Wanted you guys to be the first to know

I'm making a 1 hour radio documentary about "Parade" to be aired on one of the biggest UK radio stations, XFM, in April. It's part of a series of documentaries called "25", where each monthly episode focuses on a classic album from 1986.

We're kicking off the series in January with Metallica's "Master Of Puppets". Other albums we're covering include "Licensed To Ill" by the Beastie Boys, "Black Celebration" by Depeche Mode, "Brotherhood" by New Order, "The Queen Is Dead" by The Smiths to name a few.

XFM airs on FM in London and Manchester, on digital radio across the rest of the UK, and can be listened to online worldwide via their website.

Obviously the key to making a great radio documentary is finding that balance between exploring the album in depth so that fans like ourselves will enjoy it, but without going so deep that you end up turning off casual listeners or people who know nothing about the album or Prince. I'm trying to hit that mid point dead on.

Don't have any other information to share at present, but, if there's anything in particular about the album that you guys would like to see covered, please do let me know and I'll take a note of it.

Thanks guys! I'm really excited about doing this, and I hope to make something that you all can enjoy! I'll be sure to keep this thread updated as we continue to work on it

^

Don't forget to mention the excellent B-sides and extended versions for Parade in your show...

imo

My favourite Album so I really look forward to what you might say about it.

but not trying to change the subject but why this one and not the more obvious choices of PR and SoTT???

Not that I'm crying over it as Parade is as close too perfect an Album as you can get>

jfrost said:

why this one and not the more obvious choices of PR and SoTT???

The series is called 25 and focuses on classic albums that were released 25 years ago - so, in 1986.

It won't be possible with every album, but we're also trying to air each episode as close to the original release date of each album as possible. Parade was released on March 31st 1986, so we are airing it in April.

Depeche Mode's "Black Celebration" was released on March 17th, so that'll be the March episode.

What about a brief Parade vs. Charade comparison?

Them so called outtakes are so amazing they're worth mentioning.

Good luck with your project and the new Swami album.

Hi,

Final album with The Revolution, Heavy involvement from other parties - Claire Fischer, The Melvoins etc... Soundtrack to UTCM, The Parade Tour after announcing live performing retirement with ATWIAD, Wembley etc.. The genesis of Kiss (Mazarati etc), Refusal to participate in We are the World at this time. The sacking of the director Mary Lambert from UTCM, the switch from Terence Stamp to Steven Berkoff for the role of Mary's father, Kristen Scott Thomas first leading lady movie role, His engagement to Suzannah Melvoin, The awesomeness of the Mountains extended version, the Anotherlover extended version....Ah such great music back then...Great, great era for Prince and one of my personal favourite albums. Good luck! Looking forward to hearing the doc!

Rhyging said:

What about a brief Parade vs. Charade comparison?

Them so called outtakes are so amazing they're worth mentioning.

Good luck with your project and the new Swami album.

I'd love to discuss B-Sides and Outtakes if at all possible. I very much doubt we'd be able to play any of them due to legal issues. But, no promises. XFM may want us to keep it only about the actual album itself rather than it's "era". They haven't been too strict with guidelines so far, but I'll let you guys know now that there's inevitably going to be things I want to cover but won't be able to. I want to make that very clear right now!

Years ago, I made a radio documentary about Tupac for the BBC. I gave a play-by-play to fans online whilst we were making it, and unfortunately a lot of stuff that I had mentioned to them while making it, wasn't included in the final edit and some fans were upset by that. That's a different scenario though, as the BBC has much tighter policies and guidelines than XFM does, and in that scenario I had absolutely no control over the final edit - I hosted it, scripted it, and did all the interviews, but they would not allow me to be involved in the editing process. In this instance, I'm co-producing and co-editing though, so hopefully history will not repeat itself.

It's a shame the album hasn't had a remaster or a deluxe package. Some of the albums we're covering in the series have had deluxe remasters that include demos, live stuff, etc, meaning that we're able to discuss them. I got hold of the deluxe remaster of Depeche Mode's "Black Celebration" just last night, and it includes an entire documentary DVD about the album which we can probably rip some audio clips from. It has a bonus disc of a live performance too. I have a feeling that with the Depeche one and a few others we'll have way more content than we can even use lol.

