Yes.

Purple Rain is one of those rare albums that is perfect from beginning to end. There's not a skipper amongst the songs, and they all flow together well. The album has a flow. Though I listen to SOTT more often, everytime I put on Purple Rain I just say, "Wow, this is a great album."

Having said all that, it does show it's age. I used it as an introduction to Prince for one of my younger (22) co-workers. Overall it was successfull, he loved the album. But he did say that his first reaction was "Whoa, this sounds like the eighties." In other words, perhaps the songs are classics, but the instrumenation firmly dates the record... so not timeless.

Yes, you are CORRECT.

I sort of consider Purple Rain and Sign O The Times to be Prince at his peak of genius. Purple rain is positively electric, his most emotional, most innovative, unique sounding, perfectly paced, and it's short--jam packed with amazing songs that keep your ears standing at attention the entire time.

not in agreement....1999 was the best 2me...
[Edited 3/2/06 18:35pm]

I don't agree. His best of the 80's was 1999, followed by SOTT.

I agree. This is the album that changed my life. It was the first album that I loved from start to finish and I still do. Every once in a while, I'll skip Take Me With U but I still love the song. It's a perfect album from start to finish. It kinda amazes me how a lot of fans here don't dig it. Such as life I guess. Still one of the best albums EVER.

PurpleCharm said:

I agree. I think his best album was 1999. It's the album that really introduced Prince to the world. Purple Rain is second .

Lightning in a bottle.
Perfect album.
His best without question.

nurse said:

1999 is my second favourite Prince album, but I feel like Purple Rain accomplished everything 1999 did and then took it to a whole new level and presented it in a more tight package.

tamaranow said:

DarkKnight1 said:

I agree.

I never get tired of it , despite playing it thousands of times

It's a gr8 album; it intoduced me to prince and made me a fan. Around The World In A Day kept me there.
For it's 21st birthday it should be rewarded with the remastering it (and all his 80's albums) so fully deserve.

My favorite Prince album and, I agree, it's his best.

Love Purple Rain...But 1999 is my favorite album, followed by SOTT....Then PR...

one of the few "perfect" albums ever recorded by any artist. my fave is still SOTT tho.

you know I have about 4 albums by Prince that rotate in that favorite position. Dirty Mind, 1999,purple Rain, Parade. Of course the song that hooked me on prince was let's go Crazy, the first album by him I bought was Purple Rain and my favorite song of all time is the beautiful ones so that album is always going to something special.

mrmarcus said:


I second that totally, it is perfect. The fascinating thing is that I never got bored of that album; sometimes I get early up in the morning, say at 4 o'clock a.m. (as happened lateley), put PR in, smoke one or two cigarettes, and have a good time.

It's magic: you love(d) it on first listening, and you love it years later. If it's Ps best album? Hm, I can't decide...

Speaking of "perfect" albums, PR is definitly there; as is "Low" by Bowie, etc.

Dewrede said:

Seconded.

It always was and still is my favorite album of all time, though I think that there IS some stuff on it that I don´t like that much, like Baby I´m A Star, which is a good song, but not exactly something I listen to regularly.In fact, I skip that one most of the time.

SOTT seems to be everyone´s favorite because most people think it´s cooler to pretend you´re "in the know" by saying you prefer SOTT cause PR was such a huge commercial success.

And there are way more songs on SOTT, so that comparison is not fair.


I like that cold Revolution sound of that time, lots of synths, Linn drum machine and heavy lead and rhythm guitars and those characteristic basslines.And no horns apart from the occasional Eddie M. or Eric Leeds, which contributed a lot to the sound instead of dominating it like during the Musicology tour.

I tend to skip "Baby, I'm a star", too. The one major fault the album has is not the album's or Prince's fault at all actually. It's the limitations of vinyl that kept us from hearing the full Computer Blue in all it's ass-kicking glory.
[Edited 3/3/06 2:53am]

SOTT is the one 4 me

calldapplwondery83 said:

Purple Rain is my desert island disc certainly!

Two things I'd change: longer version of I Would Die 4 U (always ends too quickly), and full version of Computer Blue.

Have to disagree about "Baby I'm A Star" - this is one of my favourites actually - everytime I hear it it fills me with such energy and makes me so upbeat - I love it. Plus I think the Minneapolis sound of the time comes through on that song terrifically (check the instrumental break towards the end of the song). Always can picture Prince doing his moves at the end of the PR movie when I hear this one.

PurpleCharm said:

I agree! Those two albums are miles ahead of 'Purple Rain',imo.

Perfect perfect poifect album, definitely.

I'mnot sure whether it's my favourite - that's a hard one - but there's not a single note wasted.

Genius.



I wonder how satisfying it must be, as an artist, to release something like this and know the impact it has on people...

I always find myself singing "Baby I'm A Star" to myself. Almost as much as I find myself singing ICNTTPOYM. Great feel good song, especially when I'm bored at work and want to lift myself up abit.

In 1984, I thought...

Take Me With You was a little grating at one time.

Purple Rain was okay, but not a great song.

Now, I think

Purple Rain is a GREAT song. It holds up over time.

And the entire album was just miles above anything he did before that it's hard to believe its the same artist. Wonderful work. If I could only take one CD with me somewhere, this is it.

In fact, this is the only full album on my MP3...

BEST: SOTT

PR is the most popular & his 2nd best I guess... Killer, yes, but I really do think SOTT is a better album.

My fave is 1999...