I recently bought the around the world in a day album and i think it must be the worst album he has done? The only good songs i already had Raspberry beret and Pop life. The sound of it's too wack. What do you lot think about it?

Paisley park isnt in ur heart is it?

I love it, it's among my favourites. I first heard it when it came out in 1985 (or whenever it was) and have never grown tired of it. The two songs you name as good songs are probably the two most formulaic and easy to get into on the album. You should hear the extended (22 minute) version of America to fully appreciate it. If you don't love Temptation yet it's only because you haven't listened to it enough! My favourite tracks are the title track and Temptation. ATWIAD is arguably Prince's most experimental album - he tries out new instruments, new styles and new arrangements. For those of us lucky enough to have been around when it came out first it was an astonishing album - so much different to everything he'd done before.

I would make a couple of suggestions :

1. Listen to the album at least once with headphones, and no distractions. You'll be able to hear all the nuances and appreciate it for what it really is.

2. Don't give up on it yet. If you've only listened to it a couple of times you need to give it a chance. It may not be his best album but it is far from his worst. Have you heard New Power Soul ?

No, i haven't.
The album sounded really strange to me, when i put it on i couldn't listen to it. I will listen to it again, i guess i'm not appreciating it but the same for Parade, there are only a few i can listen to.
I'm not digging the creepy cello sound on the first song in that album, it's dreadful.
The same with the song God! The sound at the beginning is so creepy, but then again i guess that song must've meant somethin 2 prince being as they only recorded it once. I don't know, it's definately not a favourite!

Well, the two albums Parade and ATWIAD would be considered by many to be among his best, from his 'golden era' when he was more experimental and original.

The creepy cello in the first song... I assume you're referring to Christopher Tracey's Parade. Again, a song I love, but I agree it's quite different and I can see how you might have difficulty getting into it.

In any case, I really wouldn't worry too much if you can't get into these yet. You've got your whole life to expand your musical appreciation. If you are 16 as you're profile says, then you're probably still quite near the beginning of your music buying career. In a way I envy you - you have a wealth of Prince music still to discover, and a life time of music (hopefully not just Prince) to listen to.

I know when I was 16 my musical tastes were, compared to what they are now, under-developed. The more music we listen to the greater our appreciation of musicianship, originality and talent. I know if I had listened to, for example, Loveless by My Bloody Valentine at the age of 16 I would probably have been running to turn that niosy shit off. Now it would count as one of my desert island discs and an absolute masterpiece. What's changed ? Not the music - just my ability to appreciate it.

I think the fact that you're into the muscial voyage of disovering Prince's work at the age of 16 speaks of an already well developed appreciation for music. So, it may be another 10 or 15 years before you love Parade and ATWIAD, or you may never love them, but I think at least the day will come when you will be able to listen to and appreciate the music even if you don't love it.


On the other hand, you may never like it. But that's no crime either !

YEAH, NO ONE SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND WHY I LIKE PRINCE. ESPECIALLY MY SISTER WHO IS 22!
The music she listens to is wack! The artists she likes can't even sing, let alone play an instrument. I was saying to my other sis the other day, What when we've bought all of prince's albums? what will we do, who will be next? It's so great that he has so many albums and we need to get them all.
I still have to see the film though, Under the cherry moon i mean and graffiti bridge. I've only been a fan for about 4 months but i must've spent a fortune on all of our prince things!

And just incase raspberry beret kid reads this!We're bigger fans than you because we appreciate the band and realise that it's a team effort to make the music you love! HA!!!

RedCorvette said:

Well, I wouldn't worry about that too much, it's one of the joys of being a Prince fan. I've been saying pretty much the same thing for 20 years.

It's not always a team effort you know, many of Prince's albums were partially or entirely solo efforts, which just makes it easier to appreciate his abilities.

RedCorvette said:

I can make the following suggestions, they are all similar to Prince, not in sound necessarily, but in that they are true musicians having written, composed, performed, and in some cases mixed and produced the bulk of their own music :

Frank Zappa (I'm only just getting into Zappa myself, the man (sadly now dead) was a genius, and is possibly the only other popular artist I can think of who was as prolific as, and whose body of work is as extensive as Prince's)

Peter Gabriel

Genesis (prior to Peter Gabriel's departure - especially Selling England By The Pound and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway)

Pink Floyd (prior to Roger Waters' departure)

Kate Bush

David Bowie.

Genii, the lot of them.

Fantastic album. In my top 5 albums for Prince. This album alone is completely different than any other album he's done. I listen to it once a week or more.

This is one of my all time favorites!
"Condition of the Heart" and "The Ladder" are beautiful songs, "Tamborine" IS SO HOT!
I was in the 5th grade when this album was released, I've grown with up it and can't live without it!

"Long-days, Lonely-nights..."

"Pop go-mama..."

CynthiasSocks said:

I second that emotion. Turn "Condition of the Heart" way up in them headphones and try not to get chills.

I love this album, but I think it's par for the Prince course in that it will most likely take several listens, and possibly months, to get under your skin. I think it took me years to really get into "Tempation," for example, and now it's one of my all-time panty-wetting favorite songs.
Darling, I can almost taste the wetness between your.... Ooh, I'm tingly just thinking about it.

RedCorvette said:

This is the reason you need to listen to it again and again. The music is challenging your ears. Trust me, it's worth giving it a chance.

