Honestly, I don´t think that Around the World in a Day and Purple Rain are THAT different.

Sure, the latter is a tad more experimental and introverted, and the ballad on it might be a bit too long and slow for a commercial single release ( but that´s exactly what I love about Condition of the Heart, among many other things) but, other than that, I think the reason why most folks think those two albums are lightyears apart when they are really not has more to do with his single choices, lack of proper promo videos (except for Raspberry Beret) and using strong material as b-sides instead of album songs (She´s Always in my Hair)....and a tour would´ve helped, too, instead of just playing a few ATWIAD songs during the Purple Rain tour and the Parade tour.

I mean musicwise, stylistically, those two albums don´t sound different to me. Linn drum sounds, similar guitar sounds, some strings. Same band.

I always felt like it had more to do with the single choices, lack of a tour and weird sequencing. That being said, ATWIAD is still one of my all time favorite albums by any artist. One of Prince´s finest albums.

Not necessarily the catchiest singalong songs on it, but great songs nevertheless. It´s more of a headphone album than Purple Rain but sonically, they´re from the same batch. Even the "concept", the clothes and attitude are not that far away from the Purple Rain concept and era. They mesh pretty well.

Back in those days when those two albums came out, I didn´t really see them as drastically different. They felt like a double album to me.

Just my opinion.

I think after Purple Rain Prince could have asked for anything and got it.

He could have released ATWIAD & Roadhouse Garden for example

I think WB would have approved it, one with a more different angle a bit more 'non-Purple Rain' and the other more high energy: Dance Electric Roadhouse Garden, Our Destiny, Lust U Always etc

I love ATWIAD and like KoolEaze said, PR & ATWIAD are very much alike

I also don't think ATWIAD is all that Psychedelic some touches and sounds but not Psychedelic

KoolEaze said:

Honestly, I don´t think that Around the World in a Day and Purple Rain are THAT different.

Sure, the latter is a tad more experimental and introverted, and the ballad on it might be a bit too long and slow for a commercial single release ( but that´s exactly what I love about Condition of the Heart, among many other things) but, other than that, I think the reason why most folks think those two albums are lightyears apart when they are really not has more to do with his single choices, lack of proper promo videos (except for Raspberry Beret) and using strong material as b-sides instead of album songs (She´s Always in my Hair)....and a tour would´ve helped, too, instead of just playing a few ATWIAD songs during the Purple Rain tour and the Parade tour.

I mean musicwise, stylistically, those two albums don´t sound different to me. Linn drum sounds, similar guitar sounds, some strings. Same band.

I always felt like it had more to do with the single choices, lack of a tour and weird sequencing. That being said, ATWIAD is still one of my all time favorite albums by any artist. One of Prince´s finest albums.

Not necessarily the catchiest singalong songs on it, but great songs nevertheless. It´s more of a headphone album than Purple Rain but sonically, they´re from the same batch. Even the "concept", the clothes and attitude are not that far away from the Purple Rain concept and era. They mesh pretty well.

Back in those days when those two albums came out, I didn´t really see them as drastically different. They felt like a double album to me.

Just my opinion.

but they are differen't,like a natural slow progression.it's like mpls sound on acid

even Raspberry Berret is drenched in 60' psychodelia.

production is more wall of sound like

I don't think any Prince fan should complain about him wanting to do something different after Purple Rain. I think ATWIAD is a bit of a naive record compared to Parade, SOTT and Lovesexy, but if it lead to those albums then it was definitely the right thing to release after Purple Rain.

As for Purple Rain and ATWIAD being more similar to Purple Rain than usually thought: I agree that there are similarities, but the psychedelia is definitely there. The record doesn't necessarily remind me of the Beatles except for a few tracks - there's a far wider set of references to that era on ATWIAD. What is perhaps the most interesting artistically about ATWIAD is that it fuses psychedelia with LinnDrum beats and synthesized "ethnic" sounds, which to me is a more interesting way to do it than attempting to completely recreate the sound of the late 60s or early 1970s.

