I know there have been a couple threads on PARADE these last few weeks... Just can't help but saying I feel PARADE is one of his albums that has aged the best. It's so short, the Euro-Funk has aged very well than most of his 80's albums, even though most of his 80's albums are still timeless masterpieces...

There's this consistancy about PARADE that makes it sound so fresh. I personally this is his best "aged" Prince album of all time.

I think albums like 1999 and PARADE were more re-defining albums in Prince's 80's catalogues, even though Purple Rain is an iconic album and SOTT is a brilliant masterpiece, I feel overall as an ALBUM 1999 and PARADE were much more influential in terms of popular music.

While obviously 1999 sounds a little more "dated" due to the synthesizer and his Gary Newman influence for the 1999 album... PARADE just sounds so clear and sounds so fresh.

The entire Parade-Sign-Lovesexy trilogy is timeless.

The real peak of P musical creation.

YES. Absolutely one of his best albums and even better than Sign O The Times

It moves and flows beautifully, not that being able to tell what period a song/album was made is bad, but this is probably the #1 Prince album that is timeless and dateless

it begins and ends so quickly, it leaves U wanting more... so you create a playlist and add the long versions and B sides

and then that isn't enough

and you add some unreleased pieces

OldFriends4Sale said:

iZsaZsa said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

It moves and flows beautifully, not that being able to tell what period a song/album was made is bad, but this is probably the #1 Prince album that is timeless and dateless

it begins and ends so quickly, it leaves U wanting more... so you create a playlist and add the long versions and B sides

and then that isn't enough

and you add some unreleased pieces

And then you watch the movie.

lol Yep

and then the videos

and then the 6.7.1986 Birthday show

BoraBora said:

BoraBora said:

The entire Parade-Sign-Lovesexy trilogy is timeless.

The real peak of P musical creation.

+2

warning2all said:

It's beyond an album,beyond a Soundtrack; it stands up as a singular work of art. It's ironic that such colorful flourishes of sound, are packaged in Black and White photography--yet it's perfect. My only wish is that he furthered the sound for just one more album (Dream Factory?). I think the Revolution had at least one more great album ahead of them

I agree it is a work of art, that could not be limited as an album or a soundtrack

They had more than one great album ahead of them. 1983-1986 was just a touch of possibility of music.

For the next 4-5 years at least, they could have just released the music that was not released on a album of those years and just concentrate on touring, doing shows, videos etc

BoraBora said:

NorthC said:

That Stockholm show is just fantastic. Great CD.

NorthC said:

PopcornFetus said:

Totally agree! This is a flawless album that is timeless. Of all his albums this is the one that gets the most play and its been this way since its release in 86.

Poplife88 said:

Totally agree! This is a flawless album that is timeless. Of all his albums this is the one that gets the most play and its been this way since its release in 86.

I personally feel Parade has aged the best out of all his albums...

NorthC said:

PopcornFetus said:

Because it consists of 3 items. More specifically, 3 items in a similar vein. ATWIAD and Batman on each end don't seem to fit into the narrative.

They do. It makes much more sense to look at Around-Parade-Sign O'the Times as a trilogy. Here he is exploring the artistic freedom he got after Purple Rain and he is looking at the world, first in an idealistic, then a romantic and finally in a realistic sense with Sign o'the Times as its climax. And we can see Lovesexy-Batman-Graffiti Bridge as a trilogy where he is exploring the fight between good and evil. And both SOTT and GB are double albums that feature a lot of older songs so you can see them as albums that close an era. On Diamonds & Pearls he was on a totally different path again. [Edited 10/22/15 3:09am]

I strictly used the term "trilogy" just for releases sequence, as Popcorn Fetus said.

And the correct thing to do was eventually talk of 4, because on the effective sequence there is also "The Black Album", maybe musically minor than the 3 but historically important the same.

Anyway, if I had to aproximately associate musically the first decade or so of P release I would do this:

1) For You - Prince - Dirty Mind - Controversy

2) 1999 - Purple Rain - Around The World In A Day

3) Parade - Sign - The Black Album - Lovesexy

It isn't science, it is just my vision of them.

OldFriends4Sale said:

It moves and flows beautifully, not that being able to tell what period a song/album was made is bad, but this is probably the #1 Prince album that is timeless and dateless

it begins and ends so quickly, it leaves U wanting more... so you create a playlist and add the long versions and B sides

and then that isn't enough

and you add some unreleased pieces

Absolutely, Friends.

Compositionally, it's his most sophisticated pop album. And I think it it is not a coincidence that
as soon as Prince booted Lisa and Wendy from his songwriting fold that he fell off. But Parade
is definitely an influence from those two who were Prince's best muses, imo.

duccichucka said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

It moves and flows beautifully, not that being able to tell what period a song/album was made is bad, but this is probably the #1 Prince album that is timeless and dateless

it begins and ends so quickly, it leaves U wanting more... so you create a playlist and add the long versions and B sides

and then that isn't enough

and you add some unreleased pieces

Absolutely, Friends.

Compositionally, it's his most sophisticated pop album. And I think it it is not a coincidence that
as soon as Prince booted Lisa and Wendy from his songwriting fold that he fell off. But Parade
is definitely an influence from those two who were Prince's best muses, imo.

or maybe it would have been impossible to keep that quality of songwriting up forever?