Thanks very much for the well wishes. The new Swami album is 90% complete and we're mixing and mastering in January. We all feel it's easily our best work to date and we hope for it to eclipse all of our past successes. I'm trying to make 2011 my best year yet across all of the projects i'm involved in

[Edited 12/31/10 11:02am]

This sounds like a great idea and I'm already really looking forward to this show!

I think it would be really worth mentioning the tour that went with the album. How different it was from the previous extravaganza that was the Purple Rain tour, and how he finally did a full-on world tour for the fans, with rave reviews everywhere he went.

good luck with that

sounds like a brilliant project

Sounds like a cool project!

I guess the big story you'd need to include is the story of how "Kiss" came about - Prince recorded a slow-blues demo with just him singing and playing guitar, gave it to Mazarati who then turned it into a fully produced 'pop' song, only to have Prince listen back to it and decide it was too good to give to someone else, so he reclaimed it (hence Mazarati's credit as 'co-arrangers' of the track).

I'd also talk about the use of Wendy & Lisa and Claire Fisher and their work on the album.

I can't decide if it would be a good or bad idea to include the fact that Prince himself referred to the album in '88 as a "disaster". That might be the single-most shocking thing I've ever heard the man say!

Can't wait to listen to this.

I'm curious of which angle you are going to take on the album, I can't think of another Prince album that has recieves/recieved such varying crititiques by fans or critics. Some think it's him in the midst of his creative peak, others say he was losing his edge with the neo-classicism and claire fischer strings. I personally always loved it but it was a further falloff in sales from ATWIAD and only years after it came out were people speaking of it with any reverence.

There was an article in SPIN magazine around the time that record came out titled "Black Narcissus" that I recall being very interesting. It talks about his mindset at the time, the state of the Revolution and the toubles he had with the film. Article tarts on page 44.

http://books.google.com/books?id=DFgfrF29bfgC&printsec=frontcover&rview=1&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

I also recall reading that Prince thought the album was "a mess" and lacked focus.

edit: Just re-read that artice and maybe that's not the one I was thinking of - though it's still a good read. There was one I read, maybe it ws Rolling Stone or something, that talked all about the movie and the making of the album that was published around the same time.

Look forward to your doco. Be sure to post a link

[Edited 1/1/11 13:47pm]

herb4 said:

There was an article in SPIN magazine around the time that record came out titled "Black Narcissus" that I recall being very interesting. It talks about his mindset at the time, the state of the Revolution and the toubles he had with the film. Article tarts on page 44.

http://books.google.com/books?id=DFgfrF29bfgC&printsec=frontcover&rview=1&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

I also recall reading that Prince thought the album was "a mess" and lacked focus.

yeah, that Spin article was in my mind when I wrote what I did, it was a take that some people still feel about Parade, our own Vainandy would agree with that article. I also remember him saying he had an "FU attitude" about the album, which I've always maintained meant nothing, artists are never the best critics of their own work. Elvis never understood that his best, most revolutionary work was done as a young man, he had no way of concieving why and how that could be true. Parade is a work of genius in my mind, from the album to the b sides to even the piano stuff in the movie, listening to honest man it still astounds me, you can hear jazz, bebop, a bit of classical stuff in it, this little masterpiece done by a guy who's best instrument isn't even the piano, just frustrating as a pianist myself.

I'm sure you'll do a fine job Militant. I've never heard the the first two demos of Kiss, so I'm interested in what you'll have to say about that. Best wishes!

