Classic Album Of The Day: Prince "Around The World In A Day" How to follow up a career benchmark album, movie and live tour like 'Purple Rain'? Who the hell knows? Prince was wise enough to know you don't try to replicate that kind of success with a 'Purple Rain' sound-a-like. Besides, none of his first eight or nine albums ever sounded exactly like the one before it. Every album in that first decade evolved in sound and vision. Similarly, 'Around The World In A Day' musically went psychedelically left. Still masterful and eclectic, if a tiny bit harder to embrace immediately. Not thematic except perhaps musically, it's a collection of lyrically diverse gems that work well together nonetheless, as life lessons learned from the superstardom he had achieved. He has explained that 'Paisley Park' was about striving to find the perfection we all have within ourselves - even if attaining perfection is impossible. For him the goal of trying for perfection was what mattered. A message he must've understood and believed much more deeply after the supersonic success of 'Purple Rain'. If you've never heard it, 'Around The World' sounded strangely familiar and yet equally strangely off-putting when it was released with no fanfare (and you thought Bey did it first) and no single in April of 1985. The album opened with a psychedelic pop-funk feel on side one that immediately drew listeners in, only to then challenge their expectations on side two with a set of tracks that were less easily referenced or even understood. A month after the album appeared 'Raspberry Beret' was released as the first single, 'Pop Life' the second, and 'America' third. At this point Prince could write a whole album of near genius level radio ready hit singles but that would be boring. He likes to keep us guessing, and thinking so the first two singles were respectable Top Forty hits that help sell the album in multi millions of units. The rest of the set revolved around head scratching joints that resonated only after repeated listens. But once they sunk in the magic of Prince never failed to captivate our hearts and minds. Top tracks: the whole damn thang... #BBSCAOTD