Twenty-five years ago this month, a classic album touched down on Earth in Minneapolis. Perhaps the most classic of new classics, even. I'm talking, of course, about Prince's untouchably awesome Purple Rain. Spin magazine is celebrating this momentous anniversary by putting together a tribute set titled Purplish Rain (ha), featuring track-by-track covers of the entire original album by hip folks like the Twilight Singers, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Of Montreal, Fol Chen, and more. Spin readers will be able to download the whole thing for free on June 23; in the meantime, the mag is currently streaming a cover of "When Doves Cry" by Greg Dulli's band the Twilight Singers online. That cover happens to feature additional vocals by actual Purple Rain co-star Apollonia, which is pretty much too cool for words. Head over to Spin's site to hear how "When Doves Cry" turned out and read the rest of the tracklist — then let us know how you think Purplish Rain measures up to your favorite Prince covers.
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Maybe it’s because I’m an 80′s child, but hands down, ‘Purple Rain’ is the best CD of all time. Back then they were called albums, of course….lol.
Oh, boy, I still remember the magic of Purple Rain — the clothes, the style, the sheer magnificance of it all. Prince was Michael Jackson (falsettos, dance beat, flash) and Jimi Hendrix (electric guitar, ambition, Purple Haze/Purple Rain) all wrapped into one. Oh, baby, all so sweet. And from there: Delicious little trifles like Raspberry Beret (I had one) and the ambitious, double-album funk of Sign O the Times (I gotta get that stuff onto my iPod — my house hasn’t quaked in forever). You know, I think Glambert maybe channels a little Prince, esp. when he goes all long coat and dry ice. Cross fingers he covers a Prince tune on his album.
Purple Rain changed music forever. What a great album!!!!
I downloaded Purplish Rain and I’m pleasantly surprised. I didn’t think I would like it because like the other commenters, I remember when it came out on vinyl and loved it then. But these groups did a good job of staying faithful to the original and changing them up in interesting ways. My faves are “Take Me With U” and “When Doves Cry”…I’m a little slower to recommend “I Would Die 4 U” which is done mariachi style, but it’s growing on me. Overall, I think it’s a nice complement to the original–hard to ever replace the first one. Leave it to Prince to make sure he has a hand in his own tribute album…genius…