[Edited 6/17/12 22:35pm]

Interesting topic.Imagine if Prince had followed up Purple Rain with a kickass album called The Dance Electric....filled with accessible songs like the title track and possibly some of the other outtakes from that period ("ExtraLovable","Electric Intercourse",etc).By 1985,he probably felt that he had moved on from this sound,but the masses would have ate it up.It would have been huge!

ATWIAD had its moments,but it felt kinda anti-climatic.

There is no such word as psychodelic.

i feel that the 2 albums are simular in some ways, but all in all i would have to say they are very different.. yes, they both use linndrums,and some same sounds, but on ATWIAD i feel like it has a Psychedelic feel to it, but idk.. its different. i happen to love ATWIAD, maybe my favorite prince album.. but if you think about it, if P were to release Parade,SOTT,or Lovesexy after PR i still would have been the same.

i agree that there should have been an album in 85 with a more purple rain feel, like many of you are saying Electric intercors,Extralovable,etc.. things like that would have been great on an album.. it would have been a HUGE sucess..

but then again i would have to agree that if they did the singles differently, and toured, ATWIAD would have been much much more sucessful.

Ahhhhh, the Speculative Realm, where anything is possible. I HATE that place.

Speaking of the Opus, did we ever find out how many were sold? I know one guy put some video of him opening his Opus box on YouTube, so at least one was sold.

dawnboy999 said:

Terrific question. There is no doubt in my mind that ATWIAD was a massive mistake and pretty much killed the enormous momentum of the Purple Rain phenomenon which was still in the top 10 when around was released as everyone remembers. If he had released the treasures of that period on a PR folowup up including as another poster mentioned Electric intercourse,Dance electric , she's always in my hair and the terrific stuff he gave to artists like Sheila e and Jill jones the album would have been huge. He then could have solidified his enormous fanbase with an album in my opinion close to PR numbers would have become bigger than Michael Jackson and could have then started to release more experimental profound stuff with the next album or two.Huge screw up.

Amen.

Me personally, I hate it. With the exception of America and Tamborine, I never listen to it, and I think the last time I even listened to those songs was like a year or 2 ago. I don't know how people can say that ATWIAD and PR are the same, or even similar, when they're clearly not. Sure, they both have linn drums, but the overall feel, tone was completey different. ATWIAD is a weird, quirky, totally pschadelic experimental album that sounds like you're taking a trip through India and back in the 60's, and PR is a fucking straight-forward commercial rock album that's full of great guitar solos and classic sing-a-long songs. They're completely different. PR is for everyone, mainstream, larger than life, ATWIAD was for the fans, and easily forgettable, or at least that's my take on it. ATWIAD reminds me a lot of the Beatles, and I absolutely hate the Beatles, so I think that's the big reason I never cared for it at all.

But, to keep to the general point of the thread, as much as I think it was a big mistake to release it right after the huge success of PR, like the poster above me said, I think it was necessary in the overall picture of Prince's career because I don't think he would have been able to make albums like Parade and SOTT without it. I think maybe it made that transition a little easier.

Or maybe Prince wanted to just fuck with everybody because everyone was probably expecting something like Dance Electric anyways, another big, hit-filled, awesome dance-rock album. Cuz that's Prince after all, just doing what he wants to do, like that line in PR.

Saying that PR was for the mainstream, ATWIAD for the fans, it kind of reminds me what KMFDM did back in the 90's. NIHIL was out, Juke Joint was on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack, overall, that was just a fuckin awesome album, cool dance tracks, killer guitar riffs, and then they released XTORT right after that. What the fuck? There's like 2 good songs on that album! lol

Oh, but that opening guitar part in Temptation... epic! edit

[Edited 6/18/12 22:52pm]

one major difference between the two albums is...Purple Rain has so much more energy.It's a loud,powerful album!! By comparison,ATWIAD doesn't rock nearly as hard.

For anyone else ATWIAD would have been a career suicide move, with Raspberry Beret being that hit temporary artists always get on their way out.

