I frequently revisit Prince's albums from the 1980s with one exception: ATWIAD. I'm not sure why.

I like the album and have nothing negative to say about it. In fact, it's got one of my all time favorite songs, Condition of the Heart. I love the experimentation of the title track. Pop Life has genuis arrangement and production in my estimation. Raspberry Beret is a classic pop track. Paisley Park, The Ladder, Tamborine are all fine songs. Hell, I don't even mind God's cameo at the end of Temptation.

Yet I never have an urge to listen to it. It's probably been 10 years since I had a craving to fire it up and listen to it straight through. I've tried a bit of self-reflection, but haven't been able to put my finger on the issue.

[Edited 3/11/23 15:31pm]

condition of the heart is a masterpiece but America is my favorite song from this album.

I love ATWIAD, and yet I also almost never listen to it from begining to end.

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I adore the album cover... it's brilliant in both concept and color.

.

And when it comes to music, it's chock full of classic 80s Prince songwriting. "Around The World In A Day" is a fun slice of pop sike. "Pop Life" is Prince's "lost Top 10 hit" that everyone seems to forget, but I find myself enjoying more and more as it ages. "America" kicks ass. And of course, there's the pop perfection of "Raspberry Beret" (and the accompanying video, despite the piss-poor video compositing). But I usually just go for these songs in my "best of Prince" playlists, as opposed to listening from beginning to end.

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If I'm honest with myself, I guess I don't go for the entire ATWIAD experience all at once because the second half of the album starts to drag for me. I like "The Ladder" in theory, but if push comes to shove, I'd rather listen to "Purple Rain". "Temptation" is an interesting track, but it's just too much song, if you get my drift. And I know this will tick off several Org-ers, but "Tambourine" just doesn't grab me. So once "America" is over, to me, ATWIAD is over, more or less.

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One more confession: I just don't like "Condition Of The Heart", either. It's got some great vocal theatrics, and musically the band is on point, but it's like how "The Ladder" is a poor man's "Purple Rain"... "Condition" can't hold a candle to "The Beautiful Ones".

.

To me, all of that makes ATWIAD more of a great EP than a great album.

I've played this one quite a bit lately. Loved listening to it while riding my bike to the beach in the '80s.

GiggityGoo said:

I love ATWIAD, and yet I also almost never listen to it from begining to end.

.

I adore the album cover... it's brilliant in both concept and color.

.

And when it comes to music, it's chock full of classic 80s Prince songwriting. "Around The World In A Day" is a fun slice of pop sike. "Pop Life" is Prince's "lost Top 10 hit" that everyone seems to forget, but I find myself enjoying more and more as it ages. "America" kicks ass. And of course, there's the pop perfection of "Raspberry Beret" (and the accompanying video, despite the piss-poor video compositing). But I usually just go for these songs in my "best of Prince" playlists, as opposed to listening from beginning to end.

.

If I'm honest with myself, I guess I don't go for the entire ATWIAD experience all at once because the second half of the album starts to drag for me. I like "The Ladder" in theory, but if push comes to shove, I'd rather listen to "Purple Rain". "Temptation" is an interesting track, but it's just too much song, if you get my drift. And I know this will tick off several Org-ers, but "Tambourine" just doesn't grab me. So once "America" is over, to me, ATWIAD is over, more or less.

.

One more confession: I just don't like "Condition Of The Heart", either. It's got some great vocal theatrics, and musically the band is on point, but it's like how "The Ladder" is a poor man's "Purple Rain"... "Condition" can't hold a candle to "The Beautiful Ones".

.

To me, all of that makes ATWIAD more of a great EP than a great album.

Maybe you have to be a musician to appreciate Tamborine but it just doesn't do it for me.

I think it's a wonderful album, despite not listening to it in full for years.

I never agreed with the psychedelia thing, to me it's about as psychedelic as a cup of tea. Great thing though, It's a fun collection of tunes and I'm glad it exists.

mb71 said:

lurker316 said:

I frequently revisit Prince's albums from the 1980s with one exception: ATWIAD. I'm not sure why.

It's the best Prince and the Revolution album.

