This albums 'mystery' still unfolds

“Prince gave me a laundry list,” says Henders. “Old woman crying; a clown juggling the earth; a ladder going to heaven. So I could do it two ways: a collage or a surrealistic landscape, and [the latter] is what I chose, kind of a la Sgt. Pepper’s. I did that on the road, while I was on the Purple Rain tour. I would go early to the arena, arrange the stage, because a lot of the artwork was on the stage, set up my camera, shoot the show and the videos would go to him right after the show. Then he would have parties in his hotel suite in whatever city, and some people were prisoners and some people were guests. I ended up going back to my hotel room and painting all night long. After two weeks I got pretty burned out and I hired someone to take my place shooting video. I rented a hotel in Los Angeles and finished the painting. I made Prince’s management buy it an airline seat because we couldn’t trust them to put it below.”

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and the man holding the ladder is a combination of Dr Fink and Earl Jones(Prince's hair dresser/Jill Jones uncle) he is also posing for the old man

Uncle Earl, Polaroid Study, Around the World in a Day.

a poloroid of Wendy and Big Chick too taken

Never a doubt what your favorite album is.

Cool tidbit Thanks

"Then he would have parties in his hotel suite in whatever city, and some people were prisoners and some people were guests. "

TrivialPursuit said:

Never a doubt what your favorite album is.

LOL NeVeR lol

here is a polaroid of Wendy taken

I still want more from the ATWIAD album preview party

Great album, unique... But there's something missing from it, it feels incomplete... It just doesn't stand up with his other classics like 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, SOTT, Lovesexy... Something is missing...

feeluupp said:

Great album, unique... But there's something missing from it, it feels incomplete... It just doesn't stand up with his other classics like 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, SOTT, Lovesexy... Something is missing...

The Dance Electric

Go

I think the first side flows beautifully w/Pop Life & America

the Ladder, Temptation are the shaky two for me

I would take a shorter version of Tempation(a full band effect would have taken that song to another level) but The Dance Electric closing it out would have been perfect

OldFriends4Sale said:

feeluupp said:

Great album, unique... But there's something missing from it, it feels incomplete... It just doesn't stand up with his other classics like 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, SOTT, Lovesexy... Something is missing...

The Dance Electric

Wouldn't fit with the "sound" of the album, that album had a theme...

But yea The Dance Electric, She's Always In My Hair, Girl... all those songs were stronger than most of the songs on the AWTIAD album anyway...

feeluupp said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

The Dance Electric

Wouldn't fit with the "sound" of the album, that album had a theme...

But yea The Dance Electric, She's Always In My Hair, Girl... all those songs were stronger than most of the songs on the AWTIAD album anyway...

Go would have,

but I know the vibe of the album was not directly about 'relationships' like on previous or prior albums. Which is why She's Always In My Hair and Girl were not added.

fit America right before Dance Electric, would be a hot flow, they might have spiced the song up a bit with sounds that go with the vibe, like they did on other songs. What others am I missing.

But as is, the Ladder with a little more punch, electric guitars and solos, Temptation with a full band would have made that one more digestive, I love listening to the Nice France rehearsal.

Honestly, I had fell of a bit on Prince when I heard a podcast about this album. 6 notes.

1. Which other artist would have released this kind of crazy album less than a year after his/her biggest commercial succes?

2. Does Poplife have the funkiest bassline of the 80's?!

3. Which other artist releases a 20 min extended song a takes it the stratophere, with America?

4. Which other artist have a equal or better B-side than the commercial release? SAIMH

5. Which other artist have "Go" shelved in their vault?

6. Why is there a debate on the single handedly most talented artist ever recorded?

[Edited 12/5/18 15:18pm]

I guess it's the difference between being a Prince fan before Purple Rain and being a fan after Purple Rain. I loved ATWIAD then because I wasn't expecting PR 2.0, I knew there would be something different, love it now one of my go to albums. But I'll roll with it could use one more song.

only thing missing ..is a full sound..needs remastering

I admit that i went to the store like 7 times before actually buying it, in 85. Coming of PR you dont expect this album.
I didnt age very well, this album. But surely i love most songs on it.
As said, The Ladder and Temptation is what keeps the album on a lower level compared to those around. Surely he had two better songs that'd fit the sound.
Who knows it'd be even his best album with 2 other songs on it.

luvsexy4all said:

only thing missing ..is a full sound..needs remastering

Or just buy a decent setup and listen to the original vinyl.

The CD sounds crap the original 1985 vinyl sounds great.

I think side two was weak(although I would keep Pop Life and Temptation). Side one is impeccable and some of Prince's best stuff.

slida23 said:

I think side two was weak(although I would keep Pop Life and Temptation). Side one is impeccable and some of Prince's best stuff.

