Prince And The Revolution – Parade

Very Very good sounding pressing right here! Such a great overall album from the Man!

Found this album still sealed. This pressing sounds excellent. Prince was starting to reach an incredible height in his creative songwriting career! Then comes Sign O’ The Times! Wow!

His best album! Those transitions are out of this world!

Album Revolution #6:

You know, you would have thought that "Prince" would have wanted to rest after taking over the world with "Purple Rain, and "Around the World in a Day"....But this Man here decided not only to release "Parade", but also decided to do another "Motion Picture" in "Under The Cherry Moon"....The Movie is basically about a piano playing "Gigolo" who falls in love and changes his ways...I still watch the Movie from time to time, only to see my Boy, but let's be honest, it's not all that....

Now, I will say that "Parade" (along with "The Revolution": "Wendy", "Lisa", "Brownmark", "Dr, Fink" and "Bobby Z.") is THE BOMB!!!! It is very abstract, improving on the "Soul Psychedelic" sound from "Around The World In A Day"....

The beginning of the album is BRILLIANT to me, with the first 4 songs ("Christopher Tracy's Parade", "New Position", I Wonder U" and "Under The Cherry Moon") being weaved together (each being around 2 minutes or less)....."I Wonder U" even had star vocals from "Wendy" & "Lisa", and to me, I felt like that it was a new beginning....But that is not the case (I will explain in a bit)....

The next song in "Girls & Boys", has that "Soul Psychedelic" Groove, "French" style, with excellent Background Vocals by "Wendy", "Lisa", Sheila E. and "The Family" alum and "Wendy's" sister, "Susannah Melvoin" (who was also "Prince's" Fiancé at the time).....

"Life Can Be So Nice", improved on "Around The World In A Day's" "Tamborine", with "Bobby Z's" BEST performance on Drums, while "Sheila E." GETS DOWN on the Cowbells fiercely!!!!!

"Venus De Milo" and "Do U Lie?" also has that "French" style "Soul Psychedelic" Mood....

The last 4 songs to mention are the Ultimate Crown Jewels of the album....

"Mountains" (my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE on here!!!!), is a straight up t, which includes the extended of "The Revolution" ("Eric Leeds", Saxophone, " Atlanta Bliss", Trumpet, and "Miko Weaver", Guitar).....

"Kiss", the MEGA, MEGA #1 HIT (featuring "Brownmark's" other band, "Mazarati"), with Air Drums and Guitar by "Wendy", Priceless!!!!!

"Anotherloverholenyohead" is another straight up t, with background vocals by "Susannah" and Guitar by "Miko".....

Then there's "Sometime's It Snows in April"....It was a somber song, with much to say (even though it only had an Acoustic Guitar and Vocals)....

As terrific as this album was, it PUZZLED me that this was the last album with "The Revolution"....I don't know why "Prince" made that decision, but we know how he was, he did whatever he wanted to do....With that being said though, this was just the beginning, and after this, things would become very, very, very interesting!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, and this is a Prince Classic!!!!

PS: 6/28/2024: Just like with "Around the World in a Day", I will have some FUN and CREATE MY OWN "Parade" Package, with the album, and the 12 inches:

"Kiss"/"♥ Or $"
"Mountains"/"Alexa De Paris"
"Anotherloverholenyohead/ and my own version of "Girls & Boys"

I will do my BEST to make it HAPPEN!!!

Great songs, fantastic sound. One of the best sounding records I own.

Chiefly acting as the soundtrack to his second film “Under the Cherry Moon” released in 1986, “Parade” was the eighth studio album by Prince, whose slick yet fulsome new look and affected pose beautified the aptly artistic cover shot. Prince shed every lingering vestige of his previous image, with his bold transformation denoting a permutation in of his identity and aesthetic. He not only assimilated the French atmosphere of the film, he opted to cross impeccable songcraft with increasingly inventive and infelicitously unproved arrangements and production. And despite marking the last instance of the Revolution providing input and live interpretation as Prince’s accredited backing band, the album is not conspicuously tinged with finality, even if it does feature a greater proportion of ornate and plaintive compositions than any other in the Prince canon, by now defined by specific imagery and motifs, namely heavy guitars and electro-infused funk forms. Whilst “Parade” is a deliberate stylistic departure from its predecessors in that the material is replete with stark orchestrations and conversely suggestive, eccentric and sentimental lyrics, Prince does retain his trademark religious and sexual metaphors, though from a decidedly aggressive and even romantic perspective. Prince was primed for even further metamorphosis, having been creatively dissatisfied and universally expected to duplicate what had made “Purple Rain” such a blockbuster. Predictably, he struggled to recapture that success, although he did finally manage to balance self-indulgence with commercial viability as he had done before, triggering off his next chapter, not as a purple-coated guitar god, but as an artist intent on making the transition from pop star to innovative musician.

