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Reply #30 posted 02/15/07 12:09pm

JPMcGee

prettymansson said:

i went to the movie premier in new york (with Prince there)..It blew mind that I actually was talking to the person i went with (also a huge Prince fan) during the movie saying this is the worst film I ever have seen in my life !


i went too. i waited outside the theater upstairs for prince to show. when i took a practice shot with my camera some security guy got nervous and said i should move, so i didn't get a shot of the man. didn't even get to see him.

but yeah, the crowd started laughing when they found out the chick was an angel. i was so embarrassed for him, tho i heard later that he didn't stay to watch the whole thing, fortunately.

did you get to see chris rock? he was there, tho that was when he was on SNL, and before he became really famous. the only other attendees i can recall were george clinton and a pre-ER eriq lasalle.
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Reply #31 posted 02/15/07 12:21pm

ladygirl99

I really like the soundtrack. But the movie.. what was Prince thinking of directed and wrote it? It doesn't make any sense.!
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Reply #32 posted 02/15/07 12:28pm

NDRU

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superspaceboy said:

I found it to be too hodge podge. I think for every good song on there, there is another song that is filler...this includes the guest tracks. I don't feelt he album flows all that well either.


I pretty much agree with this assessment. Purple Rain isn't just a soundtrack, but it's a classic album. GB is just a soundtrack, too thrown together, and it's not unified--bad flow, as you said.

Also, it doesn't have a very strong ending.

That said, I like most of the individual songs.
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Reply #33 posted 02/15/07 12:33pm

sosgemini

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padawan said:

Graffitti Bridge was the first Prince project that made me feel embarrassed as a fan. The title track, the movie, lyrics like "There will be peace for those who love God a lot" and "Love as solid as a rock"--all sent me ducking into my happy place, hoping this would all just go away.

It seems to me, from Lovesexy to Graffitti Bridge, Prince went through an inordinately feminine phase (even for him), and a childish femininity at that. He was acting like a little girl. His hair was girlishly long and neatly trimmed. He had all male backup dancers. A lot of the stage choreography of his Nude Tour was homoerotic. Meanwhile the album and movie were strangely UNerotic--the love ballads, Question of U and Joy in Repetition are more existential than romantic. His Kid character doesn't have sex, doesn't worry about money, just wants to talk to God and get encouragement. He's a pouty, solipstistic little naif. And the vibe of the whole thing wasn't that of a dangerous rock star--it was a family-oriented neighborhood church potluck type of thing.

The commercial failure of the record and movie slammed the door on this nymph-like Prince persona. He would next put up his hair, hire some smoking hot female dancers, drop the daddy's little girl act and crank out his most dispassionate, workmanlike CD, Diamonds and Pearls.

Whoever was his muse during the Graffitti Bridge era must have been a naive, dreamy young thing without a clue about the world.



wow...great post.
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Reply #34 posted 02/15/07 12:43pm

NDRU

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sosgemini said:

padawan said:

Graffitti Bridge was the first Prince project that made me feel embarrassed as a fan. The title track, the movie, lyrics like "There will be peace for those who love God a lot" and "Love as solid as a rock"--all sent me ducking into my happy place, hoping this would all just go away.

It seems to me, from Lovesexy to Graffitti Bridge, Prince went through an inordinately feminine phase (even for him), and a childish femininity at that. He was acting like a little girl. His hair was girlishly long and neatly trimmed. He had all male backup dancers. A lot of the stage choreography of his Nude Tour was homoerotic. Meanwhile the album and movie were strangely UNerotic--the love ballads, Question of U and Joy in Repetition are more existential than romantic. His Kid character doesn't have sex, doesn't worry about money, just wants to talk to God and get encouragement. He's a pouty, solipstistic little naif. And the vibe of the whole thing wasn't that of a dangerous rock star--it was a family-oriented neighborhood church potluck type of thing.

The commercial failure of the record and movie slammed the door on this nymph-like Prince persona. He would next put up his hair, hire some smoking hot female dancers, drop the daddy's little girl act and crank out his most dispassionate, workmanlike CD, Diamonds and Pearls.

Whoever was his muse during the Graffitti Bridge era must have been a naive, dreamy young thing without a clue about the world.



wow...great post.



yes, well written, and I respect his opinion, but I actually preferred the hippy dippy Prince (G.B film aside) to the gangsta glam Prince. I think he summed it up best when he said "dispassionate, workmanlike CD, Diamonds and Pearls."

