“Purple Rain” Turns 30: Original Album & Film Reviews From 1984

Can you believe it has been 30 years since the release of Purple Rain? While we all remember Michael Jackson today, I want to take a moment to highlight the milestone of another great American musical icon. Prince has truly solidified himself into music royalty with this album. While the King of Pop was preparing to go on tour with his brothers and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. was skyrocketing up the charts, Purple Rain dropped as a silent, yet deadly weapon on the music scene. Give Purple Rain a listen today. Take in the genius and artistry of a music legend. It is indeed a classic. See reviews of the album and film below.

New York Times: Prince Creates A Winner With “Purple Rain”

By Robert Palmer

Published: July 22, 1984

“For the first time, Prince has stepped beyond the image he so obsessively constructed for himself on earlier records, and the result is exhilarating. What the film critics will make of all this remains to be seen, but the album ”Purple Rain” is a winner, creatively and commercially. It may lack the Jacksons’ multiformat sophistication and Bruce Springsteen’s single-minded vision of America’s hopes and failures, but this listener suspects that long after this summer’s hits are forgotten, and the Jacksons and Springsteen albums are packed away, ”Purple Rain” will still be remembered, and played, as an enduring rock classic.”

New York Times: “Purple Rain,” With Prince

By Vincent Canby

Published: July 27, 1984

“‘Purple Rain,’ which introduces Prince, the rising young rock performer, to theatrical films, is probably the flashiest album cover ever to be released as a movie. However, like many album covers, ‘Purple Rain,’ though sometimes arresting to look at, is a cardboard come-on to the record it contains.

Prince’s soundtrack recording has already become one of the summer’s big sellers, while the almost confessional single, ‘When Doves Cry,’ is at the top of the charts. The movie, which opens today at the Criterion and other theaters, may also become a hit, but it’s of a different caliber entirely…”