What do you think of production work on Parade?

Do you think Parade sounds great or it could have been better?
i'm not talking about songs,i'm talking on production

i feel first 4 songs while great ,sound like
they are mixed in a hurry.
Cowbell is too loud on a second song for example
and too me album starts to sound much better with
the last few songs

like Girls and Boys,Mountains,Venus De Milo and Kiss

The cowbell is too loud FOR YOU, not for Prince.

We all know how the first four songs were done, and that in itself is unique and different from previous albums. There's a feel to the whole album. You can hear bar stools squeaking in "Sometimes It Snows In April". It's very "in your bedroom at night" but it works.

I agree that I think some of that 'rushed production' adds some appeal to the album. It kind of fits in with the arty/bohemian feel of that period.

It really wouldn't be what it is if it were any different.

Re - the cowbell.

I actually suggested that on a different thread, but for a different song on this album.

I think the cowbell really disrupts the flow of Life Can Be So Nice. It's just nuclear bomb loud and so unneccessary. I rather like the percussion on New Position. (Off memory, you may actually be referring to a steel drum & not an actual cowbell. I'd have to relisten).

Parade is probably my favorite Prince album. I think the string and horn arrangements are majestic, but they don't sit quite right in the mix in a few spots. Also, at times the song transitions are gimmicky. And while they ultimately work for the most part, a few are executed VERY poorly.

The effect of jumping from the raucous Life Can Be So Nice to the uber-delicate Venus de Milo is meant to be jarring, (like the end of Queen's song Sheer Heart Attack into All Dead on News of the World). But when listening closely, it just wasn't executed smoothly. It sounds/feels like a post production afterthought.

Overall, these are relatively minor quibbles, the album is a masterpiece.

Oh and Ernest , I agree. the squeaking in Sometimes It Snows is magic.
[Edited 9/28/09 19:28pm]

yes Fenwick you got it ,not cowbells,steel drums
bother me
its too loud in the mix and lots of great things are going on in the song "New Position " so it Steel drum sounds like somebody turned it up in the mix by mistake and never bother to correct the mistake

Personally...I think 'Parade' is P's BEST production job. Ever. And I don't think it's close.

And I'd HARDLY call the transitions gimmicky. They're perfect. The segues through the suite that opens the album flow like the Siene. And the french that introduces 'Do you Lie' is pure charm.

ernestsewell said:

The production on Parade is perfect.

Only a newb could ask such a quastion.. lol

How can 1 be a Prince fan and not love everything about the Parade album...?


Parade is fantastic, a work of art,

a shame the songs Girls & Boys, Mountains, Anotherloverholenyohead weren't big hits in the USA - and only minor hits in Europe too, I guess the world just didn't understood Prince's music, the same way the world didn't understood Lovesexy 2 years later.

From Dirty Mind..... up to Lovesexy.... these 9 albums are holy treassures to me.

Hello... I'm Come funkateer 'Danceelectric'
from Housequake.com

Fenwick said:

jackmitz said:

jackmitz said:

toejam said:

aiden said:

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[Edited 11/20/09 8:00am]

For me the production in Parade is excellent, the whole album just flows so smoothly. One of my favourite Prince albums definitely

I think it's a fairytale album. Promising from beginning to end. Smooth transitions in the first 4 yes but I like the later wake up calls and different flows which make it interesting. I never saw the movie but the cd is great piece of work. I like the whistley part in Life can be so nice, never noticed the cow bells. I'm not keen on the chord changes when he talks about the clarinet playing part. But I never really listened a lot to that track Though the music changes are great, it was a little bit busy for me.

TheEnglishGent said:

I think it's kind of an odd album because it sounds a lot better than SOTT and lot of the material after Lovesexy too.

It has, of all of his albums, one of the most distinct "sounds".

Parade is a masterpiece