Graffiti Bridge

And before anyone starts, I aint talking about the film, which I could not even get thru the trailer of, in a single sitting.

I ripped this onto my pc 2 days ago, and thought it would be nice to bring back old memories, after some 15 yrs of not hearing it.

What a mistake, PE is a masterpiece in comparison.

There are some stand out tracks i know, but in its pure studio version form, GB must stand out as the greatest pile of shit P has ever produced.

Feel free to flame me, but i am deleting it.

Remove the non Prince tracks, except for Release It and you have an excellent album. He fucked it up with all that other bullshit

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I did that yrs ago, but today is the first time i have heard the album in about 15 yrs and even the prince tracks are awful, ok, i have been spoiled with having all the out takes, which are a 1,000 times better, but the overall sound and production of the album is simply shite

Whitnail said:

I still love it immensely. What are the outtakes from this era? I don't even know.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

almost all the album is an out take of one sort or another, but stand outs are:

Cant stop this feeling
We can funk...Version on GB is an embarrassement
Question of U...which is actually ok on this album
Still would stand all time
Tick, Tick, Bang

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Well, he´s probably talking about the old versions of We Can Funk, Joy In Repetition and the slightly different versions of the other songs, like that other version of Elephants and Flowers with the different lyrics.They do sound better, IMO.

Oh, sorry, so those were the ones you meant.
Yeah, Can´t Stop This Feeling I Got sounds sooooo much better and more energetic when you listen to the version where he plays it in a sequence with We Can Funk and Girl Of My Dreams. Great songs totally wasted by fiddling around too much. A good example ( or bad example ) of overproducing songs that were perfect the way they were.

KoolEaze said:

the ones you mention are better as well, the GB album is a joke. I am still abit in shock, as i had not heard it in yrs.

It's not a bad album, I'd rate it with a B- , but it seriously needs to get rid of some tracks, like ALL the Time tracks (except Release it), the dreadful title track, all the other tracks not sung by him, Tick Tick Bang, Still stand fuck my ass, etc. etc.

Arguably, this album would have worked much better as a studio album and not as a soundtrack.
[Edited 1/4/08 16:48pm]

The movie is a sequel to PR, but the music is a sequel to Lovesexy, and as such, I love this album. With New Power Generation, The Question of U, Thieves in the Temple, Still Would Stand All Time, and Joy in Repetition all in one place, how could this album possibly be bad? That said, I do understand how GB as a whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts, but still, I think it's brilliant.

Sometimes, you could more easily just, look at the cd as the past. Why do you feel that twenty records later, is the time to criticize.
[Edited 1/4/08 17:24pm]

Tame said:

No, it´s the other way around. We love his music so much that it breaks our collective hearts to see what he sometimes does with his masterpieces.
Same goes for the Gold Experience, a great album as is, but ....all the songs pale in comparison to the rawer, less polished live versions, especially Shhh, Now, Days Of Wild ( even Prince himself admitted this) , and the title song,Gold.

It´s just too difficult to bottle up the raw energy of some gems in album format.

I realize that, but how can you expect that Prince is gonna write every single song bringing you to elation. Not even God comes up with a perfect day according to everybody.

Efan said:

Apart from Still Would Stand All Time (which I think sucks) I agree that those songs are very strong but the rest of the album is weak. IMO he should have released the Prince tracks as one album and the related artists tracks as a separate record. I mean The Time actually released more product than Prince that year!

In all fairness, i listen to albums by P that are almost 30 yrs old as well, but hearing this tonite had me almost on the verge of tears, THAT is how bad it is

<---need the shades to hide my red eyes

Graffiti Bridge

We are the New Power Generation
Can’t Stop this Feeling We got
Undercover in the Latest Fashion
Cuz’ We love Elephants and Flowers and God A Lot
There’s Joy in Repetition
We’re just Junkies 4 the sound
We’re the New Power Generation
And We go Round and Round
When the Thieves are in the Temple
We can funk their blanks
Singing we’ll Release it
And Tick Tick Bang
Have you maintained your Love Machine?
We pose this Question of U
Do you side with the Thieves?
Or back up Melody Cool?
A passage may Shake and crumble
Like dominoes down the line
NPG’s
Graffiti Bridge
Still Would Stand All Time.
T

soulyacolia said:

Yes, and don´t forget about that Corporate World album, with Donald Trump Black Version on it. They for sure recorded a lot of music that year. And it was the original band, with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Tame said:

cool

7 words:

joy in repetition / the question of you

'nuff said

Tame said:

But that´s not the point here. We´re talking about songs that sounded better before they were re-recorded for that album, and this happens quite often. Sure, he as the writer and composer knows better but I still prefer the older, rawer versions. Some songs got better over time, like When U Were Mine, which really got better and better over the years compared to the early versions ( my all time fav being the one from First Ave, 1983 ) but other songs got worse the more he re-recorded or altered them. There are , of course, many instances where he also improved a song drastically . Unfortunately, this is not the case with the GB songs.

oh yes, before i forget, this is Istenszek, posting on huey's
account at 3 am, drunk as a skunk

soulyacolia said:

Wait, how did the Time release more product that year?

Efan said:

1. Graffiti Bridge
2. Pandemonium
3. Maxisingles of songs off of those albums

4. Corporate World ( unreleased album, circulating as bootleg)

Efan said:

The band members released solo projects as well

KoolEaze said:

Okay, but Prince wrote all or most of their content for 1-3, and even appears on the maxisingle for Latest Fashion. As for 4, doesn't Prince have a lot of unreleased content from that year too? Actually, we're splitting hairs here. Sorry to be obtuse; I see what you mean now.

I love the Graffiti Bridge cd, although I do often skip the non Prince tracks. Not that I don't like them , but I enjoy the Prince tracks more. Still Would Stand All Time is my favorite and I like the title track as well. I love the message he tries to carry.

Whitnail said:

it depends....

ESSENTIAL TRACKS ARE _

thieves in the temple
the question of u
Joy in repitition

Good tracks are_

round and round
new power generation
melody cool
we can funk

so i think u are wrong about " pile of shit"

myloveis4ever said:

as i said there are some stand out tracks on it, but place this album, even with out the non prince tracks against other weak Prince albums, and it does not cut it.

oddly enough, almost every non prince song has a better out take, or was revamped into classics yrs later, like Joy in Repetition. Maybe Prince should re title the album.

"Recycle" would be a good name for it

myloveis4ever said:

I miss Release It and Tick Tick Bang in the essential and good list, in that order.

Release it is on of those few later-date Time tracks that at least come close to their early 80's stuff when it comes to fun and being funky.

Also, I would omit Melody Cool and Round And Round, esp that last one is awful to my ears.

I was just listening to the title track!


Joy In Repetition, The Question Of U, Elephants & Flowers, New Power Generation, Still Would Stand All Time, Thieves In The Temple, We Can Funk... Great tracks!