Parade was released on March 31, 1986 in the USA! Happy birthday, Parade!

Parade is a GREAT album, and while it isn't my favourite Prince album, I do have a special affinity for it as I was born in June 1986. I absolutely LOVE his look during the Parade era!

It's my favorite Prince album and it has a special place in my

Beautiful album, and the sound of it, is so beautiful and organic.

Oh yes, one of my top 3 albums of his, great memories and just loved the film UTCM!

Love this album

I bought Parade on the day of release back in '86 and remember it like yesterday. I was 16; just a few weeks short of my 17th Birthday and completely hooked on all things Prince. Parade was an instant favourite and has stayed so for these 32 years. I've actually TREBLED in age from then to now, but I've never tired of the album or the memories it brings back to mind of times and people long gone.

As an album it has never been outside of my Top 3 Prince albums and it may even be my favourite. It's certainly the Prince album I have the fondest memories of buying and getting to know.... and I've bought the lot, lol. Great songs, beautifully performed and so, so different from almost everything being played on radio in the md 80's. And what about the packaging? Prince looked amazing in '86.... sooooo cool.

I hope I'm still listening to Parade in another 32 years, when I'll be 80 years young.

[Edited 3/31/18 14:19pm]

Yewdale said:

I bought Parade on the day of release back in '86 and remember it like yesterday. I was 16; just a few weeks short of my 17th Birthday and completely hooked on all things Prince. Parade was an instant favourite and has stayed so for these 32 years. I've actually TREBLED in age from then to now, but I've never tired of the album or the memories it brings back to mind of times and people long gone.

As an album it has never been outside of my Top 3 Prince albums and it may even be my favourite. It's certainly the Prince album I have the fondest memories of buying and getting to know.... and I've bought the lot, lol. Great songs, beautifully performed and so, so different from almost everything being played on radio in the md 80's. And what about the packaging? Prince looked amazing in '86.... sooooo cool.

I hope I'm still listening to Parade in another 32 years, when I'll be 80 years young.

[Edited 3/31/18 14:19pm]

Genesia said:

My very favorite Prince album.

Mne too..

Even though I hate the Questions

"what is your favorite Prince Album"

I consider if ever I was forced to only listen to ONE

for mthe rest of my life

It would be Parade

Its FRESH today

Its unlike anything esle by anyone ever

I find it uplifting..guaranteed Attitude adjuster.

Does it even fall into an one Genre ?

Lovejunky said:

Genesia said:

My very favorite Prince album.

Mne too..

Even though I hate the Questions

"what is your favorite Prince Album"

I consider if ever I was forced to only listen to ONE

for mthe rest of my life

It would be Parade

Its FRESH today

Its unlike anything esle by anyone ever

I find it uplifting..guaranteed Attitude adjuster.

Does it even fall into an one Genre ?

Parade, Sign O The Times, and Purple Rain are my absolute favorites, but Parade is just such a breath of fresh air and so free from convention. Not that the other 2 aren't unique, but Parade is the epitome of "music to chill to".

Another brilliant album and in my Top 3, a perfect pop album and I just love the upbeat feel of the whole project and Prince is all over this thing. Mountains is the best moment in music made and Kiss the sexiest, I mean wow, plus add in the two killer ballads and the 3funky starting jams, the magnificence of Life can be so nice, Biys and Girls and Anotherloverholenyohead - a work of tremendous imagination and appeal. And it would only get better with the next album.

Lost my virginity to this one so it'll always have a spot in my heart.

It's good but I have to be in the mood for it.

gandorb said:

For me, its his most timeless masterpiece. The sum is much greater than the parts.

Can u elaborate?

It's an odd album for me. It represented what he was trying to do with ATWIAD and was much more successful at combining psychadelia with his style in that regard. But man, again, I have to be in the mood for it. Sometimes Christopher Tracy's Parade and Life Can be so Nice just sound noisy and aimless. New Position often sounds annoying. Kiss is over played.

