Episode 24 - The 'Around The World In A Day' Review

Open your heart, open your mind!

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Around The World In A Day released on April 22nd, the P&B Podcast reviews the 1985 album, with plenty to say and plenty to think about.

So without further ado, here it is for your aural pleasure - download or stream and enjoy. http://peachandblack.podb...ay-review/


First Aired: Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Running Time: 2hrs:25mins


Listen to the review (it's free!): http://peachandblack.podb...ay-review/

Participate in the discussion (also free!): http://peachandblack.proboards.com

Send as any questions you would like us to answer at : funkytempleradio@gmail.com




Thanks for listening !



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[Edited 4/21/10 23:14pm]

cool. can't wait to listen. still dodging that NPS/Rave bullet, eh?

Listening now!

Any chance you guys could come chat with me on Paisley Radio sometime in the near future?

Going to listen now!!

http://www.7silhouetteproject.com/
http://www.facebook.com/p...5208764394


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25 years ago...man i feel old

this was the first prince album i got excited about being released...

id discovered all things PR and had gotten the P bug bad...

25 years ago, "PRB" was born

errant said:

Haha. Well, not deliberately. Can't speak for the others, but I'm keen to discuss that era. Lots of highs and lows should make for some interesting discussion. We just noticed that it would be ATWIAD's anniversary this week so thought it would be a good time to do it. But we've got a few other different shows planned in the coming weeks so it may still be a while before we get back to the reverse chronology album reviews. But don't worry - I'll be pushing my case to do Rave asap

I wrote down some notes and thoughts while listening to this review and they are as follows:
1) Ballsy...Imago would be proud.
2) IMO, 4ever to Lotusflow3r is the Raspberry Beret to ATWIAD. By that I mean I hear that song as the pop song from that album, and think it could've and should've gotten some airplay.
3) 3 minutes Captain?!
4) Someone mentioned Larry Graham's bass playing. I don't think I ever truly appreciated Larry until I saw him playing bass (along with another gent.) during Prince's performance of Motherless Child on the El Septimo boot. AWESOME!
5) You mentioned the power, passion, heart, and soul Prince puts into The Ladder. Question? Do any of you feel that Prince has found his "ladder" at this point in his life? I have my own opinion, but I'm interested in how you feel.
6) I saw the documentary with Novi Novog as well. Prince was obviously at a special place creatively in his life back then. Not too much of a perfectionist.
I really love these podcasts, and I wouldn't mind contributing financially. Is this done through paypal? Reply here or org note me, meanwhile I'll be looking forward to the next show. Good Job fellas!

Rave will be ok, NPS on the other hand .....


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[Edited 4/22/10 23:33pm]

Elle85n09 said:

I completely agree. MC seems to have a very low opinion of the song but I think that "4ever" easily could have been a top forty pop hit. I love the whole Lotusflow3r album but "4ever" strikes me as the most commercial and accessible song.

rialb said:

It's "The Morning After" that MC and I didn't think was too crash hot. Everyone on Peach & Black thought "4ever" was a decent track....

I am pretty sure I remember MC making fun of 4ever...

FunkyStrange said:

In the very first episode (before Lotusflow3r was released) he said something about it. I think he said he hoped it did not make the cut for the final album tracklist. He definitely was not a fan of the song early on.

rialb said:

he liked it better when they actually reviewed the album. in fact, he seemed to like it quite a bit.


it's kind of the meh track on that album to me, though.

Enjoyed the show, guys.

Dont't really get how so many people misinterpret the song "America", though. It's a straightforwardly patriotic song. Prince has even said so himself. It's not some sort of indictment of the American system as Captain mentioned. Someone said that the lyric about staying in school in "Pop Life" contradicted "America"s lyrics, but not at all. The song doesn't support Jimmy Nuthin (who's Nuthin' because he's a nobody). He doesn't go to school and doesn't pledge allegiance because it's not "cool", and what happens....he's blown up by an atomic bomb. The message is that people need to go to school and be patriotic and support their country, becuase if America is weak then they'll be blown up by those evil Russians (remember this was the 80's, and the cold war was going strong).

