Parade is
Prince And The Revolution's third and final album. It's also Prince's
eight and also doubles as the soundtrack album to the motion picture
Under The Cherry Moon. After
the Revolution's dayglo psychedelic experimentation on the Around
The World In A Day album, Prince
took a step back in terms of excessive arrangements. Parade
is Prince's minimalist funk album. The album went platinum in the US,
was a top five album and made many critic lists' Album Of The Year.
The album also spawned three great singles - the masterpiece “Kiss”,
the lightly psychedelic pop of “Mountains” and the more r&b
flavored “Anotherloverholenyohead”.
The
album is unsuspectingly a heavy listen while simultaneously a light,
minimal affair. The album starts with the triumvirate of “Christopher
Tracy's Parade” (which was originally titled “Wendy's Parade”
and is the name of Prince's character in Under The Cherry
Moon as well as his pseudonym
for “Manic Monday”), “New Position” (a sexy double entendre)
and “I Wonder You” (a psychedelic offering with lead vocals by
keyboardist Lisa Coleman). “Do U Lie?”, “Venus De Milo” the
title track are all cut from a similar light jazzy pop cloth.
“Sometimes It Snows In April” is arguably Prince's greatest
ballad and given his untimely death being in April, it now carries
and additional weight. The funky “Girls & Boys” was a UK-only
single and reached #11 there.
The
album, as well as Prince's entire Warner Brothers discography is more
than overdue for a proper remastering and reissuing. And if that ever
happens, the outtake “An Honest Man” and the B-Sides “Love or
Money” and “Alexa de Paris” are begging to be included in said
reissue. Parade is an
unsuspectingly pleasant, welcome and understated addition to his
wonderful catalog. Although Parade ended up being de facto final
album by The Revolution, they did record one more. Dream
Factory was a double album and
eventually morphed into the brilliant 1987 Prince solo album Sign O
The Times.
Parade is a highly
recommended album.
Here's The Video Review:
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