But that's just style. Song for song I might rate D&P and GB as equals, at least for my tastes.
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Reply #35 posted 02/15/07 12:50pm

Risico

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The Album: Some of his best songs ever can be found here (Question of U/Thieves/Elephants+Flowers/Still Would Stand All Time), but typical of a lot of early '90s albums, there's just far too much average material here. If I remember correctly, the CD clocks in at close to 70 mins, and not enough of the material here is decent enough to justify that length. 6.5/10

Oh, and the title track really, really, sucks. One of the very few Prince songs that I find stunningly, hide-it-from-the-world embarrassing.


The Movie: Ah, the movie. I don't hate it like most do. It has plenty of embarrassing moments, to be sure, but it's an energetic and fascinating failure... for the first hour. Then the pacing turns glacial - This flick seriously drags after the 1 hour mark, and it never really recovers. 5/10
[Edited 2/15/07 12:55pm]
I've seen the future, and boy it's rough...
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Reply #36 posted 02/15/07 1:11pm

sosgemini

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NDRU said:

sosgemini said:




wow...great post.



yes, well written, and I respect his opinion, but I actually preferred the hippy dippy Prince (G.B film aside) to the gangsta glam Prince. I think he summed it up best when he said "dispassionate, workmanlike CD, Diamonds and Pearls."

But that's just style. Song for song I might rate D&P and GB as equals, at least for my tastes.


i agreed...i too actually prefer the gangsta image over the hippy dippy...prince and long straight here is just a huge nono.
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Reply #37 posted 02/15/07 1:18pm

NDRU

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sosgemini said:

NDRU said:




yes, well written, and I respect his opinion, but I actually preferred the hippy dippy Prince (G.B film aside) to the gangsta glam Prince. I think he summed it up best when he said "dispassionate, workmanlike CD, Diamonds and Pearls."

But that's just style. Song for song I might rate D&P and GB as equals, at least for my tastes.


i agreed...i too actually prefer the gangsta image over the hippy dippy...prince and long straight here is just a huge nono.


"The Bearded Lady" as my friend called him.

But I'd go more with "Barry Gibb II--Just Around the Corner"
[Edited 2/15/07 13:20pm]
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Reply #38 posted 02/15/07 1:20pm

sosgemini

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Risico said:



Oh, and the title track really, really, sucks. One of the very few Prince songs that I find stunningly, hide-it-from-the-world embarrassing.




have you seen the video to this thats on youtube? somebody post it.
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Reply #39 posted 02/15/07 1:33pm

MendesCity

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I gotta say, I really don't get the "Thieves in the Temple" love. That song to me is Prince at his dullest. Not really a fan of "Elephants and Flowers" either, always just seemed a pale "Starfish and Coffee" spin-off.

I do, however, love Joy in Rep, Question of U, Tick Tick Bang, Still Would Stand, We Can Funk...and Release It.

The rest is decent, 'cept of course for that godawful title song, which is such a trainwreck that it's kinda fun with some distance on it.
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Reply #40 posted 02/15/07 1:39pm

Illustrator

I can't really say that I hate it, cuz I don't remember it.
Halfway thru the movie my mind shut itself off & went into a trauma that I haven't completely recovered from yet.


Oh,
& please don't post or send me any rose emoticons.
This isn't the GD forum, y'know.
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Reply #41 posted 02/15/07 1:53pm

vanity2

I can tell you exactly why everyone hates Graffiti Bridge:

THE QUALITY OF THE MUSIC SOUNDTRACK OUTWEIGHS ITS REPRESENTATION ON FILM.

It is that simple. I don't hate Graffiti Bridge. I think the is quite alright and undeservedly unappreciated. I just think it would been more positively recieved if the sound and sets were slightly different. I could hardly understand the dialog before I used the subtitles.

I know the sets were Prince's choice, but I think the film would have been embraced if they were more real, as in Purple Rain. The mainstream audience was well past the era of set musicals, and those who would appreciate such were likely too old for Prince. I'm not saying Prince's choice was bad, just bad for attracting a mainstream audience in 1990.
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Reply #42 posted 02/15/07 1:53pm

metalorange

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I think the album would somehow have been so much better if it simply had one disc with all the Prince songs and another disc with the other artists on it. Even though I think the other artists music is pretty good. The music is very colourful and I've always liked it, apart from surely his worst title track song.

Maybe I'm wrong but I'm sure I heard in the first week of release the movie got into the top 10 movies in the US, before of course bombing out! I guess there were still a lot of Prince fans back then... the movie is just too naive, I mean, battling via songs? Who was supposed to decide the winner? It was never made clear!
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Reply #43 posted 02/15/07 2:08pm

Riverpoet31

I think Graffiti Bridge is a bit overlooked, and the very negative response the movie did get reflected on how people perceived this album.

