Was there ever a bad show on the Parade tour? Maybe, but this one certainly isn’t it. Today I return to one of my favorite tours- The Parade tour and take a listen to a recording from the Swedish concert. This is a fairly well-known recording, it is available in video and audio, and one that I know many people enjoy – myself included. My two go-to shows from this tour are the warm-up show at First Ave, and the Cobo birthday show, but this one is a close third place behind those two. So, let’s sit back and enjoy what we have here.
22 August, 1986, Johanneshov, Sweden
The
classic “Please welcome Prince and The Revolution” begins the show, while the
band plays the beginning of “Around The World In a Day” in darkness. There is
plenty to enjoy in the music at the beginning, lots of different instruments to
pick out and enjoy, and these senses are heightened by the fact the band is
playing behind a curtain. I do like this song a lot and don’t really know what
to expect from a live version, and the first thing that grabs me is the
wonderful sound of Prince's voice. It has a well-rounded and warm sound to it
and contrasts nicely with some of the instrumentation in the background. The
rest of the band joins and the song starts proper, but after a minute of some
great bass work and fanfares from the band, we move into “Christopher Tracey’s
Parade.”
There
is some guitar work on the left at the start of the “Christopher Tracey’s
Parade” that seems a little out of place, but overall the sound and the texture
of the song are just wonderful. I especially like the keyboards playing after
the first verse. Lisa is playing some great stuff as well as providing backing
vocals to Prince. In the second half of the song the band moves up a gear and
Prince takes his first break at the organ. He doesn’t play anything
mind-blowing, but the organ adds more warmth and fullness before we move
without pause to the next song.
“New
Position” sounds very full and colorful here in comparison to what we hear on the
album. The horns play some nice wiggly lines, and the rest of the band fills
out the song much more. In particular, I can hear the guitar much more on this
number. The song ends naturally enough with a flourish from the horns before
the tempo changes.
“I
Wonder U” is quite a change from what we have just heard and the atmosphere of
the recording changes with it. Here it’s again the keyboards I enjoy most,
although the singing from Wendy is fine enough, it’s not a showstopper. Atlanta
Bliss on the trumpet though, now that is a nice touch. He plays a break that
sounds shaky but is very good. Already it’s my favorite moment of the first ten
minutes of the show.
Prince
asks if we are ready to rock and roll before the horns introduce “Raspberry
Beret” with a flourish. Prince uses the song to encourage the audience to clap
their hands and sing. He sings most of it, which has me a little surprised as I
expected he would leave it mostly to the crowd. The song sounds good enough,
but I find that with verses cut out it does lack the charm of the storytelling
original. Again Prince teases us with just a brief moment on the organ, before
the song transitions into the next part of the show.
Prince
does some cool-sounding vocals at the start of “Delirious,” and then the band
joins in and we go racing off. The vocals at the start are well worth the few
seconds they get, I can imagine him doing more with it like this, especially
when he stretches his voice out. The rest of the song is a fun dance-along
number, with plenty of time devoted to Prince and his backup dancers.
The
funkometer goes up to ten next as the classic opening riff of “Controversy”
begins. Always my favorite part of the Parade gigs, this is where the show
starts for me. The song starts with plenty of funky guitars but the keyboard
and horns also come in heavy and it’s a great funk sound. It could have
derailed when Prince goes into his cigarette smoking routine, but things are
saved when the next song starts.
Prince
owns “Love Bizarre” in these live performances. The sound is funk yet still
there is plenty of pop in there. The band and Prince deliver it all with such
intensity, not just the music but also the performance. Wendy and Lisa sound
great on the backing vocals, and the guitar playing is just as good too. There
is a keyboard groove that keeps me moving, and I think groove is the perfect
word to describe this song. The guitar and keyboard are relentless, and the
horns add just a splash of color. Eric does get a solo moment, and he sounds as
good as ever. Prince does encourage the crowd with “who’s house, Wendy’s house”
and I want to sing along here at home. At one point the band drop out leaving
just bass and drums, and I don’t need to reiterate, it’s so funky. ‘Stop on the
one’ has Prince in bandleader mode, but he doesn’t play upon it too much,
content to just sit back and let the band play. The song ends with Prince on
the drum riser, and I wonder how he can top that.
