Customer Reviews:
 Life can be so nice January 7, 2009
Prince's last record with the Revolution is a parade, alright. It's a straightforward attack on listeners, with taut, sensuous weapons. The attack plan is a little more abstract than it should be, since it is a soundtrack, but it's more than enough to get even the most comatose and cretinous persons shaking and feeling the music. Speaking of which, Prince has moved on not just from his past image--notice the slick, basic, new Prince on the album cover--but also from the messianic rock of "1999" and "Purple Rain." He's no more humble, but he's much more baroque (the old Prince wouldn't have written a lyric like "No one plays the clarinet like you play my heart"). As a whole, the album is Prince's most cohesive effort, thanks in part to "Sgt. Pepper"-esque vision and sequencing. The production is knock-down drag-out flawless: just experience "Kiss," the lead single, maybe the strongest argument for minimalism since Joni Mitchell's "Blue." He's smarter than he was on "Around the World in a Day," too, which was really good, but didn't really feature any exciting new thoughts. He devotes an entire album, for the eighth time, to romance, lust, and love, his strengths, but he only grants tricky old death one line, in the poignant "Sometimes It Snows in April": "Sometimes I wish life was neverending/And all good things, they say, never last." He even makes like he might mellow and offers, "I love you baby, I love you so much/Maybe we can stay in touch." Yeah, right.
 Under the Cherry Moon Review January 6, 2009
This is an awesome album! In my opinion this is some of Prince's best work. If you're a Prince fan, you're sure to love this cd. Not only does it contain the classic song Kiss, it also contains "Likeyoueneedaholeinyourhead" (I don't know if thats the title but it is a rarely heard classic that many young Price fans may have never heard). All togeather, this project is a mix of funk, ballads and mid-range tempo jams that are sure to please and even contains a beautiful instrumental track that, once again, showcases the musical talent of Prince and the Revoloution/Parade. Cop this CD if you know what's good for you! They're selling it at a great price, too!
-Ryan Lionheart
Are u safe...i wonder u... November 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R33S4NUQSY8MWJ My name is Jeremy Gloff. I am a musician (check me out on Amazon!) and retro music enthusiast. If you enjoyed this review make sure to check out my Amazon user profile to check out my other reviews. I am always up for making new friends and discussing the music I love!!!
One of Prince's Most Rich and Colorful Releases! April 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of Prince's richest and most colorful releases. He covers an awful lot of ground stylistically in a pretty short amount of time, so there's little consistency in tone and sound, and that ends up being both an asset AND a weakness on this album. The good thing though is that even the weakest material isn't so much bad as it is just really, really mediocre, so the album still ends up making for a pretty solid listen throughout (some people think "Venus De Milo" and "Do U Lie?" are really bad, I just think they're painfully mediocre--well, I guess "Do U Lie?" is pretty bad, but it has at least one major redeeming quality). There's a lot of airy instrumentation and the focus primarily is on bright, bold and colorful chords (that's one thing that's fairly consistent about the album). Prince really piles it on with the multilayered arrangements on many of the tracks, with rich horn sections being key and multipart harmony also frequently playing a significant part. He starts things off with the full blown orchestration of "Christopher Tracy's Parade" which features an absolutely magnificent multipart harmony with him, Wendy, Lisa, and Wendy's sister Susannah (who shows up on multipart harmonies throughout the album from what I've read). He gives a strong nod to Caribbean music here too in part of the horn section and I think this marks the first time that Prince delved into that area. He keeps it up on the next track too; a Caribbean style steel drum turns up on "New Position" (much of this album has a real celebratory feel, and what better way to express "celebratory" than to focus on parades and spending time in the Caribbean Islands :). "New Position" is a solid, bare, stripped down Funk number. Wendy, who seems to have really stepped into the forefront on this album, actually sings the lead on "I Wonder U"; it isn't as strong as the first two songs, but it at least still has a great groove going for it. The ballad "Under the Cherry Moon", with its obvious nod to traditional French music, (the movie was based in France so this soundtrack is sprinkled with both subtle and not so subtle French references throughout) is solid if unremarkable. The Funk track that follows it though is outstanding; "Girl and Boys" is a fully layered Funk number with a clever reference to the French theme in the chorus. He then goes from doing a little too much (the somewhat cluttered "Life Can Be So Nice") to doing a little too little (the flowery but borderline insipid instrumental piece "Venus De Milo"). The next track "Mountains" is another solid, fully layered Funk number (an interesting note about this track is that the music was actually written by Wendy and Lisa while the lyrics were penned by Prince). I don't know if Prince was trying to make up for the fact that "Mountains" is built primarily on a single chord or what, but there are constant changes in key on the follow up, the faux-early-French music schmaltz-fest "Do U Lie?". This song isn't exactly stellar, but being able to listen to Prince go through almost his entire vocal range in under 3 minutes makes listening to it worth it. I don't know too many people who aren't familiar with "Kiss", but this stripped down Funk number with the butt-kicking both lead and rhythm guitar work fully deserves to be the big hit that it is. "Anotherloverholenyohead" is just phenomenal. The arrangement is just brilliant and the chord progressions, especially in the second verse are just absolutely incredible. There's a multipart harmony with Wendy and Lisa singing the countermelody towards the end of the 2nd verse that just blows me away every time. Then he ends the album off on a really high note with the slow, affecting ballad "Sometimes It Snows In April". This album was a tough one to rate; it sags a great deal in the middle but even the weaker material usually has at least a few interesting ideas, and even the weaker moments don't really detract from it being a generally solid listen all throughout. So, even with the weaker material, I still think this is essential listening: it really helps in giving you an understanding of Prince's breadth as a composer, even when the results of his experiments aren't exactly staggering. All of the material here isn't great, but when it's good, it's *really* good ("Christopher Tracy's Parade", "Girls & Boys", "Kiss", "Anotherloverholenyohead", "Sometimes it Snows in April"..."Mountains" is really strong too), and even the weak material still at least has something interesting going on. So, taking the time to dig into this one should prove to be well-worth it.
 Parade April 8, 2008
Prince-Parade ***1/2
This is rare of a Prince album released in the 1980's. almost everyone of his albums from that decade broke new ground musically one way or another and this one really fails to do so, which is really disappointing. Parade is the soundtrack to Prince's second film "Under A Cherry Moon" which was meant to be a romantic comedy but came off as awkward and flopped horribly. They album however didn't flop because of the hit single 'Kiss' but with out that this album would have flopped easily.
The musicianship here is average, and for Prince that is, well, sad. He is easily one of the most talented musicians in history and here he just seems not to be trying. 'I Wonder U' is a awful song lyrically and vocally but musically I think it is great. The weird southern fried funk thing he does somehow works and sounds amazing. 'New Position' has potential but falls short. The slow grooveless piano driven 'Under The Cherry Moon' however is a breath of fresh air. 'Girls And Boys' should be a classic. 'Kiss' was the big hit and is one of Prince's all time great songs, especially since it is yet another groove without the essential goove instrument...bass. 'Kiss' especially stands out on this album because of the mediocrity it is surrounded by. The album closes with 'Sometimes It Snows In April' which is among if not the very best song that Prince has ever written, it is especially stunning when done live, and is the perfect song to close the album. The rest of the album is hit or miss and not very memorable making this album a disappointment.
Every song on parade had the potential to be a great song but I think Prince's focus was more on the film then on the album making the music suffer. It is not a total waste however, it is fun once and a while, and is worth owning for 'Kiss' but since you can get that on any hit collection this album is worth owning for 'Sometimes It Snows In April' as to my knowledge this is the only place it is available.
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