Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ subject of new book

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) ‘Purple Rain’, the song, album andfilm which catapulted Prince to new musical heights, is thesubject of a new book which talks in detail about the how thelate singerÂ’s masterpiece raised the stakes for pop music. In “LetÂ’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain”,music journalist Alan Light takes a look at the making andincredible popularising of this once seemingly impossibleproject. With tidbits and interviews with people who witnessed andparticipated in PrinceÂ’s audacious vision becoming a reality,Light reveals how a rising but not yet established artist fromthe Midwest was able not only to get ‘Purple RainÂ’ made, butdeliver on his promise to conquer the world. ‘Purple RainÂ’ is a song, an album, and a film – widelyconsidered to be among the most important albums in musichistory and often named the best soundtrack of all time. Itsold over a million copies in its first week of release in1984 and blasted to number 1 on the charts, where it wouldremain for a full six months and eventually sell over 20million copies worldwide. It spun off three huge hit singles, won Grammys and anOscar, and took Prince from pop star to legend – the firstartist ever simultaneously to have the number 1 album, single,and movie in the country. “The stage is dark. A chord rings out. ItÂ’s an unusualchord – a B flat suspended 2 with a D in the bass. A year fromthis night, the sound of that chord will be enough to driveaudiences into hysteria. But right now, in this club, thecrowd of 1,500 or so people listen quietly, because itÂ’s thefirst time they are hearing the song that the chordintroduces. “A spotlight comes up, revealing a young woman playing apurple guitar. She is dressed simply, in a white V-neck tanktop, patterned miniskirt, and white, metal-studded,purple-trimmed high-top sneakers. Her asymmetrical haircut isvery much on trend for 1983, the year this show is takingplace. “Wendy Melvoin, the girl holding the guitar, is just 19years old, and this is not only the first time she isperforming this song in public, it is also her firstappearance as the new guitarist in PrinceÂ’s band, theRevolution. So far tonight, they have played nine songs; thisone is kicking off the encore,” the book, published by Simon &Schuster, begins. Wendy plays through a chord progression once, and the restof the five-piece band falls in behind her. They go throughthe cycle again, and then again. The fifth time around, onecan hear a second guitar coming from somewhere offstage. MOR EPTI ZMNANS