Album releases

In 1984, Purple Rain was the album that turned Prince into a fully fledged global superstar, the smash movie and charttopping soundtrack easily the most phenomenal pairing of its kind since The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. Only Prince’s shock death last year has made this release – remastering the original album and unleashing 11 previously unreleased tracks plus a live show among its four CDs – possible. The new tracks show that the best material definitely made it onto the original release while piano instrumental Father’s Song is a curio co-written with his dad.