Subsequent to the relative commercial disappointment of “Around the World in a Day”, Prince experienced decreasing sales in the U.S. and his targeting of Europe as a potential new audience generated greater success on an international scale, with the album entering the top ten in 11 countries. Having taken a poorly-received left-turn into neo-psychedelia style on “Around the World in a Day”, Prince was undeterred and his repertoire and profile underwent another series of microevolutions. Doubling down on his signature sound to further lean into his experimental side, Prince would nevertheless refrain from the intemperance and introversion so many accused “Around the in a Day” of falling victim to. If “Purple Rain” remains his most stunning, representative and consistent collection of tunes, where does “Around the World in a Day” and “Parade” stand in of legacy? Both are widely considered to be guitar-and-horn-laden stepping stones towards his R&B landmark “Sign ‘O’ The Times” - which won back the black audience he had supposedly abandoned - but I would venture to suggest that since “Parade” was originally intended to be a double album, this is not the case. The value and refinement of “Parade” has gone largely unnoticed since its release as a soundtrack rather the fleshed-out concept it was supposed to be, and therein lies the problem. Instead of daring to precede the double album format, Prince opted to recapture the theatrical tie-in popularity of “Purple Rain”, as he would with "Batman" three years later. “Under the Cherry Moon” was promptly derided with regards to critical reception; it did not meet expectations of audiences who wanted a spiritual sequel to “Purple Rain”, not the homage to the jazz age and Hollywood’s silent era that Prince had conceived of. ittedly, not many soundtracks, if any, can compete with the majesty of “Purple Rain”, but “Parade” has the distinct advantage of being the most irrevocably linked to the themes of the film it scores, incorporating a litany of disparate elements in a pop context that as enchantingly eccentric, satisfyingly spare and European-affected. And fortunately, it works - even more so when heard outside of its “Under the Cherry Moon” trappings. From the groovy, minimalist “Kiss,” funky, intricate “Mountains,” “New Position,” and “Girls & Boys”, baroque, upfront “Anotherloverholenyohead”, to the soulful, elegiac “Christopher Tracy’s Parade” and “Sometimes It Snows In April”, a dizzying mix of manifold musical territories is absorbed cohesively, flowing smoothly and forming a surprisingly subtle, cogent whole.

Prince adopted many new methods of performance and technique with “Parade”, thus reinstating his heavy rotation status on MTV after the undeservedly maligned “Around the World in a Day” and restoring his creative and commercial strengths. Containing some of Prince's freshest '80s material, not least the stripped-back smash hit first single “Kiss” - causing the inevitable diminishing returns when its follow-ups, despite being equally catchy, did not strike the same chord with consumers - “Parade” is a well-sequenced and expertly crafted record full of hidden gems waiting to be discovered by those willing to embrace its idiosyncrasies. Though the intention was to prepare listeners for the playfulness, funk minimalism and diversity of the album, releasing “Kiss” before the less accessible and immediate potential singles was the veritable kiss of death to the album’s chances of prolonged success. In retrospect, “Girls & Boys” should have been released as the lead single before “Kiss”, but hindsight is wonderful thing. Its botched promotion strategy would garner “Kiss” most of the accolades and lasting reverence, but “Parade” remains in its entirety an endlessly replayable and riveting romp, bookended by the shimmering melancholy of “Christopher Tracy’s Parade” and “Sometimes It Snows In April”, the latter of which has taken on a new significance in the wake of Prince’s tragic ing in April 2016.

Rating: 5/5

Track 4 on side 1 skips on all the 2016 reissues. Badly pressed.

How about the sound quality of this Specialty Records Corporation
pressing? Worth it?