First Time Listener to Prince – Purple Rain – Rock Daydream Nation

I am so proud of this episode of Rock Daydream Nation with Peter Kerr.  The story goes something like this:

(Australian accent) – Hey Mike, how would you like to do a show on Purple Rain by Prince?

(Canadian accent) – I’ve never listened to a Prince album in my life, are you sure you want me to do this?  Because I would.

(Australian accent) – Yes that’s exactly what I’m looking for.

So I went into this very curious, since I have heard the praises of Prince sung by many that I respect.  I listened to Purple Rain eight times in the week leading up to this show.  As for how it all went?  You’ll just have to watch and see.  This is how Peter describes it:

First time listener to Prince “Purple Rain” – Rock Daydream Nation featuring Mike Ladano…The premise of this show is that Mike has never listened to a Prince album. We have remedied that situation and have assigned Mike to listen and appraise the 1984 album ‘Prince and the Revolution “Purple Rain”‘. This was a fun, meaningful show that reviews the music of Prince but also looks at the historical context of Purple Rain – the album and the movie.

Peter, thank you so much for inviting me to do this show.  It’s my favourite Rock Daydream Nation yet!

12 comments

    1. I watched the video. Why didn’t the club owner in the movie get rid of the third band? The “Modernaire” guys were clearly the worst band there. Wendy & Lisa had multiple co-writes on Revolution albums, so it’s fair to say Prince not only listened to their songs in real life, but put them on his albums too. Siskel and Ebert compared Purple Rain to Saturday Night Fever, and I can see it. Travolta isn’t such a great guy in that movie, but that’s not really the point. Ditto for The Kid. I don’t think he’s supposed to be likeable. It’s just an accurate portrayal of a borderline egomaniac with an artistic temperament.

      As for the other two Prince movies, Under the Cherry Moon is bad, but in an endearing way. I don’t think it’s as offensive to modern sensibilities as Purple Rain from what I remember, and the soundtrack is amazing. Graffiti Bridge is just a total piece of shit as a film. Listen to Sign O’ the Times next. Great album.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. My copy of Purple Rain is due today :)

        Check your email…send you a preview of a new story.

        The Modernaires…holy shit dude that was so bad. LOL. Yes, fire THEM!

        Hope you had a great Christmas dude! CHECK YOUR EMAIL!

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  2. When I heard Purple Rain for the first time, I thought that it was one of the most calculated, perfectly-crafted, accessible pop masterpieces of all time.

    As a massive Prince fan, it’s exciting to hear you dipping your toes into the fountain of music by the Purple one.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Great discussion with Peter, Mike. Enjoyed it! I’m a big Prince fan, so I was interested/happy to hear you were checking him out! Henry.

    Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Yes, I agree, Mike, the “Purple Rain” 2017 boxset is quite good (I’m such a fan of it that I bought the separate 2-CD set they did later of the DVD included in the boxset – “Prince and the Revolution: Live”), although it’s pretty small compared to the later ones they’ve done since then (“1999,” “Sign O’ the Times,” and “Diamonds and Pearls.”) where one really gets a taste of the scope of the vault. My memory is that the “Purple Rain” set was in development for several years, perhaps even during Prince’s last years when he was still mostly opposed to any reissue projects of his Warner Brothers albums, and at one point in the late ‘90’s even claimed he was going to re-record them all. He may have agreed to the “Purple Rain” boxset after he ended his association with Columbia and returned NPG Records to Warner Brothers around 2014, two years before he passed. As for Peter’s reference on the Rock Daydream Nation show with you to multiple unreleased albums featuring the Revolution from the “Purple Rain” period, that could be true, although these could also be projects which were started during that time and later finished/abandoned during 1985-1986 (the “Around the World in a Day”/”Parade” aka “Under a Cherry Moon” period). Until they do box set(s) of that fascinating period (or a larger “Purple Rain” boxset ) we’ll just have to wait and see, I guess! Henry.

        Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

        Like

        Reply

Rock a Reply