...and you need to change your avatar with a claim like that!!!

it's the strangest thing,but I never really revisit this album,either.There are some good songs here ("Paisley Park" is my favorite) and yet,I never feel the urge to pull this album out and play it from start to finish

It's never been one of my favorite albums. It's not even in my top 15 of his albums.

I have a soft spot for a few of it's tracks though. Raspberry Beret was the song that got me to check out Prince's music and other tracks such as Pop Life and Condition of the Heart rank among my favorite of his songs, but I'd say it's the only 80's album of his besides Batman that has some true clunkers. I've never been crazy about the title track or Temptation.

It's my faourite Prince albim

bozojones said:

It's the same reason people are more inclined to watch Harry Potter for the 100th time versus What Dreams May Come or Ingmar Bergman movies for the first or second. Or load up and guffaw at yet another Spider-Man meme instead of soaking in some obscuro Picasso. Same reason people are more likely to throw some Red Baron in the oven instead of making a pie from scratch.

It's art, pure art usually has a density that stands in opposition to replay value. It's not a box of sweettarts or pack of Lik-M-Aid, it's like uh, paneer.., or brussel sprouts without that bacon grease marinade soaking my family considers requisite.

[Edited 3/12/23 13:48pm]

"Temptation" is incredible, btw. Dude's screaming like a cracked out maniac that whole track, having whacked out conversations with himself cast a Bob George-esque vision of "God". "Dull thud", wtf? Maybe "cringe" or "just not feelin' it brah" would fitting... I mean, "dull"?

[Edited 3/12/23 13:46pm]

paisleyparkgirl said:

Maybe you have to be a musician to appreciate Tamborine but it just doesn't do it for me.

It's kinda good now. For me it sucked for like 15 years, though. Same with "Annie Christian", though I'd advocate that as a masterpiece slightly more than "Tambourine"... I do "get" "Tambourine" a bit more now, though.

lurker316 said:

I frequently revisit Prince's albums from the 1980s with one exception: ATWIAD. I'm not sure why.

I like the album and have nothing negative to say about it. In fact, it's got one of my all time favorite songs, Condition of the Heart. I love the experimentation of the title track. Pop Life has genuis arrangement and production in my estimation. Raspberry Beret is a classic pop track. Paisley Park, The Ladder, Tamborine are all fine songs. Hell, I don't even mind God's cameo at the end of Temptation.

Yet I never have an urge to listen to it. It's probably been 10 years since I had a craving to fire it up and listen to it straight through. I've tried a bit of self-reflection, but haven't been able to put my finger on the issue.

ATWIAD is an acquired taste. We know it's a classic album by him during his golden period. But everything on either side of that album is vastly different. Parade only partially carries the feel of it. Parade has more bottom to it, and more "color" with Clare's strings.

I have to be in the mood to listen to ATWIAD. I do like it better when I took the tag ending of "Temptation" and heard the sped-up version. It cuts the time of the whole thing in half. It runs around 4 minutes and change.

And just to note: the title track is not his and we know it. What he added to it was minimal compared to what David Coleman had put together. He may have re-recorded it, but the idea wasn't his. It certainly helped form the compilation of songs. I don't know that I've ever heard David's original version.

Someone on here made an expanded playlist and put in the b-sides and 12" versions. It's a really nice playlist. Maybe try that and re-hear it again?

1. Around The World In A Day (#1)
2. Paisley Park (Remix)
3. Condition of the Heart
4. She's Always In My Hair (New Mix)
5. Hello (Fresh Dance Mix)
6. 4 The Tears In Your Eyes
7. Raspberry Beret (New Mix)
8. Girl
9. Tamborine
10. America (Long Version)
11. Pop Life (Fresh Dance Mix or the other one, your choice)
12. The Ladder
13. Temptation (my edit, which cuts out the talking-to-God ending, and is sped up)

Obviously you'd just use the regular "Temptation," but it's a good list. Feels even more cohesive, radio friendly, pop-py, etc.

[Edited 3/13/23 19:07pm]

WhisperingDandelions said:

Yeah it's a great album (love Paisley Park & Tambourine, hate America & The Ladder) but I think the very thin sound of the production & mix make it less aurally appealing, which might be why it's less exciting than some other albums? Let's ask Susan

Some of P's albums have very strong seasonal associations for me, and for that reason I just can't seem to get the desire to listen to ATWIAD when there's snow on the ground; it just seems wrong, somehow. Similarly, 1999 is a very 'Winter' album for me...

mb71 said:

I think it's a wonderful album, despite not listening to it in full for years.

