Backtracking 1986: Prince and the Revolution's Parade

March 31, 2026, marks the 40th Anniversary of the release of Prince and the Revolution's Parade. It would be the third and final Revolution album.

According to Prince scholar Duane Tudahl, Prince laid down the first tracks for his eighth album, a few days before his seventh album, Around The World In A Day, was released on April 22, 1985. By May 1st, Prince had recorded more than a dozen songs and already created two different track configurations for the new project. Tudahl estimates that Prince returned to the project in mid-June 1985 after finishing up edits, extended versions, and video mixes for the singles from Around The World In A Day. July 1985 saw more new songs recorded and previous recordings for the new album receiving overdubs and further mixing, including string and orchestral arrangements from Clare Fischer. Pre-production work on Prince's next film had begun with auditions to follow as the screenplay underwent revisions.

September saw filming begin for Under the Cherry Moon on location in the south of France while Prince remained busy acting, recording, and mixing. At the end of the month, another compilation of tracks was compiled. October saw Prince take over as director on the film and hire a mobile recording truck, complete with a staff of three. Focusing mainly on the film, the prolific artist wouldn't use the portable studio until November, when previously recorded tracks were given overdubs and further mixes. Prince also filmed music videos for several songs while in France. By December, principal filming had ended. Prince resumed recording back home in  Minneapolis for a few days before flying to Los Angeles to edit and work on the film's soundtrack. By mid-December, another compilation of songs was made, with the project that began in April now intended to be the film's soundtrack. The final running order of the Parade album, as the soundtrack to Under The Cherry Moon was now titled, was compiled on January 6, 1986, and sent to be mastered on January 17, 1986, as Prince worked on an extended version of "Kiss". Other tracks were edited or rerecorded for either extended or single versions. On February 5, 1986, the first single from Parade was released.

Reportedly, the label hated the single, especially the lack of bass, despite the huge hit the bass-less "When Doves Cry" had been. It shot to the top of the charts anyway. A music video for "Kiss" was filmed the day before Valentine's Day 1986. Prince continued post-production on Under the Cherry Moon while recording new music. Parade was issued on the final day of March 1986.

After the release of Parade, Prince continued editing single releases from Parade. The album's second single was released on May 7, 1986, with the magnificent Extended Version hitting stores on the twelve-inch single a couple of weeks later.

Warner Bros. and Prince continued to clash over the finished but still unreleased Under the Cherry Moon, with the studio seizing the film and making a colorized print of the black-and-white movie against Prince's objections. The black-and-white film finally opened on July 2, 1986. It was a major box office and critical disappointment. That same day, the third single was released from Parade.

I bought the three vinyl singles (both 7" and 12" formats) and the Parade CD on the day and date of release, including the album's final funky single, "Anotherloverholenyohead". Compared to Around The World In A Day, I found Parade to be funkier and preferred listening to it alongside the twelve-inch mixes and non-album B-sides of the singles. Caught Under The Cherry Moon on opening night (or the next night, memory isn't too clear, and I might have had to work), but didn't really care for it at all, though I liked the film's female lead, Kristen Scott-Thomas, and have continued to follow her career through the years up to her stint in the show, Slow Horses.

I made two mixtapes to enjoy Parade and its singles in the HERCmobile. One tape, made shortly after the album's third single "Anotherloverholenyohead" was released, had the full album on Side A with the twelve-inch singles and their non-LP tracks on Side B. As usual, this tape was dubbed onto a TDK SA90. There was a lot of blank tape on both sides. The second tape, my favorite of the two, was dubbed nearly a decade later onto a Sony CDit 74-minute metal tape like the one pictured above. I integrated the Extended Versions and B-Sides into the original album's track listing, with the latter added to the end of Side One and the Extended Versions replacing the shorter studio versions on Side Two. Here's hoping The Prince Estate can put together a fitting Super Deluxe Edition of Parade sooner rather than later.