It appears that even at the time of pressing for the "Parade" album, CDs were being manufactured out of country by Warner Bros. The American releases of "Parade" featured CDs pressed in Japan, Germany and the United States.
Once again, black and white are the main colors appearing on the insert booklet and the cover. The only color appearing occurs on the CD where the song titles are listed in red.
The tracking is the same as the LP and Cassette versions. The German and Japanese pressings are housed in regular CD cases with inserts and packaging printed in the US. But only the German and Japanese versions were encased in longboxes. The US pressings were used for music club releases. This is the Japanese manufactured disc.
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - PARADE
01. Christopher Tracy's Parade 02:11 (Prince, John L. Nelson)
02. New Position 02:21 (Prince)
03. I Wonder U 01:40 (Prince)
04. Under The Cherry Moon 02:57 (Prince, John L. Nelson)
05. Girls & Boys 05:30 (Prince)
06. Life Can Be So Nice 03:12 (Prince)
07. Venus De Milo 01:54 (Prince)
08. Mountains 03:58 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
09. Do U Lie? 02:43 (Prince)
10. Kiss 03:38 (Prince)
11. Anotherloverholenyohead 03:58 (Prince)
12. Sometimes It Snows In April 06:50 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
Ok, this one is a little weird. Normally, when you have a music club edition of a cassette, it's manufactured on a white cassette rather than the clear cassette with the black insert. However, this is the normal commercial version of "Parade" except manufactured with the white cassette.
It shares the same serial number and identical insert as the clear cassette release and there are no markings to identify it as different from the more common version.
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - PARADE
01. Christopher Tracy's Parade 02:11 (Prince, John L. Nelson)
02. New Position 02:21 (Prince)
03. I Wonder U 01:40 (Prince)
04. Under The Cherry Moon 02:57 (Prince, John L. Nelson)
05. Girls & Boys 05:30 (Prince)
06. Life Can Be So Nice 03:12 (Prince)
07. Venus De Milo 01:54 (Prince)
08. Mountains 03:58 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
09. Do U Lie? 02:43 (Prince)
10. Kiss 03:38 (Prince)
11. Anotherloverholenyohead 03:58 (Prince)
12. Sometimes It Snows In April 06:50 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
The cassette release of "Parade" was the typical kind for Paisley Park during this time period. The clear cassette with the black insert with white lettering. The case was clear and the Paisley Park logo appears on the both sides of the cassette and on the cover insert.
Unlike the CD and LP versions of the album, the cassette shows the photo of Prince right side up. Whereas, on the CD and LP, it's often to the side.
There are multiple versions of the cassette and I hope to discuss them all eventually.
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - PARADE
01. Christopher Tracy's Parade 02:11 (Prince, John L. Nelson)
02. New Position 02:21 (Prince)
03. I Wonder U 01:40 (Prince)
04. Under The Cherry Moon 02:57 (Prince, John L. Nelson)
05. Girls & Boys 05:30 (Prince)
06. Life Can Be So Nice 03:12 (Prince)
07. Venus De Milo 01:54 (Prince)
08. Mountains 03:58 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
09. Do U Lie? 02:43 (Prince)
10. Kiss 03:38 (Prince)
11. Anotherloverholenyohead 03:58 (Prince)
12. Sometimes It Snows In April 06:50 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
"Parade" was an interesting release with all of it's firsts and lasts. It was the first soundtrack album on the Paisley Park label. It was the last album Prince recorded with the Revolution. It's the second Prince record on the label and the first actually recorded at Paisley Park.
It was released March 31, 1986. It contained music from the motion picture, "Under The Cherry Moon". It also represented a huge shift in style for Prince. But that's not the point of this entry.
The LP appeared as a gatefold. The record itself was radically different from "Around The World In A Day". The A-side label was white with a gray watermark Paisley Park logo filling up almost the entire label space. The B-side label was the same except it was black with the gray watermark. Almost all of the artwork on the US releases associated with this album are black and white coloring. There are some slight variation. Mostly in the colors of fonts. On the front label, the song titles are written in red while album info is written in black, on the back the song titles are written in white and the album info appears in red. The album speed is 33 1/3.
