Around the World in a Day - Prince (CD 1990)

AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY is one of the brightest Prince albums ever. I'm not sure what that means, but its a sense of color and light and freedom that the music inspires. "Open your heart, open your mind," he sings, "A train is leaving all day / A wonderful trip through our time, and laughter is all you pay."

The follow-up to PURPLE RAIN wasn't what ANYONE expected, but the world would soon come to expect just that very thing from Prince, a new record, a new direction, every time. So far he hasn't failed to disappoint in that regard, despite a few less-than-great records in the late 90s. But this is 1985 we're talking about and in that year, Prince was at the top of his game.

There's a dichotomy in AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY, a pairing up of the songs that I've only discovered in the last week, preparing for this review.

We go from the world-spanning song "Around the World in a Day" to the inner-self groove of "Paisley Park" where he tells us, "Admission is easy, just say you believe and come to this place in your heart--Paisley Park is in your heart". And the next 3 songs, "Condition of the Heart", "Raspberry Beret" and "Tamborine" are the love cycle, going from lost love, to newfound love, to self-love. "America" and "Pop Life" make up the political pair with "America" being the veiled slam "Jimmy Nothing never went to school / They made him pledge allegiance / He said it wasn't cool / Nothing made Jimmy proud / Now Jimmy lives on a mushroom cloud" and "Pop Life" the other side of that coin, "Show me a boy who stays in school / And I'll show you a boy aware, dig it" "The Ladder" and "Temptation" finish off the album with his God vs. Sex set.

I first bought this on vinyl and before I'd even heard the record, it had made its statement. Opening the cover to its fullest, the mountains in the background form the silhouette of a naked woman lying on her back. The rest of the picture isn't the prettiest, but there's that naked woman.

Specific points to watch out for when you buy this record--and buy it you should--are, first, the extended piano intro on "Condition of the Heart". Watch out for it because it'll have you wondering if this song is ever going to start. It's the one and only true weakness on the record, but when the song does get going, the intro is forgotten. This is a song Prince performed entirely by himself, piano and vocals, and those usually turn out to be his best. This one turns into a rundown of women who've let him down, with a chorus that reminds you Prince isn't looking at the world like the rest of us do, "Thinking about you driving me crazy / My friends all say it's just a phase / Every day is a yellow day / I'm blinded by the daisies in your yard." Do what?

"Raspberry Beret" comes and goes in all its pop glory--that song deserved to be a hit and it was, but if people hadn't had their PURPLE RAIN 2 expectations, it could have been bigger. And "Tamborine" is another song Prince did alone. This song is memorable for a couple of reasons. First, the background vocals--they're all Prince, but it's so multi-layered, it's like he's got 7 or 8 of himself in the studio with him. "Tamborine" also contains one of the most nonsensical Prince lyrics to date: "I don't care for 1-night stands with trolley cars that juggle 17". What? Doesn't matter, this is a groovy little song. "Long days, lonely nights / Too bad we're not allowed to scream / Guess that I'll stay at home / All alone and play my tamborine." Yeah, I dig that, man.

"America" is such an upbeat, funky song, sometimes you can't tell if he's being negative or not. "Communism is just a word / But if the government turn over, it'll be the only word that's heard," and the second verse with, "Little sister, makin' minimum wage / Livin' in a one-room jungle, monkey cage / Can't get over, she's almost dead / She may not be in the black, but she's happy she ain't in the red" make you think he's singing a very anti-America song, but the chorus is "America, America / God shed His grace on thee / America, America / Keep the children free." In the end, you see it for sarcasm.

"Pop Life." I want to stop on this one for a second because, while I've always liked this song, I've never really LOVED it until this past week. Credit must go out to Tim Barr and Annette Atkinson's stand-up bass work. Listen to this song in the car, really loud, and marvel at just how funky the music here really is. And the music aside, the backing vocal effect used here is cool as hell. It's in stereo, so when you go to one speaker, you've got his straight-on lead vocal, but in the other speaker, he's just a little bit behind himself, so in the center you've got this incredible echoing effect. But the true star of this song is that music. I can't say he'd written a tune this . . . alive . . . musically, to that point. This was his first real funk triumph.

"The Ladder" will be immortalized as the first released Prince gospel song. So far, God's found His way into other songs on other records, but those were rock or funk songs, and "The Ladder" is a straight-on gospel sing-along that would fit in perfectly in any church. In fact, if I heard of a church performing this song, I'd go, just to hear it done. "Everybody's lookin' for the ladder / Everybody wants salvation of the soul / Steps you take are no easy road / But the reward is great for those who want to go." The backing sax from Eddie M. only adds to the soul flavor of Susannah, Taj, Wendy, and Lisa's backing choir. Simply a beautiful song.

"Temptation" brings us back from heaven to hell in a flash. Eddie M.'s sax has gone from uplifting to down in the dirt filthy. That and Prince's guitar and those heavy-a** drums, you've got a song to strip by. "Temptation / Working my body with a hot flash of animal lust / Temptation / All my fingers in the pool go splash we must." As a horny 17-year-old, I LOVED this song. "Everybody in this room has got an urge / What's yours baby? / Mine is temptation / It reigns at a party where lovers splurge." Prince has a talent for making his voice match the tone of the song. Some singers sound the same no matter the song. You'll never confuse Phil Collins with anyone else, you know? But in the space of two songs, Prince has sung the church-bound soul-saving hymn, and now the ultimate seduction song. Brilliantly, I might add, in both cases. It's that dichotomy I mentioned earlier. However, is "Temptation" really what it seems? There's a breakdown at the end where, in the course of the song, he's condemned for his lust and only then realizes "Love is more important than sex."

In the end, AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY, while NOT what people were looking for at the time, has proved itself able to stand the test of time and today it's simply one of his best from start to finish, a masterpiece, if you will. You don't own it? You're missing out on one of the best pieces of musical brilliance from the last 20 years.