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Purple Rain Tour Rehearsal

December 1984

1 CDR

Label: Free Boot Generation

Cat No:  #FBG 27

Running Time: 65:26

Source: Soundboard/Audience Recording

Quality: EX / EX+

Released: November 2009

*Review*

The FBG team hit us with an early Christmas present in the form of this stunning rehearsal from December ‘84.

The rehearsal itself has been doing the rounds for a number of years now, cropping up on Sabotage’s ‘Purple Rush’ series and, perhaps more notably, the rather cherished ‘Christmas In Uptown’ boot. It’s a soundboard recording so you’d expect the quality to be high and although FBG have used the same source as previous versions, theirs is taken from a much higher generation tape and the difference is immediately clear upon the first play through. This really is top quality stuff. The vocals and instruments are extremely clear, the bass is well balanced and the overall result more than qualifies for the EX+ rating. The whole recording feels like it’s been given a new lease of life and it’s due to some great work from the team.

The rehearsal itself is a fascinating listen. In essence, it’s the Revolution rehearsing (and for that matter, learning) the song ‘Another Lonely Christmas’ and it really is a treat for rehearsal fans or anyone with a passing interest in how a routine is put together. If you can get passed the fact it’s just the same song over and over, it really is an insightful look into how Prince and the band build and practice a song for the live shows. If you haven’t come across this recording before I highly recommend checking it out. The monotony (at least for the band) is occasionally broken via a quick and fun rendition of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ and a couple of run through’s of ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ but I think what really makes this a rather special rehearsal is the simple fact that the song itself was only ever performed live the once during the tour......and helpfully FBG have included that very performance as a bonus track on this release. Taken from their own ‘Another Lonely Ex-mas’ release, it truly is a rare and unique airing of the song and it’s also a very respectable recording indeed.....which helps.

Throw in a studio version at the end for good measure and finish it all off with some brilliant cover design (as is

increasingly the norm these days) and you really do have something I whole-heartedly recommend you hunt down.