And someone also mentioned the line "she may not be in the black, but she happy she ain't in the red" can be taken so many ways, but not really. In this song, it's clear it just has one meaning - if your poor and living in America, that's still better than living in a communist country.It's a paraphrase of the saying "better dead than red".

wildsign said:

Thanks for the feedback

I don't know though - I don't think the lyrics of "America" are that black and white. They can be read in many different ways, both pro and anti Regan's 1985 America.

The "little sister" who's "making minniumum wage" may be happy that she's not living in a Communist state, but she's still living in a "monkey cage" and is "almost dead" because she "can't get over". To me, this verse is talking about how even in a so-called free state, there will always be those who are more free than others due to their circumstances - socio-economics, race, religion, etc.

"She may not be in the black, but she happy she ain't in the red" can easily be linked to anti-Communism, but equally, being "in the red" also means being in debt and "being in the black" meaning you are not in debt. "Little sister" is neither. She's struggling to get by. I also remember reading an interesting interpretation of that lyric being about the forgotten American Indians and how they were almost wiped out. Not sure I agree with that interpretation, but it's interesting none the less.

toejam said:

People do seem to interpret this song in different ways, but personally I don't really think that's what Prince intended. He may be saying America isn't perfect, but better than living under communism. "Little sister" may not be in the black (ie she is in the red economically speaking) but she's happy she ain't in the red (living under communism). This is a play on words, as the without changing the meaning of being in the red (not in the black) then the line contradicts itself. He was asked in an interview back in the 80's if the song was intended to be ironic, or straightforwardly patriotic, and his response was "straightforwardly patriotic".

It's only in more recent years that Prince has been more critical of his own country in his lyrics.

wildsign said:

While I did mention it and said I can hear those views in the song (if interpreted that way). Like I said, I never would have interpreted it that way myself, I would never have thought about it at all and just assumed it was a patriotic song since it was titled America (But failed to mention that part)

I really I am that simple ! and perhaps the song is too.

Like everyone reading into the meaning of 'Rasberry Beret' - THAT is hilarious !



One thing - I do think it is amazing that we are having conversations like this 25 years after it was released

FunkyStrange said:

Yeh, it is amazing we're still talking about it. I've never been a big fan of this song lyrically because I think it is a bit simplistic. But the music's great!!

By the way, I've enjoyed listening to all your shows. I'm from Sydney too so it's nice to hear some Aussies talking about Prince.

wildsign said:

Are you going to the Basement gig on 23rd May ? Check it out
[Edited 4/23/10 21:12pm]

FunkyStrange said:

Wow, I hadn't heard about that. Yeah, I'll definitely see if I can get to that. I do love Sheila!!

Man that guitar solo on Temptation is HOT!!
-Ok just had to get that out of the way.
Great show guys! Got me listening to ATWIAD for days.
I thought the Tambourine/She Bop and
America intro scratch/Chaka I Feel 4 U
connections that Player made were interesting.
And yeah even back then I used to wonder why She's Always In My Hair
was not on the album, it was SO good. I used to try and figure out
where the best spot for it would be in the line-up. Anyways, fun
podcast listening, great discussions.
Lookin forward to the next one.

Usually I listen to an album for a while before we record and that's it but this album I am still listening to a week later !!!

Best one to date guys, nice one & thanks!
What are the lyrics to the extra verse in Poplife?
Please don't make the podcsts longer. Sometimes i don't listen coz they're long

Bohemian67 said:

A few post down, you'll find the extra verse of Pop life :

http://prince.org/msg/7/333647?&pg=5

Yeah, I believe those extra verses are in the extended version of the song.

Thanks yankem. Hmmm kind of prefer just the original ones non extended, they're more profound.

Bohemian67 said:

I know what you mean, we were really split on whether to split this into two parts like we did with TRC but in the end decided to keep it as one show.

I think if we get anymore approaching this length in the future, we will split them up into two parts.