I was driving to Manchester, and I thought I'd pop Parade on. The journey was just long enough to listen to the whole album. A couple of things struck me. Firstly for the most part the album has aged very well and doesn't suffer the classic era defining sounds on a lot of the tracks. There is a couple on there which have more prominenet nods to the current sounds of that time but to me because Prince used a lot of real instruments it still sounds fresh today. The other main thing that struck me was I wondered how much input clair fisher had on the project as a whole, as there is a lot of orchestration on the tracks which I very much doubt is Prince's handy work.

Suprisingly the tracks I used to love the most such as Kiss are my least favourite now. I discovered prince by the time he was writing diamonds and pearls so I found out about Parade retrospectively, it was my third album after 1999 and Graffiti Bridge. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking, this is it!!! Looking back, I reckon Parade is the culmination of some of Prince's best ideas and concepts. There's new vocal harmonies on some of the tracks like mountains, which he later developed in Lovesexy, and the balance of synths and live instruments in my opinion is just right.

The production on this album is so interesting, so many layers and interesting choices of instrumentation. The musicianship ships much looser and free on this album too, in an organic way, so different from say the Diamonds and Pearls or Symbol studio albums where everything is so tight and in some ways overproduced in an obvious way.

Overall a really classic album, and I can tell why I fell in love with this one almost immediately. I'd be interested to hear from orgers who have only just heard it for the first time.

[Edited 7/13/11 5:07am]

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Original score composed by Princce & The Revolution.
Engineers include: Susan Rogers, Peggy Mac, Coke Johnson.
Principally recorded at Paisley Park Studios, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Another soundtrack that fared more favourably than the movie, 'Under The Cherry Moon', from which it came, this was also the record that marked Prince's return to the live arena. The record itself came with a high camp video and guaranteed hit in the shape of 'Kiss' (which a collaboration of Tom Jones and the Art Of Noise would later cover), a delightfully funky little number around which the world threatened to dance. Elsewhere, both 'Girls And Boys' and 'Anotherloverholenyohead' charted. While the lifting strains of 'Sometimes It Snows In April' rounded off a wonderfully whole album, nothing could quite save the film.

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Tracks
01. Christopher Tracy’s Parade(2:11)
02. New Position (2:21)
03. I Wonder U (1:40)
04. Under The Cherry Moon (2:57)
05. Girls & Boys (5:30)
06. Life Can Be So Nice (3:12)
07. Venus De Milo (1:54)
08. Mountains (3:58)
09. Do U Lie? (2:43)
10. Kiss (3:38)
11. Anotherloverholenyohead (3:58)
12. Sometimes It Snows In April (6:50)

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Release details
Release Date 31st March 1986
Label : Paisley Park
Produced, arranged, composed and performed* by Prince and the Revolution

(*except where indicated below)

“Kiss” arranged by David Z. Background voices by Mazarati

Orchestra composed and arranged by Clare Fischer
Recorded at Paisley Park & Sunset Sound by Susan Rogers, Peggy Mac, Coke
Johnson and 3 Davids – Z, Tickle & Leonard.
Orchestra recorded by Arne Frager at Monterey Sound
Special gratitude 2 Susan Rogers 4 her time and care
Originally mastered by Bernie Grundman
Photography by Jeff Katz
Art direction by Laura LiPuma & Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff
Collage by Ann Field
All songs Controversy Music ASCAP

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Album Credits
“Girls & Boys” Background vocals by
Sheila E. & Lisa on the left
Susannah & Wendy on the right

Sheila E. plays cowbells on “Life Can Be So Nice” & Drums on “Venus De
Milo”

“Do U Lie?” Drums played by Jonathan Melvoin

Additional background vocals 4 “Parade” by Susannah

All background voices on “Anotherloverholenyohead” by Susannah & Prince

The french seduction on “Girls & Boys” is performed by Marie France

Eric Leeds plays the horn on “Girls & Boys” and “Mountains”
Trumpet by Atlanta Bliss Miko: Rhythm Guitar on “Mountains”