Also, oddly, I usually don't like Prince's ballads much but UTCM, Venus DeMilo and SISIA are fantastic. I wish he'd found a way to work Old Friends for Sale and Alexa De Paris into it because I think they would have really fit. Mountains is amazing. I Wonder U is mesmerizing; the kind of track that back then I used to lay on non fans that didn't get what Prince could really do. Reminds me of Peter Gabriel a little.

I think the movie tanked the album to a certain degree too, along with Prince's continuously chameleonesqe appearance. The short hair took people off guard. The MTV publicity stunt was just strange.

I've heard it said that Prince was not satisfied with the final product and called it sort of a mess.

I can see that perspective.

I think maybe part of the wobbly nature of the album was the realization that he had taken The Revolution, not all that great of a band honeslty,, about as far as he could and was itching for new things that he couldn't fulfill with that line up. You can hear him sort of squeezing more out of a dry orange here and sense that Prince had more ideas in his head than the collective unit could really keep up with, resulting in a bit of an unfocused sound, IMO. No concidence that he scrapped them and went full on mad scientist in a basement with SoTT, as he first did with 1999. I don't think he felt his bands could keep up with him (and they couldn't), which is why he constantly changed them but, conversely, he NEEDED them which I imagine was incredibly frustrating.

He couldn't do it ALL himself, just most of it. He was a control freak and had more energy and ideas than anyone else and, for a while, he only needed a band to play the shit he told them to so he could perform live, but here you can feel the last few drops of what he could milk out of W&L; as it related to his sound at least. The album feels like it's searching for something, which is born out how he never felt that he finished "kiss", rather than being a definitive statement like SoTT or Lovesexy and, later, Love Symbol or TGE. Later still, Emancipatiopn and, obviously, TRC.

Geez, where are all these words coming from tonight? Sorry for rambling so much.

herb4 said:

gandorb said:

For me, its his most timeless masterpiece. The sum is much greater than the parts.

Can u elaborate?

It's an odd album for me. It represented what he was trying to do with ATWIAD and was much more successful at combining psychadelia with his style in that regard. But man, again, I have to be in the mood for it. Sometimes Christopher Tracy's Parade and Life Can be so Nice just sound noisy and aimless. New Position often sounds annoying. Kiss is over played.

Also, oddly, I usually don't like Prince's ballads much but UTCM, Venus DeMilo and SISIA are fantastic. I wish he'd found a way to work Old Friends for Sale and Alexa De Paris into it because I think they would have really fit. Mountains is amazing. I Wonder U is mesmerizing; the kind of track that back then I used to lay on non fans that didn't get what Prince could really do. Reminds me of Peter Gabriel a little.

I think the movie tanked the album to a certain degree too, along with Prince's continuously chameleonesqe appearance. The short hair took people off guard. The MTV publicity stunt was just strange.

I've heard it said that Prince was not satisfied with the final product and called it sort of a mess.

I can see that perspective.

I think maybe part of the wobbly nature of the album was the realization that he had taken The Revolution, not all that great of a band honeslty,, about as far as he could and was itching for new things that he couldn't fulfill with that line up. You can hear him sort of squeezing more out of a dry orange here and sense that Prince had more ideas in his head than the collective unit could really keep up with, resulting in a bit of an unfocused sound, IMO. No concidence that he scrapped them and went full on mad scientist in a basement with SoTT, as he first did with 1999. I don't think he felt his bands could keep up with him (and they couldn't), which is why he constantly changed them but, conversely, he NEEDED them which I imagine was incredibly frustrating.

He couldn't do it ALL himself, just most of it. He was a control freak and had more energy and ideas than anyone else and, for a while, he only needed a band to play the shit he told them to so he could perform live, but here you can feel the last few drops of what he could milk out of W&L; as it related to his sound at least. The album feels like it's searching for something, which is born out how he never felt that he finished "kiss", rather than being a definitive statement like SoTT or Lovesexy and, later, Love Symbol or TGE. Later still, Emancipatiopn and, obviously, TRC.

