sosgemini said:

It also pretty much goes without saying that even though W&L wrote the tracks that Prince would have been very particular about how things were played and produced in the studio. I sincerely doubt that W&L handed him fully fleshed out, retail ready productions that P just did the voice over on... Look how different a song like Kiss sounded from demo to finished album.

Have W&L ever performed Sometimes It Snows In April live? I'm thinking they didn't given how similar it would sound to The Life when played by them...plus the lyrics don't really fit their act, out of context etc...

sosgemini said:

Well, SOTT disc 1 after Dorothy Parker has Slow Love, Hot Thing and Forever In My Life. Disc 2 after ICNTTPOYM has The Cross and Adore.

I love Parade, it has a special place in my heart, but Different Strokes or not, it is hard to argue it is his best when there's 1999, Purple Rain and SOTT in the catalog. Parade is arguably Prince's most whimsical 80's album. It's top notch whimsical but there's no ignoring it takes four (admittedly wonderfull little) tracks to arrive to a full-fledged, complete Prince song. Side two (on the vinyl) is rock solid though.

GREAT album. A wonderful reflection of Prince as an artist.

Nasalhair said:

So do you not like "The Cross" or "Adore"

or "Starfish and Coffee" or "Forever in My Life" ????

Just wondering....

I think Mountains sounds like Princes lyrics.

Once upon a time in a land called Fantasy...

And love will always leave you lonely...

calldapplwondery83 said:

Well that's a brand new story that no one but you has seemed to have heard before. It's been documented a lot that they had the music done, Prince liked it, slowed it down a bit then added the lyrics. Go read the Vault.

Oh I forgot, this is my favorite Prince album by far!

Aerogram said:

im not arguing that. im not arguing anything..expecially individuals personal opinions.

sosgemini said:

I contend that my opinion is better.

pepper7 said:

"The Cross" - good live, crap in the studio.
"Adore" - never liked it at all (said this time and time again.)
"Starfish and Coffee" - yes I like this one - forgot about it.
"Forever in my Live" - turgid shit.

Aerogram said:

Ha ha ha - very funny. Good to hear you don't think other people can have their own opinions and say what they feel.

Aerogram said:

What I like the most about Parade is that it is so varied. The opening four trac sequence is nothing short of stunning but when you look at the rest of it you have such variety, from the balladeering of "UTCM" and "SISIA" to the funk of "Girls & Boys" and "Anotherlover...", through the instrumental "Venus di Milo" and the bizarre "I Wonder U" which still sends shivers down my spine to this day.

Don't get me wrong, I love "Purple Rain" to bits (after all it is the album that got me into Prince in the first place), and I like most of "SOTT" (see previous comment), but I've never liked the "1999" album at all (overlong, repetitive, mechanical, dull.) My favourite P albums are "Parade", "Black", "ATWIAD", "Purple Rain" and most of "SOTT" - from "Lovesexy" onwards though it was all downhill.

My opinion only. Don't slate me for it.

Nasalhair said:

Don't tell me you also have hair in your eyes. Where do I say you are not entitled to your opinion? I said it was "hard to argue" and I stand by that.

Aerogram said:

Sorry but, while I think SOTT is a really great album (and don't think nearly as bad of it as the poster above), I also prefer Parade.

Otoh, is my personal favorite of his.

Nasalhair said:

I don't "slate" you for it. I love Parade too! I simply said why I think it's not Prince's best album. Basically, I challenged your opinion with my opinion, which is what we're supposed to be doing.

Have a great day.

Aerogram said:

why do i even try? you always end up winning in the end. touche.

Aerogram said:

pepper7 said:

I think that "Parade" is generally overrated. It is the weakest album from what some people see as Prince's "golden period" ('82-'88) imo.

The album has 3 absolutely brilliant tunes (Kiss, G&B, SISIA), some very good ones (Mountains, Anotherlover...), some nice ones (New Position, UTCM) and some forgettable filler. Moreover, it has the weakest opening (in terms of track compilation) of any Prince album (the first 4 tracks) besides "Rave un2 the joy fantastic".

Let's face it, people, without "Kiss" this album would have been a complete commercial disaster.

Just my two cents... You see, not everyone loves it.

And, to top it, I think much of his 90's work is superior to "Parade".

yes, but this album took a long time to grow on me.

it sure is an underrated album, man it is one of my favorite prince albums of all times it's in my top 10 of prince albums. the sound and style that year in 86' was different from your normal prince album. he had that paris sound in his music like he studied their sound and style of music that album was and still is one of his greatest!

Nasalhair said:

Looks like it went screwy on me (or I went screwy on it.) Retry...

