| Around The World In A Day is the seventh full-length studio album by Prince, and the second to be credited to Prince and the Revolution. It was released worldwide in April 1985, just ten months after the release of Prince and the Revolution’s best-selling album, Purple Rain. It was the first release of any kind on Prince’s own Paisley Park, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.
Sessions and compiling
The album was mostly recorded between January and December 1984, although Raspberry Beret had first been recorded in 1982 (it was re-recorded in September 1984). Pop Life was the first new recording for the album, recorded in February 1984.
Around The World In A Day was demoed (by David Coleman, with no input by Prince) in June 1984, and recorded by Prince in August 1984. America was recorded in July 1984, Raspberry Beret, Tamborine and Paisley Park in September 1984. Condition Of The Heart and The Ladder followed in October 1984, initially tracked during rehearsals for the Purple Rain Tour. Temptation was recorded in December 1984, marking both the final track on and recorded for the album.
Four of the album’s nine tracks - Paisley Park, Condition Of The Heart, Tamborine and Temptation - are essentially solo performances by Prince, often containing background vocals by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, and other occasional musical embellishments by others.
America is a full-band performance, edited down from a longer version later released on the America 12" single, Around The World In A Day Pop Life and The Ladder are also band performances.
Promotion
The album produced four commercially-released singles, Raspberry Beret, Paisley Park (in Europe, Australia and Japan only), Pop Life and America, although no single was released prior to the album, as an artistic statement by Prince following the huge commercialism of Purple Rain.
There was no tour to support the album, although a few songs from the album had been previewed on the Purple Rain Tour, which ended just two weeks prior to the album’s release.
Charts
The album reached number 1 on the US Billboard Top Pop Albums Chart, and number 4 on the Billboard Top Black Albums Chart.
Certifications
It was certified Gold/Platinum/Multi-platinum on July 2nd 1985 by the RIAA, indicating 2,000,000 copies shipped in the USA. It was also certified Silver/Gold by the BPI on April 22nd 1985, indicating 100,000 copies shipped in the UK.
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1984: Purple Rain ◄
