Now I'm not one to get star struck or when celebrities die, I don't really think about it too much, but Prince's death hit me hard. I remember studying for my Pharmacist licensing exam, and getting a text from my sister that just said "Prince is dead". I read it and I couldn't comprehend what she was saying. Of course when I hopped on the Internet it was everywhere. It was really shocking to me that it was true, and for a couple weeks it was hard for me to believe. You see I have been a fan of his music since I was about 13 years old. I have loved pretty much everything he has released, some things more than others. In my mind he is about as close to a modern musical genius as you can get. The Guy could play almost any instrument and had released 39 albums in a 40 year career, not including live albums or greatest hits. On top of that, he has a vast vault of unreleased music that he has recorded, and I'm sure will be released over the course of years, now that he is gone. I'm glad that there is a potential for future "new" music but one thing I loved about Prince was I always knew that a new CD could be released at anytime. It was always innovative, stretching the boundaries of what he and other artists have done previously. That's all gone now.
So today Warner Brothers released a remastered deluxe edition of Purple Rain, the first release of "new" material since Prince's death a little over a year ago.Since I am a huge Prince fan, and since I would be listening to the album today anyways, I figured I would just do my review of Purple Rain now instead of in the future. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it wasn't included on the list of 1001 albums. The only two albums of his, on the list, are 1999 and Sign O' the Times, two amazing albums, but if you are going to include any of his albums it has to be Purple Rain, the album that rocketed him to stardom. Thus it becomes my 1002nd album to hear before you die.
The album was remastered and planned in 2015, under Prince's direction, to be released for the 30th anniversary of the album, but for one reason or another it never happened. The release consists of 3 Cd's.
CD 1 is the remastered album. The sound quality is improved over the 1984 release and everything sounds a bit crisper and better. You can pick up little subtleties that are missing from the original.
CD 2 is unreleased material. Most are songs that haven't been heard before and a couple are songs that have be unofficially been available on the Internet as poor quality recordings, so it is nice to have the originals all cleaned up and released. I will say that there is a reason that these songs are out takes and didn't make the original album. None are as good as anything on the album, but it is still cool to have some songs never before released.
CD 3 is edits of the songs from the album that were released as singles for radio play and also their B-sides and extended versions. Nothing new here, and most fans would already own everything on the disc.
Overall it is a pretty good set. It is nice to have the improved quality album and about 7 never before released songs, but the release, I think, is really just for dedicated fans that have been listening to his music for years. Anyone that isn't into his music isn't going to care that this has been released.
I tried to get a music video for one of the songs on the album but it is really hard to find any official videos for Prince's music on the Internet. He really restricted what people could post while he was alive and his estate is still doing so. So here is what might be one of the best Super Bowl half time shows ever.
BTW I had the chance to see him in concert one time in Vancouver... Amazing.
R.I.P Prince. I will miss getting a new CD and being blown away by your music
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