I am a pretty new Prince fan...(9 months.. )
These are the Prince albums i keep going through lately..
I like them all, but I cant QUITE get into them as I can with 'Dirty Mind' or 'Purple Rain'..
And I read 'Sign o the Times' is considered his best work, why is that??
I cant QUITE see it, but I think i have to give it a bit more time...
So yes...
Your thoughts on the albums: Around the World In A Day, Parade and Sign 'o' the Times??

iamchris90yall said:

I think it's because it's a great album. Kind of a display of everything Prince was capable of at the time, like peacock showing his colours. And not just for the sake of it (a la later attempts like a lot of the post-Warners commercial albums). There isn't really a duffer on there, Prince was at some sort of peak in 1986.

iamchris90yall said:

ATWIAD and Parade are attempts at stretching out of the box Prince found himself after the commercial success of Purple Rain. ATWIAD is not always successful, but is a great record. Parade is one of my personal favourites, I think it's pretty much a perfect album, so you won't get much objectivity from me there.

SOTT, again, is a display of everything Prince could do upto that point, using the stuff he'd learned from the ATWIAD/Parade period, but bringing it back down a little - it worked. SOTT isn't one of my favourites either, but there's no denying it's a superlative piece of pop. Has there been a mainstream R&B/pop record as fine since?

NouveauDance said:

I wouldn't even call it mainstream, considering it is very experimential and trippy at times.

What I love the most about this album is that, although the arrangements are very strapped down, it still sounds as if there were thousands of little things happening in the background. Best songs on there: If I Was Your Girlfriend, The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker, Forever In My Life, Slow Love, It, Adore, The Cross


People called ATWIAD less powerful than Purple Rain, but Prince himself said in an interview back then: "I could have opened that album with a guitar solo similar to the one in Let's Go Crazy and people would have considered it as just as powerful. I think they simply don't get the overall message" [Don't quote me on this, but overall he said something like that]
I think it shows that there is way more in Prince than a simple rock-star we saw in Purple Rain. The whole album was recorded with something like a f-you attitude. I love it. Favourites: Pop Life, ATWIAD, Condition Of The Heart, The Ladder, Tamborine


Parade is nearly a perfect record, in my opinion. The songs are perfectly segued into one another, I love the production and it's wonderful to hear a more creative and daring Prince when it comes to songs he would put on an album. Venus De Milo is a fantastic song, although not commercial at all. Under The Cherry Moon is beautiful. Yeah, it's just a wonderful album.
Favourite tracks: Sometimes It Snows In April, Anotherloverholenyohead, Life Can Be So Nice, Mountains, Girl And Boys




Hafe fun!

Around The World In a Day= Loved it

Parade= Loved it

SOTT= Wasnt to impressed with it a few songs were ok, but just wasnt into it.

I thought back then that ATWIAD would be Purple Rain part 2 and to my surprise it was nothing like PR. The album was cool and folded open into a psychodelic fantasy land. It was hard to interpret what each characters purpose was. The different varieties of sounds and instrumentation of songs on this album made me like Prince even more because he proved he was a an awesome musician that can handle many styles of playing. When Parade came out I was in heaven. This was a majorly funky album especially KISS. What a tune. I liked the black and white theme, the artwork was fabulous, the fold open lp album cover was one of a kind and the songs were complete from start to end. Did I mention one of Prince's most beautiful saddest songs Sometimes it Snows in April. And then there came the master of Prince albums Sign O The Times. His first full project of him making music without his band (except Beautiful Night). Totally a Prince solo in the studio prject. On this album his experimentation proved to be a work of perfection. Some songs were simple but interesting. Some songs were groovy and enticing. Another album where all the songs run well from start to finish topping it off with with the masterpiece song Adore. The artwork unique and cool plus it was a double album. What a treat to a young growing up Prince fan like myself.

Guess you had to be there.

jk...


seriously these albums came out just as i was coming of age and had a monumental impact on my life. Like Prince said in an interview, they all go to different places and each have their own vibe.

they are magic

Love ATWIAD and Parade.

