One of my favorite albums.
I saw the movie first, but having heard the album before watching it today is something else. I've picked up different things that I never really noticed before.

Everyone can say that the sound of this album is unlike any other one that he's ever done. I've also heard that the album is somewhat a "prep" for the masterpiece "Sign O' the Times" album. At this time, he was very prolific and this was just before he reached his peak at that next album.

I've thought of this as the ultimate "pick-up-me" album because the majority of the songs are a lot of fun and make me smile. But there's sadness sprinkled in just when you're getting used to the carefree vibe.

One of the most interesting things to me is the assortment of instruments Prince (and Wendy & Lisa with the rest of the Revolution) used to make the music sound so unique. The bass, the assortment of drums, the use of flute and the basic acoustic vibe throughout. Really no electric guitar at all and that's one of Prince's signatures. But in many people, he's made piano sound just as elegant and beautiful as any guitar.

As I listened, I came up with some questions as I went by certain tracks.

*Did he have any idea that this would be the soundtrack for a film when he wrote it?
*Does he sometimes see his own life as a parade? (hence the first track)
*Did he wrote "Under the Cherry Moon" knowing of Christopher Tracy's fate?
*What did he have in mind when he wrote "Venus de Milo"? Was it meant as a follow-up to melacholy "Under the Cherry Moon" or was it to foreshadow the last song?
*Was the tile of Anotherloverholenyohead meant to foreshadow Christopher Tracy's death or was it something completely different?
*When he wrote "Sometimes it snows in April", did he have the movie in mind? Was this Prince laying a piece of himself to rest? Possibly his past?

Anyone who knows a little of the history behind the album, feel free to post it.
I feel like I know so little about it even though I'm very familar with the songs.

I just noticed as I was listening that the songs are very short for the majority of the album, but each piece feels like its just long enough. But some feel like they should have more to them. (I know longer versions of Mountains, Anotherloverholenyohead and Kiss exist).

I can't help but appreciate Parade and start this thread for it. After, the album is just as old as I am

It must be that time of the month...I can talk about this album for days. A wonderful time to be a Prince fan.

I love this album and feel that the entire Parade/Utcm was his best era.
I remember reading that Prince thought that Parade was one of his weakest albums, he said something about wishing he had taken more time with it, and I was surprised at that. I also think that anotherloverholeinyohead was meant as a message to Mary Sharon, because she was supposed to marry another man and Christopher was saying she didn't NEED another lover
I think he DID write Under the Cherry moon with Chris's death in mind at the end.
[Edited 10/26/07 17:31pm]

love love love this album. its really good. I was really surprised when I head Christopher Tracy's Parade and Venus De Milo... and Sometimes it Snows in April. I loved those songs, and I was surprised at the same time. Great album.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

[Edited 10/26/07 17:23pm]

When I first heard "Sometimes it snows in April" I thought it was about two gay men that had been lovers, and one of them had died, so the survivors was singing this song about his lost love. Listen to the song again with this in mind, it's not as weird as it sounds.

wlcm2thdwn said:

Really? Someone did say that he said that he was disappointed with the album and wanted to come up with a better album (voila Sign O' the Times)

Seems to me there was so much good music here that he had to edit and cut down a lot of them just to fight them all on the album. I think a lot of them are good just the way they are with the length. But with some, I wish he had made them a little longer.
Venus de Milo has a certain something... I can't put my finger on it. It feels like a sad track, probably because they play it just before they kill him off in the movie But I think that and Under the Cherry Moon could be longer, even though UTCM does do its job and explain exactly what he's trying to say.

The two songs, I wonder U and Under the Cherry Moon, have a mystifying vibe that's almost hypnotic. Prince is the type of guy that makes me say "I Wonder U" a lot (and I'm sure I'm not the only one)... then UTCM is a little eerie, what he's singing about and its melancholy nature, but thats just what makes it good.

I listen to "Parade" feeling it's date, at the time it was released, as an album that has an ageless feel but not as ahead of it's time, as "1999" or "Purple Rain." I love it.

wlcm2thdwn said:

That doesn't sound weird to me at all. I always thought "Sometimes It Snows In April" had to do with the AIDS epidemic. At what other time in recent history (certainly in our time) have so many young people died in the "Spring" of their life.

Also, on a sad note, I had a very good friend (Tom DiPierro for those of you who remember AIRWAVE RECORDS) who was battling AIDS when that song came out, and of course as things went back then, he soon passed away. But yeah, I always felt that song had to do with the AIDS epidemic. Because, sometimes it snows in April.

"Tom" died soon after a long fought civil war,
Just after 'd wiped away his last tear
guess he's better off than he was before,
A whole lot better off than the fools he left here

Some of the music from this era is among his most amazing. I can't deny that and doubt many others will.

