PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION RELEASED 'AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY' 30 YEARS AGO TODAY

Perhaps one of Prince & The Revolution's most offbeat, transitional works, Around The World In A Day, was released on an unsuspecting public 30 years ago today. With minimal to zero promo to trumpet its release, Around The World In A Day showed up in record stores without even a picture of Prince or the band to push it. In fact, first single Raspberry Beret was not released until a month after the album.  Prince stated that he wanted listeners to experience the album as a whole and not base its substance on just one song. Following the hugely successful and overtly commercial Purple Rain, Prince & The Revolution hit the studio looking for a new sound. What they came up with, rumored to be influenced greatly by Revolution members Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, was an eclectic group of songs with a psychedelic twist, relying heavily on tambourines, cymbals and strings. Even without promotion, Around The World In A Day still managed two Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with Raspberry Beret (#2) and Pop Life (#7), a top 20 with Paisley Park in the UK (#18) and one more Hot 100 entry in the US with America (#46). While not as successful as Purple Rain (what was?) ATWIAD still hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for three consecutive weeks. What it also did was set up a change in Prince's sound that would stay with him through his next album, Parade, the amazing soundtrack to his film Under the Cherry Moon, also written in tight collaboration with Wendy and Lisa. Although it is not as lauded as some of his other output during his most commercially successful period, I find Around The World In A Day to be such an important album in terms of evolution of his sound and reinvention in Prince's career. I still listen to this album to this day and it hold up incredibly well. So take a listen below and Happy 30th, Around The World In A Day.