Prince's "Purple Rain" is finally getting the royal reissue treatment it deserves. As expected, Warner Bros. and NPG Records will re-release the landmark 1984 movie soundtrack with bonus material on June 23, based on a deal that Prince made with his former record label about a year before his death.
Both the "Deluxe" and "Deluxe Expanded Edition" will feature a remastered version of the original album -- the refurbishing of which Prince himself purportedly oversaw -- along with a second disc featuring other studio tracks recorded around the same time but never formally released, including "Electric Intercourse," "Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden" and the instrumental "Father's Song," all of which have been hot bootleg tracks for Prince completists over the years. Six of the tracks were supposedly unearthed from the Paisley Park vault for the project and never before heard, including studio versions of "Possessed" and "Katrina's Paper Dolls" and a 10-minute track whose title, "We Can F---," probably explains why it never saw daylight.
The "expanded edition" will also feature a third disc, "Single Edits & B-Sides," plus a DVD of a concert on the "Purple Rain" tour recorded March 30, 1985, in Syracuse, N.Y. The former features alternate cuts of tracks like "Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry" alongside such beloved B-sides as "Erotic City" and "17 Days."
Fans can pre-order the album starting today and will receive a download of "Electric Intercourse" if they do. The full track listings are below. Prince originally planned to include "Electric Intercourse" on "Purple Rain" but traded it for "The Beautiful Ones" instead, which is similar in tone.
It makes perfect sense that the first major reissue project after Prince's death is based around his most historic and beloved album, but it's of course just a coincidence since the deal behind it pre-dates Prince's passing. It's still not clear what kind of reissue opportunities or vault access have been given Warner Bros. or Universal Music, the other record company dealing with Prince's estate.
As interesting as what's on the deluxe "Purple Rain" editions is what's not on it. Perhaps the most significant recording in Prince's vault – arguably one of the most significant concert recordings sitting on a shelf in all of rock 'n' roll – is from the Aug. 3, 1983, benefit for Minnesota Dance Theatre at First Avenue, which was used as the blueprint and some of the basic tracks for "Purple Rain." Lo-fi video of that performance also exists and emerges online with great fanfare every so often (see below; yeah, wow is right). There's another stellar bootleg of a performance Prince gave at First Ave on his birthday, June 7, 1984, a month before "Purple Rain" came out, in which he and the Revolution performed many of these unreleased tracks and B-sides featured in this new reissue collection. During the Celebration events at Paisley Park last week, organizers also showed attendees a film from the final date on the "Purple Rain" tour.
In other words, there's a lot more that can be released from just this two-year span surrounding "Purple Rain." Which is to say nothing of the other 40-plus years Prince recorded and performed.
Electric Intercourse live @ First Avenue Minneapolis 1983 from RealMuzik on Vimeo.
PURPLE RAIN DELUXE
Disc One: Original Album (2015 Paisley Park Remaster)
1. Let's Go Crazy
2. Take Me With U
3. The Beautiful Ones
4. Computer Blue
5. Darling Nikki
6. When Doves Cry
7. I Would Die 4 U
8. Baby I'm A Star
9. Purple Rain
Disc Two: From The Vault & Previously Unreleased
1. The Dance Electric
2. Love And Sex
3. Computer Blue ("Hallway Speech" version)
4. Electric Intercourse (studio)
5. Our Destiny / Roadhouse Garden
6. Possessed (1983 version)
7. Wonderful Ass
8. Velvet Kitty Cat
9. Katrina's Paper Dolls
10. We Can F--k
11. Father's Song
PURPLE RAIN DELUXE - EXPANDED EDITION
Includes Disc One and Disc Two as Listed Above
Disc Three: Single Edits & B-Sides
1. When Doves Cry (edit)
2. 17 Days
3. Let's Go Crazy (edit)
4. Let's Go Crazy (Special Dance Mix)
5. Erotic City
6. Erotic City ("Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive")
7. Purple Rain (edit)
8. God
9. God (Love Theme From Purple Rain)
10. Another Lonely Christmas
11. Another Lonely Christmas (extended version)
12. I Would Die 4 U (edit)
13. I Would Die 4 U (extended version)
14. Baby I'm A Star (edit)
15. Take Me With U (edit)
DVD: Prince And The Revolution, Live at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY, March 30, 1985
1. Let's Go Crazy
2. Delirious
3. 1999
4. Little Red Corvette
5. Take Me With U
6. Do Me, Baby
7. Irresistible Bitch
8. Possessed
9. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?
10. Let's Pretend We're Married
11. International Lover
12. God
13. Computer Blue
14. Darling Nikki
15. The Beautiful Ones
16. When Doves Cry
17. I Would Die 4 U
18. Baby I'm A Star
19. Purple Rain
