Around the World in a Day

What? Why? How did he do it? What is this? The opening wild keyboards, the melody is slightly Eastern, but not totally, because Prince is never totally anything when it comes to categories, on this brilliant diamond of the worlds ocean, he dips his fingers into many musical styles, but never delves into them enough for you to be able to box it. He lives on the fringes of lines, on the borders of genres, which form together to make one amazing blend of free-sound.

What did he do? Prince began the first steps in health. Shunning the popularity 'Purple Rain' had given him, and instead opting- as he always had- for total creativity. He did something that musicians have rarely done, quite simply he did what he wanted to, and the freedom of the sound on this album is proof enough of that. What pleasure it can bring to my ears, what colour!

Why did he do it? Prince was not the same as others, Prince was Miles Davis, he was single-minded, he was only concerned with one thing, that which kept him sane, that which he knew he had been put on this Earth to do. So with that focus, he followed the path that he had recognized that lay before him.

How did he do it? I mean, how did he manage to make this album so experimental and yet so 'pop' at the same time? Well, you know you're a genius when you can redefine what pop means, when you become the genre. KRS-1 is hip-hop, and you don't mind him telling you what hip-hop is, because he so clearly has a master of the whole concept. Similarly, although with less directness than KRS, Prince redefines pop music on this album. Just as at certain times in the 60's and 70's when pop music and experimental music met each other and hugged, Prince had managed to merge the beautiful with the mass-appeal. Just listen to the child-like positivity of 'Paisley Park' mixed with the psychadelic lyrics. What more can you do but be happy? The words make you happy. You can't help but wonder how he did it, and that wondering is fun, meandering, discovering.

I remember one night a few months ago, September 2003, just after I had come back from Morocco, staring up into the local night-sky out of my bedroom window full of moon-light. I was full of excitement, with my MP3-CD player on random, (that's about 12 albums worth of music on one cd!) when 'Condition of the Heart' came on. Something brilliant happened, just like de ja vous, just like when you have a head rush after drinking cold, clear water, just like spinning around and not knowing where you'll end up when you open your eyes. A feeling of enjoyable confusion, you see, I didn't recognise the song! I didn't know who it was by! For those that don't know, the song has about 2 minutes of beautifully improvisational drifting that sounds like nothing you've ever heard before the piano finally dreams it's way into your ears. Was this Wordsound music? Was it Kate Bush? Was it Bill Laswell? Boards of Canada? Who was this? How could I have forgotten it? When his warm melodies and beautiful voice gently whispered into my ears I smiled. Like an old friend, Prince is always there for me, giving me advice.

"Acting on a whim is only good for a condition of the heart."

What is this? The most enjoyable thing about that question is that I can't answer it. The closest approximation is that this is joyful fantasy music, but then he doesn't even give me that, because the albums last track comes crashing back down to reality with one of the most serious, and vulnerable songs I have ever heard. Being 'vulnerable' in pop-music usually means showing your sensitive side to women, something that was never really impressive to me in the first place, but in the case of 'Temptation', vulnerability involves Prince baring his soul to God, asking, begging forgiveness for his lustful thoughts and desires. Now that's a deep person, that's deep music.

'Raspberry Beret' on the other hand simply makes you smile, it is poetry of the highest order, and once again, the lyrics would probably make sense to just about any free-spirited creative person who has to live in this ordered world.

"I was working part time in a five-and-dime
My boss was Mr. McGee
He told me several times that he didn't like my kind
'Cause I was a bit too leisurely...."

I've been there, believe me, I've done that.

And then there is the insane. 'Tambourine' is insane funk, future funk, and it's still futuristic, trust me. Why does he say tambourine in that crazy way? Why does he sound like he's saying Trampoline? It all makes sense even though it doesn't. And then there is the reflective, sober Prince. Inhaling musically and mentally on 'Pop Life', he takes an intelligent ironic look at the way people live in these crazy times.

"What you putting in your nose?
Is that where all your money goes?
The river of addiction flows
You think it's hot, but there won't be no water
When the fire blows."

And then there it is. 1985, enriched, nourished. '83 gave us '1999', '84 gave us 'Purple Rain', and '85 gave us a trip around Prince's world in a single day, undoubtedly one of his most religious and creative works, it stands the test of time, and I hope more young people will rediscover it. I'm young, and this is for me, Prince made it for all of us '20-somethings'. Go and listen to it, it's mind-opening if your heart is accepting.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi, 23 Feb 2004