Time Life Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Live-Volume 1 Prince Tribute Edition On Purple Vinyl Fitting Tribute

Time Life's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Live-Volume 1 Prince Tribute Edition on Purple Vinyl a Fitting Tribute to an Artist Who had the Most Memorable R&R HOF Performance

When Time Life released their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live-Volume 1 it was just after Prince had passed away. The album, containing his performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” quickly sold out its first pressing.

Time Life felt that it should honor the artist by re-releasing the album in a limited edition pressing on purple vinyl.

I must admit that while not being the biggest Prince fan, he was undeniably one of the biggest stars and influences on music in the past twenty years, and whether you like him or not there is also no denying that in the history of R&R Hall of Fame induction performances his performance on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” stands out as one of -- if not the -- best performances to date. So when Time Life announced they were re-releasing this set, my very first thought was that it is a fitting tribute to him, as for me this was his crowning achievement.

While my review of the album itself is available elsewhere on the site, my review here is more along the lines of “How does the album look? How is it made quality wise? How does it sound when compared to the previous pressing, and is it a fitting tribute?”

From the cover, the Prince version is indistinguishable from the original save for a purple sticker identifying it as such on the top left corner on the overwrap.

First off, the album is beautiful and looks awesome on my all black turntable, with a swirled opaque look about it that is very nice to look at both as it spins and sits still.

Its weight seems equal to that of the previous version and showed no signs of warpage.

I wouldn’t exactly call it purple; to my eyes it is more of a lavender hue.

The album label was centered, with some minor peeling at the spindle hole and showing signs of a visible “ring”. The spindle hole is also tighter than that of the original release.

I also found it a little more difficult to identify where the tracks started with the purple vinyl than with the black.

Once cued up, I sat back and listened to both albums -- first each one completely, and then trading back and forth between individual songs. I did not detect any difference in sound quality between the purple vinyl and the black, so if you plan on playing the album instead of saving as a collectible you won’t sacrifice any sound quality.

Unfortunately, some of the other performances that are not so well performed weren’t made to sound any better on the purple; alas I didn’t think it would do that, but I won’t lie I was hoping.

As I said above, I won’t labor on reviewing the album contents; for that I encourage you to read my previous review of the album. Suffice it to say that if you missed out on getting the first pressing because you dilly-dallied, don’t dally here and secure your copy of this pressing.

This is a very good album filled with important material from some of the biggest heavyweights in the industry. While some may not be their best performances to date, others -- including the one by the performer who is the reason for the purple tribute – are, and I think everyone who is a fan of Prince needs to have this song and record in their collection.

Side 1:

1. Johnny B. Good-Chuck Berry w/Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (1995)
2. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out-Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (1999)
3. A Change Is Gonna Come-Al Green (1995)
4. A Train Kept A-Rolling-Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ron Wood, Joe Perry, Flea and Metallica (2009)
5. Iron Man-Metallica (2006)

Side 2:

1. Woodstock-James Taylor (1997)
2. Sunshine Of Your Love-Cream (1993)
3. Blitzkrieg Bop-Green Day (2002)
4. I Can’t Get No Satisfaction-Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (1988)
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps- Tom Petty, Jeff Lynn, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison and Prince (2004)