1nonly said:

I know the bigger picture of the baby with the flag is the "America" single.

On my version (good old vinyl LP) the boy with the balloon isn't actually part of the original artwork - he's a little transparent coloured sticker - which is removable.

Anybody else got one like that ?

I think the clown lookes like Ronald Reagan (juggling the earth or juggling America)

1nonly said:

http://upload.wikimedia.o...merica.jpg

Universaluv said:

Cool, thanks


And I tried looking for that Uptown 37 issue and couldn't find nothing. Actually, the scans I have are only a few pages of the issue, and are nothing to do with this cover. Unfortunate, but true.

Does anyone else have Uptown Issue 37 to look into this further?

P.S. - Still awaiting a reply from the original artist of the original cover artwork. Hopefully he'll answer me sometime.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Brown Mark

joyinrepetition said:

Areyou sure about this? I think it's Bobby Z

OK...now you all got me to dust off my old vinyl copy. I noticed most of these years ago (I noticed the lady mountain immediately...hey I was 15 and in the mists of puberty...my eyes went to anything even remotely looking like a boob).

As for the front cover...
Prince is in white
Lisa is playing violin
Brownmark in cloud suit
Bobby Z in black holding tamborine
John L older man crying.

Those are the ones I know for sure.

The ones I have never been sure about.

Doctor...should be Fink...but that is Prince's face...no doubt about it.
The girl who should be Wendy has Clara Bow's face...no doubt about it.
2 guys in purple next to Prince?? I have no idea who they should be.
I like the theory that the person in the red wig is Sheila...the face definitely looks like her...but whats with the mustache? I never knew who that was supposed to be (I used to think Susannah).

So now if Wendy is really Clara Bow and the Dr is really Prince where are Wendy & Fink?

Also, anyone notice Wendy's or Clara Bow's finger in her fist?? What does THAT supposed to mean...f**king?

Holy shit, Jackeblu...i never noticed that finger in hand gesture by Wendy/Clara. Wow...yeah, that's the old school elementary school hand signal for humping!

Jackeblu said:

The reason that Wendy has the face of Clara Bow is because of the lyrics in Condition of the Heart i.e

"There was a woman from the ghetto
who made funny faces just like Clara Bow
How was I to know that she would wear the same cologne as you
and giggle the same giggle that you do"

This is a reference to Wendy and Susannah who are of course sisters and look very similar. Prince and Wendy had a close relationship and she obviously used to clown around and make faces at him (like Clara Bow). The rest of the lyric refers to Susannah who looks just like her and giggles like her, and she gives him the terminal condition of the heart (love).

I love how this just started out as fun and has turned in people busting out magnifing glasses and searching the net for info.

And I also want to thank yall for the hippin me to the big woman.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Miko was not in the band at that time was he?

The guy with the mask in the green medical suit and white jacket... that's not Dr. Fink. That's Michael in 2010!! ... with grey hair of course!

He's even still going to be holding his nuts with the same old played out dance moves.

Apparently, Prince knows thew this back in 1985. The white jacket implies the funny farm. The green medic suit implies Mike is a patient. We all go grey... and the mask is undeniable! Mike ain't got no nose!

I figured all this shit out first time i bought the album and looked at the cover and noticed the references to the songs and I thought it was brilliant. and still is. it's amazing how we're talking about this 20 years later.

The woman in black wearing the raspberry beret is eating an apple....

TEMPTATION

rosanda said:

Yes, I pointed that out earlier.

Yeah when I bought the vinyl in '85 I got most of this.

That woman is Wendy and Clara Bow at the same time (as someone pointed out above; I dind't get the Clara Bow part though cuz I didn't know what she looked like).

I always thought the woman in red hair is Sheila. She wore that exact outfit during her 84/85 concerts all the time, and her hair sometimes had a reddish tint. The mustache??? that's just weird, or else a subtle (and obnoxious) hint at possible sexual orientation? Sorta like the ambiguous lyrics to Belle of ST. Mark (i.e. Sheila's in love with a man but "Belle" is a feminine word in French".) Or chalk it up to Prince's gender-bending antics of the times.

AsylumUtopia said:

Yup

TweetyV6 said:

Mine still has the sticker.....

1. AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY: balloon boy

original Jules Verne story involved a balloon

2. PAISLEY PARK: the entire scene
Prince rolled out Paisley Park with this release so that also made me feel that this was symbolized by the "Big Picture."

3. CONDITION OF THE HEART: the old man weeping

4. RASPBERRY BERET: the woman wearing the rasperry beret

5. TAMBORINE: woman holding tamborine

6. AMERICA: the little black boy

7. POP LIFE: the man blowing his nose

8. THE LADDER: the doctor is holding a ladder

9. TEMPTATION: the woman disguised as a mountain

The thing I most remember about this cover is that you could almost correlate 1:1 an image on the cover with a song on the album, but further you could also make relationships with much of the lyrical contents of the songs by looking at the picture. This cover wasn't one of my favorites then, but it certainly grew on me with each passing release -- ATWIAD is a literal "giant" compared to NPS for instance.
[Edited 1/16/06 8:51am]

Is that Freddie Mercury ???




This is the dude out of The Cure


My humour is so bad it has a Govt Warning

carlpenn said:

And your signature cracks me up!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

LOL.....Thx for the compliment.....

carlpenn said:

when i saw the sig my first thought was... slow kid.. then i got the joke.

carlpenn said:

Michael Jackson with a 'stache...

The walrus was Paul.

butter4yourmuffin said:[quote]

carlpenn said:

That really does look like Freddie! He`s come to haunt me for becoming a Prince fan!

I'd love to have this whole album as a tat!

So I was just watching my Hits video DVD and on the Raspberry Beret video I noticed that the two cellists(?) and the violinist in the background are wearing purple and white robes like the three figures in the upper right of the album cover. Not an earth-shattering discovery, but I thought it was pretty cool. Anyone else notice that?

jone70 said:

NOw that you mention it I remember.

I don't have the liner notes with me, but Novi Novog used to play cello or violin on Prince-related albums (Sheila's first album). I have no idea who she/he is but maybe that is the picture of the violinist we all said was LIsa.