Sounds great! can't wait to hear it ...and by the way how is your new album coming along? can't wait to hear that either

mozfonky said:

herb4 said:

There was an article in SPIN magazine around the time that record came out titled "Black Narcissus" that I recall being very interesting. It talks about his mindset at the time, the state of the Revolution and the toubles he had with the film. Article tarts on page 44.

http://books.google.com/books?id=DFgfrF29bfgC&printsec=frontcover&rview=1&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

I also recall reading that Prince thought the album was "a mess" and lacked focus.

yeah, that Spin article was in my mind when I wrote what I did, it was a take that some people still feel about Parade, our own Vainandy would agree with that article. I also remember him saying he had an "FU attitude" about the album, which I've always maintained meant nothing, artists are never the best critics of their own work. Elvis never understood that his best, most revolutionary work was done as a young man, he had no way of concieving why and how that could be true. Parade is a work of genius in my mind, from the album to the b sides to even the piano stuff in the movie, listening to honest man it still astounds me, you can hear jazz, bebop, a bit of classical stuff in it, this little masterpiece done by a guy who's best instrument isn't even the piano, just frustrating as a pianist myself.

The album that he said he had an "FU attitude" about was actually Around the World In A Day,and he said he was in that frame of mind because it would be an album 4 his most loyal and die hard fans, and not the ones jumping on the Purple Rain bandwagon, expecting a PR part 2. So the "FU" was 4 the fairweather fans, so 2 speak.

I've also heard about an article where he's quoted as saying "there's nothing on Parade that I'm particularly proud of..." I've been trying 2 find that article for ages cuz it's quoted alot, but I want 2 read it with my own eyes. Supposedly it's in an Ebony magazine article from 1986.

It was from this magazine right here. Great article, too!

Mindbells9 said:

mozfonky said:

yeah, that Spin article was in my mind when I wrote what I did, it was a take that some people still feel about Parade, our own Vainandy would agree with that article. I also remember him saying he had an "FU attitude" about the album, which I've always maintained meant nothing, artists are never the best critics of their own work. Elvis never understood that his best, most revolutionary work was done as a young man, he had no way of concieving why and how that could be true. Parade is a work of genius in my mind, from the album to the b sides to even the piano stuff in the movie, listening to honest man it still astounds me, you can hear jazz, bebop, a bit of classical stuff in it, this little masterpiece done by a guy who's best instrument isn't even the piano, just frustrating as a pianist myself.

The album that he said he had an "FU attitude" about was actually Around the World In A Day,and he said he was in that frame of mind because it would be an album 4 his most loyal and die hard fans, and not the ones jumping on the Purple Rain bandwagon, expecting a PR part 2. So the "FU" was 4 the fairweather fans, so 2 speak.

I've also heard about an article where he's quoted as saying "there's nothing on Parade that I'm particularly proud of..." I've been trying 2 find that article for ages cuz it's quoted alot, but I want 2 read it with my own eyes. Supposedly it's in an Ebony magazine article from 1986.

well, i believe it was in the Poplife bio, and the interview with a dj named the fabulous mojo was named. Unless the author got the quote confused, P was speaking of the parade album, not ATWIAD. I still have all the old interviews, the ebony one, the rolling stone one, the old prince bios.

I love XFM. So good to not have radio station that shoves endless pop and x factor garbage downm your throat.

looking forward to this!

My second favorite P album

bboy87 said:

My second favorite P album

What's your first favorite?

I'm anxious ot see this documentary. Frankly, I'd love to see a "Behind the Music"/"Rock Docs" sor tof thing on all of Prince's best records, especially the 80's run. I watched the Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Stones, Hendrix, Elton John and Rush VH1 specials that, as good as they were, only got me jonesing for an inside look at Parade, Sign O' The Times, or even ATWIAD.

Parade's a weird record, even weirder than "Around the World in A Day", probably because it feels like it's not intentionally trying to quite aim to be as intentionaly offbeat as that record was. I don't pull this disc out that much and when I do, it seems like always have a different favortie song on it. "Anotherloverholeinyohead" and "Girls N Boys" were the obvious attention grabbers on first listen , but then "New Position", "Mountains", "Kiss", "Life Can B So Nice", "Sometimes it Snows In April" or even "I Wonder U", could be the track that grabbed you THAT time around - and by that I mean that back then I generally had to listen to the whole record or cassette in order to experience it.

