Around The World In A Day – Deluxe Edition

Paddy
Oct 2
5 min read

Updated: Oct 3

CD 1: Around The World In A Day (2025 Remaster)

Around The World In A Day
Paisley Park
Condition Of The Heart
Raspberry Beret
Tamborine
America
Pop Life
The Ladder
Temptation

Bonus Track

10. America (12 Version)

CD 2: B-Sides & Bonus Tracks (2025 Remaster)

Raspberry Beret (New Mix) (a.k.a. Extended Remix)
She's Always In My Hair (7 Version)
She's Always In My Hair (New Mix)
Paisley Park (Remix)
Pop Life (Fresh Dance Mix)
Pop Life (Extended Version)
Hello (7 Version)
Hello (Fresh Dance Mix)
Girl (7 Version)
Girl (12 Version)
4 The Tears In Your Eyes (We Are The World Album Version)
4 The Tears In Your Eyes (The Hits/The B-Sides Version)

I think it’s fair to say that within the purple echo chamber there has been a good amount of disquiet around the content of the ATWIAD release. Primarily due to there being no vault / unreleased tracks. The last three Super Deluxe Editions have been special in terms of content by any reasonable reckoning, so this “only deluxe” edition has raised the collective eyebrow. Additionally based on previous recent experience this also precludes some live offering previously available or otherwise. This is perhaps not quite as odd in a way however because as we know this material only really appeared to any significant degree on the Parade tour – though a few recordings / videos of them popping out in the Purple Rain sets.... Temptation / Raspberry Beret on the piano or some insane America jam, well one can only imagine. Oh – and the 55 minute appearance with the “America” recording from Nice. Being who i am, just being able to see the blue floral paisley guitar on upscaled video would have been copacetic – but a niche digression. Shame too as Purple Rain got a bit of a knee jerk “Deluxe” release........ but that’s a matter for another article. In summary at least no live stuff sort of makes sense if you apply those rules – if there should even be any rules around the curation of releases. In terms of newly recorded material of the time with album coming out being pressed right up against the end of the Purple Rain tour there just wasn't a load of time he would have had significant opportunity to smash out tune after tune.

Indeed, podcast colleague and stat boss Chopin had a quick look at Duane Tudal's tomb and only found the following that would have chronological potential:

Miss Understood

For The tears in your eyes take 1

Traffic Jam (instrumental)

Paisley Park (new instrumental with the same name as the song)

She’s Always in my hair take 2

Tibet (instrumental)

The rest would be different mixes or songs that where outtakes for other projects. So, I am somewhat on the fence about this release but with a slight leaning towards my Princely avaricious instincts.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a bottom line here that is what i think fires the disappointment in what we irresistibly know. I'll come back to that...... The release itself. I'll say this, having listened to the remastered Paisley Park remix on Spotify i cannot wait for the remaster itself. Like Sign O The Times before it, Around The World In A Day’s original recording of the time was a little thin and tepid. I remember the morning sat in a coffee shop when i applied headphones, engaged noise cancelling and hit play for the SOTT remaster for the first time. Nearly fell off my seat it sounded so good. Fully expect to feel the same way about ATWIAD based on the excellent work there and the lead single as it were. I may be in a bit of a minority here as I'm not sure most people are quite as interested in the remaster elements but for me with a mind wandering to many a Prince playlist / mixture of his tracks having older recordings hitting a new sonic quality is always welcome. B-sides – we have heard them all to various levels of quality but i guess at least we will get the conspicuous by its album absence “She’s Always In My Hair” in its best sonic presentation yet which is some consolation.

The underlying fear for most of the people who would be reading an article like this is the possibility that the composition of such releases as part of the general strategy of the estate going forward is simply more cost effective. Is it better for the bottom line to re-release remastered albums and just package B-sides? Do you shift enough units so that the balance against the cost of putting the SDE’s together becomes fiscally moot? Is there a spreadsheet somewhere (there will be) that means the funky bean counters must think in those terms. Rock and a hard place as we obviously want the estate to thrive but with our more hardcore leaning want more than the casual who might just buy the album would settle for ? We tend to want unreleased material be it studio and / or live...... and of course why would we not crave that. Coming back to it..... In the end though there is that thing we know. There is a lot of stuff in that vault – and there must be periods of time between releases.

Fighting the reality of that chronologically with a lot of us, and the general Prince demographic age group, you really want to expedite this stuff and ram it into our voracious consciousness! So that, in the end is the realistic and rather less purely greedy pragmatic reality here. There is “logic” that can be applied to this feeling a little light in terms of what's on it – but do we want that logic? Does it have to be straight lines and perfect joints? Subjective to the max i suppose. Ultimately though – i, and i reckon most of we, cannot wait for this one all the same.

The album he was seemingly insane to make after the cosmic impact of Purple Rain. That was a train he could have ridden some more and given a lot of people, especially the more general record buying public as well as his hardcore what they wanted. He didn't do that though as he had to evolve, stretch, explore new genre leanings and simply shine like the self-driven innovative artist he was. I'll settle for knowing it was what i loved about him most that sits behind that if nothing else and enjoy this release for what it is. ......... and of course await the arrival of the Parade SDE! This will be followed by a podcast discussion soon.

Paddy x