Burning The Ground Exclusive 1995
“Purple Medley” was a stand-alone single, released in March 1995 to coincide with Prince’s European ‘Ultimate Live Experience’ tour. It was simultaneously released with The Sacrifice Of Victor and The Undertaker home videos.
The track is a mix of many hits and well-known songs from Prince’s career. Some of the pieces of music are samples, while others are re-recorded for the mix. Some of the additional instrumentation is credited to The New Power Generation. The “Purple Medley” consists of snippets from the songs: “Batdance”, “When Doves Cry”, “Kiss”, “Erotic City”, “Darling Nikki”, “1999”, “Baby I’m a Star”, “Diamonds and Pearls”, “Purple Rain” and “Let’s Go Crazy” and fades for the edit. The full version continues with “Sexy Dancer”, “Let’s Work”, “Irresistible Bitch” (with the music of “Sexy MF”), “I Wanna Be Your Lover”, “Alphabet St.”, “Thieves in the Temple”, the bassline to The Time’s “777-9311”, Sheila E.’s “A Love Bizarre”, “If I Was Your Girlfriend”, “Raspberry Beret”, “Little Red Corvette”, “Cream” and “Peach”.
The song performed rather poorly in the charts worldwide and received very little night airplay in the US on radio station mixshows. It peaked at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 74 on the R&B chart. In the UK, the medley reached number 33.
SIDE A:
Purple Medley (Edit) 3:11
SIDE B:
Purple Medley 11:00
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Purple Medley | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #84 |
| 1995 | Purple Medley | U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles | #74 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Warner Bros. Records – PRO-A-7481
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1995
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul
Style: House, Soul, Funk, Synth-pop
CREDITS:
- Drum Programming – Kirk Johnson
- Engineer, Mixed By, Edited By – Ray Hahnfeldt, Steve Durkee
- Instruments [Additional Instruments] – The N.P.G.*
- Producer, Arranged By, Composed By, Performer [Performed By] – Prince
NOTES:
Promotion only.
Not for sale.
Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS
VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus: Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!
Password: burningtheground
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Could you post the duran duran mix that everyone seems to be commenting on?
Before Taylor Swift is re-recording all of her albums to get regain ownership of her music, there was PRINCE. This was released during Prince’s legendary fight with his then record label Warner Bros Records. I remember this time very well, this was released in the heat of Prince’s battle with WBR to regain ownership of his master recordings and out of his contract. At the time Prince on top of changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol, also threatened record execs with RE-RECORDING ALL of his albums as a way to compete with WB Records ‘Prince’ catalog. This Purple Medley… Read more »
Thanks so much for this one! By coincidence just last night I received in the mail the Diamonds And Pearls 2-CD deluxe edition. Some of the tracks from that album are in the medley!
Very cool! we were in sync 🙂
This was super fun when it came along with the b-sides one that was on the CD-5. But I always wished he would’ve done like what Duran Duran did with Burning The Ground/Decadance. These were epically done in a way that made new songs out of samples of well known hits. Many a DJ has done mega mixes like what Prince offered up. Yes, they can be super-fun, but like he did Batdance, this should’ve been something form another planet! 😆. Still fun, but could’ve been epic! And it should’ve loaded the dance floor!!!
To me, Duran Duran set the bar with Burning The Ground/Decadence one of the best megamixes ever in my opinion. 🙂
Absolutely. When I first got that it blew my mind and continues to be a “most played” in my collection. Technically Batdance is similar because it is made of samples of songs from the Batman album (or outtakes from it) & the movie, but it’s not exactly either as it’s really it’s own thing. I thought Duran would inspire others to be more creative with how they approach mega mixes but I don’t know of anyone else ever doing one like it. 🤯
Oh man, so jazzed to see this pop up!! (your Prince posts might be my favorite of them all, truth be told!!) Thanks a ton for this and all you do, Paul !
Thank you, Grant 🙂
THANK YOU, PAUL! I personally love this medley because it’s the quickest way to hear all your favorite Prince songs in a short time! I remember being excited to play the 11-minute medley when I first bought it, only to see it completely clear my dancefloor. I think it was just too many songs/samples mixed together in a very awkward way without a real flow. Maybe they would’ve done better splitting all those songs into two separate medleys. Either way, I absolutely love it and appreciate finally having a DjPaulT rip of it instead of my CDM version (which also… Read more »
You’re very welcome, Martika. I would have preferred traditional megamix which used the original versions in a more dance-floor-friendly way. That may have kept folks on the floor.
Thanks for the great post, Paul! I think the reason for the poor chart performance is that essentially this medley is full of either re-sung vocals or completely new instrumentation with the original vocals (or both) making the whole medley feel awkward. Even if you’re a diehard Prince fan, this medley may not be your cup of soup. They probably would have done a lot better if he recorded a live performance covering the songs so it’s 1 same vocal while the instruments could be changed up. This medley is unique (at least to me) as I have never heard… Read more »
You’re welcome, Fred
As I mentioned above using the original mixes for this medley may have helped it chart-wise. Not being able to sing along may have not been that great for a radio audience. Still a fun medley.
I was in a store to purchase every Prince album in the 80s and 90s on the day they were released.It’s still hard to believe he’s gone. Thanks Paul!
You’re welcome, Mike.
Big Prince fan here. Thanks for the wonderful share Paul!
You’re welcome, Johnny42.
OH, MY GOODNESS!!!! Paul, you are so in my head!! I just pulled this out from my collection to maybe make a CD of Prince music. I also re-listened to your “Partyman” rip and was dazzled by “The Purple Party Mix” included on that 12-inch. I can’t thank you enough for all the Princ related music over the years, including this mega-mix! I miss Prince so much. You’ve really paid tribute to his genius over the years, and I am humbly grateful!!
Jeff
You’re welcome, Jeff 🙂
this is awesome, but you know that already….. 🙂
Thank you, Raymond 🙂