C/D: Prince's "Around the World in a Day"

Goofed on the HTML, my apologies.

"Um, we're going to play 'Raspberry Beret' one more time here on.. !"

I remember the L.A. area stations would play "Raspberry Beret", "Pop Life", MAYBE "America" or "Paisley Park", and "She's Always In My Hair" (a B-side!) but would not touch the rest of the album... it was also the first time I heard commercial radio DJs editorialize a bit about their thoughts on the album.

Its value I suspect is archival and hence historical: I think it's the album where Prince starts to deliberately turn his back on stardom, retreating into the increasingly bizarre sounds in his head until he vomited out "Sign O'The Times". "Lovesexy" is almost a sequel to ATWIAD. Matos probably has some theories too.

The arrangements are "interesting" without being compelling (jeez, even that Rain Parade album released around the same time moved a little faster). I'll take "Parade," which combines strings, funk, bad lyrics, and shrill falsettos much more amazingly. If I play it these days, it's to hear the two hits and "Tamborine."

"She's Always in My Hair" is much better than most of the album tracks.

I remember "Raspberry Beret" being a HUGE hit, "Pop Life" being a hit though not as huge as "Raspberry Beret" and that was it. Top 40 stations mainly just played these two songs, but R&B stations were more adventurous.. I mean, it was Prince. He could "do no wrong" as he had proven the previous year.. which is why part of me is fascinated with this move by Prince.

VERY IMPORTANT to keep in perspective, Prince was hardly just working on his own stuff. He did score hits via his protogés The Family with "Screams Of Passion", which DID get Top 40 play. Sheila E. was also big around the time too, still charting occasional singles from her first album. The Time was riding on the coattails of Prince's success with hits that bled into 1985 as well, I believe. The Prince dynasty was doing very well at the time, despite the "WTF"ness of Around The World In A Day. The only reason it sold so big was because it was the album after Purple Rain, period.

it's not bad, but you did get the impression he was getting over the pressure of following up his huge breakthrough album by getting it out of the way as fast as possible. Parade was the real followup.

search: "Paisley Park" 12" version which opens with an insane guitar solo / seagull sfx duet for two minutes before even bothering to splice in the song

As far the official critical line, well, I'm a big "Graffiti Bridge" fan.

I did own ATWAID and I ended up liking it more than I thought I would, but it was a cassette, so who knows what became of it. Probably still lodged under the seat of a friend's car, hidden between a crushed Real Thirsty cup and a crumpled-up bag from the Short Stop.

I'll make an exception for "Sometimes It Snows in April."

Robert Palmer, New York Times, 4/22/1985:

Almost every sound on the record, vocal and instrumental, with the occasional exception of light percussion, saxophone, backing vocals and understated string arrangements, was made by Prince, who proves with this record that he has mastered the pop-rock idiom in the widest sense, from artsy rock to heavy metal, funk to sweet pop balladry. ''Around the World in a Day'' may or may not endure as a rock classic; that remains to be seen. But there can be no doubt that Prince has invested a great deal of creative and emotional energy in it.

Richard Harrington, Washington Post, 4/23/1985:

This is a mind album, like "Sgt. Pepper," and Prince tends to leave clues rather than evidence. For all its psychedelic trappings, and for all his reputation as a sexual obsessive, there is precious little advocacy of anything except self-awareness and self-definition. That may be a reflection on Prince and his own set of changes; it has certainly provoked one of the most intriguing albums in years.

sucks to have taller siblings, but this album's got things the others don't. it's weirder, spacier, further out, totally personal, couldn't care less about pleasing outside the core fan base, which was important coming off the last album: i.e. the year the assholes stopped calling me a fag for liking Prince.

sucks to have taller siblings, but this album's got things the others don't. it's weirder, spacier, further out, totally personal, couldn't care less about pleasing outside the core fan base, which was important coming off the last album: i.e. the year the asshole jocks stopped calling me a faggot for liking Prince (to put it bluntly)

(me in '85 = 15 yrs old, for context)

But what I really came back to the thread to say is: I think that, in to order to more accurately represent his actual bailiwick, fact checking cuz should expand his title to the Brighten-the-Corners deluxe version of "sanity and fact checking cuz."

and meanwhile, the 12" mixes & b-sides were killing... "Hello"

maybe it's different if you're going through his albums in hindsight, but this was a pivotal album where he showed everyone he was just going to keep going further, and it was cool, so I have nothing but love for this album

One day.

When is the Little One releasing his 12"'s ?

1. Prince's quest to create an oasis of freedom and peace (Paisley Park) in the mixed-up muddled-up world (title track).

2. His glorification of the beautiful loser, the nerd, the freak, ("Paisley Park" the song, "Condition of the Heart" which is so overheated that you KNOW it's him talking), the black kids who listen to Joni Mitchell and Love.

