended re-release of Purple Rain, the album and movie, is imminent, to be called Purple Rain: The Truth".

I think this just comes from the bit in the NPGMC's talk about why fans should send in all their bootlegs: "Imagine in 2004, a brand new, pristine, remastered version of 'Purple Rain,' released on high-definition DVD with extras, outtakes and liner notes from the Artist himself."

I tend to think they've just joined the dots and come up with 4, to mix my metaphors.

If rumours were rife through Prince Fandom, we would have heard about it here first surely!

That's my remark as well. WB is never going to give him his masters back i'm affraid, especially with the eighties revival comming up. They might experience an extra $$ from this. They are very clever, and fully aware of this. Every record company knows this.
And then again, Prince 'signed' and 'agreed' with all these contractual terms at the time, so forget it.
He's now more than a few years on his own, what's his worry in fact? Not writing any hitsongs and having the bennefit from it? don't know.. just guessin'

Believe me; within a year or two, Purple Rain will be all over you once more again. Probably due to some new fashion creations or mid-eighties hype.. watch it people. I'm affriad we have to get dressed up in paisley prints and fake jewelry all over again..
But this newsitem here, i don't know.. it sounds hard to believe, even it commes from the bbc.
And i can't seem to see any clues between Purple Rain and The Truth.. because of the latter being far more of an introspective view on Prince's his longing for believing and receiving clearity about his believes and personal life. Compared to Purple Rain, which has far more of a diabolic energy feel to it's music, and like very different from the stripped down intimacy of The Truth. The lyrics in PR tells the story from the Kid in the film, who grows from a more alienated persona to a sort of openminded humanbeing.

SO why mix those two albums? But indeed with Prince you never know..

Something tells me this won't happen. Reissuing "Purple Rain" would make a lot of commercial sense, but as we all know, Prince possesses very little of that.

DOROTHYPARK said:

Just to put it in perspective:

The video appeared on BBC2's 'Top Of The Pops 2'. It is a pop retrospective programme which simply revisits old videos and studio performances from bygone 'Top Of The Pops' shows. The programme is presented in a very straightforward way, with interspersed voiceover introductions / outros (some are tongue-in-cheek about the performer or the performance, some reflect on the fashions of the times etc.).

The broadcast last night did not show the video from the very start, and ended just as the screen split starts. the voice over at the end from presenter Steve Wright was:

"'When Dove Cry' ... August 1984: Prince - certainly a wierd bloke, but a great artist."

During the songs, text scrawls across the bottom of the screen which can give you an update or piece of trivia on the performer or song, or just some gossip.

The exact text accompanying 'When Doves Cry' was:

'Can it be true? Rumours are sweeping the world of Prince fandom ... that a new expanded version of Purple Rain ... film and album ... is imminent. The title? Purple Rain: The Truth

The fact that it is on a programme broadcast by the BBC doesn't give this snippet any validity at all - other than it is just what it says it it is: rumour. A BBC researcher, possibly with next to no knowledge of Prince, has probably been given a playlist of performances for this show and has then trawled the internet for something which looks a bit juicy. Nothing more than that.

Didn't this all originate from that bullshit "POPBITCH" post a few months back? They said Prince was redoing it as "Purple Rain: The Truth"

I think this would make more sense if Prince was planning to release his own 'new master' of Purple Rain, thus bypassing Warner. Hasn't already re-recorded all this stuff anyway?

dnaplaya said:

Yes it did.

Seems the BBC researchers think popbitch is a reliable source of information

... the house he lived in had four hallways

What a load of BBC bollox

suomynona said:

Did NPGMC release this story? Why blame them?

LaMont said:

Why blame NPGMC, you ask? Hell, why NOT? Didn't they "hint" at the same thing in their "explanation of the Cause" e mail?

IF this gig comes to happen,
Sheila E. et al would be VERY WISE to

lock out

that person who broke up The Time,
burned SO MANY bridges,
played so many mind games on
& screwed over

so many talented musicians.


his prescence there would RUIN THE WHOLE THING.


YOU KNOW he'd want to take over EVERYTHING, & then he'd start passing out "The Watchtower" & lecturing everyone.


yeah,
if Sheila & the rest are smart,
they'll put HUGE bodyguards & every entrance
& surround them with lots of MEAT!

this MIGHT be enought to keep "whatshisnamenow?" away..

There are very strong rumors that there would be a Purple Rain 20th anniversary tour next year, I hope it's not true. I think the clash between WB and P can't be solved, and this is only good, according to me. I want new music, no revival.

if it did not come from the mans mouth...i will not believe it!!!

