Parade is the eighth studio album by American recording artist Prince, and the third and final album where the Revolution is billed. It also was the soundtrack album to the 1986 film Under the Cherry Moon, directed by and starring Prince. It was released on March 31, 1986, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records.

Parade eschews the guitar and rock elements of Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain in favor of the psychedelic pop style he explored on Around the World in a Day (1985), austerely produced funk, and soundtrack compositions. According to Blender magazine's Keith Harris, Parade "makes a pop cavalcade out of the same psychedelic affectations" of Around the World in a Day.

Parade is bookended by two songs—"Christopher Tracy's Parade" and "Sometimes It Snows in April"—that reference Christopher Tracy, the protagonist from Under the Cherry Moon. The latter song is an acoustic ballad with chromatic choruses and sentimental lyrics bidding farewell to Tracy.

|rev2 = Blender

|rev2Score =

|rev3 = Chicago Sun-Times

|rev3Score =

|rev4 = Entertainment Weekly

|rev4Score = C−

|rev5 = The Guardian

|rev5Score =

|rev6 = Hi-Fi News & Record Review

|rev6score = A

|rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev8score =

|rev9 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

|rev9score = 7/10

|rev10 = The Village Voice

|rev10Score = A−

Parade was released on March 31, 1986, to acclaim from music critics, who viewed it as a creative comeback after the critical disappointment of Around the World in a Day. In a contemporary review for The New York Times, John Rockwell said that the album succeeds in part because of the more aggressive songs, "in which Prince chooses to play up the black side of his multifaceted musical sensibility." The Sunday Times found its musical scope "stunning", and the Detroit Free Press called the album "a confirmation of Prince's place as a superior melodist, arranger, and player, as well as a celebration of his creativity."

Commercially, Parade charted at number 3 on the pop chart and at number 2 on the R&B chart, while selling 1 million copies in the United States. It also garnered him a new commercial audience in Europe and sold 2 million copies internationally. The album finished 25th in the voting for The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it as the 33rd best album of the year on his own list. NME magazine named it their album of the year for 1986.

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine viewed Parade as a musically diverse near-masterpiece that is given depth by Prince's "weird religious and sexual metaphors". In rapper Chuck D's opinion, Prince "turned off a lot of the black followers [with the album]. I couldn't understand that. People don't want artists to endlessly repeat themselves, yet they can't tolerate change either. Prince changes all the time, always working on the public's imagination, always trying to keep ahead of them."

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from Benoît Clerc, Ronin Ro, and Guitarcloud

Musicians

  • Prince – lead vocals , backing vocals , electric guitar , Roland G-707 , acoustic guitar , bass , drums , electric drums , programming , finger snapping , steel drums , zills , claps , synthesizers , piano
  • Lisa Coleman – backing vocals , synthesizers , piano
  • Susannah Melvoin – backing vocals
  • Wendy Melvoin – lead vocals , backing vocals , electric guitar , acoustic guitar
  • Brownmark – backing vocals , bass
  • Sheila E. – backing vocals , bells , drums
  • Doctor Fink – synthesizers
  • Marie France Drouin – spoken vocals (credited as "The French Seduction")
  • Eric Leeds – saxophone , baritone saxophone
  • Bobby Z. – drums , electric drums
  • Atlanta Bliss – trumpet
  • Miko Weaver – electric guitar
  • Sandra Francisco (credited as "Little Gipsy Girl") – spoken vocals
  • Jonathan Melvoin – drums
  • Tony Christian, Marr Starr (of Mazarati) – backing vocals
  • David Z. – Linn 9000 , piano
  • Orchestra
  • Mari Botnick, Oscar Chausow, Ron Clark, Isabelle Daskoff, Assa Drori, Henry Ferber, Pam Gates, Janice Gower, Endre Granat, Ed Green, Reginald Hill, Bill Hybel, William Hymanson, Pat Johnson, Karen Jones, Betty Moor, Irma Neumann, Donald Palmer, Sheldon Sanov, Joseph Schoenbrun, Terry Schoenbrun, Francine Walsh, Harold Wolf – violin
  • Myer Bello, Alan DeVeritch, Norman Forrest, Pamela Goldsmith, Allan Harshman, Margot MacLaine, Jorge Moraga, Carole Mukogawa, David Stock – alto violin
  • James Arkatov, Ray Kelley, Raphael Kramer, Frederick Seykora – cello
  • Chuck Domanico, Árni Egilsson – upright bass
  • Don Ashworth, Gene Cipriano, Jon Clarke, Dave Edwards, Gary Foster, Jim Kanter, Jack Nimitz, Dick Mitchell – clarinet
  • John Lowe, Joe Soldo, Bob Tricarico – transverse flute
  • Ray Brown, Rich Cooper, Bob Findley, Larry Ford, Bob O'Donnell, Allen Vizzutti – trumpet
  • Garnett Brown, Charles Loper, Morris Repass, Bill Watrous – trombone
  • David Duke, Marni Johnson, Joe Myer, Brian O'Connor, Calvin Smith, James Thatcher – French horn
  • Tommy Johnson – tuba
  • Brent Fischer – timpani, percussion

Technical

  • Prince – producer
  • Lisa Coleman, Wendy Melvoin – producers
  • David Z. – producer , recording engineer
  • Peggy McCreary – recording engineer
  • Susan Rogers – recording engineer
  • David Tickle – recording engineer
  • Coke Johnson – recording engineer , assistant recording engineer
  • Mike Kloster – assistant recording engineer
  • Clare Fischer – orchestra arranger

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Weekly chart performance for Parade

! scope="col"| Chart (1986)

! scope="col"| Peak<br /> position

|-

! scope="row"| Australian Albums Chart

| 8

|-

! scope="row"| Austrian Albums Chart

| 7

|-

! scope="row"| Canadian Albums Chart

| 11

|-

! scope="row"| Dutch Albums Chart

| 1

|-

! scope="row" | Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)

| 3

|-

! scope="row"| German Albums Chart

| 7

|-

! scope="row"| Norwegian Albums Chart

| 10

|-

! scope="row"| Swedish Albums Chart

| 5

|-

! scope="row"| Swiss Albums Chart

| 2

|-

! scope="row"| UK Albums Chart

| 4

|-

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

| 3

|-

! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)

| 44

|-

! scope="row" | US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

| 24

|}

Certifications

References

Further reading

  • Parade at Discogs
  • Parade at Prince Vault