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Over 20 years since we first heard 18
seconds of the song in the classic Prince movie Purple Rain, "Modernaire"
finally gets released on this 2 disc retrospective of music from The
Revolution's Dez Dickerson's vaults (albeit from his own tape version -
not the master copy).
The CDs include a black & white A4 booklet
detailing the story behind each track and vintage, unseen photos... but
the overall packaging is pretty poor (considering Dez actually runs his
own record label).
Was it worth the wait...? For the hardcore "must have everything"
fans - YES. Everyone else would probably greet it with indifference.
"Modernaire" is the only song here that clearly has the Prince purple
sound stamped all over it - the other tracks are purely Dez's work (apart
from the "When You Were Mine" live cover). The best of Dez's tracks
are... "(Is This?) Pop Music", "She Loves 2 Video", "Until It All Falls
Down" and "Maybe" (Dez's answer to "Purple Rain").
The key word for this set is RETRO...Dez was at the time heavily
influenced by English pop/rock bands of the 80's - this reviewer can hear
bits of Thin Lizzy, Kajagoogoo, Phil Collins, Elvis Costello, Duran Duran,
Spandau Ballet, Billy Idol (who he toured with in the 80's) and Bon Jovi.
Much of the music could easily be used as background soundtrack music for
shows such as Miami Vice, St. Elmo's Fire, Dirty Dancin' or
The Breakfast Club... don't know if this is a good or bad thing.
To be fair - pick out the 10 best tracks from this set and release it as a
single album back in 1985 would've done very well for Dez... Now it all just
sound so sadly dated and 20 years too late..
Standout Tracks: Modernaire, (Is This?) Pop Music, She
Loves 2 Video, Until It All Falls Down, Maybe
Paisley Involvement: On One Track
Experience Rating: Fully
represents all that was good and bad about music in the 80's...
(6/10)
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