Little gypsy girl on “Do U Lie?” is played by Sandra Francisco

Special thanks 2 Clare Fischer 4 making brighter the colors black & white

Orchestral players: Violins: Isabelle Daskoff, Francine Walsh, Mari Botnik,
Pam Gates, Janice Gower, Karen Jones, Betty Moor, Irma Neumann, Assa Drori,
Bill Hymanson, Oscar Chasow, Ron Clark, Henry Ferber, Erne Granat, Ed
Green, Bill Hybel, Reggie Hill, Pat Johnson, Don Palmer, Sheldon Sanov,
Joe Schonbrun, Terry Schonbrun, Harold Wolf. Violas: Pam Goldsmith, Margot
Maclaine, Carol Mukagawa, Myer Bello, Alan Deverich, Norman Forrest, Alan
Harshman, Jorge Moraga, David Stock. Cellos: Jim Arkatoff, Ray Kramer,
Fred Seykora. Basses: Chuck Domonico, Arni Egilsson. Woodwinds: Gene
Cipriano, Don Ashworth, John Clarke, Dave Edwards, Gary Foster, Jim Kanter,
John Lowe, Dick Mitchell, Jack Nimitz, Joe Soldo, Bob Tricarico. Trumpets:
Ray Brown, Rich Cooper, Bob Findley, Larry Ford, Bob O’Donnell, Al Vizutti.
Trombones: Garnett Brown, Charles Loper, Morris Repass, Bill Watrous.
French Horns: Marni Johnson, David Duke, Joe Myer, Brian O’Connor, Calvin
Smith, Jim Thatcher. Tuba: Tommy Johnson. Tympani & Percussion: Brent
Fischer.

Love God &Prince and the Revolution ‘86

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Can I have Parade on heavy weight 180 grams vinyl, pretty please.....

every track is so fucking good...

Eye also did this recently on a trip 2 Brum eye tend 2 only listen 2 Life can b so nice and Mountains & Anotherlover....It was a perfect 40mins & eye was in 1986 Heaven....

It has aged very well. Something Jason Draper said on the last P&B podcast is an opinion I've always shared - SOTT is always lauded as the zenith of the P. canon - because it consolidates all Prince's learning experiences and talents into one opus - which is true, but as Draper said in the podcast (paraphrasing), Parade's strength is that he was still stretching out and trying odd little things out. I think it's wonderful and Prince's best album. Sometimes I think I have other favourites, but Parade's always there and I come back to it and think 'well, to say any other is the best, I'm kidding myself'.

Can't praise Clare Fischer's work enough either, it really raises the set from something great to something magical.

Indeed. Clearly Prince's best sounding and best looking album.

Agree...of ALL of Prince's albums THIS is the one that is aging the best. Not only does it not sound dated...it still sounds FRESH. No other album sounded like this then or now. SOTTs is still my fave for the scope but Parade is VERRRY close second. Pure Genius.

dyvrdown said:

Thats some nice pussy....

NouveauDance said:

It has aged very well. Something Jason Draper said on the last P&B podcast is an opinion I've always shared - SOTT is always lauded as the zenith of the P. canon - because it consolidates all Prince's learning experiences and talents into one opus - which is true, but as Draper said in the podcast (paraphrasing), Parade's strength is that he was still stretching out and trying odd little things out. I think it's wonderful and Prince's best album. Sometimes I think I have other favourites, but Parade's always there and I come back to it and think 'well, to say any other is the best, I'm kidding myself'.

Can't praise Clare Fischer's work enough either, it really raises the set from something great to something magical.

I dunno... I like "New Position", "Under the Cherry Moon""Girls and Boys""Mountains""Kiss"

Don't think the arrangment of the track "Christopher's Tracy's Parade" really worked for me, I think the mix and arrangement of "Life Can Be So Nice" doesn't work for me...and I think "Do U Lie" is just a novelty song that could have been a b-side.

I never really got into AnotherLover too much, but I like his new live arrangement of it as a rock song much better.

I really like the B-Side "Love or $"

That should have been on the album. So should "Alexa De Paris"! Take of Venus DeMilo to make room.

Life and Do U Lie could have been the b-sides.