PURPLE Rain is way up there with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Thriller, Pet Sounds, Dark Side Of The Moon and Exodus among the most important, culturally significant albums of the 20th century.

To date, it has sold 25 million copies worldwide, making it the third bestselling soundtrack album of all time. More significantly, Let’s Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, I Would Die 4 U and Take Me With U crossed the great divide between rock and soul, while the anthemic Purple Rain also attracted a country audience, usually unimpressed with rock, pop or soul. T

his 1985 album was not without its critics. Indeed, the infamous Parental Advisory warning sticker was first applied to Purple Rain in answer to complaints from Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Centre. The offending song, Darling Nikki, is still filthy 32 years on!

Gloriously augmented with two additional CDs of contemporary unreleased material and a live DVD filmed in Syracuse, New York, this is an outstanding deluxe re-issue.