ATWIAD is known for a HUGE single (Raspberry Beret) as well as a lesser single (Pop life).

It's loved for great B-sides and extended versions of various tracks.

But, is it really ever appeciated as a whole album?

On the heels of Purple Rain, there was no way it could be as popular, and Prince never really tried to make it so.

A big leap in a different direction, a mesh of different styles made into a cohesive whole.

I may be in the minority in thinking the title track is fantastic. Condition of the Heart is a great ballad.

Tamborine is pure frenetic genius, and America is a stright up killer rock song.

And, that's not even discussing all the songs.

A "hiding in plain sight" gem of an album.

I have history with this album.

It was the first album that I ever bought without hearing first... just strictly on artist reputation.

I felt burned because AWTIAD was just too different and sophisticated for me... hell I was a teen then... that was my allowance money and I felt I BLEW it. I was pissed and stop liking Prince. I didn't buy another anything by him until Musicology.

Now I am an old fan back (hence my name... prodigalfan).

I have collected all the released music and now I can appreciate ATWIAD.

I like the title cut the best... and also love to slow song... Condition of the Heart. The music sounds upbeat and happy. I also like the different instruments used that sounds more mid eastern.

I think it is better than Batdance.

I think Prince was brave to release this directly after Purple Rain, debatably I think it raised his profile as a musician.

It was and is still quite easily one of his best albums. It's diverse, and I would say accessible. I love the 12"'s and B's, but I also recently heard an alternative version of ATWIAD, and it's interesting because it's not greatly different, but just ever so slightly and so it give the song a new slant brill -it's worth seeking out.

There's also a lovely version of The Ladder which was on the end of an 'Omnibus' programme from the BBC which is amazing. (I might have got the programme title wrong). It's from a rehersal for the Lovesexy tour if memory serves.

Talking of America, there's a 10 minute (or more) version live, which may have been the promo video. It's great for so many reasons, but not least because towards the end, Prince plays drums....

I'm sure you know all this already

I loved the fact that he was constantly challenging himself and his audience back then. He still does, but maybe to most, not enough. Rainbow Children was the last album that really made me think 'wow this is different'.
[Edited 9/12/08 22:46pm]

Around the World in a Day


Long before he sang songs about pitting one group against another (oppressed vs. privileged, record companies against artists, etc. etc.), he was an idealistic young man trying to bring us all together regardless of our race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

After having sold 14 million copies or so of Purple Rain, he releases an album that is absolutely nothing like it's predecessor (or anything he'd ever released actually), and did so without a lead single or any publicity. It simply showed up on store shelves.

Although largely viewed as a dud, I fail to see how this is possible having sold 3 million copies without a lead single , it was in artistically important album as well as solidifying his fanbase in Europe--this would become important with the future release of LoveSexy which had dismal sales in the US but did very well in Europe.

I love Around the World in a Day. I think the only song on the album I've never gotten into is Tempation--it simply was overkill for a Beatle-esch album. It was like ending Prince's version of the St. Pepper's Lonely hearts club band with a Nina Hagen song

But it was a brave album to release. So much expectation and hype would have surrounded up a followup to Purple Rain, and instead of pursuing the route MJ did with the release of "Bad", Prince went in a complete opposite direction and tested his audience. ATWIAD is far less assessable than Purple Rain, but a great blueprint for PARADE and SOTT. The Minneapolis 'sound' that he was acredited for having created, and if you recall, was being heavily imitated on the radio stations by various groups, was all but abandoned by Prince. He was moving swiftly in different directions, reinventing himself in ways others could only dream of doing. I can't remember who made the Prince/David Bowie comparison in an interview once, but they said, "Prince re-invents himself--all Bowie does is get a new haircut in comparison". .

I don't care what anyone says. ATWIAD was a great album, and represents a great time in Prince's career artistically. If you were there, you understand what I'm saying by the fact that there was this energy and charisma around his every artistic move--A Prince album release used to be a very big deal.

I never envisioned a day back then , when I would hear a Prince album and say, "It's alright I guess. ". I miss that time in his career.

Imago said:

Great analysis.

So, am I wrong about Raspberry Beret and Pop Life as singles?

Or by "lead single" do you mean a single preceding the release of an album. Maybe these were singles after the album was released?

Imago said:

I agree, there was a massive buzz around a Prince album release, I really don't believe in this hyper-commoditised world that any artist could inspire that amount of anticipation.

It's a bizarre thing that now that he's free of constraint, he seems to release less music?! I'm sure someone will correct me on this. The annual trip to the record shop on the day of release of the new Prince album, is a seemingly distant memory....

coltrane3 said:

you're correct.
There were several singles. Just none preceding the album. None that had "Music from the forthcoming album..." on them... I used to love reading that



Another thing that marks my love affair of that period is that his most brilliant b-sides were being released back then. As well as some of his best bootlegs being leaked to the general public.