Geez, where are all these words coming from tonight? Sorry for rambling so much.

wow lol

.

I don't think ATWIAD and Parade are anything alike. Actually ATWIAD is much closer to Purple Rain, and Parade is closer to Dream Factory(SOTT) but of course each album carried sounds from the previous.

.

think/hear Life Can Be So Nice and In A Large Room With No Light even llisten to them back to back

.

I agree, that the movie spoils the album, but the album/music saves the movie...
The problem wasn't the music or the Revolution, but Prince wanting to direct a movie and the ego trip he was on. If you look at the outtakes and the Dream Factory sessions music, it shows how experimental and how Prince and his band(s) during the 1984-1986 period were helping him break out of all kinds of musical boxes:
That orange had a whole lot of juice in it.

.

Parade era could have been HUGE, I always thought the album was 'grown folk music' very mature and worldly. Dream Factory was going to be a fullfillment of what was happening with Parade.
The band had the skills to stretch further of course looking at the progression of Dirty Mind/Controverys thru 1999 thru Purple Rain music - Around the World in a Day 2 Parade. If Prince's career ended after 1987 it would have been seen as a marvel. As that 1980-1987/88 period is considered the golden period of Prince music. Purple Music as we knew it fell off after the Revolution was disbanded. 1984-1986 has the large amount of unreleased music and music that was/had to be given to other artists...that orange was not lacking any juice.
.
But Parade was more of a 'movie soundtrack' than even Purple Rain. And is the #1 timeless Prince album of his career. It could fit in diverse times past and future and still feel current.

The photography, the style, the musical sounds, the photography etc Uptown was seriously solidifying it's culture.

herb4 said:

gandorb said:

For me, its his most timeless masterpiece. The sum is much greater than the parts.

Can u elaborate?

It's an odd album for me. It represented what he was trying to do with ATWIAD and was much more successful at combining psychadelia with his style in that regard. But man, again, I have to be in the mood for it. Sometimes Christopher Tracy's Parade and Life Can be so Nice just sound noisy and aimless. New Position often sounds annoying. Kiss is over played.

Also, oddly, I usually don't like Prince's ballads much but UTCM, Venus DeMilo and SISIA are fantastic. I wish he'd found a way to work Old Friends for Sale and Alexa De Paris into it because I think they would have really fit. Mountains is amazing. I Wonder U is mesmerizing; the kind of track that back then I used to lay on non fans that didn't get what Prince could really do. Reminds me of Peter Gabriel a little.

I think the movie tanked the album to a certain degree too, along with Prince's continuously chameleonesqe appearance. The short hair took people off guard. The MTV publicity stunt was just strange.

I've heard it said that Prince was not satisfied with the final product and called it sort of a mess.

I can see that perspective.

I think maybe part of the wobbly nature of the album was the realization that he had taken The Revolution, not all that great of a band honeslty,, about as far as he could and was itching for new things that he couldn't fulfill with that line up. You can hear him sort of squeezing more out of a dry orange here and sense that Prince had more ideas in his head than the collective unit could really keep up with, resulting in a bit of an unfocused sound, IMO. No concidence that he scrapped them and went full on mad scientist in a basement with SoTT, as he first did with 1999. I don't think he felt his bands could keep up with him (and they couldn't), which is why he constantly changed them but, conversely, he NEEDED them which I imagine was incredibly frustrating.

He couldn't do it ALL himself, just most of it. He was a control freak and had more energy and ideas than anyone else and, for a while, he only needed a band to play the shit he told them to so he could perform live, but here you can feel the last few drops of what he could milk out of W&L; as it related to his sound at least. The album feels like it's searching for something, which is born out how he never felt that he finished "kiss", rather than being a definitive statement like SoTT or Lovesexy and, later, Love Symbol or TGE. Later still, Emancipatiopn and, obviously, TRC.

