That man has some beautiful handwriting.

This is one of my fav albums though Love "Condition of the Heart"

missfee said:

growing up listening 2 my parents taste in music must have matured me to easily LOVE Condition of the Heart always liked songs with a meloncholy feel

2 me this music always felt like a tamer Purple Rain
the opening seriously reminds me of some of the synth string pieces out of the Purple Rain tour/rehearsal especially during God the Dance Electric
This song feels like Green Yellow & Purple

Condition of the Heart is actually my favorite and has always been. I think I can understand how people take time to warm to it or don't like it. But it's not that it's not an incredible song. If someone is looking 4 Prince to do another Do Me Baby or looking for a 'slow jam' then they aren't being fair and giving it a chance. This song is Prince. He's giving u a piano solo like you haven't heard before spiced with finger cymbals, chords, bass drumming all sounding like he's in a large echoing room. Once the vocals come in it moves pretty quickly. A song about lost love, the melodies are very meloncholy. Just a beautiful piece.
[Edited 4/10/10 20:24pm]

Prince unveils new studio album
'Around the World in a Day' should be out in April

BY MICHAEL GOLDBERG

PRINCE'S SEVENTH ALBUM, Around the World in a Day, should be in record stores before the end of April. The LP, which was recorded both at Price's home studio in Minneapolis and at Hollywood studios, contains nine tracks that, according to the LP's credits, were "produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince and the Revolution."

Prince unveiled the record on Thursday, February 21st. Warner Bros. Records executives received a phone call late in the afternoon that day informing them that the label's biggest star would be arriving at their Burbank headquarters in forty-five minutes. Interoffice phones buzzed with the news, and a huge crowd of Warners staffers hurriedly assembled in the front lobby.

At about five p.m., a shiny purple limousine pulled up outside the record company's building. Prince stepped out of the car, along with his father, John L. Nelson; his bodyguards; his managers; and Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin. Dressed in a long, purple antique kimono and striped, pajama-type pants, Prince clutched a single pink rose as he entered the building. Obviously pleased and looking quite confident, Prince smiled as the crowd greeted him with tumultuous applause. "I've seen Fleetwood Mac and David Lee Roth and Shaun Cassidy and everyone walk into this building," said one Warner Bros. employee, "but nothing like this."

Prince's entourage trooped past more fans crowded along the stairways and corridors, up to a fourth-floor conference room that had been hastily decorated with hundreds of purple helium balloons and white streamers. About 150 Warners staffers and executives -- including president Lenny Waronker and board chairman Mo Ostin -- were crammed into the room. Except for a few words with Ostin, Prince was silent. He sat on the floor with Wendy and his father, stared at the ground and held on to the rose as tapes of the album played at full volume.

Side one of the album includes the LP's title track, which was written by Prince, his father and David Coleman, who is the brother of Revolution keyboardist Lisa Coleman. The songs uses such unusual as an oud, finger cymbals and a darbuka to create a Middle Eastern feel. "Paisley Park," named after Prince's home studio, is a buoyant rocker reminiscent of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever." The ballad "Condition of the Heart" is a solo performance by Prince that features a Keith Jarrett-style piano intro and a falsetto vocal, while "Raspberry Beret" is another track that recalls the Beatles' psychedelic period ("She wore a Raspberry beret/The kind u find in a secondhand store/And if it was warm, she wouldn't wear much more"). The final cut on side one is "Tambourine," a heavily rhythmic track with a Bo Diddley beat. It's sung and played by Prince alone.

Side two contains "America," which plays off "America the Beautiful" and has an American Indian feel ("America, America, God shed his grace on thee/America, America, keep the children free"). "Pop Life," another Beatles-influenced number, includes drumming by Sheila E. and a string interlude "composed and conducted by Lisa and Wendy" ("What u putting in your nose/Is that where all your money goes?") "The Ladder" is a gospel-flavored song written by Prince and his father. It features a female chorus that includes Lisa, Wendy and Wendy's sister Susannah Melvoin. The album's epic is "Temptation," an eight-minute-and-twenty-one-second song that Prince has been performing in concert. It begins with Hendrix-style guitar and ends with a weird rap that sounds like a dialogue between Prince and God. Prince says, "I'm talkin' about the kind of temptation that'll make you do things. I'm talkin' about sexual temptation." An electronically altered low voice says, "You have to want it for the right reasons." And Prince responds, "I'm sorry. I'll be good. This time I promise. Love is more important than sex. I understand. I have to go now."