ATWIAD is in my top ten favorite Prince albums. This was actually the album that converted me completely. I couldn't believe this was his follow up to PR at the time. I was shocked at how different the sound was, and that it hadn't even been a year since PR was released. I remember thinking how strange it sounded, too, and that was what intrigued me most. By the end of the week, it was on permanent repeat (well, it was loop cassette, at least).

And Parade? You've got to be crazy if you don't fall in love with that album.

I was living in Belgium when this album was released and begged my mother at the PX to buy it for me! She did and it imprinted on me immediately! I have all the extended mixes and bsides to this album. I'm listening to the 22 min version of "America"- once I made a 2 cd cdr of ATWIAD but add in the extended versions and bsides. It makes a KILLER double album!

FunkMistress said:

Turn "Condition of the Heart" way up in them headphones and try not to get chills.[/b]

"What's the use n half a story half a dream uv got 2 climb all the steps nbtween"[
[This message was edited Wed Jun 9 9:05:53 2004 by Jusme4U]

Jusme4U said:

Um, yes, "The Ladder" is good too.

it's a wonderful album!

it's part of the landscape of my personal history. i listened to it obsessively as a kid, and still drag it out now and then.

the funkiest, most discordant stuff (like "tamborine") i really like. sometimes i have to jam on temptation, over & over again. killer stuff!

"condition of the heart" was probably my favorite as a teen, but listening to it now depresses the heck out of me! guess ya gotta be in the mood. wonderful song, though.

RedCorvette said:

Yes, ATWIAD sounded strange to me also. But just like Lovesexy, it grows on you. As the years go by, I love these two albums more and more. They're not loaded with hits like Purple Rain or SOTT, but there is something very special and personal about them. Give it time.

"The little 1 will escort u 2 places within your mind." ATWIAD
[This message was edited Wed Jun 9 9:30:26 2004 by Welcome2daRevolution]

You sound like me when I first heard Around the World in a Day and Parade Little Red

Corvette. I think I was about your age or younger when they first came out.

It took me awhile for my tastes to grow to appreciate them but once it does I believe

you will love these albums. Maybe take a break from them and come back at a later

date and try them again and hey if you still don't like them keep them around till you

get older and have heard more different things and in between that time there's a

lot more other stuff of his that you can buy and enjoy!

Loved it since the first day I heard it back when I was in the 6th grade. It is in my top three favorite Prince albums (included with Parade and 1999), and I don't even ever listen to Raspberry Beret or Pop Life. When I was a kid, I played it constantly. I can still listen to Temptation, Tambourine and Condition of the Heart virtually anytime, anywhere. I wish to God I had the B sides and extended versions.

How can you not love...

"Everybody's...got a vice, mine little darling is the opposite of ice, mine is running hot water on the daughter of morality...."
and
"Isn't that a shame that sometimes money buys you everything and nothing"

S

Redayh said:

This is exactly the line I was thinking of when I talked about this song giving you chills.

love it. Condition of the heart is touching to me, and i love tamborine, its 2 funky 4 me!!!

It's a great album, from that most exciting time in Prince history.
But the psychedelic music is kind of a tangent for him.
Really, only Around the World, Parade, and maybe TRC (not his most popular albums, except with die hard fans) are so weird on the surface.
I think that he lost a lot of his older fans starting with Around the World (not to mention new fans!), who were more used to the funk-rock classics.
Later fans going back to this album might expect more funk, as well.
You have to be more adventurous to listen to them.
Still, I think I like every song on the record, which I can't say about some others.

I love it!! I remember when I first bought this in early May of 1985..about a week after its release. Like so many, I was expecting an album like Purple Rain, from the year before. However, this was nothing like PR and was very experimental and the music writers were saying it was Prince's "Sgt Pepper". I also remember this was when Prince said he was no longer going to tour and was going to "search for the ladder".

Anyhow, at first I only liked the obvious hits, but soon grew to love the whole album. I especially like 'Paisley Park' as it always gives me a eurphoric feeling after listening to it with headphones. Damn good album... it is my 4th favorite Prince album of all time. Oh, and of course, as many have said in the past, it would have been even better if "She's Always in my Hair" had been included on the album.

Wow .... you think its that bad eh ... well since I have not been able to find it for years (thanks WB for the back catalogue) send it to me .

I LOVE THIS ALBUM!

Come back to them when you're older. They're two of his very best.

Around The World In A Day

This was the second Prince album I'd bought, after the Batman soundtrack, which I'd owned from when I was about 10. So basically, it took me 9 years to follow up that purchase, and I couldn't have picked a wierder album. Last year, I was just getting into Prince, and I picked this one up. It's definitely a challenging listen, but there are a few gems:

Around The World in a Day
Paisley Park
Raspberry Beret
Condition of the Heart

All four are fantastic. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is a bit too experimental for me - to the point where I felt that many of the songs were either incomplete or rushed. I like bits and pieces of it, but as a whole, I don't feel that it really adds up.

It's a decent album, and worth the price for those four songs alone, but most of Prince's stuff during his peak period (early 1980s to 1990) is vastly superior. Who knows, maybe the album still needs a chance to grow on me.
[This message was edited Wed Jun 9 19:35:12 2004 by eccotides]

eccotides said:

Er, what about Pop Life? Not particularly experimental and NOT rushed.