With respect I was responding to your comment of "Maybe you've got hair in your ears too, then" and also your response to somebody else (SOSGemini) in which you said "I contend that my opinion is better". My comments here were just me saying this is my opinion, I have a right to have an opinion, and we can't all like the same thing because then life would be very boring and we'd all be drones. If I don't like certain songs, fine, but stupid remarks purely directed at somebody's login name such as the one you directed at me are just petty and juvenile.

I've posted about this album many times.
If I had to pick one that's my fave of P it would be Parade.I never tire of it.
It's so eclectic, rich, funky, etc it's the culmination of everything he had done before and then some. The b-sides/remixes/extended mixes are top notch as well.
My personal golden period of Prince is ATWIAD, Parade, Dream Factory, Black Album, Lovesexy.
But If I could only have one, it would be Parade.
I even like watching UTCM because of all the music from Parade. That saying a lot.

pepper7 said:

"Parade" is a great album. I think that the mixture of songs makes it great. "Sometimes it Snows in April" has become a timeless song even though when it was featured in UTCM it was not really appreciated at that time.Oh! the album cover is also unique .

Nasalhair said:

Dear Nasalhair,

With a username as irreverent as yours, I did not think you'd be offended by my pun on it. As for "my opinion is better", that was also facetious as indicated by the emoticon.

Can we just agree Parade is a great album?

Bfunkthe1 said:

Yep I think the film is also great but mainly Prince doing his trippy romantic poetry that seems to spill from his tongue.

I really like his acting too but I think the story line would have been better if it was unrequited love !

I love the video to "Girls and Boys" and "Mountains". They're so full of humour and Prince truly steals the show.

He's a joy to watch and is really captivating.

Blimey, I'm gushing now....

Prince, Prince, Prince,...blah, blah, blah....

WonderU said:

I don't know where I got that from, but I'm defintely not making this up. If I stumble across it again, I let you know. Which doesn't mean that I don't believe you.

calldapplwondery83 said:

It doesn't mean I don't believe you either Let us know if you find it.

EmancipationLover said:

First off Parade is easily one of Prince's greatest works - It sounds like the work of an artist who was at the top of his creative confidence, he was peerless when he released this - who else who have dared yet the very fact it has gems like New Position, Girls and Boys, AnotherLover, Sometimes it snows, kiss, Mountains and i wonder U makes it an artistic success. It also has the much overlooked Life Can be So nice which IMO is really funky.

It is an album that is iconic both in look and sound and I have to say it means more to some of us cos we were actually there buying it in the month it came out or watching him perform it live.

Fnally there is nothing in his 90s works to come close to Parade, sure there were very good moments (Gold Experience) but they became less frequent as the 90s wore on and certainly if the majority of fans were honest the instances of anti climax after an album was released was certinly more regular after 1993 than ever before - If 1999 to SOTT were his Golden period then Emancipation to Rave were possibly his plastic period

Sorry about the rant

It's not often you see Parade under-rated, it has it's fair share of critics, but there's usually an agenda behind the distain (Revolution biting, dislike of post-Purple Rain Prince, "too white", etc, etc).

IMO Parade is the pinacle of Prince's official output. It's not my most favourite album, not even the 2nd, but I think this album is the Zenith of Prince's 'in the zone' period.

I know SOTT usually holds that title, but I find Parade far more enjoyable - it's Prince stretching out, playing, having fun, trying different things, really taking advantage of his talents, and the talents of those around him, and trying to create something different and fresh. By SOTT, I think he'd found what he wanted, and he just pulled out the best example he could of everything he could do, with Parade he was still discovering things, playing around, having adventures with new ideas. I like Controversy over 1999 for the same reason - It's the predecessor to a perfect opus, and in that moment before, you can see the genesis of ideas and artistic adventure that had been used to get to something like 1999/SOTT.

I've always been in awe of the story of him going in and laying down the first 4 tracks on the LP, in sequence, instrument by instrument - it's an amazing image of how the guy worked and how easy this great music seemed to come at that time.

Parade is cohesive, yet every track is different, it's like a suite or a mini-musical, fitting as a soundtrack.

'Do U Lie' is Prince at his most light-hearted and care-free, 'Life Can Be So Nice' is exhuberant and energetic, and very dense sounding - there's things in that track that make it sound a mess, but if you get into it, you hear things burried down that make it a real favourite.

Girls & Boys and New Position are funky, Sometimes It Snows is genuinely emotional in a non-sexual sense (not something we see Prince do very often), Mountains is the Revolution at it's borderless/genre-less finest.

I rank it probably #4 in my personal top #5 Prince albums, but Parade is the pinacle of Prince's official artistic output IMO, it was really like nothing before, save maybe the Family album, which I see as a kind of test run for the kind of sounds, texttures, ideas and themes Prince wanted to explore then.
[Edited 1/9/06 17:08pm]