The album's first single, "Paisley Park" (back with a nonalbum song called "She's Always in My Hair"), was to have been released on February 27th, the day after Prince won three Grammys. A few days before the awards ceremony, however, Prince abruptly changed his mind, deciding not to release the single. One source at Warner Bros. said Prince didn't want the song to compete with "We Are the World," the USA for Africa record, which he declined to participate in.

Until late last month, details about the album were closely guarded secrets. At Warner Bros., only a handful of top executives knew about it. Still, rumors began circulating in music-business circles, and at least one advance tape got into the hands of a rival record-company executive.

In the Warner Bros. conference room, every song was greeted with applause, and before the last cut ended, Prince vanished. Said a Warners source, "Everyone sort of stood up and applauded after the record was over, and then he wasn't there anymore."

ROLLING STONE, APRIL 11, 1985

OldFriends4Sale said:

I remember holding this and reading it when it came out. Junior year was awesome in school. Our paper did a review on it, and even printed the ATWIAD symbol from the front of the album. Even back then, 16 and 17 year old kids were noting a Beatles, and psychedelic influence in the music in their written review.

Boriqua1130 said:

"sinner man, now die"

cosmicday2010 said:

Thanks. @)--}-----

Have you noticed that with the cover art, the mountains in the background are actually the outline of a woman lying down? Apologies if you have already and have already mentioned it.


Andy

ATWIAD...

I am not just skipping 1 single track on this wonderful trip of an album. I love all of those songs.

ernestsewell said:

I can still remember the time of day I bought this album.
I just came out and I asked my dad if he could run me by the mall
since we were out that way, it was dark out, I ran in the mall to Record Theater
went 2 the Prince section and saw this piece of art. bought it, went outside and got in the car and just feel in love with it.
My younger brother was into Prince too, so he was digging it too, the images all of the outside of the album and I don't think I opened it till I got home and to my surprise the colors and the writing the credits ... I was in heaven

I loved it from beginning 2 end. I was a bit shocked at the drastic change in sound but I was happy,
One reason I was pulled into it was because of the layers of sounds and echos
2 this day it depends on how I'm listening:headphones, car, stereo/cd player I hear other sounds

andyf said:

yes, always loved the layers of this album, it took me a few painting reviews to notice the nipple

motherfunka said:

I thought that too. I had originally only bought the album, and called the record store complaining that it skipped. They set me straight. [/quote]
took about 20 years for me to fully appreciate this song
[Edited 4/7/10 7:00am]

Taja Sevelle



Real Name:Nancy Richardson
Profile:American soul singer born on January 7, 1962

http://www.tajasevelle.com/



Taja was in the Prince camp as early as 1984. Prince fans may have seen a picture of Dr Fink backstage on his hands and knees cat like with Taj in black lace holding a leash. Her first credited song was on Prince & the Revolution 1985 album Around the World in a Day:the Ladder as Taj

April 1985 @ S.I..R Studio
Video shoot 4 Raspberry Beret









A few hours later, Prince is kneeling in front of the VCR, showing his "Raspberry Beret" video. He explains why he started the clip with a prolonged clearing of the throat. "I just did it to be sick, to do something no one else would do." He pauses and contemplates. "I turned on MTV to see the premiere of 'Raspberry Beret' and Mark Goodman was talking to the guy who discovered the backward message on 'Darling Nikki.' They were trying to figure out what the cough meant too, and it was sort of funny." He pauses again. "But I'm not getting down on him for trying. I like that. I've always had little hidden messages, and I always will."
ROLLING STONE, APRIL 26TH, 1985








[Edited 4/7/10 7:51am]

Fantastic thread.
Ive seen the Original Artwork before and I prefer the one he went with.
But can someone explain why there is a guy wrestling a tiger?
I can't for the life of me figure out what that is refering to.

muirdo said:

He's petting the tiger, not wrestling with it. It's just supposed to be about harmony. Prince kind of equates Paisley Park with utopia, where the lions lie down next to the lambs.