Personally I think the album is brilliant, but it wasn't the right marketing, right time or right music for the follow up to Purple Rain.It is another tantamount to Princes staggeringly bad business smarts, in one of the interviews about why it was so different he said he could have released the solo to LGC in another key and people would have loved it, in a sense he is right, but it s still a better career move to work upwards rather than sideways. That said the album is great and he was good enough to bounce back (and RB kept him afloat).

PurpleMusiq8 said:

Me personally, I hate it. With the exception of America and Tamborine, I never listen to it, and I think the last time I even listened to those songs was like a year or 2 ago. I don't know how people can say that ATWIAD and PR are the same, or even similar, when they're clearly not. Sure, they both have linn drums, but the overall feel, tone was completey different. ATWIAD is a weird, quirky, totally pschadelic experimental album that sounds like you're taking a trip through India and back in the 60's, and PR is a fucking straight-forward commercial rock album that's full of great guitar solos and classic sing-a-long songs. They're completely different. PR is for everyone, mainstream, larger than life, ATWIAD was for the fans, and easily forgettable, or at least that's my take on it. ATWIAD reminds me a lot of the Beatles, and I absolutely hate the Beatles, so I think that's the big reason I never cared for it at all.

But, to keep to the general point of the thread, as much as I think it was a big mistake to release it right after the huge success of PR, like the poster above me said, I think it was necessary in the overall picture of Prince's career because I don't think he would have been able to make albums like Parade and SOTT without it. I think maybe it made that transition a little easier.

I think Prince should have eased into different styles...slowly.ATWIAD was such a departure from his earlier work and he alienated alot of people with that record.Parade was an even bigger departure.Experimenting is a good thing but if you do it too soon,you run the risk of losing alof of listeners in the process.I think he abandoned his "classic sound" too soon.That's why copycat bands like Ready For The World were so popular during this era.These guys were giving folks their version of the Minneapolis Sound that Prince had walked away from.I'm saying he should have done maybe two more albums with that sound,and then gradually moved on to the horns,psychedelica and orchestra sounds that we heard on ATWIAD and Parade.If he had done this,he may have held on to the mainstream Purple Rain audience,a little longer.Of course,we all know that Prince didn't care about all that,lol.

The last thing prince should have done is give the people what they wanted. Anytime he's tried that the results have been.... mixed at best.

jaawwnn said:

The last thing prince should have done is give the people what they wanted. Anytime he's tried that the results have been.... mixed at best.

Purple Rain was him building on 1999

Jagar said:

jaawwnn said:

The last thing prince should have done is give the people what they wanted. Anytime he's tried that the results have been.... mixed at best.

Purple Rain was him building on 1999

True but it was also a huge, risky, hollywood film at a time when all people wanted was another album. Also the lead single was a mental song full of mental.

My only problem with ATWIAD is that the second half doesn't really follow through with what is promised on the first half, full of great songs but IMHO not psychedelic ENOUGH.

Anyone who cares what would have sold more shouldn't be allowed listen to music.

thebanishedone said:

If Prince did a more commercial follow up after Purple Rain do you think it would have been better for his career? Reason why i ask this is because Prince started to turn around after sales of his albums thined .Prince began to incorporate sounds of what was trend in music.He become more of a follower instead of fearless trend setter and inovator. If he had a larger fan base maybe he would still be able to do anything he want in music without being affraid.After 35 mill. copies of Purple Rain his next album was how much,4or 5millions? Maybe less. I know where Prince wanted to go as artist,but did he choose the right moment? Or was he high on Purple Rain success so he was naive thinking everything he produces will sell great?

Where did you get this figure from, estimates for worldwide sales of Purple Rain range between 10 and 20 million.

I'm really glad that he did ATWIAD and Parade at the time. They allowed him to skip the really awful production trends of the mid-80s. After Purple Rain he started using many of the same keyboards that dominated the sound at the time (DX7, Fairlight samplers etc.), but he figured out an alternative and a lot cooler way to use them.

