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Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound Image
Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 10 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

  • Summary: Prince is only a supporting player on three songs on the two-disc compilation of songs from Minneapolis artists from the 1970s-80s including The Lewis Connection, Haze, Ronnie Robbins, the Stylle Band, Alexander O'Neal, and Music, Love & Funk.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Dec 17, 2013
    85
    This compilation is an undoubtedly comprehensive overview of the scene and--while perhaps a little obscure in places for the casual listener--is a dream come true for aficionados of deep cuts and rare grooves.
  2. Dec 17, 2013
    84
    How could the scene that gave us 1999 and Control have such an underknown history where its pre-eighties R&B roots are concerned? Thanks to the deep knowledge base and research that went into Numero Group's Purple Snow compilation, it's made clear just why that is--and why, in a fairer world, it shouldn't have been the case.
  3. Dec 17, 2013
    80
    This isn't Minneapolis blowing mind after mind in the mad rush, this is the groundwork, the early experiments, the demos en route to the full on experience. Drums sometimes barely sound there, mixes are merely what can be done with the tools to hand, it's not slapdash but it's not slick either.
  4. Dec 17, 2013
    80
    Those who possess inside-out knowledge of the Prince and Jam & Lewis songbooks should be thrilled with it.
  5. Dec 17, 2013
    80
    As a work of scholarly revisionism, Purple Snow is peerless. How and why the Twin Cities helped transform Prince Nelson into the Artist remains a mystery. But this is a charming addition to the Paisley Park family.
  6. Dec 19, 2013
    80
    The 30 songs follow the scene’s progression: the first half is classically minded R&B and soul that evolves on disc 2 into danceable funk, with Alexander O’Neal’s new wavey Do You Dare and Ronny Robbins’s electro-rap track Contagious.
  7. Jan 3, 2014
    70
    This two-disc set tells the story of that sound ["The Minneapolis sound"], from the proto-disco Seventies to the synthed-up Eighties.

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