Sometimes even "Venus DeMilo" sounds like the standout track on Parade or "Alexis De Paris" feels like the greatest song left off any album ever since "She Always in my Hair" or "Days of Wild". Maybe that's my problem with it: Rarely am I in the mood for all those songs in that particular collection or in that order. Maybe that's why Prince thought it was a mess. I think it's basically 3 EP's:

the ballads: UTCM, Do You Lie, Sometimes it Snows, Venus

the funk: New Position, Anotherlover, G&B, Kiss

and the psychedelic: I Wonder U, Christopher Tracy's Parade, Mountains

Having ranted about all that, when you think about it, it's really one of the few Prince records that doesn't have an absolute clunker on it, unless you count "Do U Lie", which I really don't - at least not in the same context as "Wedding Feast", "Everybody Loves Me" or "Graffitti Bridge"

herb4 said:

bboy87 said:

My second favorite P album

What's your first favorite?

I'm anxious ot see this documentary. Frankly, I'd love to see a "Behind the Music"/"Rock Docs" sor tof thing on all of Prince's best records, especially the 80's run. I watched the Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Stones, Hendrix, Elton John and Rush VH1 specials that, as good as they were, only got me jonesing for an inside look at Parade, Sign O' The Times, or even ATWIAD.

Parade's a weird record, even weirder than "Around the World in A Day", probably because it feels like it's not intentionally trying to quite aim to be as intentionaly offbeat as that record was. I don't pull this disc out that much and when I do, it seems like always have a different favortie song on it. "Anotherloverholeinyohead" and "Girls N Boys" were the obvious attention grabbers on first listen , but then "New Position", "Mountains", "Kiss", "Life Can B So Nice", "Sometimes it Snows In April" or even "I Wonder U", could be the track that grabbed you THAT time around - and by that I mean that back then I generally had to listen to the whole record or cassette in order to experience it.

Sometimes even "Venus DeMilo" sounds like the standout track on Parade or "Alexis De Paris" feels like the greatest song left off any album ever since "She Always in my Hair" or "Days of Wild". Maybe that's my problem with it: Rarely am I in the mood for all those songs in that particular collection or in that order. Maybe that's why Prince thought it was a mess. I think it's basically 3 EP's:

the ballads: UTCM, Do You Lie, Sometimes it Snows, Venus

the funk: New Position, Anotherlover, G&B, Kiss

and the psychedelic: I Wonder U, Christopher Tracy's Parade, Mountains

Having ranted about all that, when you think about it, it's really one of the few Prince records that doesn't have an absolute clunker on it, unless you count "Do U Lie", which I really don't - at least not in the same context as "Wedding Feast", "Everybody Loves Me" or "Graffitti Bridge"

My first favorite is usually Sign o' The Times (although Lovesexy used to be in that position)

herb4 said:

bboy87 said:

My second favorite P album

What's your first favorite?

I'm anxious ot see this documentary. Frankly, I'd love to see a "Behind the Music"/"Rock Docs" sor tof thing on all of Prince's best records, especially the 80's run. I watched the Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Stones, Hendrix, Elton John and Rush VH1 specials that, as good as they were, only got me jonesing for an inside look at Parade, Sign O' The Times, or even ATWIAD.

Parade's a weird record, even weirder than "Around the World in A Day", probably because it feels like it's not intentionally trying to quite aim to be as intentionaly offbeat as that record was. I don't pull this disc out that much and when I do, it seems like always have a different favortie song on it. "Anotherloverholeinyohead" and "Girls N Boys" were the obvious attention grabbers on first listen , but then "New Position", "Mountains", "Kiss", "Life Can B So Nice", "Sometimes it Snows In April" or even "I Wonder U", could be the track that grabbed you THAT time around - and by that I mean that back then I generally had to listen to the whole record or cassette in order to experience it.

