Part 3 of the Monster #Thread on Prince’s album Parade by @deejayumb and @EdgarKruize. This is the last entry and looks at a possible future for Parade.
Part 1 can be found here:
Part 2 can be found here:
Part 1 can be found here:
Part 2 can be found here:
PARADE - PART 3: The Once Upon A Time In A Land Called Fantasy Special Edition by @EdgarKruize
Although a lot of rumour and speculation suggests otherwise, Parade probably won’t be the next instalment in the reissue series that started last year with the impressive 1999 set. Check out @deejayumb’s massive thread on 1999 here:
Sony Music Entertainment struck a deal with the Prince Estate and from 2021 on will receive the rights to most of Prince’s (current) Warner catalogue. The exceptions are the soundtracks. [link: nypost.com/2018/06/27/son…]
These soundtracks being Purple Rain, Batman, Graffiti Bridge and… Parade, which is fully titled Parade (Music From the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon)
Warner has no need to hurry with Parade at this point, they can do that any time. Another album (Sign “O” The Times is the obvious candidate) will get a reissue before they lose the rights.
This thread is pure speculation, a testament of how rich the Parade era is and what could be a special edition. Not what will be ‘the’ Super Deluxe Edition.
Had this been a real Super Deluxe Edition, the Sony deal would most likely have complicated things. Due to the fact that they own the rights to for instance the 1998 Crystal Ball release, a track like An Honest Man would be off-limits.
It remains to be seen if songs like Crystal Ball and Dream Factory will make their way onto Warner distributed Sign “O” The Times box set. We’ll see!
We decided not to be bothered by any of this and compile a ‘Once Upon A Time In A Land Called Fantasy’ Super Deluxe Edition. For this we’ll use the template set last year by 1999. So 4 studio discs, a live-release and a concert dvd, plus booklet with liner notes.
Perfect candidates to write the liner-notes are Wendy Melvoin and/or Lisa Coleman. Together with Prince they were the creative forces behind Parade. In the 1985 MTV interview Prince commented that they allowed him to work much faster.
Also it would be great to have liner notes from someone who can give some insight on the final tour with the Revolution. Alan Leeds (tour manager) or Karen Krattinger (road manager) for instance.
As for the music, disc 1 is obvious. The original album remastered. That album has been discussed in parts 1 and 2 already.
Disc 2: B-Sides and remixes. It is worth noting that none of the Parade era b-sides were part of the 1993 The Hits/The B-sides compilation. Only the single version of Kiss and Kiss (Extended Edition) have been previously released on cd.
Best track here is the wonderful long version of Mountains. Its b-side Alexa de Paris is also a wonderful and often overlooked gem. One could argue that this lovely instrumental should have been an album track instead of Venus de Milo.
Disc 3: Parade, the 1 May 1985 configuration. Very interesting early version of the album as the b-side has a completely different vibe.
We’ve selected alternate versions of the songs that are also on the original album, with the sole criterion that it had to be confirmed that an alternate version exists.
Had we considered the ‘Sony deal’, Old Friends 4 Sale could probably not have been on there as that is also (albeit in a different version) on the currently Sony owned The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999).
Stand out track on this one is the eerie Others Here With Us, recorded on the same day as Old Friends 4 Sale and a day prior to Sometimes It Snows In April. All stark contrasts to the first four songs on the album, recorded four days earlier. Listen here:
As @deejayumb mentioned in Part 1 the released version of Parade is vibrant and full of life. This 1 May 1985 configuration is much more black and white (pun intended) with death being just as prominent as life.
Disc 4: 1985 Parade era outtakes. This one was hardest to compile. This era was the start of what technician Susan Rogers has called ‘the flood’. Prince’s output was bigger than ever and it is hard to determine where ‘Parade’ stops and a project like ‘Dream Factory’ begins.
Now there are a lot of songs from this era that we don’t know. The instrumental Tibet for instance. Recorded on the same day as Others Here With Us, but most likely just a sampler test. Do we include that for he sake of completion? Or do we include what we actually know?
We decided to go for the latter. Starting with the songs that were meant to become the The Flesh EP. The Flesh was a proto-Madhouse, consisting of jazz-funk instrumentals and Eric Leeeds being ‘the face’ of the band.