In retrospect it is a bit of transitional album, some of the best cuts are on par with his best material from the eighties (Question of you, Elephants and Flowers, Thieves in the Temple, Still would stand all time), while other songs are pointing forward to his flirtations with modern R&B and hip-hop on Diamonds and Pearls and The Symbol album.

Some people here say the album is put down by the material of the protegees, but i disagree with that, apart from The latest Fashion those songs are just solid to very good (my favorites are Shake, We Can Funk and Melody Cool). Where those songs places on the own albums of those protegees, it would be some of the best songs on those albums (imagine Shake on Pandemonium for example, or Melody Cool on Time waits for no one from Mavis Staples).

In short, this record may sound 'different' at first, because as i said its a transitional album when it comes to Princes uses of styles, and next to that, halve of the song is by side-artist. But when it comes to the general quality of this album its definitely one of his better albums:

a 8,5 out of 10 for me
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Reply #44 posted 02/15/07 2:10pm

Handclapsfinga
snapz

vanity2 said:

I know the sets were Prince's choice, but I think the film would have been embraced if they were more real, as in Purple Rain.

that's a really good point--in a way, the two films were absolutely backwards. i wonder how the rest of the fanbase would feel if the two films were released backwards: gb before pr. the way it all panned out was really strange: ol' boy went from friggin saturday night fever (mpls style) to a barbie commercial, complete with pretty sets n'lights n'costumes and all.
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Reply #45 posted 02/15/07 2:17pm

morningsong

Well, I like corny movies, so this one suits me just fine. Though the album/CD isn't one of my favorites, I don't remember being disappointed in the least when I first heard it. Today, I enjoy it very much depending on my mood. I think it's eclectic, just like most of his albums/cds.
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Reply #46 posted 02/15/07 2:23pm

bellanoche

MendesCity said:

I gotta say, I really don't get the "Thieves in the Temple" love. That song to me is Prince at his dullest. The rest is decent, 'cept of course for that godawful title song, which is such a trainwreck that it's kinda fun with some distance on it.


Wow! I love Thieves in the Temple - even my father who hates on my Prince love complimented the lyrics to that song. The meaning has so many interpretations. The lyrics and the music are so distinctly Prince. It's only the kind of song that he could do. I don't find it dull at all. And the remix is off the chain, especially with the video. I also love The Work version with the high-pitched voice.
perfection is a fallacy of the imagination...
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Reply #47 posted 02/15/07 2:37pm

ufoclub

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padawan said:

Graffitti Bridge was the first Prince project that made me feel embarrassed as a fan. The title track, the movie, lyrics like "There will be peace for those who love God a lot" and "Love as solid as a rock"--all sent me ducking into my happy place, hoping this would all just go away.

It seems to me, from Lovesexy to Graffitti Bridge, Prince went through an inordinately feminine phase (even for him), and a childish femininity at that. He was acting like a little girl. His hair was girlishly long and neatly trimmed. He had all male backup dancers. A lot of the stage choreography of his Nude Tour was homoerotic. Meanwhile the album and movie were strangely UNerotic--the love ballads, Question of U and Joy in Repetition are more existential than romantic. His Kid character doesn't have sex, doesn't worry about money, just wants to talk to God and get encouragement. He's a pouty, solipstistic little naif. And the vibe of the whole thing wasn't that of a dangerous rock star--it was a family-oriented neighborhood church potluck type of thing.

The commercial failure of the record and movie slammed the door on this nymph-like Prince persona. He would next put up his hair, hire some smoking hot female dancers, drop the daddy's little girl act and crank out his most dispassionate, workmanlike CD, Diamonds and Pearls.

Whoever was his muse during the Graffitti Bridge era must have been a naive, dreamy young thing without a clue about the world.



Though the image he had during Lovesexy was feminine (and the album was retro synth/beat-feminine enough to throw off a huge portion of his fanbase in the US) his actual concert tour, Lovesexy '88, showcased a few of his most frenzied, and masculine performances. At times the energy seemed to take him out of his Prince cliches. For example: The Cross or Purple Rain or I Wish U Heaven (the call out part). He is almost hoarse and there is a crazed look in his eyes.
[Edited 2/15/07 14:39pm]
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Reply #48 posted 02/15/07 2:41pm

NDRU

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Handclapsfingasnapz said:

vanity2 said:

I know the sets were Prince's choice, but I think the film would have been embraced if they were more real, as in Purple Rain.

that's a really good point--in a way, the two films were absolutely backwards. i wonder how the rest of the fanbase would feel if the two films were released backwards: gb before pr. the way it all panned out was really strange: ol' boy went from friggin saturday night fever (mpls style) to a barbie commercial, complete with pretty sets n'lights n'costumes and all.