Regardless of what ones stance is on boots, they generated a huge buzz around him. I mean, there were sooooo many good boots that it used to stagger people as to why he didn't put them on albums. All the websites that used to feature them were very popular, and Prince used to own the Internet when it came to fanbase and support. The irony, is in his new found freedom, and attempt at controlling his output, he all but quashed this excitement and buzz. The Prince Internet fanbase of the present age is a shadowing, gunshy, reflection of the robust community it used to be before he went into asshole mode.

unkleg said:

Yup. Around the LoveSexy period I came to understand that I could just expect to hear about upcoming Prince albums within months' of the current album's release. It was something I used to giggle about because all my other friends would have to wait at least 2 to 3 years for their favorite artists to release stuff. With Prince, I would only neat to wait a year.

And each album held surprises that I always appreciated and loved. And all the lead singles had b-sides that would always get me excited.

I think it wasn't until the release of "horny pony" as a b-side where Prince kind of slipped up imo.

I like the fact he recorded three keystone songs of the album even before Purple Rain was released.
[Edited 9/13/08 4:39am]

I was let down BIGTIME when I bought the album the day it was released. I actually skipped some classes that day to go get the album. I had just recently got my driver's license, being that I had not too long just turned 16. So I ditched a few classes and drove to the record store. Then I went back to school carrying the album with me, along with my books. Through out the day, I was reading the lyrics inside the gatefold. Now understand, I was a fan's of P's from the get go. And DEFINATELY from his second album. At this stage, I had already seen P in concert SEVEN times! Once on the Controversy tour, twice on the 1999 tour and 4 times on the Purple Rain tour. Which was just a few months before the ATWIAD album came out. So I was MORE than hip to Prince. All that said, when I finally got home and threw this on the turntable....I wasn't digging it. On first listen, the songs that I liked right away was Paisley Park, Pop Life & America, I was on the fence with Temptation & The Ladder. I liked the intro to Temptation but that's only because of the guitar. The rest sounded like a throw away cut. The Ladder was cool but too much like the cut Purple Rain but wasn't nearly as good. The rest,...nah. I listened to the album again... Same thing. I've ALWAYS hated Rasberry Beret. That was like Take Me With U to me. That was the only song I couln't stand on PR. But this album...The B-sides for this album, now that's another story. I LOVED "She's Always In My Hair". THAT song is better than anything on that whole album. Not only should it have been on the album, it should have been the first single. And I LOVED "Hello". Hell, I even dug "Girl". But that's because it was from 82. I didn't know that at the time but still. P should have stopped fucking around and released "The Dance Electric" for himself. THAT shoould have been the name of his follow up album to Purple Rain and not ATWIAD. That song along with "She's Always In My Hair"...NOW we're talking. But he had to do what he did so...

coltrane3 said:

great album..

poplife.. is essential...

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[Edited 2/8/09 9:08am]
[Edited 2/8/09 9:09am]
[Edited 2/8/09 9:09am]

ATWIAD is definetly in the top 3 of my favorites.

Around the World in a day

We all question, “How the story started, and how it will end.”
Everyone suffers from, “Temptation,” looking for, “The Ladder.”
That song has it’s place on the second rung, at the bottom of the climb.
We can go, “Around the World in a Day,” in a plane, as easily as we can come to realize, that humanity is bound together, afflicted by the sins of the world. Sadly, not even the sound of a, “Tambourine,” can alert some people to the mutual swim against the current.
The, “Pop-life,” culture, of, “America,” and throughout the world, still allows freedoms, so easily abused.
Everyone endures, some, “Condition of the Heart.”
Each one of us, as an individual cell in the body of humanity, is both blessed by those that have come to the Cross, and are equally afflicted by those cells that have not yet escaped their own prison.
In order for the Human Soul to heal from these pre-existing conditions, we must choose to exchange an unforgiving hat of ideas, for a kind “Raspberry Beret.” This is the principle meaning of the park.
“Admission is easy, just say you believe,” Prince so sweetly sings…
“Love is the color, this place imparts.” That is so beautiful.
“Paisley Park,” is in your heart.
Tame

I did not get into Pince until "Purple Rain" and became a huge fan after the movie. I could'nt wait for the next album and I have to say I was disapointed that he changed his style on this album. I brought it anyway and fell in love with this album.I do believe this is the most underappreciated album he has. There are so many great tracks on here. I believe anything he did with The Revolution was great!

great album AND underappareciated.

i'm conflicted about this album. I really like it when I'm listening to it. but there are too many tracks that do nothing for me to consider it a favorite or a classic.

The Ladder... is just embarrassing. a very weak, pretentious Purple Rain rehash.

Temptation... standard blues pop, but I can groove hard to this one. then that silliness at the end comes in....

Tamborine. i love it. i hate it. it's fun, but so ridiculous.

America. can't stand the album version, but the extended version kicks my ass.

It's a good album, but not a great album.

It's missing something....

Purple Rain was an emotional barn-burner, and ATWID was more mellow, introspective, political, maybe weirder.

Raspberry Beret & Pop Life - absolute gems. The title track? Love it! "Tamborine"? Funky as hell.

Condition of the Heart, while so lovely, is incredibly melancholy...always hard for me to sit through...maybe a bit dull.

I think the problem with the album is "Temptation", the last track. It kind of goes nowhere...and is hardly the epic album-closer that "Purple Rain" was, so it was kind of a letdown.

Still...a nice album to revisit.