I like SOTT, but it's not one of my favorites.

simply put the height of his creative raw-ness
even as he tried to sculpt ATWIAD it still feels full of brand new thoughts
I Love This Era of all his eras this is the best.....easily

"ATWIAD" - Absolutely the best thing he could have done after "Purple Rain" in that he proved to the world he wasn't a one-trick pony, an artist who just did "rock" songs. Took me a long time to warm to the album, but now it is one of my favourites - although I hit the stop button when he starts talking to God at the end of "Temptation".

"Parade" - My favourite Prince album, hands down. When I play it the first ten seconds or so make me think of hot summer days and I can't help but smile, and the grin stays with me until "Under The Cherry Moon". Starts with a stunning sequence of songs and, for me, has no weak moments at all. Also, "Anotherloverholenyohead" is one of my favourite Prince songs, maybe because of the performance during the accompanying tour, as seen in the Cobo Arena show (love his face during the horns - it's as though he's thinking "how cool is this?")

"SOTT" - For me, it is overrated, and maybe 70% excellent. I love the first disk up to and including "Starfish and Coffee" but don't rate it after that, and I stop the second disk after "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" because "The Cross" sounds so thin and flimsy on record, "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" is a dismal send-off to The Revolution, and I can't abide "Adore".

As opposed to "Parade" or "Around The World in a Day", when Sign O' The Times" was released, on first listen me and every i know felt this was special. The music press I think almost universally proclaimed it as one of his greats.
One great album after another,Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade, then SOTT,

As a fan from Dirty Mind, we became accustomed to Prince creating incredible music year after year, always something different and always something better, culminating with SOTT.
Looking back it seems only logical that some of us older fans may feel a little let down with his later works, thinking he or anyone else could keep bettering himself year after year. Music history was unfolding in front of our eyes, year after year.

Yes maybe some of us have been a little too hard on Prince's music post SOTT, at first like being satisfied with a good simple meal, with the food getting served getting better and better each year. Then one being day treated to a fancy dinner wine and desert, ...after that there was no turning back, we are now like what's this? left over meatloaf? i aint eating no meatloaf.
[Edited 3/10/09 14:01pm]

Along with many other Prince fans my age I guess, these three albums remind me of "back in the day." I'm new on the org, but a fan of 25 years, and these albums (along with PR,1999,Lovesexy) represent the peak time of my own relationship/infatuation with Prince's music.

Concentrating on the three albums you've named, they are three of my 5 top Prince albums, and I find it hard to seperate them from the time they were released, my age then (16-19) and the thirst for music I had. ATWIAD was remarkable on first listen. It reminded me of SGT. Pepper's done 1985 style, I loved everything about it.This was the era of Wham! and Duran Duran...my friends heard ATWIAD and said WTF is this crap. I felt part of an exclusive group who "got it." Still love it today.

On balance, i'd say over the last 23 years Parade has probably been my number one Prince album. How would I feel as a new fan hearing it for the first time now? Truth is, i've no idea. What I do know is that at the time I consumed this album as though it was the only record in my collection.I was 16 going on 17 and I thought music just didn't get any better than Parade. I still wonder that now.

SOTT. Again, pure classic for me, though of the three, personally, it feels the most dated. I agree so much with Ugot2shakesumthin on this thread, we were there witnessing music history unfolding. Into the 90's and beyond, I still bought all the new albums, and have continued to do so until this day, but I feel now, pushing 40, with different views, a different life and priorities, and without the benefit of instant nostalgia, it's getting increasingly hard to get as enthusiastic about new Prince music. That isn't a criticism of him or his output, it's more a recognition of how looking back, remembering being in my teens and remembering the world thru those rose coloured glasses, that these will be the albums, this will be the era, that will always be the most treasured for me regards Prince and his music....how then can what he does today, compete with that?

