Prince

And Prince painted himself in black and white.

In the '80s it was a familiar habit for Monsieur Roger Nelson to attach colors to each phase of his artistic evolution: every new album was conceived with the flair of an Impressionist painter standing before his canvas, and like a modern-day Monet or a present-day Gauguin, Prince mapped out his own magical visual spectrum time and again, drawing on a rich palette of colors, sounds and assorted enchantments.

Between the wildly successful purple and peach periods came the time for black and white, representing his own supremely elegant opening onto cool, jazzy atmospheres.

Prince didn't put a foot wrong in those years, writing relentlessly for himself and for others — just think of the hits he penned for Chaka Khan, Bangles, Jill Jones, Apollonia, Sheila E., Vanity, The Time, and even for Madhouse, the instrumental jazz-funk project the Minneapolis artist used as an experimental outlet. Even a track originally written for the Family ("Nothing Compares 2 You") went on to give Sinead O'Connor her biggest hit.

Setting aside much of the electric guitar work that made "Purple Rain" an untouchable monolith, and the more or less full-blown psychedelia that characterized the immediately preceding "Around The World In A Day", "Parade" appeared in the spring of 1986 as the final act of the fruitful partnership with the Revolution — though much of what's on these grooves is already played by Prince alone.

A thoroughly classy musical parade that didn't fail to climb to the top of the charts worldwide, driven by three hits that remain among the Purple One's classics: "Kiss", "Girls & Boys" and "Mountains". An explosion of creativity grafted onto fundamentally traditional structures and deliciously decadent climaxes.

Across the twelve tracks of "Parade", Prince continues his metamorphosis, covering an impressive range of genres and shades, introducing a strong orchestral component, and slotting the record right into the heart of his golden period — the run between 1984 and 1988 that produced a streak of five monumental albums never to be repeated. Among them, "Parade" stands out for oozing sensuality from every pore, starting with its iconic cover: at the time Prince was regarded not just as a brilliant musician but also as an ambiguous sex symbol, perpetually surrounded by gorgeous women.

Side one of the vinyl opens with the triptych "Christopher Tracy's Parade"/"New Position"/"I Wonder U", almost like unfinished sketches that showcase the pursuit of pure economy at the heart of this record.

“Christopher Tracy’s Parade” is built like two tracks in one, with the orchestra seeming to run backwards against the main theme, before the songs tumble into each other like a devilish medley: the danceable “New Position” followed by “I Wonder U”, ready to lower the tone, a sort of hazy experiment in primordial drum'n'bass.

The medley continues with the retro mood condensed into the three minutes of “Under A Cherry Moon”, which flows into the album's first proper song, the supremely elegant “Girls & Boys”, a triumph of glittering, deeply European-flavored arrangements (complete with a French spoken part), ushered in by the applause of a ballroom of old.

But there's no time to pause: “Life Can Be So Nice” bursts in like a stray shard, with Prince finally letting Sheila E. sit down behind the drums.

When the prince decides to take his place at the piano, he dispenses pearls of absolute beauty: “Venus De Milo”, which acts as a bridge to side two, and “Sometimes It Snows In April”, one of his most intense and accomplished ballads, placed at the very end of the tracklist.

Side B opens with the funk-jazz jubilation of the hugely propulsive “Mountains”, whose astonishing, wildly extended long version — released on a now-impossible-to-find 12-inch — deserves special mention: ten minutes of funk delirium that veer, in the closing stretch, toward a dazzling jazz free form.

Fancy a subtly perverse nursery rhyme? Here's “Do U Lie?”, with none other than Jonathan Melvoin on drums, who years later died while serving as keyboardist for the Smashing Pumpkins.

Want the perfect hit? No problem: Roger Nelson delivers his single most quintessential earworm, “Kiss”.

Craving a funk-flavored rock detour? What could be better than the irresistible “Anotherloverholenyohead”?

“Parade” also served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film, a fairly bland and muddled picture that barely holds together, and which put a definitive end to Roger's dreams of movie stardom — dreams he would (not satisfied) try to revive a couple more times, before they sank for good with “Graffiti Bridge” in 1990.

Better to focus on the music: a year later Prince would craft another masterpiece, the kaleidoscopic double album “Sign O' The Times”, followed by the thoroughly respectable “Lovesexy”.

Starting with the soundtrack to “Batman” (1989), an inexorable artistic decline set in, made up of the occasional sporadic flash of brilliance and plenty of missteps, the fruit of the little prince's boundless ego, which rarely led him to seek outside input on where to draw the line. His restless hyperactivity would flood the market with output that was often entirely dispensable, not infrequently in the form of double and triple albums. But that's another story.

“Parade” remains an essential work in the labyrinthine discography of the Minneapolis genius, a sexy, heavenly synthesis set among other jewels of inestimable value.

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30/10/2011