Sometimes even "Venus DeMilo" sounds like the standout track on Parade or "Alexis De Paris" feels like the greatest song left off any album ever since "She Always in my Hair" or "Days of Wild". Maybe that's my problem with it: Rarely am I in the mood for all those songs in that particular collection or in that order. Maybe that's why Prince thought it was a mess. I think it's basically 3 EP's:

the ballads: UTCM, Do You Lie, Sometimes it Snows, Venus

the funk: New Position, Anotherlover, G&B, Kiss

and the psychedelic: I Wonder U, Christopher Tracy's Parade, Mountains

Having ranted about all that, when you think about it, it's really one of the few Prince records that doesn't have an absolute clunker on it, unless you count "Do U Lie", which I really don't - at least not in the same context as "Wedding Feast", "Everybody Loves Me" or "Graffitti Bridge"

It's a funny thing about critics, nearly none of P's albums got immediate praise or were compared as lesser than a previous album during this period. Sign O'The Times only got respect from critics towards the end of the year after it was released. I mean, they didn't get bad reviews but they also weren't the masterpieces they are thought of as now. Parade got ok reviews but the critics universally went nuts over "Girls and Boys" to the point where I couldn't wait to check it out. How does this period stand up to the other peak period albums? I don't know, just depends on your criteria. I always will believe that 1999 was and always will be his most personal, unique and most influential album. Purple Rain was almost as good and did have him getting ever better as a vocalist and his dancing was getting closer to the standards set by Michael Jackson. ATWIAD I thought was ok, not great, not bad but clearly not put together with the care or thought of most of his previous albums. Parade has him with his voice clearer and deeper than ever, his quirkiness may never have been more evident, even if it was using european classical music to express itself, his energy on that album is infectious and how people can say with a straight face that he lost his funk I'll never understand, listen to the bass, the songs are built on some funky shit. You throw in the great songs for b-sides and you have a considerable body of work for a years period, and don't forget, they said that these songs were ready at the time of the MTV interview which would have been oh..., two years before the movie was released. My fave albums depending on my mood would be:

1. 1999

2. Purple Rain

3. Parade

4. Sign o' The Times

5. Prince

but during that period he was so brilliant that it's hard to pick favorites and like i said, depends on your criteria. Hell, if you are looking at a strictly instrumental,vocal, production standpoint he was getting better and is still getting better at certain things.

bboy87 said:

herb4 said:

What's your first favorite?

I'm anxious ot see this documentary. Frankly, I'd love to see a "Behind the Music"/"Rock Docs" sor tof thing on all of Prince's best records, especially the 80's run. I watched the Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Stones, Hendrix, Elton John and Rush VH1 specials that, as good as they were, only got me jonesing for an inside look at Parade, Sign O' The Times, or even ATWIAD.

Parade's a weird record, even weirder than "Around the World in A Day", probably because it feels like it's not intentionally trying to quite aim to be as intentionaly offbeat as that record was. I don't pull this disc out that much and when I do, it seems like always have a different favortie song on it. "Anotherloverholeinyohead" and "Girls N Boys" were the obvious attention grabbers on first listen , but then "New Position", "Mountains", "Kiss", "Life Can B So Nice", "Sometimes it Snows In April" or even "I Wonder U", could be the track that grabbed you THAT time around - and by that I mean that back then I generally had to listen to the whole record or cassette in order to experience it.

Sometimes even "Venus DeMilo" sounds like the standout track on Parade or "Alexis De Paris" feels like the greatest song left off any album ever since "She Always in my Hair" or "Days of Wild". Maybe that's my problem with it: Rarely am I in the mood for all those songs in that particular collection or in that order. Maybe that's why Prince thought it was a mess. I think it's basically 3 EP's:

the ballads: UTCM, Do You Lie, Sometimes it Snows, Venus

the funk: New Position, Anotherlover, G&B, Kiss

and the psychedelic: I Wonder U, Christopher Tracy's Parade, Mountains

Having ranted about all that, when you think about it, it's really one of the few Prince records that doesn't have an absolute clunker on it, unless you count "Do U Lie", which I really don't - at least not in the same context as "Wedding Feast", "Everybody Loves Me" or "Graffitti Bridge"

My first favorite is usually Sign o' The Times (although Lovesexy used to be in that position)

Hate to say it, but for me, lovesexy was the time that Prince albums stopped being events and the time when I stopped being wowed by him, and also the time when I could go through more than a couple songs without being crazy about one of them. Unfortunately, it was the time of his using the great but not too creative musicians who really took him away from that quirky, unconventional stuff that made him great. Lots of great songs came after but I missed the guy from the mid-eighties a lot.

