Rating: NNNN
On its 50th release, reissue label Numero Group is dipping into the pure waters of Lake Minnetonka.
For Purple Snow, the label has unearthed overlooked and rare tracks from the Minneapolis soul, R&B and electro-funk scene of the late 70s and early 80s. (Top 40 listeners would know its super-tight, synth-led sound from Prince’s Purple Rain and Janet Jackson’s Control, produced by the Time’s Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.)
Although the compilation and accompanying 30,000-word book give deeper context to Prince’s music, the Purple One is peripheral here, contributing guitar to 94 East’s If You See Me and the Lewis Connection’s Got To Be Something Here.
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.
Top track: You’re All I Need, by Michael A. Dixon and J.O.Y.