Again
the tempo drops, and Prince delivers a slow-burning classic rendition of “Do Me,
Baby.” As always his vocal delivery is top shelf, but on this recording, it’s
the backing vocals that I notice most. They are right behind him on the chorus
and it’s perfectly complementary. Prince Wendy and Lisa do sound wonderful
together, I can’t deny it. This is one of the better versions I have heard,
Prince's vocals are very clean sounding on the recording, and I can hear every
note and inflection in his voice. The horns playing give the song an extra push
near the end, and add to the seductive nature of the song. When I started
writing about this show I didn’t expect “Do Me, Baby” to be one of the
highlights, but it is. The end of the song is breathtaking, and I don’t say
that lightly, as Prince pulls the band back and sings as the crowd claps along.
His lyrics sound excellent, and he throws in some appropriate screams and
yells. He finishes up with the crowd singing with him. If the show ended right
here I would be happy.
I
still haven’t worked out why “How Much Is That Doggie” is on the setlist, but I
easily forgive them when the brief instrumental of “Lady Cab Driver” is played.
It's only seconds long but it's enough to remind me how much I love that song.
The band moves easily onto “Automatic,” which is no bad thing as it also is a
favorite of mine from the 1999 album. It is not as dark as it sounds on the
album, on this recording, it's much more of a dance song, especially with all
the horns thrown in, and Prince plays up this aspect for all its worth, with
plenty of dancing throughout.
We
stay with “1999” with a short but cool version of “D.M.S.R.” tacked on to the
end. Again, it’s a medley version, with plenty of horns, so we don’t get to
enjoy the fullness of it, but I know that as soon as I finish writing this I
will be pulling out the 1999 album.
The
simple keyboard riff of “When Doves Cry” is enough to get the crowd screaming.
It’s played true to the album here, if anything it’s got an even more stripped-down
sound, the beat that Prince sings over is very sparse sounding. Part of the
beauty of this song is the sound of Prince's voice out alone in front of the
music, and it is true in this case. It is very melancholy sounding, and even
when the bass enters that feeling remains with me. But the best part is Wendy’s
solo. The guitar tone is brilliant, and it’s got the sound of a lone
instrument. The beat is still barren with just the occasional bass sound as she
plays, and it’s a great rock moment. The full band enters soon after this point
and the horns are finally heard, and sound oddly out of place on this
recording, even though I have enjoyed them plenty on other occasions. The coda
has the horns playing while Prince plays at the organ, and I warm to them at
this stage, it could well be another song but the sound is fantastic.
This
show gets better and better, I can’t believe how much I have gushed over it
already, but still, it keeps delivering. Next, we have Prince alone at the
piano, and instead of starting straight in on a song, we have a couple of
minutes of him improvising. Even if he is just warming up it sounds great, and
I could happily listen to it for much longer. He does start to play “Under The
Cherry Moon,” and I am even happier. Just the sound of his vocals and the piano
are perfect and it seals the deal for me- this show is one of the greats.
Prince and the piano are backed very well by some other keyboard work, but it's
never intrusive and Prince still has plenty of time to play his piano parts.
My
favorite song from the Parade album is “Anotherloverholenyohead,” and to
hear it now with this band on this tour, well it doesn’t get much better. Lisa
and Prince sound great, I was expecting to be writing about Eric Leeds, but
it’s the girl’s voices that get my attention first. Eric Leeds and Atlanta
Bliss do get their moment later in the song, and as you might expect they live
up to their billing. Everybody seems to chime in for their part in this song,
and Prince introduces Lisa as we get a long break of her piano playing. There are
some great chords, and some fast delicate playing as well, and I can’t speak of
it highly enough. In a show packed full of highlights, this is yet another one.
“17
Days” is another song that we need to hear more of. The bass line on this
recording is nice and strong, and the full band makes for a much fuller sound
than we hear on the record. Like everything it’s a compromise, we lose some of
the morose feelings of the original, but there are so many more great things to
listen to here. The horns take over as Prince engages with the audience, and
throws bundles of flowers to the fans. The groove gets deeper and darker as the
song goes along, and Prince gives us some organ play which fills out the sound
a lot.
“I
hate rock n roll, who wants some head?” and the nasty part of the show begins. “Head”
has a nice intro, moving from bare rhythm guitar to dirty horn stabs. “Head” is
dirty by name and dirty by nature. I can hear the guitar lines on this one very
well, and they lay a nice layer over which the horns and keyboard stabs play.
Any show that has “Head” in it usually has me writing that it was a highlight.
