Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound

Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound is a 2013 compilation album released by The Numero Group that chronicles the history of Minneapolis funk music scene.[2] The album took two years to develop by Jon Kirby who traveled to find obscure recordings in Minneapolis and interview various artists and people of the era.

Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound
Compilation album by
Various artists
ReleasedDecember 3, 2013 (2013-12-03)
Length140:30[1]
LabelThe Numero Group
ProducerRob Sevier, Ken Shipley, Jon Kirby
CompilerJon Kirby

Production

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Purple Snow was compiled by former Wax Poetics editor Jon Kirby.[3] The project took two years to develop and involved Kirby travelling from Numero Group's office in Chicago to Minneapolis.[3] His research also included making phone calls, writing letters with his first meeting being with a woman named Kim Johnson who was in a group called Best Kept Secret who warned that creating this album would be extremely difficult.[3]

13 of the 32 tracks were originally unreleased.,[4] while some of the singles that had tracks included on the release were originally only pressed to 500 copies, and sold to church groups and older high school friends.[3] Others, such as André Cymone's "Somebody Said" were unreleased, which were in a shoebox for decades.[3] Kirby specifically spoke about the help of Charles Chambliss photographs from the era, which assisted in his research, explaining that "A lot of the people I talked to had forgotten about their stuff. But when I reminded them by showing them pictures or mentioning names, they would remember all kinds of stories. It was an amazing experience."[3]

Release

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Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound was released by The Numero Group on December 3, 2013.[1][5][6] The album was released on double compact disc and four vinyl box set.[7] The album included liner notes in a hardbound, full-color book.[7] Kirby's liner notes for the album were later nominated for Best Album Notes at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.[8]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic83/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [1]
Pitchfork(8.4/10)[2]
NME     [4]
Spin     [5]

On Metacritic, the album received an 83 out of 100 average rating indicating "Universal acclaim" from an average of 10 critics.[9]

Track listing

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CD version

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Disc One
No.TitlePerformersLength
1."If You See Me"94 East5:44
2."Taste Of Love"Aura3:29
3."I Love You"Herman Jones4:17
4."Oh Lover"Orville Shannon3:03
5."I'm Under Your Spell"Mind & Matter3:28
6."Waiting For The Moment"Haze3:27
7."Get It On"The Prophets Of Peace3:10
8."Expense"Dwayne White & The Cohesion Band3:46
9."Sunshine Lady"Mind & Matter4:09
10."Higher"The Lewis Connection6:58
11."It's The Things That You Do"Flyte Tyme4:49
12."Ladie"Herman Jones4:55
13."You're All I Need"Michael Dixon & J.O.Y.3:48
14."Stone Lover"Music, Love & Funk7:13
15."Cohesion"Dwayne White & The Cohesion Band2:51
16."I Do Love My Lady"Haze4:06
17."Got To Be Something Here"The Lewis Connection4:17
Disc Two
No.TitlePerformersLength
1."I Have Love At Home"Walter Lewis & The Blue Stars5:20
2."I Got You On My Mind"Flyte Tyme5:06
3."Can You Deal With It"Quiet Storm4:34
4."Quick"Steven3:22
5."If You Love Me"The Stylle Band3:03
6."I've Got My Eyes On You"The Girls4:03
7."Should I Or Should I Not?"Sue Ann Carwell3:17
8."Do You Dare"Alexander O'Neal6:06
9."Contagious"Ronnie Robbins4:48
10."Borrowed Time"Alexander O'Neal4:36
11."One Life To Live"Orville Shannon3:05
12."Somebody Said"André Cymone4:23
13."Do It Baby Do It"Walter Lewis & The Blue Stars4:25
14."Together"Rockie Robbins5:00
15."No One Else Can Do It To Me Baby"Mind & Matter7:00

References

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  1. ^ a b c Kellman, Andy. "Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound". AllMusic. Archived from the original on June 5, 2014. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Patrin, Nate (November 25, 2013). "Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Gonzales, Michael A. (April 18, 2014). "Prince Ain't the Only Minneapolis Sound". Ebony. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Cardew, Ben. "Various - 'Purple Snow:Forecasting The Minneapolis Sound'". NME. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Gubbels, Jason (December 3, 2013). "Numero Group's 'Purple Snow' Captures the Pre-Prince Weirdness of Minneapolis Funk and Soul". Spin. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  6. ^ "Numero Group". The Numero Group. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Adams, Gregory (August 1, 2013). "Numero Group Detail Prince-Featuring Comp 'Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound'". Exclaim!.
  8. ^ Greenburg, Zack O'Malley (December 5, 2014). "Grammy Nominees 2015: The Full List". Forbes. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound". Metacritic. Retrieved October 6, 2019.