“When I talked to the Warner A&R guy he said, ‘Oh man, Prince really screwed up. It sucks’”: The story of Prince’s underrated 1986 classic – and the lip-smacking hit single that scared his record label

Prince sits cross-legged onstage and closes his eyes as he takes a solo.

Parade began with a bruised ego. Two years earlier, in 1984, the 25-million-selling Purple Rain had set a sky-high bar. Now, the critical consensus was that Prince had fumbled the follow-up with Around the World in a Day.

“A not very convincing approximation of McCartney-esque Beatles innocence,” sniffed John Rockwell of The New York Times, “clashing egregiously with his own image of defensive arrogance…”