coldasice said:

I think the first few songs on Parade sound rushed because he played them pretty much through track by track alone.

that's the thing that gets me, it's not that i feel it's rushed, it's just exhilerating hearing all that creativity without pause. Lovesexy is kinda the same way.

SoulAlive said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

lol I remember this...
Parade was the problem. Prince starring alone as he did in Under the Cherry Moon was...

how long did the recording of Lovesexy take?

I think Parade is a great album but I do agree that some of it sounds rushed.The first four songs sound like unfinished demos to me.

I'd say half of P's discography sounds like unfinished demos. Only that was the genius of it.

OldFriends4Sale said:

DMSR said:

I was talking about it with a friend today. I think as Im remembering now, it might have been someone else like Jimmy Jam. But I'll dig for it!

saying he rushed an album isn't a diss... Prince admitted to rushing a lot of albums and periods.
But it was Parade that he felt he rushed... Now Lovesexy was the real rush but...

.

I also read that when Prince was under contract with WB, he would just rush the material just to get it out there and finish up his contract, because he wanted to break free from WB. I got the impression from Prince that he was not very satisified with some of his material he put out in early-mid 90s.

databank said:

SoulAlive said:

I think Parade is a great album but I do agree that some of it sounds rushed.The first four songs sound like unfinished demos to me.

I'd say half of P's discography sounds like unfinished demos. Only that was the genius of it.

Make your case please.

PliablyPurple said:

There's nothing that I would want to see changed on Parade. Damn near perfect album.

agreed!

214 said:

databank said:

I'd say half of P's discography sounds like unfinished demos. Only that was the genius of it.

Make your case please.

I really didn't mean it as a criticism. Minimalist electrofunk. Rushed recording process. Rushed production. Had to go as fast as P's mind. Most acts will record 5 to 10 songs a year and spend a shitload of time on each. Hell Jam or Lewis once said MJ could spend an entire day mixing a percussion track and that during that time Prince would have recorded 2 full songs from scrach. Prince would record more than 100 songs every year. He would often make very flourished arrangements, with an incredible sense of details, but below those extra layers you can usually still feel the rush, particularly in his solo recordings (as opposed to band recordings).

databank said:

214 said:

Make your case please.

I really didn't mean it as a criticism. Minimalist electrofunk. Rushed recording process. Rushed production. Had to go as fast as P's mind. Most acts will record 5 to 10 songs a year and spend a shitload of time on each. Hell Jam or Lewis once said MJ could spend an entire day mixing a percussion track and that during that time Prince would have recorded 2 full songs from scrach. Prince would record more than 100 songs every year. He would often make very flourished arrangements, with an incredible sense of details, but below those extra layers you can usually still feel the rush, particularly in his solo recordings (as opposed to band recordings).

it's not bad, honestly, it's been said many times but a good song really shouldn't need very much in the way of arrangements. If it's not good with a vocal, an instrument and a song, nothing can help it really. that said, i'm sure the process varied for Prince as it does for any songwriter. I'm a songwriter and revisions usually help but they can also hurt. I was watching Springsteens docu on his album Born To Run, lots of scenes with him trying out string arrangements that just don't work, he was right to take them off the final product. That's where the producer comes in, he's the one who'll say if it's too much not enough whatever. Prince was his own self contained unit. He did a pretty good job at it for the most part. I thought Lovesexy was overproduced though, if an album can be said to be overproduced it's that one.

1) Prince changed his mind more than his underwear.

.

2) He was always in to what he was doing now and would often poo-poo past things just to deflect attantion from them and keep the discussion on his latest project.

.

3) He was also a contrary MF and would say things just to get a reaction.

.

Take it all with a pinch of salt, and don't think that any statement he made decades ago was definitive.

Dibblekins said:

DMSR said:

I have to post the pics, but the quote was from Jam and Prince said "I had sort of an FU attitude making it."

Prince said that about ATWIAD in 1985

THE ELECTRIFYING MOJO (1985)

MOJO: It's absolutely my favorite, without question. Tunes like "Around The World In A Day," "Paisley Park." What type of mood were you in when you recorded that album?

PRINCE: Yeah, I sorta had an f-you attitude, meaning that I was making something for myself and my fans. And the people who supported me through the years -- I wanted to give them something and it was like my mental letter. And those people are the ones who wrote me back, telling me that they felt what I was feeling. Record sales and things like that...it really doesn't matter, ya know. It keeps a roof over your head, and keeps money in all these folks' pockets that I got hangin' around here! (laughs) It basically stems from the music, and I'm just hoping that people understand that money is one thing but soul is another. That's all we're really trying to do, you know? Idon't know. I wouldn't mind if I just went broke, you know, 'cuz as long as I can play this type of thing and come here, ya know. There were a lot of people there tonight and they turned the lights on and I looked up...it brings tears to your eyes because it's just -- you can feel the love in the room, ya know? And that means more than money. I could just go on for hours...I don't know, I just have fun, and I'm thankful to be alive, ya know?

coldasice said:

I think the first few songs on Parade sound rushed because he played them pretty much through track by track alone.

