Publication: Stereo Review [?]
Date: July 1986
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Title: Stereo Review Review
Reviewed By: Havelock Nelson

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION
Parade.

Prince and the Revolution, prods. Paisley Park, 25395-1 (Distributed by Warner Bros.)

A SQUIGGLY BASS LINE, A FRIGIDIFIED DRUM track, and a guitar hook with an alligator’s bite: "Kiss" is Prince’s return to his roots, kind of. Its title has the directness of "Head" - homeboy wants to be diddled, although he’s a little tamer now, his long-lost falsetto returning to insist. "Gotta not talk dirty, mama, if you want to impress me." Like "When Doves Cry" from Purple Rain, "Kiss" offers contrast to everything else on the radio. After a year when everybody from newcomers the Jets to grayboy Phil Collins copped "the Prince sound,", you can bet that somebody’s listening to "New Position," where His Royal Badness declares, "You’ve got to try my new funk." I just wish he took more of his own advice.

Too many of the tracks on Parade, music from the film Under the Cherry Moon (due this month), are nothing more than ornate exhibitions, "Venus De Milo" is a standard movie love theme, and the only thing to relish about "Mountains" is its intricate drum program. Back on 1980’s Dirty Mind, a foundation like this would have evolve into big fun to rock the house. ON a Prince record, I don’t need the pretentious "Christopher Tracy’s Parade," flushed with horns, strings, and woodwinds, Sgt. Pepper re-born. Or the oh wow, "Life Can Be So Nice" sentiment, or the off-key Joni-Mitchell-isms of "Sometimes It Snows in April." I can’t remain loyal to such royal dribble. "When Doves Cry" was his last spare, driving tour de force, but the rest of Purple Rain was lusher, and maybe working on that somewhat autobiographical flick clouded his vision: Most of the follow-up album, Around the World in a Day, the quirkiest record he has made, was written by his father, John L. Nelson.

But back to Parade. Prince shoots his "new spunk" all over a skittish "New Position," which segues seamlessly into the hip-grinding "I Wonder U." The highlights, however, are "Anotherloverholenyohead," a propulsive groove, laced with an irresistible female chorus, and the sonic charmer "Girls & Boys," featuring gutsy baritone sac ejaculations complete with solo. Using a sharp snare roll as a springboard, a marvelously stripped-down track featuring Sheila E. on drums, and an anxious vocal, "Girls & Boys" remains focused in both direction and purpose: to keep the body up. At 5:30, though, it’s too short. It has one of those endings that says, "You want the rest, come see the show!"

After the backlash his fans dealt him last year when his overzealous bodyguards behaved rudely after the American Music Awards, and when he himself snubbed the "We Are the World" session, I thought Prince would have released more hard music like this to win back good favor. While I still admire his defiance of industry wisdom, he’s no longer a symbol of teenage lust and rebellion. To me, Prince will always be a bikini-clad party-upper with adolescent desires: having a good time and getting laid. On Parade he approaches these feelings, but he’s no longer in touch with them. Ain’t getting old a drag?