someone help!

not even Pop Life?

"Tambourine" is quirky and funky!

"Pop Life" best song on there!

"Condition Of The Heart" has beautiful chord changes and over emotive singing!

"The Ladder" and "Temptation" are garbage!

Listen to Paisley Park and Pop Life... things should start to fall into place, kinda.

I'll admit, it's still the Prince album that perplexes me the most - And on top of that, I can't even figure out why.

Can't get into ATWIAD???? Listen to it loud. Listen to it soft, with headphones, even. There are so many cool parts to that album: Here are some of the things I indulge in, when I spin that disc:


*ATWIAD - the drum program "hits" differently as the song progresses. And, there's a sharp snare that appears only once.

*Paisley Park -- I always thought Prince's first "who" was a mistake in one of the verses (he comes in a little early -- or is giving a cue to the girls). Which was cool in that it seemed like he was still using a Sly Stone/1999 approach to vocal recording. I could be wrong.

*Condition of the Heart -- perhaps the most Steveland-like deal he'd committed to tape (the intro rocks, reminding me of "Journey in the Life of Plants" and such 1970s gems) the vocals are stunning, and Prince actually sounds down in this song.

*Raspberry Beret -- If you need a reason, you need to be slapped.

*Tambourine -- To hear Prince "play the mess outta dem drums," as Miles once said, as well as use some cool, minimalist approaches to instrumentation. I love what he does with that key bass in this song.

*America -- In 1985, this song made me double-check my record player. And, it's so tightly mixed, it sounds loud at low volumes but begs to be blasted. "Watch out now," Prince says coolly, as the song begins... Song about America during the Cold War that had Russian influences all over its hook. Awesome.

*Pop Life -- Prince & the Rev at their best, arguably. Social commentary that was fun, poetic, melodic and funky. And the weird fighting scene.

*The Ladder -- This always struck me as "Purple Rain Part II," when I was a kid. But even then, I had a thing for the super-flanged guitar and churchy piano buried in it like Easter eggs.

*Temptation -- The drum pattern's hisses and sighs. The distorted bass. The burlesque chord progressions. Prince being naugh'y-naugh'y. The Hendrix-style intro and solo. Eddie M. The talk with "god." The crazy whistling at the end and the "Parade"-style keyboards (talk about your stylistic foreshadowing). "I don't know when I'll return..." back in the day, made you scared Prince wasn't going to tour anymore or record. Old-schoolers remember how he used to retire every couple of years... What a way to close an album.

Just track the songs and listen in this order:

1. ATWIAD
2. Paisly Park
3. America
4. Temptation
5. Raspberry Beret
6. Tambourine
7. Pop Life
8. Condition of the Heart
9. The Ladder

The album should make a lot of sense when tracked this way. Enjoy

setyrmindphree said:

Aww shit just listen to the muthafucka & open your mind. If you can't get wit it look elsewhere

CalhounSq said:

actually, just randomly switched there order. If a new prince fan is going to get into this they may need another listen that makes um more focused. An album like this is not changed much by the tracklisting. Somtimes, just thinking something changed is the change needed to see or hear differently

Trying to pronounce ATWIAD as a word might help.

badujunkie said:

Man, just give it some time because I had the same problem. First time I heard that album, some of the material freaked me out completely. I couldn't listen to tracks like America, Temptation, The Ladder, or even Condition Of The Heart because I thought they served as filler, but now I think that they are just amazing. Let's just say that Parade is a little better because it is more unified.

badujunkie said:

Then you lack FUNK. Cause this lp is just that. BEATLES, Hendrix, Sly, Funkadelic it's all in the mix. Around the World In A Day was a great lp.

I think it's a weak-ass album. Prince offers nothing new to a conceipt that was executed with far greater success twenty years previous by The Beatles.

ThreadBare said:









I had this album on Tape Cassette and I too fell for that one !!! Yanked the cassette straight out thinking it was chewing up in the rollers !!!!!



(I know this Icon has no meaning, I just thought it was coool!!!)

I hated it for a while after it first came out but one day I just stuck it on while I was doing something else and it just clicked. Now I love it.

badujunkie said:

you don't need any help. if you don't like it, you don't like. no biggie. i know that it does seem that a lot of Prince fans act like you ain't a real admirer of his music unless you like everything he's ever done.
believe me, there are puh-lenty of albums of his that i dislike.

badujunkie said:

Then try some MJ!

Cheek said:

Now that's just downright cruel !!!!!
No-body should be forced to go there !!

ATWIAD isn't one of my favorite Prince albums.These days,I rarely listen to it.The only great song is "Paisley Park"

Newbie "fans" who hear his popular songs and think they like Prince then realise they cant understand where that popular stuff came from. Move along to another band is my advice to you, you probably would anyway.

Illustrator said:

Listen to "Condition of the Heart" with some headphones while sitting in the dark.

Trust me, that will grip you during the intro!

GoldiesParade said:

um im not a 'newbie.' just because you can't get into ONE album out of an artist's catalogue...whatever.

badujunkie said:

You'll have to get used to a lot of that kinda thing around these parts I'm afraid buddy. My advice?

Salt, BIG-assed pinch of.

badujunkie said:

Smoke some weed and you'll get it! This was at the point when Prince was a genius.

CalhounSq said:

Not one of my favorite albums either, but I do love Temptation, Rasb. Beret and Paisley Park

ATWIAD, Parade, Dream Factory, Black Album, Lovesexy...The Golden Era for me. Starts with ATWIAD. I understand why some don't get it . It's not very accessible and very experimental. That's why I dig it. And the b-sides and extended mixes from this album are great. She's Always in My Hair, America long version, Paisley Park with extra guitar solo, c'mon now. To each his own.

SEX! TEMPTATION! LUST! Pop go Mama!

I didn't like the album when I first listen to it and in 2006 still don't like the album.

But Condition of the Heart and Pop Life was okay, I guess.

I like it because it stands out. Prince was being innovative and had a great concept behind what he was doing. No other artist was doing music like this, he was taking risk and making it work. Challenging himself musically and his fans.