He played the drums through track by track, and then the rest was worked out later

I don't think it sounds rushed. It flows perfectly.

cloveringold85 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

saying he rushed an album isn't a diss... Prince admitted to rushing a lot of albums and periods.
But it was Parade that he felt he rushed... Now Lovesexy was the real rush but...

.

I also read that when Prince was under contract with WB, he would just rush the material just to get it out there and finish up his contract, because he wanted to break free from WB. I got the impression from Prince that he was not very satisified with some of his material he put out in early-mid 90s.

Yes. I pull the interview, he pretty much said what you said around 1998

imprimis said:

SquirrelMeat said:

If memory serves it was Parade he dissed, in the 1990 Rolling Stones interview for GB. He said it was rushed and only really rated Kiss and Girls and Boys.

.

This is correct. I believe he faulted the album for having not 'enough funk' and too few hits.

.

The apparent candor of these remarks, however, was elicited by the flurry of rumors surrounding and unflattering expectations for the yet-to-be-released GB; it was only natural that the journalist would broach the topic of his last proper motion picture, UTCM, a spectacular commercial disaster.

.

He seems to be partially apologetic so as to intimate that similar issues would not plague his new film and related album.

.

But is this how he truly feels about the Parade album?

.

DMSR (the book) claimed that P was in literal tears/throwing things/etc. for days during the editing and post-production soundscape work, proclaiming to have been ashamed of how UTCM turned out.

.

[Edited 12/16/16 17:48pm]

Being a musician, following Purple Rain, he blamed the music instead of the movie. The movie would have been received well if it had a different story (meaning one that included band scenes)

Superstar musicians act well, when they are in their zone ie videos, albums, concerts
But not so well when they act 2 carry a movie. Prince wasn't ready to carry a movie. And his 'character' was so drastically different from who we've all known via 1978-1985 that it was too much for moviegoers.

If he cut out the Morris Day impressions, he character would have been liked more.

An artist/musician struggling to make it in France... classic.

everything was too much but you could see potential, at least i could. have to say, jerome was a natural as an actor.

OldFriends4Sale said:

DMSR said:

I have to post the pics, but the quote was from Jam and Prince said "I had sort of an FU attitude making it."

Prince said that about ATWIAD in 1985

THE ELECTRIFYING MOJO (1985)

MOJO: It's absolutely my favorite, without question. Tunes like "Around The World In A Day," "Paisley Park." What type of mood were you in when you recorded that album?

PRINCE: Yeah, I sorta had an f-you attitude, meaning that I was making something for myself and my fans. And the people who supported me through the years -- I wanted to give them something and it was like my mental letter. And those people are the ones who wrote me back, telling me that they felt what I was feeling. Record sales and things like that...it really doesn't matter, ya know. It keeps a roof over your head, and keeps money in all these folks' pockets that I got hangin' around here! (laughs) It basically stems from the music, and I'm just hoping that people understand that money is one thing but soul is another. That's all we're really trying to do, you know? Idon't know. I wouldn't mind if I just went broke, you know, 'cuz as long as I can play this type of thing and come here, ya know. There were a lot of people there tonight and they turned the lights on and I looked up...it brings tears to your eyes because it's just -- you can feel the love in the room, ya know? And that means more than money. I could just go on for hours...I don't know, I just have fun, and I'm thankful to be alive, ya know?

damn, then what was the quote about parade, shit. he did say something about "not being particularly proud" of parade.

ROLLING STONE (1990)

BY NEAL KARLEN

Film-speak is now part of his vocabulary; the first director Prince mentions he admires is Woody Allen, "because I like anyone who gets final cut." Movies have also worked their way into his philosophical references. "If you're making your moves in life because of money or pride," he says, "then you'll end up like that dude who got beat up on the grass at the end of Wall Street. He'd been wheeling and dealing, then oomph! That's what time it was."

He's been studying, he says, and learning from his own film failures. "I don't regret anything about Under the Cherry Moon," he says. "I learned that I can't direct what I didn't write."

NouveauDance said:

1) Prince changed his mind more than his underwear.

.

2) He was always in to what he was doing now and would often poo-poo past things just to deflect attantion from them and keep the discussion on his latest project.

.

3) He was also a contrary MF and would say things just to get a reaction.

.

Take it all with a pinch of salt, and don't think that any statement he made decades ago was definitive.

.

Yes, that pretty much sums it up, LOL

I know I'm in the minority around here, but I don't really like Parade. I think Prince's (!) criticisms of it are spot-on. To me it feels like half a great album and half unfinished. The songs aren't consistent enough. Half of them are forgettable (to me).