Compare ATWIAD and Parade to the bullshit that dominated the charts at the time - or to what his "rivals" like Rick James were doing - and you'll really start to appreciate those two albums.

KoolEaze said:

weird sequencing.

How would you sequence the album?

Do you think Prince went psychodelic with music too early in his opus?

No.

I don't think ATWIAD was nearly as strange as PARADE or TRC.

HELL, I don't even think it's nearly as strange as COME.

But what really made it different to all the kids in school who heard it (I'm talking 6th and 7th graders here), is that it was very SLOW compared to Purple Rain. I mean, he slowed EVERYTHING down a notch. Paisley park has an appropriate walk-in-the-park feel, Condition of the Heart is absolutely down tempo, The Ladder is far more gospelly than Purple Rain, etc. The kids in my school weren't tripping on how strange it was--they were bored by how slow the album felt.

I, on the other hand, LOVED the differences between the four albusm I possessed ( COntroversy, 1999, PR, and ATWAID) at that time, and couldn't get enough of ATWIAD.

Today, I barely listen to it, but I do like it.

Good question and marketing wise yes. I stated before on here that Prince changed his sound too soon. I am not opposed to the creations of ATWIAD and Parade, however, I feel he should release them once the Purple Rain buzz slow down. Hell even SOTT would have been a better follow up to Purple Rain.

Well even though Prince use the Linn machine on ATWIAD, etc, my own thirteen year old ears can tell the difference between Purple Rain and ATWIAD. I never forget when I was 13 years old, and I went to the library to rent ATWIAD cassette tape. I figured since it was released after Purple Rain, so I did expected Purple Rain part two. Once I heard the entire album, I feel very disappointed to the point I nearly destroy the tape. But as I grew older, I came to appreciated the artistry of that album and plus Parade. As a matter of fact, to this day, I prefer Parade over ATWIAD.

I also feel Parade and ATWIAD would last longer on the charts if Prince would release the right, compliment follow up singles to the leading ones. Even I agree with Bobby Z when he said Prince should have release Girls and Boys and Anotherlover first before Mountains.

But Prince felt like he had to do what he had to do by took a creative risk, and since I am a writer myself who likes to experimental in writing fiction stories, I do respect what he did back then. But like another poster said, his drastic change of his sound surely help bands like Ready for the World and even Minneapolis Sound helped Janet Jackson's third album into commerical success.

I think he did the right thing by releasing "A.T.W.I.A.D" as quickly as he did. I think he wanted to challenge his listeners and not sit around and wait for the success of "P.R." to die down. In the 80's the "60's revival" was starting to kick in so he jumped on it before everyone else did.

By mid to late 1985 a lot of R&B artists were still trying to emulate P's 1984 sound/look..By that time he was already working on "Parade". So he did the right thing. All eyes were on him and as

the other orger said he could have released anything at that time.

Although it's not my favorite, I understand why he released it.

imago said:

I don't think ATWIAD was nearly as strange as PARADE or TRC.

HELL, I don't even think it's nearly as strange as COME.

But what really made it different to all the kids in school who heard it (I'm talking 6th and 7th graders here), is that it was very SLOW compared to Purple Rain. I mean, he slowed EVERYTHING down a notch. Paisley park has an appropriate walk-in-the-park feel, Condition of the Heart is absolutely down tempo, The Ladder is far more gospelly than Purple Rain, etc. The kids in my school weren't tripping on how strange it was--they were bored by how slow the album felt.

This is so true! I was in high school when ATWIAD came out.People were shocked when they first heard this album! People were saying "Where is the funk?? I can't dance to this!".ATWIAD is a very laidback album but in 1985,people wanted to MOVE! They wanted beats.

without actually reading any of the psots in here, i really do not know if he did. go too psychodelica too early.

Nah. He was already heading that way during PR...

don't believe the hype. ATWIAD is Purple Rain Mark II, just with fewer tight, satisfying tunes.