Purple Rush 1 (2002) 6CD

Sabotage Catalog # SAB128/129/130/142/143/144 Release Year  2002 6CD Length 74:48 / 70:28 / 74:22 / 62:29 / 77:59 / 59:20 Date/Venue Live and Rehearsals from Purple Rain Era Source Soundboard Recordings Quality EX-/EX+

Rating 5.0/5.0

Track Listing
Disc 1
Purple Rain Tour - Arena, Long Beach : 10th March 1985
1. Intro 2. Let's Go Crazy 3. Delirious 4. 1999 5. Little Red Corvette 6. Take Me With U 7. Yankee Doodle 8. Speech 9. Do Me, Baby 10. Irresistible Bitch 11. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore 12. Let's Pretend We're Married 13. International Lover 14. God 15. Computer Blue 16. Darling Nikki

Sheila E Opening Act
17. Oliver's House

Disc 2
Rehearsal for June 7th First Avenue concert : May / June 1984
1. Free 2. Erotic City 3. Something In The Water (Does Not Compute) 4. When Doves Cry 5. Irresistible Bitch 6. Gotta Shake This Feeling 7. Noon Rendezvous

Disc 3
Rehearsal : 1984
1. Billy - Strange Relationship

Rehearsal : Summer 1984
2. Feline

Disc 4
Purple Rain Tour Rehearsal : October 1984
1. Let's Go Crazy 2. Delirious 3. 1999 4. Little Red Corvette 5. Free 6. Father's Song 7. God 8. America The Beautiful 9. Computer Blue 10. Darling Nikki (intro) 11. When Doves Cry (intro) - The Beautiful Ones 12. When Doves Cry

Disc 5
Rehearsal : Summer 1983
1. Let's Go Crazy 2. G-Spot 3. I Would Die 4 U 4. Cruisin' Down The Highway - Can't Stop This Feeling I Got 5. Electric Intercourse (Take #1) 6. Electric Intercourse (Take #2) 7. Purple Rain 8. The Bird

Outtake
9. I Would Die 4 U (Extended)

Disc 6
Rehearsal : November / December 1984
1. Another Lonely Christmas (instrumental try-out) 2. Another Lonely Christmas (keyboards & bass) 3. When The Saints Go Marching In (vocal rehearsal) 4. Another Lonely Christmas (keyboards, bass & guitar) 5. Another Lonely Christmas (all instruments & vocal) 6. Let's Go Crazy (instrumental try-out #1) 7. Instrumental Jam 8. Let's Go Crazy (instrumental try-out #2)

Officially Released
9. Another Lonely Christmas 10. Another Lonely Christmas (Extended Version)

Comments
Deane's Comments (rates this release 5.0/5.0)
Originally released in 2002, this release has been updated and re-released in December 2008 with new content on Discs 2, 3 & 6 along with new front and back inserts and a new booklet. This listing and the following comments are detailing the 2002 version. For information on the 2008 release see 'Purple Rush 1 (2008 Edition)'.

Disc 1 concentrates on the soundboard recording from the Long Beach Purple Rain concert. This is one of 4 soundboards circulating from the tour, but unfortunately is incomplete and ends immediately after 'Darling Nikki'. The quality of the recording is stunning clear with barely a whisper from the audience heard for the majority of the show. Whilst the performance is impressive the set-list is rather typical of many Purple Rain concerts, and in this respect it's slightly disappointing. The most interesting aspect of having this soundboard is that things which are simply not heard on other recordings are audible on here. There is a keyboard line during '1999' which I'd certainly never picked up on before hearing this soundboard, and hilariously Bobby Z's drum machine appears to malfunction during 'Computer Blue' which leads it to play erratically at double speed. The clarity of this Long Beach soundboard really cannot be praised highly enough, and is certainly one of the highlights of this set and a fantastic way to kick off this particular volume.