3. His having to deal with the insanity he's created through fame, through arrogance, through beginning to piss off the music business that has finally embraced him ("Pop Life")

4. His walking away from the sex-crazed persona that America embraced, his trying to understand his religious underpinnings instead of just being flippant about it like before ("Temptation")

5. His backing away from his earlier Reagan-is-great stylings ("America").

"Paisley Park" - I like the calliope. Sounds too much like "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Penny Lane." He did this strawberry-lemonade and tangerine trees shit better on the next album's "Christopher Tracy's Parade" and "Life Can Be So Nice."

Not that it's not a (really) good album.

Also, I don't think "America" is a turn away from "Reagan-is-great."

These lyrics, for instance:

Communism is just a word
But if the government turn over
It'll be the only word that's heard

That's basically "Keep Ronnie, he's better than those Russkies."

all of which is true, and none of which has anything to do with whether the album is any good or not

"Paisley Park" is a future-funk song and has nothing to do with drugged-out Brit-hippie music-hall wank

like FUCK it doesn't

fuck you! I had mad skillz!

The idea of "Take Me With U" as the theme song for "Sophie's Choice" is making me really nauseous

All the people that diss it but shot all the people that like it the most off-the-money

Q. How are the Beatles like Jesus?
A. They're just all right, to me.

MC: so is what you're saying that your not caring that much for the Beatles = that song doesn't ape them in any way? because that's an awful lot what it looks like

Last time I played the album I loved all of it, although "Temptation" sure does sound goofy.

Again, I was responding to Alfred Soto talking about the Beatles.

And, again, I was only making a little joke that occured to me. ("Little" = "Microscopic") I have never heard Lennon/McCartney much in Prince's psychedelia, more like Love and Sly and Beach Boys. But hey I could be wrong, what the fuck.

and Stormy OTM about Sheila E and that's not just a reacharound

xpost

yeah it's a mess, totally thrown off, bits of it careless, not as masterful as Parade, we know we know

you are no fun at all matos. you sound like someone complaining about bad head.

this album came out nine months after Rain, it was like an extra, it happened so fast it didn't even feel like a followup, just a promise that he wasn't going to let the fame get to him. and the fact that it was so tossed off, personal and fans-only was a straight up relief. judging it so harshly seems like a real ROCK CRITIC thing to do, when I know you're a total hardcore fan

though I think in the long run we're all basically in agreement, you're just being a hardass

Heavens, Milton! You know A LOT more about Matos than me, I guess. ;-)

-- Matos-Webster Dictionary (michaelangelomato...), March 1st, 2005.

(no one likes my Beach Boys analogy = U ALL R GAY! *choke* sob)

x-post

PUT THE CRACK-PIPE DOWN

*ahem*

Just for that, Matos, I'm going to not only buy, but READ your book.

I wish Ludacris or somebody would end an album like this (though Eminem has a similar meta-hell capper to HIS Around The World In A Day

this thread's high school all over again but friendly

sorta (and part of the reason I love it is its like sloppy Prince demos) but Andre's just dryly telling his tale at the end, not imagining divine retribution for his sins (in fact, God grants him another shot at a girl with a nice butt earlier on the album). 50 Cent shrieking "OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE!!! *satan laughing*" at the end of an album would be more in sync.

A natural progression.

Thomayto

Purple Rain - I'm a star, let's drink, fuck, and party like it's 1999. Then the beautiful one Nikki broke his heart and he only wants to see her dancing in the purple rain.

Around The World in a Day - Crushed, he retreats into his room with his Crayola 64 and Beatles albums. Draws lots of paisley parks and raspberry berets.

Parade - Shows said drawings of parks and berets to friends. They like! He starts to come out of his shell.

SOTT - Doesn't like what he reads in the paper about some new disease. Hits on waitresses in his favorite coffee shop, one of whom he'd love to date even though he can never take the place of her man. Rediscovers how much he loves Jesus. Not that it matters.

hey, I didn't say it! He just told an arena full of central pennsylvanians that!

By the way I like your choices on the calendar thread, we're locked in a duet over there.

Better get back to the calendar thread. I think I'll have to go find some of your choices, since I'm very much new to them.

Hell, the same guy, a fucking Four Twaet fan, looked at me the same way when I played him glitchy melodic elctronica records.

very underappreciated and awesome album. "Pop Life", the title track, "raspberry beret", man fuck people who don't enjoy this...with scissors and mayonaise

I like a lot of this album actually. And the tracks I don't like are the gospel influenced somewhat repetitive ballads that also exist in the rest of his catalogue (for instance, the title track is the only thing I don't like much on "Purple Rain")

This was, if I recall, one of the first threads to which I contributed.

(for instance, the title track is the only thing I don't like much on "Purple Rain")

http://paintermommy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/shocked.jpg

sorry for the triple post, something's up with my internets....

Your ire.

