Purple Rush 1 (2008) 6CD

Sabotage Catalog # SAB128/129/130/142/143/144 Release Year  2008 6CD Length 74:48 / 77:23 / 79:41 / 62:29 / 77:59 / 80:00 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

Rehearsal Outtake
9. I Would Die 4 U (Extended)

Disc 6
Studio Material For/From Purple Rain 1983-1984
1. Modernaire 2. God (12" Instrumental) 3. Love Theme From Purple Rain 4. Music From Purple Rain 5. Wendy & Lisa Interview (I Love 1985) 6. Purple Rain Instrumental Overdubs 7. Lake Minnetonka 8. I Like Your Song Too 9. Track 3 10. Prince's Theme / First Avenue 11. The Bitches Are Okay 12. Join Morris' Group 13. Alley 14.-32. 18 Michel Colombier Outtakes

Comments
Deane's Comments (rates this release 5.0/5.0)
Originally 'Purple Rush 1' was release in 2002, however in light of a number of recordings which were included on there appearing in more complete form/better quality, Sabotage have taken the decision to release a partially updated version in December 2008. Discs 1, 4 and 5 remain the same as on the original 2002 release and the content of Discs 2, 3 and 6 are the only one's to have seen some changes.

Disc 2 contains the May / June 1984 rehearsal in preparation for Prince's 7th June 1984 First Avenue concert which was released by Free Boot Generation on their 'Noon Rendezvous' 2008 release. Sabotage's version lasts around 1 minute longer than the FBG release, and the running order once again differs from the FBG release as Sabotage remain faithful to their previous version and the running order of the rehearsal listed in The Vault. This isn't simply a copy of the FBG release as Sabotage appear to have used their own version previously released on the original Purple Rush 1 release and borrowed a few portions from the FBG release to present a longer, more complete version of the rehearsal which works extremely well, and is certainly the definitive version of this rehearsal currently circulating in terms of running length and overall audio quality.

Disc 3 is the 2nd of the 3 disc upgrades on this new version of Purple Rush 1 and features two different rehearsals from Summer 1984. The first rehearsal is a very loose 47 minute jam with the majority of the recording given over to a seemingly improvised 40+ minute funk track referred to as "Billy/Billy's Sunglasses" featuring a repetitive, pulsating drum pattern with Prince adding some inspired ferocious guitar work and the repeated phrase of "Billy where'd you get those glasses" in reference to Billy Sparks white rims. The rehearsal then moves on to Prince teaching the band 'Strange Relationship' which, unlike the original Purple Rush 1, gets it's own track number and isn't simply tagged onto the "Billy" track. The previous, and all subsequent versions of this rehearsal suffer from a number of drop-outs and glitches throughout, and this new release, while still having a few issues, suffers from far less than it's predecessor. The second rehearsal is far less interesting and concentrates on The Family's 'Feline' from a separate rehearsal in Summer 1984. This updated disc has a few minutes from the opening of the rehearsal which were omitted from Sabotage's original Purple Rush 1 release. The previous release had the "Feline" rehearsal running at a little under 28 minutes, and this new version clocks in at slightly over 33 minutes which is a good 5 minutes longer than before. A little monotonous and tedious for my tastes, but an extra 5 minutes is an extra 5 minutes and I won't complain about that.

The 3rd and final updated disc on the new 2008 version of Purple Rush 1 is the most radically different and is a total change from the previous release. Thankfully Sabotage have dropped the November / December rehearsal (which went on to make a duplicate appearance on 'Purple Rush 3' anyway) and Disc 6 now features studio material for/from the Purple Rain movie. It begins with Dez's 'Modernaire' which was available on his own 'Anthology' release, followed by the extended instrumental 'God'. Track #4 which is named "Music From Purple Rain" contains a collection of incidental music, small passages and background snippets from the film. They have been woven together by Sabotage so they are presented as one continuous track, and it's a fun 7:41 track which works surprisingly well as the portions of music/dialogue are not available other than on the film itself. Unfortunately track #6, the 'Purple Rain (Instrumental Overdubs)' has also been included on 'Purple Rush 7' which was released at the same time as this, and it's inclusion twice is questionable. The closing 26 tracks (#7 to #32) contain Michel Colombier's Purple Rain film score. They feature no input from Prince & The Revolution, but their inclusion here is warmly welcomed as they do pertain to the film (which this 6th disc concentrates on), and they are something of a rarity. They last in length from a few seconds long to almost 5 minutes and it's interesting hearing the instrumental pieces and fitting them into where they appear on the film. This updated Purple Rush 1 release also comes with new front and back inserts, along with a hefty 14 page booklet which explains Sabotage's reasoning for the newly improved release and their choices for inclusion, along with some candid notes.

The original 2002 Purple Rush 1 was something of a landmark release and stood the test of time very well, however as with all things, it's content needed an update as more complete/better quality recordings began to surface. This newly improved, updated version will hopefully be as impressive and important in 5 years time as the original 2002 release was. An excellent set and essential.

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