I am doing a deep dive into the work of the musical artist Prince. Each week until December I will post my thoughts on albums released by Prince (and his bands and side projects) focusing on one year of his career.
This week I’m reviewing the soundtrack for Around the World in a Day from 1985.
Album: Around the World in a Day
Artist: Prince and the Revolution
Release Date: April 22, 1985
Label: Paisley Park, Warner Bros.
Favorite Tracks:
- Paisley Park
- Raspberry Beret
- America
- Pop Life
- The Ladder
- Temptation
Thoughts:
This album has a special place in my heart because it was the only album I listened to for a couple of weeks in my childhood. My family moved in the summer of 1985 and all my cassette tapes were sealed in a box I couldn’t find. But Around the World in a Day was in one of our first parcels of mail at the new house, from our friends at Columbia House. And so I listened to it, a lot!
The album cover, Prince’s outfits, and the music draw a lot upon the psychedelic rock era of the late 1960s, particularly The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland. That being said, the influence has been overstated. This album contains Prince’s typical eclecticism and a lot of experimentation, especially for an artist just coming off his peak commercial success.
My favorite songs on the album start with the dreamy “Paisley Park,” a name also used for Prince’s record label and recording studio/residence. “Raspberry Beret” is one of Prince’s instant classic romantic songs. The other big hit from this album, “Pop Life,” meditates on the downsides of fame in the 1980s with excellent call and response vocals by Wendy & Lisa. “America” is one of Prince’s most ardently political tracks attacking the state of the nation in the Reagan Era. The album finishes off with Prince’s intertwined obsessions of faith and sex, as often in conflict as they are unified, in the gospel track “The Ladder” immediately followed by the raunchy blues of “Temptation.”
This is a personal and mystical album, and definitely there’s a lot more going on than this being Prince’s “psychedelic” album, but I can’t decrypt it all either.
Rating: ****
| For You | 1978 | *** | |
| Prince | 1979 | ***1/2 | |
| Dirty Mind | 1980 | **** | |
| Controversy | 1981 | **** | |
| 1999 | 1982 | Prince and the Revolution | ***** |
| Purple Rain | 1984 | Prince and the Revolution | ***** |
| Around the World in a Day | 1985 | Prince and the Revolution | **** |
| Parade | 1986 | Prince and the Revolution | |
| Sign O’ the Times | 1987 | ||
| 8 | 1987 | Madhouse | |
| 16 | 1987 | Madhouse | |
| Lovesexy | 1988 | ||
| Batman | 1989 | ||
| Graffiti Bridge | 1990 | ||
| Diamonds and Pearls | 1991 | Prince and the New Power Generation | |
| Love Symbol | 1992 | Prince and the New Power Generation | |
| Goldnigga | 1993 | The New Power Generation | |
| Come | 1994 | ||
| The Black Symbol | 1994 | ||
| The Gold Experience | 1995 | ||
| Exodus | 1995 | The New Power Generation | |
| Chaos and Disorder | 1996 | ||
| Emancipation | 1996 | ||
| Kamasutra | 1997 | The NPG Orchestra | |
| Crystal Ball | 1998 | ||
| The Truth | 1998 | ||
| Newpower Soul | 1998 | The New Power Generation | |
| The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale | 1999 | ||
| Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic | 1999 | ||
| The Rainbow Children | 2001 | ||
| One Nite Alone… | 2002 | ||
| One Nite Alone… Live! | 2002 | ||
| Xpectation | 2003 | ||
| N-E-W-S | 2003 | ||
| Musicology | 2004 | ||
| The Chocolate Invasion | 2004 | ||
| The Slaughterhouse | 2004 | ||
| C-Note | 2004 | ||
| 3121 | 2006 | ||
| Planet Earth | 2007 | ||
| Indigo Nights | 2008 | ||
| Lotusflow3r/MPLSound | 2009 | ||
| 20Ten | 2010 | ||
| Plectrumelectrum | 2014 | with 3rdeyegirl | |
| Art Official Age | 2014 | with 3rdeyegirl | |
| HITnRun Phase One | 2015 | ||
| HITnRun Phase Two | 2015 |
Panorama of the Mountains 