PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION Around The World In A Day (Warner Bros.)

by Richard C. Walls

Things aren’t necessarily what they seem to be. Ostensibly, this is Prince’s “psychedelic ’60s” record—the trippy cover and record label, the use of a few buzzwords, some flutes and exotic rhythms and melodies (mostly on the title cut) have prompted some critics to make references to Sgt. Pepper (?!)—but the few actual nods in that direction in the grooves tend to be more than psychedelic. Prince’s take on ’60s music is filtered thru the altering influence of late-’70s New Wave irony and eclecticism (only the best hooks will do) combined with hearty doses of fashion as freedom— this is music to expand your wardrobe, not your consciousness. Skipping past the psychedelic garnishments that are supposed to cue our reactions, we find here a rather conservative record, with both the explicit sex and the hard neo-funk mostly restrained in favor of pop melodicism and ambiguous utopianism—moral majoritarians will have to scan the lyrics extrahard to find the good parts. In short, it’s a record by someone who’s arrived at the top and intends to stay there.

THE HACK YOU’VE KNOWN FOR ALL THESE YEARS