My first real love affair was a long time ago now. It was never going to work, and I think we both knew it. But my first love did one thing I will be forever grateful for. She introduced me to Prince.
It would have been 1983 or 1984, and I had never heard of him, if I remember rightly. We watched Purple Rain when it was released, and when the concert film Prince and the Revolution: Live came out in 1985, we bought it.
Now, for those of you only used to streaming films, this wasn’t as easy as it sounds. At that time, VHS was the only home format, and the market was based on rentals, not sales. Buying a VHS copy of a film was expensive. I mean, really expensive. Perhaps anything from £30-£50. And that’s at 1980s value, not adjusted for today. But we bought it. And played it a lot.
When the relationship ended, I somehow ended up with the tapes. They got played occasionally, but began to deteriorate, as tape always does, and by the time I got rid of my last VHS player, the tape had disappeared as well.
I’ve been waiting nearly thirty years for it to be re-released. And finally, it’s happened. It’s been released on Blu-Ray, along with a couple of CDs (or vinyl). Has it been worth the wait?
I didn’t want the CDs. I’ve got the 2015 remastered version of Purple Rain, which is excellent, so I bought just the film on iTunes. And wallowed in memories.
No, the picture quality isn’t great. Even though it’s been restored and upgraded to 4K and HDR, it’s still taken from tape, not film. So the definition is very, well, 1980s. The audio has been remastered, too. You only get Dolby 5.1 on the iTunes version (Atmos on the Blu-Ray), but even with these provisos, the energy of that live performance in 1985 blasts through the screen.
At the end of nearly two hours, I was exhausted. Prince at what for me was his best. I’ve loved much of his work since, but nothing he subsequently did was better than this. His power, his precision, his musical skill. And his sheer sexiness. They’re all here in spades.
If you’re a Prince fan, get this film. The whole package is quite expensive, but the film on iTunes is much cheaper and worth every penny. And if you’re still wondering what the fuss was all about when he first appeared, watch this and find out.
