Bren O’Malley – brother of Sheila – is working on the kind of series that could come perilously close to launching me on another endless series – “The 43 Greatest Albums”.

The latest installment?  Prince’s Purple Rain.

Snip:

It opens with ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ and the song itself invites insanity. A tightly wound little top spinning on a perfectly polished floor, it gallops along without effort until that guitar solo explodes it until the top becomes a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the diamond studded mirror of a pimped out Cadillac.

And just to introduce some fireworks, I refer you to his review of Nebraska:

OK, fine, ‘Born In The U.S.A.’ is a perfect album but I think ‘Born To Run’ is overrated, ‘The River’ sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of one, and ‘The Wild, The Innocent, and The E-Street Shuffle’ is just embarrassing. At their worst they remind me of a coked out middle manager over-dancing to Journey in white jeans.

Most bands are BANDS. You can’t separate one of the members from the rest. This is why the E-Streeters are ultimately session players and not members of a band. I don’t care how many photos they put on the cover of Bruce leaning on Clarence or Little Stevie or Max. It is Bruce and whoever he brings along for the ride.

Which is why ‘Nebraska’ is perfect. Much of Springsteen’s music in the ’70’s suffered under the weight of ambition. I SHALL NOW CAPTURE THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA IN 4 MINUTES OR LESS, AND BY SPIRIT I MEAN THE DIRTY UNDERBELLY AND THE SOARING HOPE, THE PASSION AND THE DESPAIR, THE EVERYTHING AND NOTHING, THE OVER AND THE UNDER, WHAT THE HELL WAS I SAYING?

Oh, Bren.  We are gonna go ’round and ’round, me bucko.

After I get this new idea for a series off the ground, I mean…