We decided to include this as a ‘Parade era project’ as 30 seconds of Junk Music can be heard in the Under The Cherry Moon movie. As The Flesh more or less is the result of the so called Paisley Jam (December 1985) we could include some of those titles as well.
We did not though as these are more jams than actual songs. Also there was the flow of the cd to consider. Too much instrumentals would get boring. Can I Play With U? was recorded during those sessions as well, so we did include that one.
Can I Play With U? was meant to be a collaboration with Miles Davis. You can see his 1985 album You Are Under Arrest in Christopher Tracy’s apartment in the Under The Cherry Moon movie.
Neon Telephone was eventually recorded by Three O’Clock, but the original by Prince was intended for Parade/Under The Cherry Moon. It did inspire the phone in Christopher Tracy’s apartment.
An Honest Man was used as an instrumental piece in the movie, the a capella version is on 1998 ‘official bootleg’ Crystal Ball. According to Princevault.com a complete studio recording exists. So we’ll include that here.
Empty Room is arguably Prince’s most popular unreleased song. Of course a live/rehearsal version was released on C-Note in 2004, but nothing beats the original that was recorded in August of 1985.
As stated in earlier threads, the original version of The Question Of U was recorded in the same set of sessions that produced Girls & Boys, ♥ Or $, Neon Telephone, Do U Lie? and Venus De Milo. It would be interesting to hear the original version.
(U Got) The Good Dawers also is from those sessions. No idea how it sounds, but there must be some unknown stuff on there, don’t you think?
Go is from August 1985 and supposedly was a song Prince had put a lot of time and effort in.
Splash was released as a MP3 download as part of the NPG Music Club in 2001. The song was recorded in August 1985 by Prince, Wendy and Lisa and is a lovely tune. Deserves to be on a real cd.
We know there is still a lot missing. But choices had to be made. This is just a personal selection and we could at least have filled another disc.
Disc 5 + 6: Parade live: San Francisco, Warfield Theatre May 23, 1986
Choosing one of the many, many wonderful 1986 shows is a difficult task. It could have been any of them as they are all great.
Choosing one of the many, many wonderful 1986 shows is a difficult task. It could have been any of them as they are all great.
The Parade tour is arguably one of the finest in Prince’s career. The Revolution is tighter than ever. The band literally is an instrument, for Prince to play.
In the US that tour was his first ‘hit and run’ tour, with Prince announcing shows at very short notice with tickets immediately going on sale. In a way this foreshadows the way he eventually would do aftershows.
The Parade tour (Europe and Japan) is the first proper Prince tour outside of the US. It is somewhat less spontaneous than the US shows. In my book Prince: The Dutch Experience I describe the tension on stage and in the audience during the Rotterdam shows for instance.
Shameless plug, you can buy the book here: permafrostpublishers.com/product/497598… (it is in Dutch, so be warned if you are from abroad)
So we decided to narrows the scope to the 10 US shows and if you listen to those, the San Francisco concert truly stands out. It has an extra spark. The band is having genuine fun, the crowd is on fire, the setlist is impeccable.
Highlight is a rousing version of The Dance Electric, featuring André Cymone. The band messing up Controversy and Mutiny is fun as well and the killer jam around A Love Bizarre with Prince as a James Brown-like band leader will melt your speakers.
Disc 7: First Avenue March 3, 1986 (DVD) The try-out for what would eventually become the Parade tour.
There are more professionally filmed shows from that era. For instance his birthday show in Detroit. We chose this one because of the raw power and less polished feel. This is truly a try out and it is frightening how good the band already is.
Highlights are a wonderful and rare version of Paisley Park (dropped from the setlist as the tour progressed) and Wendy killing it on Alexa De Paris.
Don't take my word for it, read all about it here on @Hdub3121 's site: princerecordings.com/parade-warm-up…
Bootleg versions of the First Avenue 1986 footage has been circulating for decades. This show deserves an upgrade and official release. Fingers crossed!
And that concludes our wish list. Or ‘once upon a time in a land called Fantasy’ edition. Will this ever see the light of day this way? Highly unlikely. But it is fun to speculate and dream. What would you like to see in a Parade set? Let @deejayumb and me know.