Well, as previously stated on this thread, it DID come from the man's mouth - at least the hint of it did. Didn't anyone read that ridiculous explanation of the "Cause" email? Of course it won't happen, but it's the NPGMC itself that substantiated this rumor.

1niteofpurple67 said:

Romance1600 said:

Popbitch is around 50% accurate. so it's about as reliable as say,...NPGMC.

I must say, artists that constantly refer to their past glories look a bit tired. In the eyes of the modern world, Purple Rain is totally irrelevant. A cheesy movie featuring an effeminate pouting 80s pop-star, with a terribly dated soundtrack.

Of course, I'm a fan of the album and the movie, but who else but Prince fans cares about it in 2003?

NME said:[quote]

Romance1600 said:

If you get popbitch, you get all the bollocks that all the British media recycle over the next week. It all pops up in the tabloids and on the radio.

Mind you, it would make sense. He's already recorded it, the anniversary is looming and if he tours it & records it, there's your film.

Wonder if it'll be classical reworking in the style of 'Karma Sutra'?

You know he is going to change the lyrics, and censor the bad words. Leave me out.

2freaky4church1 said:

I forgot about that!

I knew a girl named Nikki, I guess you could say she was a Bible fiend
I met her in a hotel lobby reading scripture with Larry G

ian said:

- I agree completely with you. I wasnt a Prince fan in 84, but I imagine that PR must have been fantastic at that time. Prince, a young artist, who used to sing dirty and hot lyrics, playing a fierce guitar, dressed as a mix of Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix and riding a bike with a pretty woman. If I was a young black guy, he would be my hero for sure.
But today, where people dont care anymore for androgynous artists and good musicians, I think PR would be irrelevant for a wide audience. Sign of the times...

DOROTHYPARK said:

Prince will get his masters back. With most record contracts, it gives the artist the right to either purchase the masters and do as they wish with them, or re-negotiate a deal with them where they can continue under the same agreement as was originally stated. Many of u may remember from 1996, Prince always stated that in 2008 (I believe) that he would start getting his masters back one at a time.

I'm not so ready for a re-issued Purple Rain (no more than for better packaging. The cd packaging sux compared to the original lp). I'm ready for a decently mastered Sign O' The Times cd. It is so poorly mastered it is pathetic and this is one of his best pieces of work!

I heard a rumor that WB was thinking to re-release Purple Rain the Movie since Prince is scheduled to be inducted into the Rock-n-Roll hall of fame in April, not to mention it is also the 20th aniversary of the movie release...who knows? Hopefully by the end of the year we should know when the hollywood studios release thier 2004 movie release schedule.


daddypop33

1niteofpurple67 said:

Hilarious. Don't you know Prince lies all the time? Just take a look at the Oprah interview...

langebleu said:

Bingo! It's not like this was on BBC News.

Some of ya'll have made outlandish statements on both sides of the spectrum here..

Ian said:

I must say, artists that constantly refer to their past glories look a bit tired. In the eyes of the modern world, Purple Rain is totally irrelevant. A cheesy movie featuring an effeminate pouting 80s pop-star, with a terribly dated soundtrack.


"Terribly dated soundtrack?"

With all the sampling of old music, and the uncanny lack of
creativity, hardly anything after 1982 sounds "Dated." Be honest, the gap between the sounds of the 1960's and 1980's is MUCH greater than the gap from the 1980's to the 2000's. "When Doves Cry" is the only song to sound like that..nothing before, nothing sense.. Now if the topic was "When You Were Mine," I used to say even in 1984, how the keyboard part sounded like it was lifted from the "Herman Munster Show." The Doors had a bunch of songs with that Munsters Theme keyboard parts as well..lol...but the Purple Rain album may not sound "new"...but "dated?" HELL NO! (Just my opinion)


Now the other end of the extreme:

DorothyPark said: Believe me; within a year or two, Purple Rain will be all over you once more again. Probably due to some new fashion creations or mid-eighties hype.. watch it people.

Well, as much as I think the songs don't sound dated..."The Beautiful Ones" would make a great scene in a lifeless Tom Cruise romance, perhaps Prince's only chance of ever scoring a hit again, since that song always deserved to be a single...but the Movie??? Just those scenes of everybody with that awful makeup...the only thing worse than that is watching Tony M in his Star Trek Uniform. Movies that are re-released should at least have some appeal to those under 30. As sad as it is...I have talked to people as old as 20 who have NO IDEA WHO PRINCE IS! That is just awful...but it's the truth. Now a special package DVD with a remastered soundtrack, with bonus cuts..perhaps even an extra disc with all the outtakes, and even a bonus concert remaster of some unreleased PR concert..would spark interest amoung Prince fans...but unless you're a fanatic..Purple Rain ain't gonna be big news ever again.