One has to wonder whether the Columbus, Ohio combo – Purple Reign – sought legal counsel over the homophonic similarity of the band’s name with the title of Prince’s career-defining album (over 25 million sales worldwide to date) and movie from 1984, Purple Rain:
“Wish You Didn’t Have to Go“
Purple Reign (1968)
Note the singer’s ingenious use of “home-spun” echo on the song’s chorus — who needs expensive gadgetry and special effects when you can be your own Echoplex?
How fun to see (as a former Ohio State student who frequented record shops) that Used Kids Records (a subsidiary of Columbus-based School Kids Records) sold this 45 a couple years ago for sixteen bucks. As Buckeye Beat notes, this 7-inch recording is a “split” single, which means a different artist on the flip side — in this case, Touches of Gold.
Check out Hillside‘s built-in ad on the 45 label itself:
“For Rent Guitars – Amps – Microphones –
Organ – Piano – Speakers – P.A. Systems”
Q = Is Columbus, Ohio’s Purple Reign the same musical troupe who later recorded “This Old Man“; “Love Shortage; and “You Gave Me Somebody to Love” for (respectively) Go-Rilla/Private Stock, Buddah, and RCA?