I am reluctant to say that, with a show packed with highlights, but it is the
moment when I most wanted to put down my laptop and enjoy the music. Dr. Finks's
solo sounds great, it’s a little different sounding than I am used to but still
has me listening intently. The song breaks down to a nice long jam, and Prince
calls for Bobby Z who lays down a nice snare beat. I was waiting for Prince to
take his time and dance for much longer but instead, he returns to the organ
for another break before he starts dancing again. Head gets the full treatment,
it's drawn right out, lots of audience interplay, and Prince playing band
leader. He breaks into his electric man routine as he lies on the floor, which
would be great if I hadn’t seen it so much already. But as he calls for Booby
to hit him with the snare I’m back on board. The band is on fire and of the
whole show, this is the performance I enjoy most from them. There is a little
bit of everything. Prince even picks up a guitar to deliver some suitable dirty
guitar to the proceedings, then walks off the stage as he finishes his guitar
break and the band plays us out in the darkness.
The
tone is lightened again as the band strikes up “Pop Life.” Live it sounds just
as joyous as it does on record, and it starts with Prince singing “Life it
ain’t too funky, life it ain’t too funky” The rest of the song follows as heard
on record, the main difference is that Prince's vocals sound much stronger, and
the keyboard riff is more to the fore. It does have a great live sound, Prince's
vocals are a little ragged, but it still has that pop. It is also nice to hear
Eric Leeds playing the flute solo live, a nice little touch that I didn’t
expect. There aren’t any surprises musically or performance-wise in the song,
it does exactly what you would expect from the title. Prince does try for an
audience sing-along before the end, but it doesn’t go anywhere and the song
ends at this point.
“Girls
and Boys” sounds funky, but lacks the deep funky sound I associate it with. But
I am in no way criticizing it, I enjoy this performance a lot. As with the last
song, it seems to gain an extra emphasis from the raggedness in Prince's voice.
He’s never rough sounding, but it does sound a little more throaty than earlier
in the show. The best part for me is near the end when Prince lays down his
spoken part. It sounds so strong and funky and for me, it’s a great way to end
the song.
The
band keeps up the pace with a quick segue into “Life Can Be So Nice.” There is
plenty of sound on this, but it's kind of hard to pick out all the
instrumentation, the mix is such that at a couple of points there is too much
sound to digest. I love it for this, it’s an ambitious live song, and once
again I find myself in awe of The Revolution. The second half of the song is
where the groove goes, and as is so often it has that sound that The Revolution
might just play on like this for days. However, the song does fade to a halt
with The Revolution singing the main refrain over and over.
“1999”
sounds so good, it feels that this band could sleepwalk through it and it would
still sound great. There is just a touch of horns in it, rather than the full-on
horn treatment it receives in later years, and it still has that synthesized 1999
sound. With all the band members and dancers from the Parade era Revolution
I wonder how far they will push the party time coda, but it’s played straight
and doesn’t outstay its welcome.
There
is a break for perhaps a minute after this. A chance for us to collect our
breath before “Mountains” begins. “Mountains” sounds great right from the
start, there is a nice deep organ sound that can be heard underneath at the
start of the song before Prince starts singing. The song doesn’t deviate too
far from the original, but it’s great to hear it live. Especially Wendy’s
guitar seems to sound more funky and raw live, and overall more organic sound.
If I had any complaint about this song, it would be that it seemed to go by in
a flash, but every moment was a joy.
The
arrangement of “Kiss” on this recording is also very cool. The main riff is
played on the keyboard, and the guitar only has a very low-key presence throughout
the song. The horns start the solo, and they sound sharp before Wendy plays her
solo, and the guitar comes to the fore for the rest of the song. As much as I
love Wendy, I would have to say it was the first half of the song I preferred
more, the sound of the keyboard playing the main riff was very cool to my ears.
That said, the last 30 seconds with just the bare sound of Wendy’s and Mikos's
guitar has me reconsidering my words. They both have different sounds, but at
the end of this one, they sound great together. It is 30 seconds that I could
listen to for hours.
A
single spotlight on Wendy playing guitar takes us into “Purple Rain.” The
introduction is very short, Wendy plays the opening chords only once before
Prince starts singing immediately. I have heard plenty of drawn-out
introductions, so this one is a nice change. Prince doesn’t push his vocals too
hard, and the keyboards sound way too loud compared to everything else – at
least in the first verse, but again it’s not a bad thing. Another thing I
notice about the mix, the girl’s voices are very loud and clear. It’s a good
thing, I can easily hear how well they work together. There are no surprises in
the guitar solo, but I had a good few minutes playing air guitar along with it,
so it’s just as enjoyable as any other I have heard. He does play it for all he
can, so we do get a nice long rendition. There seems to be very little crowd
singing along with it, but this may be a reflection on the recording, rather
than the audience at the concert. There is a good 5-6 minutes of guitar to
close out the show, and it’s nice to see him with his guitar again in a show
that seems to have a touch of everything.
.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment