The biggest musical force since The Beatles, Prince was a funky little knot — of race, noise, God, and sex. Good or bad (or both), he grabbed you. He was funny. He used space more creatively than almost any other musician.
Parade is the cat’s meow. The tone of “naked funk” cools the tropical weight on top. Sure, it maunders before it can stay on “concept,” but that’s beside the point. Prince is the concept — that, and how much of a bad ass he can be in topping himself. The driven nature, and the cold snap of his porn (e.g., “Head”), would show that he was a kid from a broken home, looking for mass adoption in a world gone pop.
His music was about the search for love. Ain’t that a groove?