He is indeed hugging. This is what Prince had instructed the painter(s).



Thomas

OldFriends4Sale said:

They both have a black naked child w/ a flag, the old woman, the old man, the see saw, the clown juggling, the latter, waves/ocean, doves, and a plane.

I would have went with either. I like the original though. I always wanted to take the official version and use one of those blow up projectors, trace it onto a wall, and repaint it as a mural. I think it'd just be stunning and quite the conversation piece.

I don't think you can consider one of the paintings to be "the original". I believe the two artists were commissioned to do a painting at about the same time.

Thomas

A brilliant bloody album- Condition of The Heart made me bawl my 12 year old eyes out the first time I heard it!
<3
LP

Huppeldepup said:

Not true. The original artist (I forget his name), was commissioned. Prince even came to take a peek at it when the artist was nearing completion. Prince looked at the work thus far, and said he loved it. He never really heard from Prince again. Prince later went with the artwork we know now.

I'm not exactly sure when Jim Warren, the artist of the unused painting, was commissioned. But half way through his painting he flew to Cincinnati (for Prince to see it). So that must have been on or around 21-23 January 1985, when Prince was in town for concerts.
Doug Henders, the artist whose painting was used on the Around The World In A Day album, said he was asked to create a painting shortly before Christmas 1984 (this according to David J. Magdziarz in Uptown #37).

So I assume that they were both asked at the same time.

Thomas
[Edited 4/7/10 12:10pm]
[Edited 4/7/10 12:11pm]

Huppeldepup said:

ur not going 2 share the whole sheet?

In a while. Not right now. Sorry.

Thomas

ernestsewell said:

I see it now.
It kind of looks like he's got it in a headlock though.

Paisley Park is a tremendous song although when it was released in the UK nobody seemed to get it.

There is a park that is known
4 the face it attracts
colorful people whose hair
On 1 side is swept back
The smile on their faces
It speaks of profound inner peace
Ask where they're going
They'll tell U nowhere
They've taken a lifetime lease
On Paisley Park

chorus:
The girl on the seesaw is laughing
4 love is the color
This place imparts (Paisley Park)
Admission is easy, just say U
Believe and come 2 this
Place in your heart
Paisley Park is in your heart

There is a woman who sits
All alone by the pier
Her husband was naughty
And caused his wife so many tears
He died without knowing forgiveness
And now she is sad, so sad
Maybe she'll come 2 the park
And forgive him
And life won't be so bad
In Paisley Park

chorus

See the man cry as the city
Condemns where he lives
Memories die but taxes
He'll still have 2 give
(who) Whoever said that elephants
were stronger than mules?
Come 2 the park
And play with us
There aren't any rules
In Paisley Park

simply brilliant.

ernestsewell said:

There is no song that we know of that references that tiger do we? maybe some vaulted boote


[Edited 4/7/10 15:48pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

I'm not saying there was a song that references a tiger. I'm saying that in the song, Paisley Park is a place in your heart, where there's peace. The guy w/ the tiger is a reflection of that. There's not a reference to a clown juggling either, or waves, or a black child being naked, or doves, or a mountain the shape of a reclining woman, etc. It's an idea, over all.

ernestsewell said:

Ernest I know what your saying, I'm not disputing that, I'm just asking generally is there a song that we know of...

I have searched for a possible 'tiger song' before, but all I found was 1992's I'll Do Anything. And that surely isn't it.

Oh yes, and there is song called Polka-Dot Tiger. According to The Vault that was recorded in 1985. But that is an instrumental.

Thomas
[Edited 4/7/10 15:51pm]