Wendy and Lisa were good musicians who co wrote some great songs with him, but they are given excessive amount of credit just because they were there. They should not be given credit for songs that they did not help write just because they were part of the band.

I mean we are talking about a guy who wrote stuff like When Doves Cry and The Beautiful Ones by himself (according to his bandmates). Clearly, he is capable of writing great songs by himself. Infact, Wendy and Lisa have never claimed to have co written many of his songs- its simply some W&L fans that give them credit for stuff they had nothing to do with.

hhhhdmt said:

duccichucka said:

Absolutely, Friends.

Compositionally, it's his most sophisticated pop album. And I think it it is not a coincidence that
as soon as Prince booted Lisa and Wendy from his songwriting fold that he fell off. But Parade
is definitely an influence from those two who were Prince's best muses, imo.

or maybe it would have been impossible to keep that quality of songwriting up forever?

Wendy and Lisa were good musicians who co wrote some great songs with him, but they are given excessive amount of credit just because they were there. They should not be given credit for songs that they did not help write just because they were part of the band.

I mean we are talking about a guy who wrote stuff like When Doves Cry and The Beautiful Ones by himself (according to his bandmates). Clearly, he is capable of writing great songs by himself. Infact, Wendy and Lisa have never claimed to have co written many of his songs- its simply some W&L fans that give them credit for stuff they had nothing to do with.

I think you are applying pop standards of songwriting to songwriting in general when you say
that it is impossible to remain in top form as composers/songwriters in jazz and classical music
have demonstrated an ability to sustain a heightened compositional creativity over a career.

Wendy and Lisa were never given songwriting credits for compositions they did not have a
direct impact on, so the point expressed in your second paragraph is moot. Prince was not
a total fuckwad; if you helped him write or arrange a tune, he gave you credit. However, I
read an article where Wendy and Lisa both claimed that their work on Parade did not get as
much acknowledgement as it deserved. But, having an impact on a song's compositional ex-
istence is not really just a matter of helping write melodies to chordal structures, though, is it?
Wendy and Lisa apparently had a seismic influence on Prince in terms of broadening the music
that he listened to and in that regard, they have purportedly influenced him as well. Do not
try to minimize Wendy and Lisa's musicianship and their overt influence on Prince in order to
protect Prince's "genius" moniker.

duccichucka said:

Sound wise... I dare to say this album has aged better than Purple Rain and SOTT... Not saying it's musically better, it's just without a lot of the lynn drum and synths on PARADE, the sound still sounds and feels so fresh...

duccichucka said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

It moves and flows beautifully, not that being able to tell what period a song/album was made is bad, but this is probably the #1 Prince album that is timeless and dateless

it begins and ends so quickly, it leaves U wanting more... so you create a playlist and add the long versions and B sides

and then that isn't enough

and you add some unreleased pieces

Absolutely, Friends.

Compositionally, it's his most sophisticated pop album. And I think it it is not a coincidence that
as soon as Prince booted Lisa and Wendy from his songwriting fold that he fell off. But Parade
is definitely an influence from those two who were Prince's best muses, imo.

Yes it was a very MATURE album, and the direction he started going into during this 1985-1986 period I could easily see Prince soaring above the need to do something he's done in the 1990s that just was not worthy of someone of his status.

.

Once the Revolution fell away we see an immediate drop off. SOTT of course being a part of the Dream Factory, the magic of the later 1987/88 period is the result of the nearness of that previous period. And that most of the people in the camp then were still from that 1983-1986 period most were a part of that Purple Rain-Parade era

.

He had a very intimate connection with Lisa from 1980 and then Wendy and Susannah, not to mention Jonathan(Melvoin) and David(Coleman). Prince in 1998 even called that period a 'community'. The more open a person is and interconnected to the people in their life the more creative and expressive.
.
Another bad thing that happened was the drop off of the proteges. Jill Jones was not interconnected to what Prince was doing and Madhouse couldn't really succeed as it was. Sheila E was gone as an individual act

NorthC said:

Yes, those Linn drum machines sound kind of old fashioned now.

To me, the Purple Rain sound is still very ahead of it's time, it has a more futuristic feel to it, that they don't sound old fashioned now.
I think there is a reason beyond the movie why Purple Rain was so hottt and 1994/95 was Prince's Purple Reign. The music was electric and it was really diverse from the PR music and B sides - Sheila E's the Glamorous Life. It was an energy to it that doesn't limit it.

.

Some years ago Sheila E did a Prince spoof where the did some linn drum beats. and there was nothing old fashioned about it, it sound so fresh and live

Are there any fresh new listeners to Prince here that can evaluate how they like "Parade" as an album?Nostalgia and being a teenager is a powerful thing that affects perception.

ufoclub said:

Are there any fresh new listeners to Prince here that can evaluate how they like "Parade" as an album?Nostalgia and being a teenager is a powerful thing that affects perception.

good point.

Except, I rediscovered a lot of Prince music after having fallen out of Prince for a long period of time.
And there are a lot of adults who where into the music as fans then.

I've bought albums, paid the money and got home to find out it was

Sugar
Honey
Ice
Tea

and I tried to make myself like it because I paid/lost that money

I tried to like Graffiti Bridge... it's just crap.

.

I've also relistened to music and watch shows years later and wondered why I like it then.