I LOVE the title track. This album feels like a different side of Purple Rain. Those two album are definately related. I said the same side 1 was strong. Side two the last two songs dragged it. America and Pop Life are a strong continuation of the first side.

Now the LADDER, when it was played/heard in concerts always took on a more 'special' feel. I think it being a full band recording gave it a life Temptation lacked.

I don't think it's missing anything other than possibly another pop or chart single. As a musician, this is one of those albums that other musicians should really get into because the instrumentation and arrangements on it really are special and well thought out.

The only criticism I would give it (and it's not a big one) is that it just traverses a lot of stylistic ground whereas 1999 did not with its synthesizer thing and although Purple Rain did also dip into a lot of styles, it introduced the "crowd pleasers" into Prince's repertoire. ATWIAD pushed all of that aside.

I love the album.

At the tender age of 14, I thought the follow up sound would be closer to PR. ATWIAD threw me. There was some great stuff on it, but no "Let's Go Crazy 2". I DO love the album, though. Recently bought on ebay the fold-out longbox with the innersleeve artwork/lyrics with the CD tucked in the cut-out and also bought a discounted copy from Best Buy to keep an official release in my car. Dying to get hold of one of the ATWIAD Japanese SHM mini lps. Of course, back in '85 I bought the vinyl and the cassette, both of which I still have in pristine condition.

Funny - back then, I did not know he had any albums prior to 1999. When I found out, I remember hearing Do Me Baby play at the skating rink for slow skate. Then, when I heard Uptown, it was weird, but it sounded vaguely familiar. Little did I know...

My stepbrother came home one day, describing having seen the video for Raspberry Beret. He's like - man, he does his name totally different than on Purple Rain (talking about the font / logo) and his hair is short. And I remember being floored to find out that P played / recorded Tamborine all by himself (again - little did I know)

sulls said:

My stepbrother came home one day, describing having seen the video for Raspberry Beret. He's like - man, he does his name totally different than on Purple Rain (talking about the font / logo) and his hair is short. And I remember being floored to find out that P played / recorded Tamborine all by himself (again - little did I know)

Tamborine is one of his 'masturbatory' songs. Tick Tick Bang(81) and Darling Nikki also Junk Music you hear his signature in the pocket but all over the place drumming. Those wild finger cymbol pops on Tamborine

OldFriends4Sale said:

sulls said:

My stepbrother came home one day, describing having seen the video for Raspberry Beret. He's like - man, he does his name totally different than on Purple Rain (talking about the font / logo) and his hair is short. And I remember being floored to find out that P played / recorded Tamborine all by himself (again - little did I know)

Tamborine is one of his 'masturbatory' songs. Tick Tick Bang(81) and Darling Nikki also Junk Music you hear his signature in the pocket but all over the place drumming. Those wild finger cymbol pops on Tamborine

Tamborine is GREAT! Only wish he'd done it live. I know of only one boot where he started to play it, then changed the song.

sulls said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Tamborine is one of his 'masturbatory' songs. Tick Tick Bang(81) and Darling Nikki also Junk Music you hear his signature in the pocket but all over the place drumming. Those wild finger cymbol pops on Tamborine

Tamborine is GREAT! Only wish he'd done it live. I know of only one boot where he started to play it, then changed the song.

and the continued rumor that there is a longer version... which is highly possible

OldFriends4Sale said:

sulls said:

Tamborine is GREAT! Only wish he'd done it live. I know of only one boot where he started to play it, then changed the song.

and the continued rumor that there is a longer version... which is highly possible

Whoa! Could it get any better???

My favorite Prince album... I never felt the need to add anything to it. If anything, Paisley Park and Raspberry Beret feel a bit out of place on it. (maybe that's why they were the first single in different parts of the world?)

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Either way, it's the album with the best b-sides, it's got some incredible extended versions (the 12" versions got even better for Parade) and the artwork is probably the least self-indulgent of any Prince album.

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I keep coming back to it and find little jokes and hidden things in the album. Like the speed of America being exactly right for a 33 1/3 rpm of the album. If the needle skips, the groove does not. (is that why the 12" is so long, to force it to 33 1/3 instead of the usual 45?) Or paisley park melody being symmetrical, almost the same played backward or forward. Or "paisley park" being "love is here" with proper backmasking. Just play the opening of the 12" version backwards, it is unmistakeable. It might also be why he used Paisley Park for everything, as love was there.

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Like I said, my favorite album, there's always more to it.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Poplife88 said:

One of my faves. But agree it’s missing something. I like The Ladder, but I’ve never been a fan of Temptation. Ever since the days of recording vinyl on cassette, it was replaced by She’s Always in my Hair. THAT’s Around The World in a Day for me and it always will be.

Replace "Tamborine" with the excellent "She's Always In My Hair" and replace "Temptation" with a stronger song and I would like the album alot more