Having recently purchased Graffiti Bridge (as it one of few I don't own) I was surprised as I don't see this album get a lot of praise on the Org(although i'm not an Org addict). I'm not saying its his best album of all time or anything like that as its far off that, but there are a number of incredible tracks on that album, those being:
- Can't Stop This Feeling I Got: What an ass shaker! Excellent, fun and easy to sing along to, this track is one of my new favourite happy tunes.
- The Question Of U: I wasn't digging this song too much after the first few listens, but the more i've listened, the better its become. I now consider it to be a truely great song, lyrically and musically.
- Joy In Repetition: Ummm....WOW! Joy In Repetition imho is one of P's best songs ever. Truly a magical song. Especially those lyrics, oh and that guitar solo Even my friend who isn't a huge fan of P's said this after the first listen "That was fucking excellent!"
- Thieves In The Temple: Again another superb track, must say I prefer the album version over the extended version as well.
- Still Would Stand All Time: At first, ok. Second time, still ok. Third time, Beautiful song and when P sings the title that last time Its just too beautiful.
Along with New Power Generation, Elephants & Flowers and a mix of the non-P songs, i'm very impressed. Especially after hearing about how awful the film was, I didn't think the album was going to be much better, but I was mistaken (although i'm still not sure whether i want to see the film )

Ok and now what next? I saw the Come album when I was browsing around along with the Hits, but i'd only want that for the B-Sides which i've heard a number already. I currently own all the albums from 'For You' to '' and from there it goes a bit off course:
- The Gold Experience
- Emancipation
- The Rainbow Children
- One Nite Alone: Live!
- Musicology
So what P album should come next?

Gold Experience

Graffiti Bridge has to be Prince's most under-rated album here on the .org -- it seems people don't like a few of the pieces and they overlook the whole.

Next try Gold Experience

Prince 89-93 gets very little respect here.....people think of these years as the "Tony m" years proberly.....Tony was not on the album but is in the film.....Tc ellis is on album and actually has some lines in the film


"Yo kid when u gonna let me rap" is the running joke in the film!

I think the fact that GB is half Prince, half other people is one factor (sure they're ALL Prince songs, but, you know!)

Personally, I think stuff like Melody Cool and Release It! are stronger than some of the Prince material (say, the title track, Tick, Tick, Bang!)

At it's core, you have 10 Prince songs, a single LP's worth, about the same as the surrounding releases: Lovesexy / Batman.

Many of the songs date back several years, right back to 1981 with Tick, Tick, Bang, and there's some top-drawer stuff there - The Q of U (85), Joy In Repetition (86), Melody Cool (87) - Classic Prince.

Where it falls flat is the embracing of (c)rap on several tracks (The Latest Fashion, NPG pt.II) - and the glaring lack of melodic content in several of the songs (Elephants & Flowers, NPG, Tick, Tick, Bang, Round & Round) - and let's not forget the shear saccharin, sickly-sweetness of the title track - one of the sappiest things Prince has ever released, it's like drowning in treacle.

It's also very of it's time, it has not dated well. IMO, GB and D&P are the most dated Prince releases of all, I'm not really knocking that, I like things that represent their place and time, but the very late 80s to very early 90s was a pop music see-saw, so much from that time was reaching out, trying new stuff, both rap and house had blossomed in the mid-80s, and they had influenced much of everything else, and GB reaks of it.

Lastly, let's not forget the movie, it stinks, and not in a good way, I've enjoyed it as a fan, but it really is shitty as a movie, any sort of plot is obscured by horrific dialogue, unlikeable lead characters, and cardboard cut-out sets that make Cell Block H look high-budget.

Well, that's my "Why I think GB is under-rated by many" post.