.

I've often wondered why a lot of Prince fans rate this recording so highly, and I think it might be because the album sounds different from the ones before it and after it. I mean, I agree the sound of it is fine. But I don't think the songs are strong, aside from the three or four obviously 'big ones'.

ThePanther said:

I know I'm in the minority around here, but I don't really like Parade. I think Prince's (!) criticisms of it are spot-on. To me it feels like half a great album and half unfinished. The songs aren't consistent enough. Half of them are forgettable (to me).

.

I've often wondered why a lot of Prince fans rate this recording so highly, and I think it might be because the album sounds different from the ones before it and after it. I mean, I agree the sound of it is fine. But I don't think the songs are strong, aside from the three or four obviously 'big ones'.

Plenty of monster funk on it and I loved the classical arrangements. You're not alone, Vainandy amongst others have said they didn't like the direction he took since purple rain. there isn't that much fat on this album, even songs i did not like at the time like sometimes it snows in april have lasted as fan favorites. Boys and Girls still is up there with anything he's done, anotherloverholenyohead is phenomenal, and I really don't get how anyone can say his bizarre experiments with european stuff (do u lie, under the cherry moon) can be called demos. i think out of prince's top tier stuff this is with any of his best albums, it really is.

PeteSilas said:

You're not alone, Vainandy amongst others have said they didn't like the direction he took since purple rain.

I'm not really saying that, however. Around the World in a Day and Sign O' The Times are in my top-3 Prince albums. But I don't really like Parade.

jcurley said:

Well no accounting foe Prince"s taste. Its his best album

Hell of an album.

Not the best.

muleFunk said:

jcurley said:

Well no accounting foe Prince"s taste. Its his best album

Hell of an album.

Not the best.

he was still bringing something new, his voice was becoming more distinctive and clearer with much better control. 1999 may have been his opus but his singing in his lower register left lots of room for improvement. I like just about all Prince's albums, as for best, depends what i've been listening to. As for what posterity will call his best? Probably either 1999,Purple Rain or SOTT but really, there are so many other albums that are pretty good too.

I like Parade album.

Now Around the World in a Day I have to admitted it took me awhile to like it because I wanted a Purple Rain II. But I appreciated it over the years and he bought the 60s into the 80s with that album.

He said the ATWIAD was rush because I believed he was ready to move on with the PR era.

ThePanther said:

ThePanther said:

I know I'm in the minority around here, but I don't really like Parade. I think Prince's (!) criticisms of it are spot-on. To me it feels like half a great album and half unfinished. The songs aren't consistent enough. Half of them are forgettable (to me).

.

I've often wondered why a lot of Prince fans rate this recording so highly, and I think it might be because the album sounds different from the ones before it and after it. I mean, I agree the sound of it is fine. But I don't think the songs are strong, aside from the three or four obviously 'big ones'.

It could be because he experimented it more by having more input from the Coleman and Melvoin family who encouraged Prince to explore more forms of music (not saying that they were the only ones who influence him to do music outside of funk so stay calm lol). He used more instruments and plus Claire Fisher's huge involvement ( I am suprised a few mention his heavily jazz influence among with Eric Leeds).

Yeah I agree the album seemed rush though.

SoulAlive said:

ThePanther said:

I know I'm in the minority around here, but I don't really like Parade. I think Prince's (!) criticisms of it are spot-on. To me it feels like half a great album and half unfinished. The songs aren't consistent enough. Half of them are forgettable (to me).

.

I've often wondered why a lot of Prince fans rate this recording so highly, and I think it might be because the album sounds different from the ones before it and after it. I mean, I agree the sound of it is fine. But I don't think the songs are strong, aside from the three or four obviously 'big ones'.

I like the album,but I think it feels a little unfocused....like he was trying to do too many things. [Edited 12/22/16 15:44pm]

maybe it's too focussed, in those years his creativity was just on full blast, it's hard to keep up with. One thing Vainandy criticized rightly was that Kiss gave radio listeners the wrong idea of what the rest of the album would be. If you study the music business, that's a no no. Kiss was different than everything else on the album, no classical arrangements, no french shit, just straight ahead funk. I guess fellas like andy didn't feel right dancing to accordians and oboes but the funk was there, it really was.

Parade (my fav prince album btw) kinda reminds me of Combat Rock by the Clash in that it's hugely cut down from the massive amount of tracks that were knocking about at the time. What you end up is an album with a few big singles (or, in this case one big single) mixed with a ton of stuff that sounds like halfway through side 5 of a sprawling opus, but all in 40 odd minutes. There are no big tentpole songs on Parade (bar Kiss of course) that hold the whole thing up for the casual listener, you're diving straight into the difficult stuff. I love it but it did take me a little while and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as their first or second Prince album.

You probably could create a more coherent double album using outtakes and the like but, well, then it wouldn't be Parade.