Prince And The Revolution - Around The World In A Day

This is one Prince release that I (foolishly) steered clear from for quite a while. As much as I enjoy his 80's work, his 90's phases all did more for me, and hearing so many criticisms about his album being an attempt at being the second Purple Rain I wasn't too interested, despite the fact that I really love the album's singles.

Well, when I finally caved in and got it, more or less to satisfy my collection, I wanted to kick myself for going for so long without it. It's not Purple Rain 2, it's not an attempt to procure additional hits based on earlier success, but rather it's an excess of creative energy left over from Purple Rain. This album, apparently, was released very soon after the Purple Rain, which is probably the reason it gets labeled as it does.

But like I said this album is far different, and far superior, to Purple Rain in many ways; while PR is still a huge hit among Prince fans and the general public 'Around the World...' is more robust in the desire to do what Prince does best: make music without the worries of what people will say (some fair examples include Paisley Park, The Ladder, Temptation). Some tracks are a bit more shallow (like Raspberry Beret and America) but they're still more intelligently writte and catchier than pretty much anything else anyone was doing during this time.

Prince sounds very free in this release, even more so than his earlier albums like 1999 and Controversy, I think, and personally I feel its one of his best 80's releases.