Album Club: Purple Rain - Prince
Discussed on August 10, 2026. Picked by Jim.
Song Ratings
| # | Song | Jim | Chris |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Let’s Go Crazy | — | — |
| 2 | Take Me With U | — | Cut |
| 3 | The Beautiful Ones | — | Bench |
| 4 | Computer Blue | Cut | — |
| 5 | Darling Nikki | — | — |
| 6 | When Doves Cry | — | — |
| 7 | I Would Die 4 U | — | — |
| 8 | Baby I’m a Star | Bench | — |
| 9 | Purple Rain | Starter | Starter |
| Legend: Starter = would start a playlist | Bench = solid | Cut = would skip |
Jim’s Notes
This really is, start to finish, a great album. Are there any perfect albums? I don’t know but this comes awfully close.
- Had no idea the title for Purple Rain came from a lyric in Ventura Highway by America until reading the Wikipedia article about the album.
- Let’s Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, I Would Die 4 U and Purple Rain could all be starters.
- Computer Blue was originally 14 minutes. Edited to 7:30 for inclusion on Purple Rain and further edited down to 3:59 to make room for Take Me With U. The album and Hallway Speech (12:18 in length) versions are the only released versions. Would love to hear the 7:30 edit originally planned for the album as a comparison to the other versions. Hallway Speech version is an improvement over the album version IMO.
- Watching the movie again lends context to the tracks when listening.
- I’m only cutting Computer Blue because I think a longer version would be better. As it is on the album, it’s too short. No 2nd verse, no ‘human / computer’ interaction. We might have gotten a better version had CDs been further along in adoption.
- Other notable releases from 1984: Born to Run (Springsteen), Like a Virgin (Madonna), Reckoning (REM), The Unforgettable Fire (U2), 1984 (Van Halen), Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads).
Chris’s Notes
- My bench is usually going to be the “best song that wasn’t a hit” for popular works like this. I love “Let’s Go Crazy”, “When Doves Cry”, “I Would Die 4 U” but “The Beautiful Ones” is the best of the non-singles.
- “Purple Rain” is my all-time Prince song. Evergreen. Quote (from first article below): “It’s like country-rock, it’s white music. You should write a ballad like Bob Seger writes and you’ll cross right over.”
- My cut is “Take Me With U”. The song is OK, just the weakest of the ballad-like songs on the album.
- Thank you Jim for pointing me to “Hallway Speech” version of “Computer Blue”. Moved it off the cut list.
- “I Would Die 4 U” is just an awesome pop song.The most conventional 80s style song on the album.
- Not talking about Doves and Let’s Go because they are obviously right up there with PR. Such different songs! All amazing
Good follow-ons:
