After my love of Around the World In A Day, I had to get this album, and also see the accompanying film Under the Cherry Moon. Well, yes, the movie sucked IMO, but the music was some of his best. Along with the obvious singles, which were all some of his best, we also have Venus De Milo and Sometimes It Snows In April and Anotherloverholeinyohead and the list goes on. At this time in my life, my love for this brand of Pop music was a secret hidden love (as my skater punk friends of the time wouldn't have approved) so I listened to this one mostly in my room, doing homework or reading comic books. So, it is still an album that I listen to when I'm alone, or want some solace or during quiet times around our house. To me, that's how it's meant to be, that's how I remember it.
So, there are two discs worth of material for this one, plus a "bonus" disc of demos (of differing quality) that were mixed differently than the other tracks so they didn't sound right being on the album proper. So, three discs total from what I think is the majority of the Parade recording sessions. PLEASE, if there are any additional tracks for these sessions that I may have missed... tell me! And, if you feel some of the tracks belong on other albums, then we can make adjustments that way, too. But, I think I got them right. We'll see....
One question: Is this a Prince version of "Neon Telephone," or is it the Three O'Clock's version of the song? I thought they were the only ones who had recorded it, but since Prince seems to have done at least a demo version of EVERY song that he gave to other artists, finding out that he'd recorded this as well before he gave it to the band wouldn't surprise me at all!
ReplyDeleteWere you able to figure this one out, yet? I haven't listened to it in SO long, and I didn't know he gave it to someone else, so I don't have an answer for you....
DeleteIt IS a Prince version! I had no idea that he'd actually recorded this song -- though, even as a big Prince fan, I have to admit that I'm more partial to the Three O'Clock's version, mainly because I love that band SO MUCH and I think the song fits Michael Quercio's voice so perfectly. But the Prince version is pretty good, too!
DeletePrince rules!!! and his albums can never be expanded enough. All of his B-sides are excellent. I expected that, after his death, they would re-release all his albums in expanded format. But knowing record companies, they would mess that up anyways. I would love to have an expanded edition of Sign O' The Times, IMO his third best album.
ReplyDeletethank you so much
SOtT is on it's way....
DeleteHey... I absolutely love the work you put into all of these albums. You did say however that if anything was wrong in the tracks we could mention and I found a couple ones. Crystal Ball, Dream Factory & All My Dreams were actually part of the unreleased Dream Factory sessions, which later became Sign o The Times, so they would part of that. Also The Black Album (at least most of it) probably should be absorbed into Sign o The Times as well, since most of the tracks were recorded during the Dream Factory / Sign o The Times sessions (except When 2 R In Love, which ended up on Lovesexy anyways...) But what do I know? It's your choice anyways. Just thought I would mention that.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have liked a lot of Prince's music, I have never been a strong enough fan to sort all that stuff out like you've suggested. I'm being serious, here, now. Could you possibly organize all of his material for me so I can put it in it's appropriate place? Then I'll remake the covers. Any listings you could give me would be wonderful...
DeleteSure... I'd be totally fine with that. I'm not a ridiculous fan however... I just research the stuff needed. But I'd be totally fine with that.
DeleteThis is insane. I did exactly the same thing with this album. As far as the Black Album goes, it was done as a complete work and meant to be released on it's own to prove to everyone he hadn't gone soft (why he would think that I'll never understand) until Prince decided it too negative and that he had nothing to prove to anyway, and released Lovesexy - a positive and spiritual rebirth album (hence the sitting on the flower naked reborn lol) instead, the only song to survive the chopping of the Black Album was When 2 R In Love. My favorite BA track is Bob George.
ReplyDeletePARADE on the other hand was and is the be all and end all of my Prince existence for years and years being the junkie that I am. I love this album, this terrible and terribly funny movie, the look, the black and white, and the music is everything. To really get the full effect of how much music he was creating at this moment in time you have to take into consideration that he was battling Warner at the time and they wouldn't allow him to 'oversaturate' the market with his music, so he wrote and released both Sheila E.'s Sheila E. In Romance 1600 Album https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ximhj23yozw86yw/AAAVjxlHrgNuE_fBgto4Dh_Ya?dl=0
and The Family's debut album
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5x2029jmrceznhl/AAAfAcw2NQgAPX9giW-M6wNWa?dl=0
which in my opinion is the best of the two. Many Family songs would end up in the Parade Tour's song repertoire and over the years I've come to love this album the most. That being said, in my humble Prince opinion Parade might not be the best Revolution album, but for me it's my absolute favorite.
Best album of his career
ReplyDeleteDisc two isn't working anymore :(
ReplyDelete