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - PARADE
01. Christopher Tracy's Parade 02:11 (Prince, John L. Nelson)
02. New Position 02:21 (Prince)
03. I Wonder U 01:40 (Prince)
04. Under The Cherry Moon 02:57 (Prince, John L. Nelson)
05. Girls & Boys 05:30 (Prince)
06. Life Can Be So Nice 03:12 (Prince)
07. Venus De Milo 01:54 (Prince)
08. Mountains 03:58 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
09. Do U Lie? 02:43 (Prince)
10. Kiss 03:38 (Prince)
11. Anotherloverholenyohead 03:58 (Prince)
12. Sometimes It Snows In April 06:50 (Prince, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman)
On April 22, 1985 Prince's seventh studio album was released on the Paisley Park label. It was the first album released on Paisley Park and a bit of a radical move by Prince who many expected to follow "Purple Rain" with another rock/funk workout.
Instead, he delivered the more introspective and psychedelic "Around The World In A Day". At the height of his popularity, Prince opted out of releasing a record that would become a formula of sorts and challenged his audience with something more complex and forward thinking. A brave move to be sure. And not one people expected.
Prince is an artist many of us grew up with. As a young person, I believed only the music I was listening to had any value. I didn't believe anything else was worth hearing. Of course, my opinion changed as my musical exposure changed. And most of the progress can be traced directly to Prince and the music he brought to my attention.
Of all the albums on Paisley Park label, "Around The World In A Day" probably has the most versions. This particular entry will focus on one of the 8-track releases. In my research of this release, I've determined there were two distinct 8-track releases. Neither were commercially available in retail stores. They were produced by music clubs for sale to their members.
One was manufactured and distributed by RCA Music Club and the other was through Columbia House. The Columbia House release featured a black casing and had the serial number W8 25286. The RCA version features a cream colored casing and the serial number S124370.
Of the two, I've only located the RCA edition. However, I was able to purchase it in its original cover. In near mint condition.
The versions of Prince albums appearing on 8-track are limited to only the first 3 Paisley Park albums. At least that's my understanding. I recently watched "Parade" 8-track sealed in original packaging sell for over $400 on eBay.
The songs play in continuous sequence on 8-tracks. There are four sections and each contains songs or portions of songs.
Here is the tracklist as it appears on my 8-track.
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY
01. Around The World In A Day (Prince, John L. Nelson, David Coleman), Paisley Park (Prince), Condition O The Heart (Beg.) (Prince)
02. Condition O The Heart (Concl.) (Prince), Raspberry Beret (Prince), Tamborine (Prince)
03. America (Prince), Pop Life (Prince), The Ladder (Beg.) (Prince, John L. Nelson)
04. The Ladder (Concl.) (Prince, John L. Nelson), Temptation (Prince)
"Kiss" is the first single from the "Parade" soundtrack. It was released for commercial sale in the US on February 05, 1986. The initial release for the single was vinyl. Both 7" and 12" versions. There are two versions of this 7" single. I believe this one is the standard version most readily available with the other being the alternate. The difference is a small variance in the cover art. Since I have copies of both, I'll follow this one up with the alternate tomorrow.
The version of 'Kiss' appearing on this single is considered the single version. The second track, 'b Or $' is a true b-side. A b-side is a song not included on the main album release and is exclusively limited to release on the single.
The story behind 'Kiss' is rather intense. Supposedly, at the request of Mazarati, Prince provided an snippet acoustic demo of a song idea. David Z. worked on the song and Prince returned to find the version of 'Kiss' we're familiar with today. David Z. fleshed out the music and finished the lyrics, however, he does not receive a writing credit. Prince is credited as the sole author of 'b Or $' by the Library of Congress copyright info. However, the credit on the vinyl is Prince and the Revolution.
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - KISS
01. Kiss 03:46 (Prince)
02. b Or $ 03:57 (Prince)
