A lot of people believe that Prince made a mistake with ATWIAD (not me btw) for the following reasons:

1) Released too soon after Purple Rain
2) No lead off singles
3) Too much of a musical departure from the sound that grew through Controversy-1999-Purple Rain

What do people think would have happened if ATWIAD had been say 50% less of a departure, that is to say it sounded more like Purple Rain but with some psychedelic tones (so still representing musical growth and artisitic experimentation but not as much of a surprise to the several million new fans on jumped on board with Purple Rain and then ran a mile a year later)

Also, what vault tracks from the 84/85 era would have figured on this hypothetical version of ATWIAD (remember it would have been released later than April in my scenario).

I like to play the "what if" game...lol....I've always wondered what would have happened if Prince had released a different album instead of 'ATWIAD' as the follow-up to 'Purple Rain'....perhaps something that didn't stray too far from his previous albums.An album that looked something like this...


PRINCE 'The Dance Electric' (release date: summer 1985)

"The Dance Electric"
"The Screams Of Passion" (duet with Sheila E.)
"Extra Lovable"
"Electric Intercourse"
"Turn It Up"
"No Call U"
"Roadhouse Garden"
"Do Yourself A Favor"
"Moonbeam Levels"


I wouldn't have complained about an album like that!

jaypotton said:

But that was all intentional - I love the fact that Prince wanted to give his new audience a headfuck.

Kinda like a test of their 'faith' if you like, all the ones who dug PR because it was cool got a bite on their bottom when they put ATWIAD on the turntable.

It's kinda fun to play "what if?". Of course Prince WANTED to make an album that wasn't easily
accessable, and messed with people's expectations. But if he had wanted to make Around the
World In A Day more 'commercial' then here's a tracklisting for something that could've been
released sometime in September 1985...

side one:
1. Around The World In A Day
2. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
3. Raspberry Beret
4. Nothing Compares 2 U
5. Paisley Park
side two:
6. America
7. Pop Life
8. The Ladder
9. The Dance Electric

(and yes, track 2 was recorded way back in '82)

BorisFishpaw said:

i ike your additions BUT you can't take my Temptation away!

NouveauDance said:

Of course it was intentional. Prince has taken his fans on a rollercoaster ride and we love (and sometimes hate?) him for that. Personally ATWIAD was a complete WTF when it went on the turntable but I liked it. I'm just playing "what if" because it's fun and I wonder if Prince would have continued his mega selling status in 85?

DavidEye said:

Yeah that sounds cool! Hey DavidEye good to "see" ya. It's probably about time to reserect the "film ideas for Prince" thread again?

BorisFishpaw said:

Boris that rocks! Sorry David but I like this tracklist a little better. So would this have been a bigger hit than the actual ATWIAD? What would the singles have been? Would you have kept the "outtakes" like "Condition Of The Heart" as B-sides?

jaypotton said:

I like the WTF factor Prince uses, even in recent years with albums like RAVE, TRC etc. He makes you think, "Where are you going now?" & "WTF are you doing?" No matter what its just a trip.

Yeah that sounds cool! Hey DavidEye good to "see" ya. It's probably about time to reserect the "film ideas for Prince" thread again?[/quote]


Yeah, do a documentary about his concert tours in 1987-88 and release it with SOTT on DVD with a load of extras. Remaster SOTT (the CD) with the extened B sides, include all the outtakes and release in a massive boxed set.

slm4m said:

Yeah, do a documentary about his concert tours in 1987-88 and release it with SOTT on DVD with a load of extras. Remaster SOTT (the CD) with the extened B sides, include all the outtakes and release in a massive boxed set.[/quote]

We can dream

jaypotton said:

We can dream [/quote]

Prince would never do that, it's too bad really

jaypotton said:

Definitely. It would have been nice to squeeze a few more tracks on there like 'Condition of
the Heart' and 'She's Always In My Hair', but to be true to the spirit, I limited it to the format
and running time of a vinyl album. It would definitely have been a bigger commercial hit
while still retaining more than enough psychedelic influence to make it seem different to
Purple Rain. I'd still open with the trippy Around The World In A Day, but hit the listener next
with a straight up easy accessable rock number in the form of I Could Never Take The Place
Of Your Man. Which of course would sound more 'Revolution'-like then it's SOTT incarnation.
I'd also keep it shorter (like a single edit) on the album and save the long version for the 12".
Then follow that with another catchy pop song: Raspberry Beret, before going for the ballad.
Just changing the running order slightly can make the same songs SEEM more commercial.
I'd suggest the following singles (in this order)...