Parade and ATWIAD were almost concept albums. Each song on both albums chosen to fit the particular style Prince was after. I prefer Parade for its quirkiness and originality.
SOTT is Prince showing off for the first time. It's a collection of songs showing his range, his ability, his genius.
This desire to prove his versatility keeps cropping up, as with Ds & P, Symbol, Emancipation etc, but the records I go back to, are the ones where the songs are chosen to fit the concept. Parade doesn't have the best songs he has written (with a couple of honourable exceptions), but every song belongs on that album. It's a great peice of work.

brilliant... all of them

Parade is probably my favorite Prince collection... it is a trippy mess... just brilliant in its artistry of painting a picture far better than the movie ever could

ATWIAD same deal just different vibe... the bottom in these beatlesque pop songs just drove me crazy. Dude had some serious balls for follow-up commericial masterpeirces like 1999 and PR with ATWIAD

When I 1st bought Sign.... I played it over and over and over and over and over. It sounds a bit dated now but at the time it truly took my breath away.

1999 through Lovesexy period was truly an incredible time for Prince.... just the sheer volume of quality work that spanned so many different types of music was incredible to me. I remember listening to the 1st 4 songs on Sign and thinking... dude is incredible
[Edited 3/10/09 14:35pm]

Congruent said:

Great post.
I agree with everything you said.

To me Parade has always been my personal treasure. I love everything about it, the music, the album single artwork, everything about it.
Parade is my luxurious Prince album.

My thoughts are that I adore them all.

I can tell that these are Prince fans
everyone who posted was dead on it

Someone said "You had 2 B there..."
and there is a touch of truth

When U get a change (if U haven't already) check out the discussion on "Do U miss the 12" singles... something like that)
The movie and the realness 2 it(just about everyone in the movie was a real person in Princes life) MTV and the radio was not flooded with clone music yet that we see in the late 90's- to the present
Musicians and singers were very unique and talented
And Prince created a world and invited us thru Purple Rain
We were still on a Purple Rain high
and then out pops ATWIAD

This is actually one of my favorites, buying the album(not cd or MP3) going 2 the record store and purchasing this piece of art (literally) the colors the painting, the lyrics and fonts, credits
We got to 'know' Prince Wendy Lisa Bobby Fink & Brown... Jill Sheila Morris
and when this album came out, (I think he should have come out with this one and a more hardcore album) something like he is doing now.

Look at Around the World In A Day as what Prince described back then as a Love Letter 2 his fans & friends, it's a more intimate journey
Condition of the Heart really melts me, put on some head phones and take in all the sounds. It was a more collaborative work than Purple Rain even
And dont' 4get to pull in the B-sides



Parade was a 'movie soundtrack' album like Purple Rain
another album with a more intimate feel to it
and the whole Parade vide was really appealing
my favorites are I Wonder U, Mountains, Sometimes It Snows In April



Purple Rain (Roadhouse Garden) ATWIAD Parade (Dream Factory)
these were the defined Prince & the Revolution years
the creativity was really high
I'll even say 1999 is include as the noituloveR years
Sign of the Times as an album like someone else said was a collage of Princes music from For U - Dream Factory
it's a different album because most of the songs were supposed to be Dream Factory by Prince & the Revolution
Then it was supposed 2 B the Crystal Ball
It's a bittersweet album because I was still in shock at the breakup of the Revolution, when I started hearing Sign o the Times played on the radio

I think U need 2 get a feel 4 the history and then you'll hear the albums differently, even view pictures from those album eras while listening to the music. Purchase a good book about Prince and read those musical times: Possessed is a good one

imo, parade was great. the whole album was like an ode to my funk roots. the mysticism he created with the artwork and the movie was very fellini-esque. but above all that, the b-sides and extended 12inch versions are awesome.

southmpls said:

I heart your avatar

PEJ said:

They are part of one of the most amazing run of consecutive releases by any artist ever - just astounding.....and the speed with which they arrived.....breathtaking (especially if, like me, you were around at the time!)

But SOTT was the zenith of that run - the culmination of all that went before but even more uniquely woven together by Prince. Never before had Prince so openly allowed us in to see the true depths and breadth of his talent and his fecund imagination. SOTT isn't as instant and immediate as the other 2 (like many of the great albums, they take time), but it is certainly worth the wait and exploration

Oops - sorry, PEJ....didn't mean to quote you there! lol

Mindflux said:

Agree with mindflux^
I always say golden era 1982-1988.
Which encompasses:
1999, PR, ATWIAD, Parade, SOTT, Black Album, Lovesexy
That's just 6 years time! Unheard of by today's standards.
My faves being ATWIAD, Parade, SOTT.
Every album in golden era was a leap forward from it's predecessor. Leaps not steps. There is great stuff before and after said period but nothing to the heights of this era.

