As much as i love ATWIAD surely you must agree that in terms of musical style it was very similar to P. Rain ; compare The Ladder to P. Rain, Raspberry Beret to Take me With U, Pop Life to WDC, Temptataion to Computer Blue etc. Whilst lyrically they were different its obvious that he followed a very safe , dare I say it, musical formulae. Now dont be flamin' me here coz I love that CD but i dont think it was as big a risk taker as Parade, SOTT, or any of the new Jazzier stuff.

Agreed, and I've been trying to get people to see this for years. The whole "musical leap" thing is an excuse for this album sucking!

Adisa said:

You're kidding, right? ATWIAD sucks? Have you listened to it lately? (Or, in fact, ever?!!)

ATWIAD does not suck and I do believe it was not so much as a leap but taking a huge fucking chance with the fanbase at that particular time. I would take ATWIAD over at least 20 of Prince's other albums.

1p1p1i3 said:

Why yes. Have you? (Ever?!)

No not a huge musical leap forward, but ATWIAD was a huge leap sideways, which is to say they were both great, but I think very different. PR is a guitar rock record, whereas Around is trippy, psychedic, funk pop , sound very much like the Beatles. Huge fan base was shocked when Raspberry Beret followed up Purple Rain. Hardly sounds like TaKe Me With U to my ears, butthese 2 songs intertwined in my conscious, as they are so often played back to back in concert.

I agree, the album was not a huge leap, but it was a big risk simply because it was the follow-up to a huge album. ATWIAD is not a commercial sounding record. Wendy & Lisa were trying new things, and P was encouraging them because he wanted to move forward.

javed said:

We're getting people who must not have been around at the time saying things like this. ATWD was not a great album, and true, it did have what Jimmy Jam called 'retreads' on it. But to call it safe is not true. Prince himself said he could have put out more 1999, purple rain stuff but that he didn't want to. He wanted to scale down expectations with this album by alienating people who weren't committed fans. He did it. He only sold 2 or 3 million and many of those buyers didn't like the album. He did succeed in getting rid of a lot of the pop fans he'd gained after purple rain. Check the rolling stone 85' interview for his own words on this. the album did have a couple good tracks on it but most of it does sound rushed and not fully thought out like a lot of his lesser material. Raspberry beret, paisley park, pop life, condition of the heart were good tracks, the rest seemed like filler. But even prince's crap is usually worth listening to.

Adisa said:

I'm just so surprised. I love ATWIAD - I thought everybody did!!

ATWIAD, Paisley Park, Condition Of The Heart, Raspberry Beret , Tambourine, America, Pop Life, The Ladder, Temptation.

Only maybe Temptation isn't a 9 or 10/10-er.

It's an incredible album, with a wonderful depth of sound - a real masterclass of songwriting.

I'm just so surprised. I love ATWIAD - I thought everybody did!!

ATWIAD, Paisley Park, Condition Of The Heart, Raspberry Beret , Tambourine, America, Pop Life, The Ladder, Temptation.

Only maybe Temptation isn't a 9 or 10/10-er.

It's an incredible album, with a wonderful depth of sound - a real masterclass of songwriting.[/quote]
It's not a horrible album, but The Ladder and Temptation are weak songs as far as developement. The Ladder is a weak imitation of Purple Rain for sure, a little like, Another Lonely Christmas. Temptation is passionate but that's about the only thing that stands out on it. Prince once said he made the album in a few days. No matter who you are that's not easy to do and come off with a quality album. I've heard Elton John used to do it, but I would say, it's a feat to create quality like that. He also did Batman in a week or so. When he puts so little time into putting out stuff, I think the consumer has a right to look at it critically. An album takes most artists of his level years to craft.

I've always loved the vibe of this record. Like mozfonky said, P was weeding out all the purple bandwagoners, as if to say "ok, who's in this for the long haul"?
The title track lets you know right away what's in store . Ya gotta love "Pop Life" too. That song never gets old.