Disc 2 features a rehearsal in preparation for Prince's 7th June 1984 First Avenue birthday concert. Many of the songs performed are extended in to lengthy mainly instrumental jams including an excellent 14 minute version of 'Something In The Water' which is basically 10 minutes of Prince performing some extraordinary guitar work over the band. Props should also be given for a very passionate performance of 'When Doves Cry' - considering this is "merely" a rehearsal Prince performs with as much energy as if it were in front of an audience. The quality of the recording is slightly hissy with some surface noise audible during a few of the tracks, however it's still an impressive soundboard and certainly a major improvement over the previously circulating version of this rehearsal.

Disc 3 concentrates on two different rehearsals from 1984. The first is one of the lengthiest loose jams in circulation and revolves around the seemingly improvised lyrics of "Billy, where you get those glasses" in reference to Billy Spark's funky white rims. The rehearsal lasts for 47 minutes yet 'Billy's Sunglasses' is itself 40 minutes long, and whilst I can perfectly understand it not appealing to the majority of listeners due to it's repetitive nature, there are some inspired guitar solo's played throughout. The remainder of the rehearsal consists of a quick instrumental run through of 'Strange Relationship' with Prince calling out the key changes to the band. The 2nd rehearsal on Disc 3 is far less entertaining and centres around The Family track 'Feline', however the rehearsal appears to be incomplete and the opening portion is missing. The quality on Disc 3 again is impressive, however it's not without it's problems and there are numerous drop-outs and glitches during 'Billy's Sunglasses'.

Disc 4 is a run-through of the first half of a typical Purple Rain concert from the first leg of the tour. Obviously in preparation for the upcoming Detroit shows Prince mentions "Detroit" during the rehearsal. It's certainly my personal favourite disc of this volume, and begins with Prince proclaiming, "...there's something else - yo' mama. A sexy woman with big legs, long hair, greasy lips - all that" It's a great frantic rehearsal with Prince on top form and a fair amount of interaction with the band throughout. There are some sound problems during a few tracks (the opening 'Let's Go Crazy' is most notable), but nothing particularly serious. There are some great moments during 'God' where the band are having problems getting their parts to Prince's satisfaction which leads him to chastise them repeatedly (including the classic "Put the motherfucking magazine down and play your part!").

Disc 5 contains a rehearsal allegedly dating from summer 1983 and again contains some nice material including a rare live version of 'G-Spot' and the instrumental jam 'Cruisin' Down The Highway'. It's also notable for the inclusion of 2 takes of the excellent 'Electric Intercourse' along with a stunning 'Purple Rain' which is performed with the added verse and lyrics and is much softer and piano-led than the released version (indicating this is an early rehearsal). The rehearsal is also heavily incomplete, however it has since been released in more complete form on 'Purple Rush 2'. The extended version of 'I Would Die 4 U' has been used to fill a gap at the end of Disc 5, however it has been edited down from the original 30m 50seconds to 26m 18seconds - why they decided to fucked up and edit a perfectly decent outtake just to fit it on the disc is slightly annoying. The final disc contains a rehearsal from winter 1984 in which the main focus is on 'Another Lonely Christmas'. A few other tracks from the Purple Rain tour are also rehearsed including the instrumental "Sleazy" portion usually added to 'Baby I'm A Star'. Prince is constantly laughing and joking with the band during the rehearsal and it is fascinating. This is rather similar to the "Billy" rehearsal on Disc 3, and again it's completely understandable that people may find it repetitive - fascinating and interesting, but alas also slightly monotonous.

Disc 6 closes out with both the edited and extended versions of 'Another Lonely Christmas' which whilst being of high quality have been sourced from vinyl and there is the occasional click/pop. The big disappointment of Disc 6 is that it is a straight copy of the early 90's Uptown Productions release 'Christmas In Uptown'. There has been no improvement on the sound quality, no effort has been made to do any work on small audio glitches, and the running length of the disc is exactly the same down to the last second - a real pity Sabotage have simply copied someone else's product and not credited them for doing so. That aside, this is still a stunning first volume of the "Purple Rush" series and includes many insights in to Prince's live performance and rehearsals during his commercial peak. The accompanying artwork and notes rely a little too heavily on Uptown for my liking, and I'm not 100% sure if they have checked their facts correctly. That small complaint aside, this 6cd release is worthy of it's status as one of the best bootleg releases - ever.

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