Yeah, there's one glimpse of actual outdoors when he's walking with Ingrid, and it stands out as looking way too real for the rest of the movie. I don't understand why anyone would make sets when there's a whole world waiting to be filmed

Actually Batman made this mistake, too. The first one was fairly real, with outdoor shots, and the later ones were all soundstages, yech. Finally, the new one made it real again and it was great.
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Reply #49 posted 02/15/07 2:44pm

NDRU

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Illustrator said:

I can't really say that I hate it, cuz I don't remember it.
Halfway thru the movie my mind shut itself off & went into a trauma that I haven't completely recovered from yet.


Oh,
& please don't post or send me any rose emoticons.
This isn't the GD forum, y'know.


you poor guy, here beer
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Reply #50 posted 02/15/07 4:50pm

prettymansson

ufoclub said:

prettymansson said:

i went to the movie premier in new york (with Prince there)..It blew mind that I actually was talking to the person i went with (also a huge Prince fan) during the movie saying this is the worst film I ever have seen in my life !


I remember that at the afterparty at a club, Prince was seen sinking low and avoiding people according to a photo and blurb, he was wearing one of those skintight white camel toeing outfits with the baggy top over one shoulder.


YUP ! nod
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Reply #51 posted 02/15/07 6:43pm

thedribbler

[Snip - luv4u]
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Reply #52 posted 02/15/07 6:45pm

Handclapsfinga
snapz

padawan said:

Whoever was his muse during the Graffitti Bridge era must have been a naive, dreamy young thing without a clue about the world.

and whoever was his muse right around d & p must've been said young thing's pimp.
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Reply #53 posted 02/15/07 6:48pm

AsianPrnce777

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Is there a book that details how this train wreck came to be in good detail?

I swear, it exceeded all my expectations for ass sucking... and then some. Which was really disappointing because I figured after the so-so UTCM, Graffiti Bridge had to be better. falloff
**** Rave Un2 the Soy Fantastic! ****

love : fixed
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Reply #54 posted 02/15/07 6:50pm

AsianPrnce777

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I'm referring to the movie of course.

I rather liked the soundtrack. I even don't hate the title track. redface
**** Rave Un2 the Soy Fantastic! ****

love : fixed
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Reply #55 posted 02/15/07 7:02pm

thedribbler

AsianPrnce777 said:

I'm referring to the movie of course.

I rather liked the soundtrack. I even don't hate the title track. redface

[That is disgusting snip - luv4u]
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Reply #56 posted 02/16/07 2:42am

theplejades

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I like a few songs on Graffiti Bridge but I think it is one of his weakest albums and I was very disappointed when it first came out.

- It was the first album that had this plastic-sounding production.
- I don´t like most of the songs by the other artists (exept Melody Cool)
- It sounded like he has replaced the passion and energy of previous releases with pure kitsch.
- Horrible, horrible artwork that makes the even the later artwork from Parke look like Picasso.
- I can´t help but be reminded of the movie when I listen to the songs.
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Reply #57 posted 02/16/07 3:52am

prettymansson

AsianPrnce777 said:

Is there a book that details how this train wreck came to be in good detail?

I swear, it exceeded all my expectations for ass sucking... and then some. Which was really disappointing because I figured after the so-so UTCM, Graffiti Bridge had to be better. falloff



http://members.madasafish...essed.html wink
[Edited 2/16/07 3:52am]
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Reply #58 posted 02/16/07 8:03am

KoolEaze

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AsianPrnce777 said:

Is there a book that details how this train wreck came to be in good detail?

I swear, it exceeded all my expectations for ass sucking... and then some. Which was really disappointing because I figured after the so-so UTCM, Graffiti Bridge had to be better. falloff


I think it´s also a matter of bad timing. If the movie had been made two or three years earlier and the way it was really supposed to be it could´ve been much better. The final product leaves a lot to be desired but the original script must have meant a lot to Prince since he still has some of the main characters names written on the walls of one of his studios at Paisley Park. The original storyline wasn´t that bad.But add to that a couple of years, a different zeitgeist, a stronger presence of HipHop in mainstream charts, fading interest in the purple universe and a muse like Ingrid Chavez, and you get something like Graffiti Bridge.
" I´d rather be a stank ass hoe because I´m not stupid. Oh my goodness! I got more drugs! I´m always funny dude...I´m hilarious! Are we gonna smoke?"
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Reply #59 posted 02/16/07 8:07am

ElectricBlue

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the movie makes people think the album/songs suck. the whole project
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