Geez, where are all these words coming from tonight? Sorry for rambling so much.

You made some interesting points. Part of the reason it is a timeless masterpiece to me is that it is so different than anything that I have ever heard. It blends so my styles and is musically so diverse yet somehow it still works as an album. It is one of the few that I never tire of. I did unintentionally take a break from it during much of the 2000s due to only having it on a worn out cassette version of it and then my cassette player broke. When I downloaded it a couple of years ago, it sounded as brilliant and fresh as ever. I loved it just as much in my 50s as I did in my 20s and this had nothing to do with nostalgia. In fact, it's timelessness is because it doesn't remind me of any time period of music or even Prince music other than it was period that his genius was in full throttle. A few of the songs. such as Christopher Tracey's Parade and I Wonder U don't seem to me as great stand alone songs but work wonderfully in the context of the album. It has always been a grower and it is still growing!!!

^^^thanks for the well written response^^^

And, shit, I forgot Large Room With No Light. Lotta good stuff recorded around this time.

I might have liked it better with that one and Old Frinds maybe in place of Do u Lie and and New Position. Move NP to a b-side.

herb4 said:

^^^thanks for the well written response^^^

And, shit, I forgot Large Room With No Light. Lotta good stuff recorded around this time.

I might have liked it better with that one and Old Frinds maybe in place of Do u Lie and and New Position. Move NP to a b-side.

A new position for New Position?

Yewdale said:

I bought Parade on the day of release back in '86 and remember it like yesterday. I was 16; just a few weeks short of my 17th Birthday and completely hooked on all things Prince. Parade was an instant favourite and has stayed so for these 32 years. I've actually TREBLED in age from then to now, but I've never tired of the album or the memories it brings back to mind of times and people long gone.

As an album it has never been outside of my Top 3 Prince albums and it may even be my favourite. It's certainly the Prince album I have the fondest memories of buying and getting to know.... and I've bought the lot, lol. Great songs, beautifully performed and so, so different from almost everything being played on radio in the md 80's. And what about the packaging? Prince looked amazing in '86.... sooooo cool.

I hope I'm still listening to Parade in another 32 years, when I'll be 80 years young.

[Edited 3/31/18 14:19pm]

These were the days when we young dudes bought records on the day of release. I certainly did so between 1984 to 1990 - everything that was released on vinyl by Prince - I was there to buy it at at my local record shop - usually on the day of release, then back home, and put the record on...

gandorb said:

You made some interesting points. Part of the reason it is a timeless masterpiece to me is that it is so different than anything that I have ever heard. It blends so my styles and is musically so diverse yet somehow it still works as an album. It is one of the few that I never tire of. I did unintentionally take a break from it during much of the 2000s due to only having it on a worn out cassette version of it and then my cassette player broke. When I downloaded it a couple of years ago, it sounded as brilliant and fresh as ever. I loved it just as much in my 50s as I did in my 20s and this had nothing to do with nostalgia. In fact, it's timelessness is because it doesn't remind me of any time period of music or even Prince music other than it was period that his genius was in full throttle. A few of the songs. such as Christopher Tracey's Parade and I Wonder U don't seem to me as great stand alone songs but work wonderfully in the context of the album. It has always been a grower and it is still growing!!!

Im 100% with you on this...

I met Prince ,

When he asked me to be his Lover..

I was a DJ at the time, in Australia,

I obliged.

By 1986,I was 25

,

carrying my second child and Prince and My Husbands music was all I listened to.

Parade was like a breath of fresh air in my life...

today

31 years later is remains that way.

I cant fault it.

Its Magical Masterful Original

and To my ears,

Remains his most Timeless work.

Its simply Classic, and I can understand the

music critics who believe that Prince is a New Form of Classical music

Parade is it.

The many parts that make up the whole

are diverse

as they are seductive

It takes you to such a special place...

[Edited 4/5/18 15:09pm]

Parade is in my top 5 . Love playing this up on 10.