✦ Parade Music from the Motion Picture Under The Cherry Moon – Album US/UK: Mar. 1986

A baroque‑funk masterpiece — Prince and the Revolution’s final bow, wrapped in Parisian cool.

✦ Summary

Issued on March 31, 1986 by Paisley Park/Warner Bros., Parade served as the soundtrack to Prince’s black‑and‑white film Under the Cherry Moon. It marked the fourth and final album credited to Prince and the Revolution, closing the band’s era with a bold stylistic pivot: away from the guitar‑driven rock of Purple Rain and toward neo‑psychedelia, baroque pop, French chanson, jazz, and minimalist funk.

Critics hailed Parade as a creative resurgence after the mixed reception of Around the World in a Day. Publications praised its cohesion, icy elegance, and daring arrangements. Retrospective acclaim has only grown — Pitchfork rated it 9.1, NME named it Album of the Year (1986), and The Guardian called it “effortless and assured… and it has ‘Kiss’ on it.”

Commercially, the album reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, No. 2 on the R&B chart, and went Platinum in the US. Internationally it performed even better, hitting No. 1 in the Netherlands and top‑10 across Europe.

✦ Highlights

• Final album by Prince and the Revolution

• Soundtrack to Under the Cherry Moon

• Features the No. 1 hit “Kiss”

• Critically acclaimed — NME Album of the Year (1986)

• Platinum in the US; ~4.5 million worldwide

• Stylistic blend of funk, baroque pop, jazz, and French influences

✦ Track Details

LP / CD – Paisley Park / Warner Bros. – 1986

Total length: 40:57

Side One

Christopher Tracy’s Parade — 2:11

New Position — 2:20

I Wonder U — 1:39

Under the Cherry Moon — 2:57

Girls & Boys — 5:29

Life Can Be So Nice — 3:13

Venus de Milo — 1:55

Side Two

Mountains — 3:57

Do U Lie? — 2:44

Kiss — 3:37

Anotherloverholenyohead — 4:00

Sometimes It Snows in April — 6:48

✦ Reissues & Global Variants

(Verified via Prince Vault, Discogs, Warner Records)

1986 Original Releases

• LP — Paisley Park/Warner Bros. 1‑25395 — US

• LP — Paisley Park/Warner Bros. WX 39 — UK/Europe

• Cassette — Paisley Park/Warner Bros. 4‑25395 — US

• CD — Paisley Park/Warner Bros. 9 25395‑2 — US/Europe

1990s–2000s CD Reissues

• CD — Warner Bros. 7599‑25395‑2 — Europe

• CD — Warner Bros. WPCR‑13133 — Japan

2016–2017 Digital Reissues

• Warner Bros. / NPG — Worldwide — digital remaster

2020s Vinyl Represses

• LP — Warner Records — Worldwide — remastered catalogue reissue

✦ Production and Context

• Produced by Prince

• Co‑production on select tracks by Wendy & Lisa and David Z.

• Recorded 1985–1986 at Sunset Sound and Paisley Park

• Clare Fischer arranged orchestral sections

• Stylistic influences: French chanson, jazz, baroque pop, psychedelic funk

• Bookended by songs referencing Christopher Tracy, the film’s protagonist

✦ Singles Released

Kiss — Feb 5, 1986 (US No. 1)

Mountains — May 7, 1986

Anotherloverholenyohead — July 2, 1986

Girls & Boys — Aug 4, 1986 (EU only)

✦ Chart Performance

United States

• Billboard 200 — #3

• Top R&B/Hip‑Hop Albums — #2

• RIAA — Platinum

International

• Netherlands — #1

• UK — #4

• Switzerland — #2

• Germany — #6

• Sweden — #5

• Austria — #7

• New Zealand — #7

• Finland — #3

• Canada — #11

2016 Re‑Entry

• Billboard 200 — #50

• Soundtrack Albums — #3

✦ Discography Sidebar

Around the World in a Day — 1985

Parade — 1986

Sign “O” the Times — 1987

✦ Prince Era Mini‑Timeline

1985 — Around the World in a Day

Mar 1986 — Parade released

1986 — Under the Cherry Moon film

1986 — Revolution lineup dissolves

✦ Glam Flashback

Parade is Prince at his most elegant — a Parisian‑tinged swirl of funk, orchestral pop, and cinematic romance. It’s the Revolution’s final masterpiece, a soundtrack that transcends its film and stands as one of the most inventive albums of the 1980s.

✦ Image & Artwork Copyright Notice

All images, photographs, and artwork referenced or displayed in this post remain the property of their respective copyright holders. They are included strictly for historical, educational, and archival purposes under fair‑use principles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WmPeLOLDnA

✦ Sources

Prince Vault

Discogs

Warner Bros. Records documentation

Contemporary and retrospective reviews (NYT, Pitchfork, NME, The Guardian)