Mindbells9 said:

mozfonky said:

yeah, that Spin article was in my mind when I wrote what I did, it was a take that some people still feel about Parade, our own Vainandy would agree with that article. I also remember him saying he had an "FU attitude" about the album, which I've always maintained meant nothing, artists are never the best critics of their own work. Elvis never understood that his best, most revolutionary work was done as a young man, he had no way of concieving why and how that could be true. Parade is a work of genius in my mind, from the album to the b sides to even the piano stuff in the movie, listening to honest man it still astounds me, you can hear jazz, bebop, a bit of classical stuff in it, this little masterpiece done by a guy who's best instrument isn't even the piano, just frustrating as a pianist myself.

The album that he said he had an "FU attitude" about was actually Around the World In A Day,and he said he was in that frame of mind because it would be an album 4 his most loyal and die hard fans, and not the ones jumping on the Purple Rain bandwagon, expecting a PR part 2. So the "FU" was 4 the fairweather fans, so 2 speak.

I've also heard about an article where he's quoted as saying "there's nothing on Parade that I'm particularly proud of..." I've been trying 2 find that article for ages cuz it's quoted alot, but I want 2 read it with my own eyes. Supposedly it's in an Ebony magazine article from 1986.

the FU was attributed to p for atwiad in the musician article, if i have time, i'll check out Poplife to see if it was quoted for parade, if so, one of the writers got the two confused.

mozfonky said:

herb4 said:

What's your first favorite?

I'm anxious ot see this documentary. Frankly, I'd love to see a "Behind the Music"/"Rock Docs" sor tof thing on all of Prince's best records, especially the 80's run. I watched the Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Stones, Hendrix, Elton John and Rush VH1 specials that, as good as they were, only got me jonesing for an inside look at Parade, Sign O' The Times, or even ATWIAD.

Parade's a weird record, even weirder than "Around the World in A Day", probably because it feels like it's not intentionally trying to quite aim to be as intentionaly offbeat as that record was. I don't pull this disc out that much and when I do, it seems like always have a different favortie song on it. "Anotherloverholeinyohead" and "Girls N Boys" were the obvious attention grabbers on first listen , but then "New Position", "Mountains", "Kiss", "Life Can B So Nice", "Sometimes it Snows In April" or even "I Wonder U", could be the track that grabbed you THAT time around - and by that I mean that back then I generally had to listen to the whole record or cassette in order to experience it.

Sometimes even "Venus DeMilo" sounds like the standout track on Parade or "Alexis De Paris" feels like the greatest song left off any album ever since "She Always in my Hair" or "Days of Wild". Maybe that's my problem with it: Rarely am I in the mood for all those songs in that particular collection or in that order. Maybe that's why Prince thought it was a mess. I think it's basically 3 EP's:

the ballads: UTCM, Do You Lie, Sometimes it Snows, Venus

the funk: New Position, Anotherlover, G&B, Kiss

and the psychedelic: I Wonder U, Christopher Tracy's Parade, Mountains

Having ranted about all that, when you think about it, it's really one of the few Prince records that doesn't have an absolute clunker on it, unless you count "Do U Lie", which I really don't - at least not in the same context as "Wedding Feast", "Everybody Loves Me" or "Graffitti Bridge"

I always will believe that 1999 was and always will be his most personal, unique and most influential album.

Credibility established.

I agree. 1999 is Prince's true tour de force. Purple Rain is his most consistent album, hands down, but 1999 , from start to finish is not only his SECOND most consistent album (meaning you never have to hit the skip button) but speaks the most to an expresses the most about who Prince is. Every time I listen to 1999, I hear new sounds, and I picture Prince holed up in his soundproofed basement, laying down overdubs upon overdubs, one layer at a time, smoking bowls and chugging coffee until he got every song right.

But this thread is about Parade, which I still think it's his oddist album; sstranger than either The Rainbow Children or Around the World in a Day. Maybe because, for once, Prince wasn't really TRYING to be weird in order to make a statement.