In theory, the posthumous care and handling of an esteemed discography with the deep potential for archival excavation like Prince’s would be an easy if daunting task. When the pop icon died unexpectedly in 2016 with no will and considerable assets to settle, the art of memorializing him through reissues moved with almost shocking precision: solid expansions of several of his best-loved ’80s albums, a handful of notable archival one-offs, and the reinstatement of his digital and physical catalogue of the ’90s and ’00s back into print.
After the estate settled in 2022, with its living heirs (some of which have since died) represented either by former manager L. Londell McMillan and Charles F. Spicer, Jr. or management company Primary Wave, the seas started to roil somewhat. A planned deluxe edition of Diamonds and Pearls, ostensibly meant to commemorate the album’s 30th anniversary, arrived two years later; by that point, there’d been legal discord, unhappy fans perceiving an emphasis on merchandise over music, and some of the worst social media posts of all time. Things reached a bit of a fever pitch the following summer, after a long-gestating documentary for Netflix by Ezra Edelman was canned amid promises that Prince’s storied vault was “free.”
Now comes the first catalogue title since that declaration of independence: an expanded edition of Around the World in a Day (NPG/Paisley Park 19802 93373-2), Prince and The Revolution’s left-field follow-up to Prince’s signature Purple Rain. Like all post-blockbuster releases, the line one walks is quite fine. Prince leaned into that sense of upheaval back in 1985, and the estate does their best to do so, too. But the high standards set by old iterations of the Estate invariably form precarious peaks from which to fall.
Around the World in a Day was a shocking beast slouching toward Minneapolis to be born some four decades ago. Released just weeks after the tour for Purple Rain came to a close – and only promoted with singles under considerable duress – its psychedelic album cover invited comparisons to ’60s rock touchstones like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. That comparison is ridiculous on its face:Â Around the World possesses fairly little of the expansive sonic palette of those albums, taking the taut funk-pop-rock Prince was known for and spinning it in unusual directions. With the select participation of The Revolution (guitarist Wendy Melvoin, keyboardists Lisa Coleman and Matt “Doctor” Fink, bassist Mark Brown and drummer Bobby Z), Prince augments the work with brushes of strings (courtesy of violinist Novi Novog, cellist Suzie Katayama and Lisa’s brother David), occasional brght flashes of acoustic guitar, and even unconventional Eastern-flavored flourishes. (David Coleman, who helped write the title track with Prince, can be heard strumming an oud and manipulating finger cymbals and a darbuka drum therein.)
Lyrics are more impressionistic and mostly less personal, with “Around the World in a Day” and the guitar-driven “Paisley Park” (one of The Artist’s most underrated singles, released only in the U.K.) envision the sort of sonic-assisted utopia that Prince later made mostly real in his Chanhassen recording complex, while the sublime pop of “Raspberry Beret” and the goofy double-entendre of “Tamborine” offer a different take on Prince’s exploration of carnality. Faith is never far from focus here in micro and macro visions, on the aching “Condition of the Heart” or the occasionally overwrought closers, “The Ladder” (a lesser “Purple Rain”-type intended anthem) and “Temptation” (which begins with raunchy grinding and ends with Prince begging his holy creator – played by him with pitch-shifted vocals – to be spared from damnation for his transgressions). When Prince does get anywhere near personal, it’s from clear places of pain: “America,” a lively Revolution jam, jabs at the realities of Reagan’s land of opportunity, while “Pop Life,” spurred by Sheila E.’s thundercrack drums and a closing break punctuated by the sound of an unruly crowd (incorrectly rumored to come from one of Prince’s ill-received gigs opening for The Rolling Stones in 1981), wearily explores the trappings of Prince’s meteoric rise to fame.
If the songs don’t hang together quite the same way Purple Rain did, its no great shakes: Around the World is a bright collection too often obscured by the shadow of its predecessor, and deserves the archival treatment. (The new remaster by original mastering engineer Bernie Grundman with Chris James does little to offend sonically; staying the course set by those original pressings is the way to go.) It’s the rest of the set that will certainly divide fan opinion, and certainly turned my head in some ways. Let’s start with the obvious: this Around the World reissue, unlike all of Prince’s other individual album expansions, is not a box set. It tops out at two CDs offering a baker’s dozen of bonus tracks – all of which are B-sides and 12″ mixes from the singles released to promote it through 1985. (The extended version of “America,” which kept the jams going past the 20-minute mark, appends the original album due to space constraints, disrupting the chronological flow slightly.) Many of these have been released on collections like The Hits/The B-Sides (1993) or Ultimate (2006), with the long versions of “America,” its B-side “Girl,” and “Pop-Life” B-side “Hello” making their proper CD debuts.
In terms of artistic output, these extras are superb: the long versions bring out the best in each song (including a rare U.K.-only extension of “Pop Life,” different to the Sheila E. remix that American audiences got). “She’s Always in My Hair” ranks among Prince’s best flip-sides, while “Hello” is one of his most personal works of the era: a commentary on a controversial altercation he got into with paparazzi after the 1985 American Music Awards – the night most of pop’s A-listers convened to record “We Are the World.” (The “Fresh Dance Mix” adds a tongue-tying spoken outro with a simile comparing words to shoes.) After decades of “4 the Tears in Your Eyes” being chiefly available in the live video version Prince gave for Live Aid to show, it’s cool to hear the original studio version, given to Columbia to include on the We Are the World album. The presentation is not perfect, however: egregiously, the long version of “Girl” plays at a completely different speed to the shorter version, even speeding up before the song fully fades out. It’s an error made that more obvious by the unoriginal programming of the bonus disc, which places two versions of “Hair,” “Pop Life,” “Hello,” “Girl” and “4 the Tears” right next to each other. (There’s a precedent to have included the live video version of “America,” as well, as far as “missing” material goes.)
Fans will certainly have an opinion on the lack of true releases from the vault. Personally, it doesn’t bother me much. Sure, there’s plenty of additional tracks from this era that are well-known – but, mostly, due to their recording by associated artists. (Prince’s Paisley Park imprint label began with Around the World, and would release albums by The Family, Sheila E. and Mazarati in due course.) While intriguing, none of these songs would further tell the story of this album specifically, instead highlighting more of his general prolific nature. And honestly, with little context setting in the package – no new liner notes essay, only replicated original album credits and lyrics, along with unsourced credits for the bonus material – it’s not clear how much you could trust this assembled team, whoever they are, to tell that story. The attempt to convert the original LP packaging to CD is a mixed bag, too: the flapped gatefold is held together with a clear sticker disc that may not hold up to consistent opening, the original shrinkwrap sticker of the child holding a balloon printed with the artist and title is missing in action, and the reflective ink on the enclosed booklet makes the text hard to read.
Perhaps, one day, it won’t be a condition of this heart to hurt so bad when a posthumous Prince product comes out this uneven. The expanded Around the World in a Day offers good, if mostly familiar, material that deserves a spotlight of its own before moving on to Parade or whatever the estate will prime next. It just deserves a brighter, steadier light than what it’s got. May everybody keep looking for the ladder until fans are (hopefully) pleasantly surprised on the next go-round.
Around the World in a Day is available now at the following links. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP (black): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP (blue marble): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Picture Disc:Â Official Store
Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, holding positions at Legacy Recordings and Rhino Records and contributing to Allmusic, Discogs, City Pages, Ultimate Classic Rock and Mondo Records, for whom he penned liner notes for his favorite piece of music: John Williams’ Oscar-winning score to ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.’
Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.