Prince Parade (Music From The Motion Picture Cherry Moon) ( vinyl LP )

Release date: 29-08-2016(Originally released in 1986)

 

2016 EU reissue ( vinyl LP )

Psychedelic-tinged 1986 album, as the soundtrack to "Under The Cherry Moon". Includes "Kiss" and "Mountains". Undaunted by the criticism Around the World in a Day received, Prince continued to pursue his psychedelic inclinations on Parade, which also functioned as the soundtrack to his second film, (1986)Under the Cherry Moon. 

 

A1 Christopher Tracy's Parade

A2 New Position

A3 I Wonder U

A4 Under The Cherry Moon

A5 Girls & Boys

A6 Life Can Be So Nice

A7 Venus De Milo

B1 Mountains

B2 Do U Lie?

B3 Kiss

B4 Anotherloverholenyohead

B5 Sometimes It Snows In April

 

Prince & the Revolution shift musical moods and textures from song to song -- witness how the fluttering psychedelia of "Christopher Tracy's Parade" gives way to the spare, jazzy funk of "New Position," which morphs into the druggy "I Wonder U" -- and they're determined not to play it safe, even on the hard funk of "Girls and Boys" and "Mountains," as well as the stunning "Kiss," which hits hard with just a dry guitar, keyboard, drum machine, and layered vocals. All of the group's musical adventures, even the cabaret-pop of "Venus de Milo" and "Do U Lie?" do nothing to undercut the melodicism of the record, and the amount of ground they cover in 12 songs is truly remarkable. Even with all of its attributes, Parade is a little off-balance, stopping too quickly to give the haunting closer, "Sometimes It Snows in April," the resonance it needs. For some tastes, it may also be a bit too lyrically cryptic, but Prince's weird religious and sexual metaphors develop into a motif that actually gives the album weight. If it had been expanded to a double album, Parade would have equaled the subsequent Sign 'o' the Times, but as it stands, it's an astonishingly rewarding near-miss.