^
When I say there was great stuff before and after "golden era" I meant albums as a whole work. Not selected tracks.
My faves are the albums in thread title. There ya go.

ATWIAD - I didn't like this one at first. I was expecting Purple Rain part II. I remember going up to the wrecka sto after school and the owner played the promo copy for my buddy and I. The only song I liked on first listen was "Pop Life." The rest eventually grew on me and now I think it's one of his best.

Parade - I liked "Kiss" when I first heard it. I was glad to hear him singing primarily in his falsetto again on that and "Mountains" and a little bit on "Do U lie?" The only song he actually sang that way on ATWIAD was "Condition of the Heart", if I'm not mistaken. I warmed up to Parade pretty quick and loved the extended versions of AnotherLover..and Kiss.

Sign of the Times - Wow, what can I say? To call this one less than a masterpiece would be an injustice. This is one of about a handful of albums that I can listen to straight through without skipping any songs. I immediately loved this one. It was so fresh and unique but still classic Prince. I like how almost every song on the album has the word "time" in the lyrics (closing time, ugly lights, I think about it baby all the time,..dance every dance like it's going to be the last time..sometimes I trip on how happy..until the end of time..and so on). Simply brilliant!...
[Edited 3/12/09 10:28am]

Around the World In A Day very much a so so Album for me ...it says Prince

Parade ...very cool ...the cover and the sound matched ....it said Classic...and it was

Sign 'o' the Times .... Now i can never forget when i heard this the first time it was like ....a bomb had gone off ... and people ducked for cover ...what the hell is this...is Prince Rapping .... on TV in the UK ad's about AIDS had just come out ... Rap music was moving into "Gangster" ...alot of social change was in that record...and the video ...people just did not expect this from Prince....that's why it's his best work...it had shock value ...not just sexy lyrics....it's a mixed old with the new...there's alot of Prince in that record..

atwiad is very dear 2 me cause it's the album that taught me 2 let a artist grow in whatever way they please without holding them 2 some level of xpecation from previous pieces of art and in this case PR. yes i was disappointed at 1st, but it truly showed that prince's music falls in2 2 categories, u either get it at 1st listen or the music grows on u and u fall in love with it. temptation took me 2 full years 2 finally get in2 it.

parade-loved it however i was amazed at how quickly it was all over with. that being said, venus de milo is the most touching piece of music i had heard from him up 2 that point with no lyrics at all. just him and a piano ..simply stunning..mountains always got me out of bad moods with it's uplifting motifs..anotherloverholenyohead was straight up FUNK!!

sign o the times ..the masterpiece!! at a time when there was concern on whether he could do things without the revolution and he delivered in spades. over time it still sounds fresh sans slow love which has lost it's flavor 2 me. everything else is pure cream and after the movie, i never looked back 2 the days of the revolution again. he just came up in spades

To be honest, at first, I was kind of let down by Around the World in a Day, probably cos I had such high expectations after listening to Purple Rain alot of times. But then I learnt to love it, but I'm still not a big fan of "Condition of the Heart" and "Temptation" yet.

Besides that, Parade and Sign o' the Times were very well done overall. No-one can deny that.

Ss112 said:

but some do

PEJ said:

Exactly. Several of the songs on Parade sound unfinished. It´s the production that saves the album. That makes it a good listen.

iamchris90yall said:

sIGN OF THE tIMES IS THE BEST OF tHE 3 TO ME BECAUSE i LIKE EVERY SINGLE SONG ON THE aLBUM/cD(esPECIALLY AdorE). NeXt i LOVE MOST OF THE SONGS ON THE PARADE ALBUM...THOSE ARE SOME CATCHY TUNES AND I LOVE TO DANCE TO SOME OF THE SONGS FROM THAT CD.Plus there is a movie go along with it. i LIKE PaRADE THE LEAST BUT THERE ARE A COUPLE OF SONGS THAT i LIKE.