I never agreed with the psychedelia thing, to me it's about as psychedelic as a cup of tea. Great thing though, It's a fun collection of tunes and I'm glad it exists.

Okay, that literally made me LOL.

I love it too - and especially that he took that 90º turn without even knowing how Purple Rain would hit.

I've always especially loved the Impressionistic quality of Condition of the Heart.

The most psychedelic thing about it is probably "Paisley Park." The up and down of the melody, the almost lethargic groove, the grindy guitar, the poppy percussion all lends to a trippy song. The lyrics are that whole peace and love 1960s stuff.

The title track is definitely in that mode as well, especially once the bass was taken out of it.

There's more of an ethereal feel in "Condition of the Heart," where "Raspberry Beret," "Pop Life," and "America" are straight ahead pop songs. "Tambourine" is in that "Life Can Be So Nice," "When Doves Cry," "Sister," or "Ronnie Talk 2 Russia" vein - in that it's either percussion-heavy, or just that one odd song on the album that equally belongs there and has no home anywhere.

Moreover, the psychedelic claims stem way more from the visuals. The cloud suit, the blue screen stuff (which similar trippy effects were extremely prominent in late 60s and early 70s performance videos), all that. Plus the album cover, the jacket. It was mostly visual, to me. Because like folks have said, very little of the music is actually psychedelic.

I don't think critics or the public knew what to do with the record, after a juggernaut like Purple Rain, so once they found that one little thing - ohhh, it's very Beatles-esque - then just ran with it.

Prince's career and appeal suffered a bit because of all that. He could've found a more middle line approach to ATWIAD so it had more commercial heft yet still diverted the presumed path a bit.

TrivialPursuit said:

Someone on here made an expanded playlist and put in the b-sides and 12" versions. It's a really nice playlist. Maybe try that and re-hear it again?

1. Around The World In A Day (#1)
2. Paisley Park (Remix)
3. Condition of the Heart
4. She's Always In My Hair (New Mix)
5. Hello (Fresh Dance Mix)
6. 4 The Tears In Your Eyes
7. Raspberry Beret (New Mix)
8. Girl
9. Tamborine
10. America (Long Version)
11. Pop Life (Fresh Dance Mix or the other one, your choice)
12. The Ladder
13. Temptation (my edit, which cuts out the talking-to-God ending, and is sped up)

Obviously you'd just use the regular "Temptation," but it's a good list. Feels even more cohesive, radio friendly, pop-py, etc.

[Edited 3/13/23 19:07pm]

I have two bootleg versions of the title track. One is basically the same mix and arrangment as the album version, only longer/extended. The other is a different mix with a prominent bass. I assume that's the version you characterize as #1 and include in your playlist? I abolsulte love the version with the bass, so much that it's ruined the album version for me. However, my copy of it is pretty terrible. Are there copies with decent sound quality ciriculating?

The Long Version of America is 20 minutes, for Christ's sake. It's a decent song, but I don't need 20 minutes of it in the middle of a playlist.

Of the two 12-inch versions of Pop Life, I greatly prefer the Extended Version. Sheila's Fresh Dance Mix sounds super dated to me with the cheesy '80s production effects.

TrivialPursuit said:

Moreover, the psychedelic claims stem way more from the visuals. The cloud suit, the blue screen stuff (which similar trippy effects were extremely prominent in late 60s and early 70s performance videos), all that. Plus the album cover, the jacket. It was mostly visual, to me. Because like folks have said, very little of the music is actually psychedelic.

Agreed. The the title track and Paisley Park are somewhat psychedelic, and -- as someone else pointed out -- the fact that kick off the album may be what influences people's perception. But as you explain, I think the visuals are biggest reason people consider it psychedelic.

strange era.....very few informations about supposed trax unknown from the ATWIAD sessions or alternate takes except for those we already know since decades ( ATWIAD the intro song & the basic trax from The Ladder (rehearsals))....nothing about other alternate takes/demos from Rasberry beret...Pop life ...Condition of the heart...America....Temptation ? (iam not talking about the B sides or remixes/extended versions officially released)