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man / She's Always In My Hair

Raspberry Beret / Tamborine

America / Hello

Nothing Compares 2 U / Condition Of The Heart

Pop Life / Girl

.

That sounds cool! Think I might put together this version to see how it flows.

okay jaypotton, here's one for you: ATWIAD DONE AS WAS = A FAN 4 LIFE!

The reasons why "a lot of people believe that Prince made a mistake with ATWIAD" play a big part in why that was the clincher 4 me; especially reason 3 (Too much of a musical departure from the sound that grew through Controversy-1999-Purple Rain)

Here's one persons very honest recollections, from a young (in the mid '80's) white boy in New Zealand: first time i saw prince was on solid gold in '83 - it was either little red corvette or 1999, i don't fully recall. At that stage i just thought the guy was waaaay too far out and freaky looking, very feminine (re:GAY looking) (and to my defense, you gotta go way back and remember what was playing on the radio for a pretty conservative, yet to bust out/rebel & get an identity 15 year old back then). (I mean, shit, i was still exploring the Beatles legacy back then...)

Anyways, i wrote him off as (many did here) a freak and a bit of a joke, without really listening to the music. A year later When Doves Cry came out... Okay, that song was just plain weird at the time, but SOOO God-damn catchy that it was impossible to ignore - the freak made something real cool sounding but i convinced myself that it was a one-off; and so became a bit of a fan of the song, but not him - no sir!

Cue a few months later in early spring (southern hemisphere…) on a day for which I cannot recall the exact date, but a moment for which I recall perfectly and shall never forget: radio on in my room, 93fm – some simple guitar chords begin to play and I stop, completely transfixed: I stood motionless, looking at my speakers, totally in love with the song which came out, knowing absolutely nothing about what or who was playing it, only that I loved every moment of it… : Purple Rain - Yes, I was SOLD!

I’ll spare you the drawn out version of what happened in the few months after that (essentially, I brought the album - but didn’t go so far as too see the film in the cinema: D’oh! – played the album fully a couple of dozen times; loved Doves and Beautiful Ones but refused to be initially converted by the album; just essentially LOVED Purple Rain, and kept that one sucker on constant repeat, but thought it would all end there…)

7 or 8 months later I was breaking out and searching for something new when I came across a review of a new album called Around The World In A Day (I had heard Raspberry Beret, it was a bit different and cool, so read the review). The review had an effect: it described the album as something different, alternative; mixing psychedelia, funk and other unlikely combinations (it also said this was his sixth album {???} and that this was completely unlike the rest! Wow, I’d only thought he had 2!!). I thought, What the hell, so I went out and brought it, not expecting much but open to anything.

What I heard when I cued it up for the first play was like nothing else I’d ever heard before (or frankly, since). This was no Purple Rain (and for that I’m eternally grateful! : I have nothing against Purple Rain, in fact now I love it, but at the time apart from the title song, it wasn’t at all life altering). This grabbed me from the opening vocal “sound” (how the hell do you describe that??) to the final bizarre ending.

I was sold hook, line and sinker: there would be NO turning back, and for that moment I am eternally grateful, because this has been one hell of an interesting journey (from discovering the entire back catalogue (which I did with vigor in the months that followed), to being astounded and thrilled by the soon to follow Kiss and Parade (and through the UPs and DOWNs, pretty much every sound that has followed since).

Who else in the last 20 odd years has been HALF as interesting to follow musically???

Sure there may have been finer moments (Sign O The Times, without trying to sound warn out, is THE classic), but ATWIAD is the fix that made me the addict that I am almost some 20 years later. So “ATWIAD DONE DIFFERENTLY = A BIGGER SUCCESS?” Personally, I’m glad it wasn’t done differently, it’s perfect the way it is. Fool those that jumped off from the journey because of that: go on into the ‘80’s fools and dig yourself some Def Leppard - yippie-ki-yay mutha-fuckers! ABC-ya! Losers, be gone with you.

Prince (for all his faults) has provided a soundtrack to life, that (in the last 20 years, if not ever) is quite simply without equal. Personally, I think I jumped on the train at the perfect time.