My favorite all-around song from this era isn't on the Parade album, but it was in the movie

"Alexa de Paris" [and I'd like to thank the person who gave it to me among a bunch of other B-sides from the 80's... it's a jewel in my harddrive collection]

There aren't enough words in the dictionary to say how amazing that song is. There are no words, but it feels like beautiful poetry on guitar. If I'm not mistaken, this was the only Parade era song that had any electric guitar.
well, that is what Prince does best.

In the songs that are the most fun, they have a sense of... they feel very "free" and spirited.

Moutains and Anotherloverholenyohead are my 2 favorites on the album because I just can't restrict them headphones half the time. I gotta blast them

"Girls and Boys" & "Life can be so nice" are 2 of my other favorites because of their fun nature. "Life" has catchy flute and "Girls and Boys" has some sweet Prince vocals that kinda knock me off my feet

The album has its moments, though I haven't been listening to it in ages.
Some of the stuff is complete filler (I Wonder U ), but it does have its share of great songs too (stuff like Kiss and Girls & Boys).
I've always liked the album cover. I recently got a still sealed copy of Parade on picture dics, and the cover shot looks even cooler on that

(couldn't find a picture of the front, so y'all have to settle for the backside )

FuNkeNsteiN said:

the backside

I've always like the backside more...No pun intended.

This is still my favorite Prince album!

Taurus said:

I like Girls & Boys My fav!

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

There's obviously electric guitar from the very first note on 'Kiss'. Other songs with electric guitar included 'Mountains, 'Anotherloverholenyohead', 'Love Or Money' and 'Junk Music'.

NastradumasKid said:

it always makes me dance

Parade/UTCM both rock

Dundundundundundundundadundun...da-dum...dun-dun-dun..."Howwwwh!"

The whirlwind that's "Christopher Tracy's Parade". I love that album.

Next up was funk time, totally innovative, fresh-sounding, "New Position".

"I Wonder U", "UTCM", "Girls & Boys". He hasn't done, an album, like this, in 21 years.

Ah, well...

I was actually in love with this album b4 I bcame a hardcore Prince junkie!!!!

One summer I used to pick that cd up everyday and listen to on my old computer while playing solitaire {I didn't have the internet during that time} so that album helped pass time.
I've "Never" stopped loving it since!

As 4 Under The Cherry Moon- I love u baby, i love u so much!

FuNkeNsteiN said:

I'MA ENVIOUS

thanks for posting, way cool.
never woulda known it existed.

Of the many Prince playlists I have, there is only ONE album that is such an experience I keep a specialised playlist. Actually, I kinda got two; one with the re-cut album plus all the b-sides, edits and extended versions, as I compiled them, including two outtakes;



Then, while I was at it, I threw in some Charade tracks as well, making it a Parade Experience;



PS I know Life Can Be So Nice is missing, but I kinda deleted it by mistake. I still got to rip it back onto my computer...
[Edited 10/27/07 7:51am]

IMO Parade is The Best Prince Album..Tour...Look...Ect !

Just listened through the album again.
I felt like I got little out of it (you can thank my roommate for blasting her own music).

But I mentioned to come up with this:

I'd like to know how this album came about. Was the movie in the works b4 its creation? Was it meant as a soundtrack or an album in itself?

Under the Cherry Moon is a subtle sadness about it, but there's something very appealing in it. I can't quite pinpoint what.

I was trying to isolate the album from the movie and see if Prince had a different vision in mind while he created Christopher Tracy that didnt go into the movie at all.

Sometimes it Snows in April, which I couldn't hear too well, actully came through. And it's very sad, but I still wonder what he was thinking when he wrote it. It's so mysterious. Christopher Tracy was a character he played onscreen. What it meant as a double-meaning (Tracy being his "gay "lover") or was he say good-bye to a piece of himself that he let surface just for the movie?

So many questions.

But Mountains is definitely the best track. haha... It automatically puts a smile on my face (I think its the bass, haha)... but I think the lyrics and the back-up vocals from Wendy & Lisa make it so free and joyous.

HamsterHuey said:

What does "newly tracked" mean?
[Edited 10/29/07 6:46am]

Tracks like Christopher Tracey's Parade have much in common with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (title similarities too) and that's probably due to the ensemble of a large number of instruments and patterns. I'd like to say cacophony but it's the opposite of that. Harmony out of chaos if you will.

I came up with this while listening to "Sometimes it Snows in April"

Parade is like an album resembling what life is... and also the aspect of death. But there's a lot of heart in that song. I can't help but wonder if he's referring to a piece of himself that he's laying to rest or something completely different.

And I think this is something definitely worth looking into. I think I've only just scratched the surface of the meaning (or the heart within) behind the album itself.

My favourite album of all time!

MartyMcFly said:

Yeah,
I know...
I only use that term whenever it's time for me to change my underwear.

This album is the only thing I still about Prints.

purplesweat said:

Does that mean that you own multiple copies?