An article in the What Goes On! section (page 30) of the March 2002 (100th edition) of Mojo magazine has Jill Scott waxing lyrical over Parade.

In the section 'Last Night A Record Changed My Life', musicians are invited to recount how a recording influenced them. The article, entitled Jill's Princely Pageant (How mid-80'2 Prince did it for Jill Scott) is based on a n interview with Lois Wilson.

Jill Scott comments: 'It's the clearest definition of creative freedom I have ever heard', 'It's a classic album and lyrically an inspiration', and 'I feel blessed just listening to this record' - so it's fair to say she likes it.

The article also includes Jill's recollection of her listening to the album repeatedly when she was 16, and is accompanied by a small photograph of herself, a large black and white still from Under The Cherry Moon (Prince and Jerome in garden with classic Venus de Milo type statue), and an inset summary of the album.

(Jill's recollection seems to be a little distorted when she says 'He switches Anotheloverholenyohead to a song like Do U Lie' - contrary to the running order of the album. I guess she was just getting carried away. The magazine's album summary also states that the 'personnel' are Prince, Wendy and Lisa - which seems a bit tough on the rest of the crew).

[Update:]
(Further to my submission earlier today regarding the Jill Scott article on Parade in Mojo, I attach below the full transcript. The URL for the edition of Mojo in which the article is featured is:

http://www.mojo4music.com...o100.shtml

but there is no reference online to the Jill Scott article curently. Anyway, here's the transcript:)

‘It’s the clearest definition of creative freedom I have ever heard. I was 16 and went to see the film Under The Cherry Moon and fell in love. The soundtrack went from rock to computerized blues to jazz to pop and classical. I grew up listening to jazz and blues, to Ella Fitzgerald and Hendrix and, sure, I loved Bach and Mozart. But prince came along and amalgamated them all. The writing was so descriptive and colourful. I used to stay up and listen to the album over and over again on headphones. When everyone else was outside playing and running on a Saturday afternoon, I’d be locked in my bedroom or sat on my porch listening to the LP, and I’d be immediately transported away from all the problems in my neighbourhood to the French Riviera, where the film was set.

Prince uses so many different vocal tones and that was a real beginning for me. His voice would change to accommodate the story, the lyrics – something I choose to do with my music. Any poet, singer, writer wants to live in the moment of each and every song and this is the method by which to do it. He switches Anotherloverholenyohead to a song like Do U Lie (sings), ‘When I lie awake at night in my boudoir’ and automatically the sun comes out, the rays shine through the window, the room becomes light. The track Christopher Tracey’s Parade taught me a new sense of rhythm. Using a computer he created a different heart rhythm. You don’t listen to that song, you fall inside it and become it. He added car sounds – I mean, who did that in those days? And he sings like he never planned a thing, like they play the music and he’s not sure how it’s going to go he just opens his mouth and starts to sing. It doesn’t feel rehearsed but fresh, full of life.

It’s a classic album and lyrically an inspiration. He’s capable of being a very personal writer but he’s also very skilled. When you listen to the music the picture is always clear, the imagination is provoked – that’s the kind of writer I want to be. Like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, he makes forever music.

The instrumentation is wonderful. He had a computer create the sound but didn’t falsify it by pretending it’s another instrument. He chose to play a computer as itself! His guitar – how he would go from being rock and out there and strong and immediately change the sound to sensitive and loving and soft – that is brilliance. I don’t know if the music was a genuine reflection of a part of his life or a fictional creation, but quite honestly I don’t care because I feel it regardless. I feel blessed just listening to this record.’