Fuck the other "hind-site" track lists, PERFECT as is!

As far as ATWIAD is concerned; to paraphrase Renee Zellweger in Jerry Maguire : “You had me at ‘Open your heart, open your mind’…”

BorisFishpaw said:

Boris that's a really good list. Probably the more dancey version of the title track would be appropriate. You could even add all day all night and that would have worked too.

was anyone truly dissatisfied when ATWIAD came out? i remember hearing it the day it came out, back when i was hardly 15 years old, and i remember thinkin' it was kinda deep, but i was really blown away by it. i guess i wasn't really thinking in terms of wanting a "purple rain 2" - i just knew whatever it was, it was gonna be mindblowing.

The album is great the sound is great.

Bottom Line,, it was released WAY too Soon.

10 months after your biggest seeling record???? come on. I think he could've release computer blue as a single and got more life out of Purple rain.

D.J. Were still playing 17 days/ Erotic City and Purple Rain in my area when ATW came out.

it was way too soon.

SpudMonkey said:

Cool recollection. I got into Prince around November 1984 and over the coming months bought 1999 and Controversy before ATWIAD came out. I remember being at the record shop at 08.50 (before it opened) so I could get my copy. They had to open the box they were delivered in!

I agree that in reality I would not change anything. The ride has been so exciting and has been such a central part of my life (sad perhaps) and I just love the way Prince always manages to surprise us (for better or worse).

As I said before though, I really like playing the "what if" game! Please indulge me

SpudMonkey said:

Excellent post.

Anxiety said:

Totally agree, Anx. The whole 'spin' that was put onto ATWIAD, that it was such a 'departure' was just a big load to my ears. The only departure was that his mug and the color purple weren't featured on the album jacket. The sound of the record was to my ears, a total extension of what they were doing on Purple Rain - same guitar sounds, handclaps, Linn sounds, echo plate soaked kick drum... It sounded like an inevitable continuation of the previous record. Even the songs were similar - America was a reworking of the Baby I'm Star groove, The Ladder was incredibly similar to Purple Rain and Raspbery Beret was another version of Take Me With U. The only things he added that were any different were the piano ballad Condition of the Heart and the drum extraveganza Tamborine. I love this record and it was mostly because it sounded so inevitable coming out of the Purple Rain material. I wanted to hear more of that kind of stuff. When I kept reading about how much of a 'departure' it was, I thought these reviewers had completely lost the plot.

Jestyr said:

I think it was a departure in terms of sound. But the album was kinda structured similar to PR...or really you can point to songs such as you did and really make a comparison between them. i.e. America/Baby I'm a Star or the Ladder/PR. I think it was definitely more experimental and playful with the different styles. I think it's not as cohesive as his earlier efforts...nor as Parade was...but I think we were starting to see the beginnings of an SOTT/Dream Factory thing emerging in terms of variety and the sculpting of the songs.

SpudMonkey said:

tx 4 sharing

I wish Prince would have kept right on doing what he had been doing and release "Around The World In A Day" exactly the way it is around 1990.

Nope! I wouldn't Change a Thing... I Love ATWIAD.. Great Album...

i really dont think the quality of the ATWIAD album itself was the reason for the dropoff in record sales from Purple Rain to ATWIAD... around that time Prince was getting a lot of backlash because of the USA for Africa thing,walking around with his body guards and the public pretty much thought he was very aarogant...also in early 85 Bruce Springsteen really gained momentum with his Born In The Usa album and it seemed the fickle fans back then jumped ship when they thought Prince was weird and jumped on the Springsteen Bandwagon (one of the reasons i hated Bruce back then ) add that to the fact that ATWIAD was released a bit too early and i think thats why sales dropped from the 10 million Purple Rain sold at the time to the 2 million ATWIAD sold

that being said ATWIAD really sealed my fate as a Prince fan..after Purple Rain i bought all of Prince's catalog and couldnt wait for something new from him and when ATWIAD dropped i thought it was GREAT and really wore it out....i remember the backlash against Prince started so early my friends were ribbing me for listening to ATWIAD when it 1st came out because "PRINCE IS SO WEIRD! HE'S SO GAY! blah blah" and i was like ummm ookk werent you the same fuckers that were listening to Purple Rain non stop?