"Pop Life"

When asked, I'll probably tell you this is my favorite Prince song 7 out of 10 times.

i thought it was intentional

xp

lol, it did kind of inspire that level of "wtf"ness in me.

whatever track 3 is called is also a favorite...

Geir doesn't like blues-based music, film at 11, posts very much in character, etc., etc.

Meanwhile, "Let's Go Crazy," with the exception of the pre-chorus, consists entirely of a I-IV chord change. Whereas "Purple Rain" is incredibly harmonically complex.

But it sounds like gospel.

But it's not that Geir doesn't like "black people" music.

But a song that's just I-IV, over and over, is better than the complexity of "Purple Rain." Also, too.

Because this album is beloved by a coterie and I love Prince, I give it a chance every few months -- it's still mostly a dud.

Anyway, "Paisley Park" and "Raspberry Beret" are fantastic songs because they sound like something The Beatles might have done in 1967.

And, no, "Purple Rain" is not complex. It has four chords. And that's it. And they are being repeated as an ostinato all the time with no build, not climax (other than some annoyingly improvised screaming, that is, but the climax shouldn't be in the performance, it should be in the melody).

Propably still in my Top 5 but it could do with a good remastering/ fix up. If only to correct that pain in the arse lag between the left and right channels on Pop Life when you listen on headphones. I love it mind, full of brilliant tricks that you forget about like that stop-start-stop-start intro to America. Condition Of The Heart contains my favourite Prince lyric moment ever when the girl leaves him for 'a REAL prince.. from Arabia'. Anyone who doesn't get the warmth and the humour of the man after listening to this album is *nuts*.

Plenty of his albums before and since exude his warmth and humor.

I should have said upthread: maybe I'm tainted because I heard Parade first. ATWIAD, by contrast, was one of the LAST Prince albums I bought (2001? 2002?). I've written thousands of words in my rockcrit career defending unloved mutts, especially those released in the eighties, but this one, unfortunately, still sounds half-assed and nattering.

This is my favorite Prince album.

Parade is ironically the one I never liked much...although there are some amazing songs on it.

really the only Prince album I've ever heard that I went "uh, why?" was the one a few years ago with the song "Guitar" on it....

I hear the title track and "Paisley Park" and think, well, okay, sitars and finger cymbals and Magical Mystery Tour -- so what?

The A side of this album is brilliant: the first tune is nice intro showcasing how he's changed his game, "Paisley Park" is one his most hearbreakingly beautiful pop songs, the ballad is good in the sort of pathetic-yet-credible way Prince can write ballad, "Raspberry Berret" is plenty fun, and "Tambourine" is a nice little funk workout. But the B side is kinda bad: "America" is musically nice but has dodgy lyrics, "Pop Life" isn't as great a pop song as the ones on side A, and the last two songs are just half-assed, formless attempts to make something "psychedelic". Prince should've just made the 20 minute version of "America" as the entire B side. Or at least replace the last two songs with "Girl" and "She's Always in My Hair". They're not the most perfect Prince songs, but they're certainly better than what's on the album.

Yeah: "Girl," "Hello," "She's Always in My Hair" pwn most of the album tracks.

Basically absolutely LOVE "Raspberry Beret" and "Paisley Park". Also quite fond of the title track and "Pop Life". Not quite as keen on the rest.

honestly i only came around to "parade" as an album this year (before i would always listen to kiss, mountains, and maybe another lover and that's it).

the title track is the only thing I don't like much on "Purple Rain"

O_O

Anyway, great album. I never latched onto Parade as strongly as this one, myself.

I understand now
love is more important than sex
I have to go now

I don't know when I'll return

goodbye

Prince's worst 80s record?

way better than Lovesexy imo. i might prefer it to Parade too but i know that's a minority opinion.

temptation is pretty embarrassing

Anyway, "Paisley Park" and "Raspberry Beret" are fantastic songs because they sound like something The Beatles might have done in 1967.

I just heard "Pop Life" somewhere the other week, it made me happy like it usually does. I think most of the detractory commentary above is fair, but for somebody's decade low-point to include "Pop Life," "Raspberry Beret," "Tamborine" and "Condition of the Heart" says more about the decade he had than the actual merits of the album. Even the title track is pretty cool.

'raspberry beret' makes my shortlist of the best pop records of all time, easy.

"Temptation" is amazing, imo, always gives me chills

i'm hard-pressed to think of any song called 'temptation' that isn't awesome!

I've voiced the identical sentiment about songs w/tambourines in the title!

Redirecting from this current sidebar: 'The Top' by the Cure: Classic or Dud?

imago— Definitely check out the b-sides from this album: 'She's Always In My Hair' (which is an absolutely classic song, full stop), 'Girl', and 'Hello.' There's also the twenty minute (no, really) version of 'America.'

Oh cool!

Yeah this was awesome. Didn't even falter in Side B, although I'm not sure the opener isn't my favourite track