Prince And The Revolution – Around The World In A Day

Album Revolution #5: By the time "Purple Rain" came out, everyone and their grandmama was trying to either, sound, look, or act like Prince (just like they did Mike!)......So even though "Around The World In A Day", wasn't considered a complete effort, it's sure a very good one! It had hit power like "Raspberry Beret" which had that "Mid-Eastern" vibe to it..."Pop Life" (with Sheila E. on drums) talks about the pitfalls of super stardom....Then there are songs like the title track and "Paisley Park", that showed that "Prince & The Revolution" really wanted to try different things musically.....It Worked! These particular songs have a "Psychedelic Soul" style to them...My song is " Tamborine". It's funky, and when cracked up, it just thumps! There are also songs like "Condition Of The Heart" and "The Ladder", showing the versatility of "Prince's" musical muses...The one thing I will mention is that, it was a very good thing that "Prince" didn't try to duplicate the same formula as "Purple Rain".....I really feel like that would have been a disaster!!!!! This also started the "Paisley Park" records imprint for him, with a mega complex to come....Again, maybe not complete, but it's a Prince Classic!!!!

Prince avoided releasing a copy of Purple Rain, which everyone expected. Luckily he didn't. Instead, he turned the corner with this album. His own Sgt. Pepper's album as I affectionately call it. Funky, Soul, Rock, Psychedelic. Keep an eye out for the 1st pressing. Perfect quality in sound and pressing.

Does the Re-issue still have Balloon boy on the shrink ? Or a Sticker of Balloon Boy ?

Best pressing of the album by far
Definitely worth a pickup

The most startling aspect behind the backstory of this classic is that much of it was conceived in the midst of the non-stop hysteria of Purple Rain's mega-success. While it isn't the total 180 turn from Purple Rain many make it out to be (some similar psychedelic whims stretched out on World were first sketched out in parts of Purple Rain), it certainly was as much of a departure work and gigantic leap forward in terms of Prince's musical development. In terms of business and hype strategy, Prince indeed took a page from the book of rock giants from the early 1970s who had reached a plateau of "we did it because we can" hubris. As he would do again later with 1988's Lovesexy, he wanted this to stand on its own as an artistic statement to be experienced from start to finish, without the typical pop marketing bells-and-whistles. Next to 1999, this stands as one of Prince's pivotal albums—an idiosyncratic, colorful masterpiece that stands in its own unique lane. I can't see where Prince's musical trajectory would've been without it.

This original 1985 Specialty Records pressing sounds excellent. A great deal of this original pressing goes very light on the lower frequencies, and there is room for improvement with tighter bass response. After comparing this pressing to the 2016 Kevin Gray reissue, I figured that it was intentional for this album to sound like that, as it has a distinctive AM radio-like sheen to it. Many sonic layers come to life on this pressing, as well as the Kevin Gaye reissue. Both pressings almost sound identical, but I give the edge to this original SR pressing in terms of the overall definition.

How about the sound quality of this Specialty Records Corporation
pressing? Worth it?

It is worth buying this album just for Raspberry Beret alone, it is a great dance-funk pop track that is certain to have you boogieing whatever your age and sexuality!!

Condition Of The Heart has got to be one of his best... so delicate... feels like it could fall apart at any second

Oh, and I forgot to mention Temptation, another stand out track.

I would go so far as to say that not only is this album far superior to its predecessor, Purple rain, but that this is actually the best album of Prince's career. It's not his most immediate but then how many people can honestly say that they loved Kiss, for example, from the very first time they heard it? This is Prince at his most experimental and largely because of that - as Christo77 has already said - this is also the most underrated of Prince albums. There are simply no bad tracks on here but there is Pop Life (did Prince ever release a better single?), Paisley Park (another great single), Condition of the heart, The ladder and Tambourine, and I didn't even mention Raspberry beret! The problem with this album was that people wanted Purple Rain part II, but Prince being Prince, wasn't prepared to give them that, thank god (and thank you Prince!) and I suspect that he (Prince that is, not god, although some people seem to think that they are/were, one and the same person) probably credited his fan base with greater musical open mindedness than was actually proven to be the case. Compared with Purple Rain, Around the world in a day was a big commercial disappointment. I believe it's long overdue a big critical reevaluation and that some day (soon hopefully) the rest of the world will catch up with Prince. God knows it took me a very long time to appreciate this record's greatness but I've come to rate this album so highly that I even went to the trouble and expense of locating and buying an almost mint Japanese copy. Given the opportunity I'd highly recommend you do the same.