There’s no denying the incredible talent and lasting impact of Prince. There’s also no denying that in the ‘80s, I picked up a few of his albums, enjoyed them, but didn’t really become a Prince megafan. I just didn’t feel the intensity of connection with his music then that so many did.
I’m pretty sure I first became aware of Prince with “1999” – “I Wanna Be Your Lover” was a bigger hit before that, and it seems like it must have hit the radio even in Syracuse, but I don’t have any memory of it, whereas “1999” was unavoidable. Wikipedia tells me that was released in September 1982 – which means that a memory I have always associated with that song from nearly two years earlier is simply incorrect. It also means “1999” came out in our final year of college, and in the same month as new work by Psychedelic Furs, Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, and my beloved Marc and the Mambas – and none of that sounded much like Prince. So I really didn’t take notice. I really liked “Little Red Corvette,” which came out in 1983, but it still didn’t push me over the edge. The “Purple Rain” album made a real sensation in 1984 – but I didn’t buy that, either.
No, I waited to get on the Prince bandwagon until “Around the World In A Day.” It makes sense, though – it’s a more psychedelic, experimental approach to songs than his previous records and more in keeping with the vast array of sounds I was listening to around 1985, when I was getting much more into classical music, into Kurt Weill, into the new period of Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. No doubt, “Raspberry Beret” was a big highlight – the only other singles in the US were “Pop Life,” which I also like, and “America,” which was a clever take at the time and, sadly, hasn’t aged a day.
So it came out right in the same sweet spot of my life as the last record I discussed, The Pretenders’ “Get Close,” another somewhat experimental approach from an established artist. This was also a time when radio had taken a dive in quality in our town – everything was either Top 40 or hard rock, and the college radio station that had provided us with some diversity had been reprogrammed to all-jazz. I basically gave up listening to the radio except for classical music, which became a somewhat brief but intense study for the next several years. Not to the exclusion of pop music, but in this period we went to far more classical performances than pop or rock shows, and a huge part of my record-buying budget (turning into a CD-buying budget right around this time) went to classical as well. This is a cut-out, but I’m pretty sure I bought it within a few months of its release – it wasn’t a big seller and CDs were already starting to knock down record sales. “Around The World In A Day” certainly got some plays on my turntable back then, but it wasn’t ever in constant rotation, and as the years went on it really stayed on the shelf.
Flash forward nearly 40 years, I’m listening to it again and really appreciating it. The song structures are . . . well, it’s Prince, he’s going to do something interesting, and sometimes hard to follow.
I have this album. I found it at a second hand store.
Solid comment!