So, I finally bit the bullett and bought this CD (used for a buck) and it got me to thinking, why didn't Prince follow the same release pattern ala Purple Rain? If you strip the associated artist songs from the album you actually end up with a solid Prince release (well, as solid an album can get with New Power Generation and Graffiti Bridge songs on it) yet picture this:

Graffiti Bridge Album

Can't Stop This Feeling I Got

New Power Generation

Question of You

Elephants & Flowers

Joy In Repetition

Tick TickBang

Theives In The Temple

Still Would Stand All Time

Graffit Bridge (maybe added as a hidden track and played entirety in reverse)

That's a much more digestable album then what was released. Then you give The Time their songs and you have a much proper album than Pandemonium.

Does anyone know if this was the original intent? Did the label have a role in this after hearing how, umm, uninspiring the resulting work was for this album? And, seriously, who the f*ck greenlit the actual film? I hope that exec has been locked away and had their Hollywood pass revoked.

[Edited 3/21/11 11:37am]

I always wondered why he didn't add a few verses from Ingred Chavez's poems to the album as seques, like Kirsy Alley did on the Symbol album.

Ingred Chavez is possibly the Keats of our generation.

sosgemini said:

So, I finally bit the bullett and bought this CD (used for a buck) and it got me to thinking, why didn't Prince follow the same release pattern ala Purple Rain? If you strip the associated artist songs from the album you actually end up with a solid Prince release (well, as solid an album can get with New Power Generation and Graffiti Bridge songs on it) yet picture this:

Graffiti Bridge Album

Can't Stop This Feeling I Got

New Power Generation

Elephants & Flowers

Joy In Repetition

Tick TickBang

Theives In The Temple

Still Would Stand All Time

Graffit Bridge (maybe added as a hidden track and played entirety in reverse)

That's a much more digestable album then what was released. Then you give The Time their songs and you have a much proper album than Pandemonium.

Does anyone know if this was the original intent? Did the label have a role in this after hearing how, umm, uninspiring the resulting work was for this album? And, seriously, who the f*ck greenlit the actual film? I hope that exec has been locked away and had their Hollywood pass revoked.

I know right? I did like Grafitti Bridge (song) it wasnt that bad. We Can Funk may as well be on there too because George Clintons vocals are only on the first part of the track. Prince and GC should collabo some funk more often, Paradigm was pretty coo too. Soul Psychodelicide was hottt. Imagine if Bootsy came into the picture..but that's another topic.

Anyway yes, Grafitti Bridge the album was weighed down by the other artists' tracks. Prince kind of loses his identity in a way even though he wrote all of the material...or most of.

I don't think the tracks of the associated artist are that bad (release it, melody cool) and not all Prince tracks are that good (tick, tick and grafitti bridge), so i like just the way it is.

Same goes for Pandemonium.

He just shouldn't have released the movie!

A number of The Time tracks on Graffiti Bridge were originally intended for their Corporate World album, which eventually became Pandemonium.

I'm not sure as to the full reason as to why associated artists tracks appeared on the Graffiti Bridge album, but it was maybe simply because it was the soundtrack album to the movie.

This link has plenty info http://www.princevault.co...iti_Bridge including details on earlier configurations of the album.

Some of the earlier versions of Graffiti Bridge tracks including the wonderful "The Grand Progression" (which was replaced with "Still Would Stand All Time") can be forund on the 30 Years Of Unreleased Funk release, which since obtaining that, happens to be the only versions I listen to now.

A much more enjoyable and less bloated listen (imo).

[Edited 3/21/11 11:26am]

[Edited 3/21/11 11:36am]

I think it's been documented but I don't have the answer to ur question about "why". Now what I know is that WB wanted Jam, lewis and Johnson to be involved in "Pandemonium": that led to "Corporate World" (an album entirely recorded by Prince and Morris) becoming 'Pandemonium", which in turn meant to exclude 5 songs in order to make room for 5 new songs. My theory, therefore, has always been that Prince really wanted the Time songs that ended on "GB" to be out and in the movie, which left him only one option, i.e. to include them in his own album. Then why not include "Round & Round" as well ("We Can Funk" probably would also have been here anyway, as it's a duet between P & George). Another thing is that "Melody Cool" is known to be on both the 1987 and 1988 configurations of "GB", and it's unlikely that Prince planned to release it with his own voice, so there's a possibility that he planned to include guest vocalists from day 1.

BTW, your tracklist forgets "NPG Pt. 2" which is as good a closer as can be, and "The Question Of U", which is a bit odd as it might be the best track on the album.

Anyway I don't know how such an album'd have been perceived at the time, but probably not better than the actual album. I take it that u're a young fan and u have to realize what it was back then: Prince had been THE sensation of the 80's, and there were way to many expectations on him. Most considered either "SOTT" or "Lovesexy" to be the end of his "golden age" but everyone was waiting for the next masterpiece (with a big "M"). Prince simply wasn't allowed to release a GOOD album, it had to be a fucking masterpiece or nothing. "GB" was kind of a return to Prince's Minneapolis Sound and it wasn't perceived as something really challenging. Another thing that didn't help is that outtakes had started to escape the vault at this point, and fans knew that several songs actually were rerecordings of older songs (something that also happened on earlier albums, but no one knew at the time), so u could hear people claiming that Prince was out of inspiration. Not to mention the disastrous movie that came with it.

Personally, I don't think that making it a shorter album would have made it a better album. Just take the time to listen to it more and more and u'll see that it's full of delicious little details. It might be a grower for you as it was for many of us back then.

Graffiti Bridge is still his best album.

The people who want to take the 'associated artists' should be made to listen to News over and over again for three days straight.

The album flows llike a muthafucka and besides, Prince wrote and played all the tracks, it's just some other people singing. Get over it people.

Pentacle said:

Graffiti Bridge is still his best album.

The people who want to take the 'associated artists' should be made to listen to News over and over again for three days straight.

The album flows llike a muthafucka and besides, Prince wrote and played all the tracks, it's just some other people singing. Get over it people.

Actually, I love all the guest songs however, the album itself is weighted down. Keep in mind, Apolonia, The Time and Brownmarks songs all were featured on Purple Rain but were not featured on the album. That's the point of this discussion so please get your granny panties out of their bunch.

databank said:

I think it's been documented but I don't have the answer to ur question about "why". Now what I know is that WB wanted Jam, lewis and Johnson to be involved in "Pandemonium": that led to "Corporate World" (an album entirely recorded by Prince and Morris) becoming 'Pandemonium", which in turn meant to exclude 5 songs in order to make room for 5 new songs. My theory, therefore, has always been that Prince really wanted the Time songs that ended on "GB" to be out and in the movie, which left him only one option, i.e. to include them in his own album. Then why not include "Round & Round" as well ("We Can Funk" probably would also have been here anyway, as it's a duet between P & George). Another thing is that "Melody Cool" is known to be on both the 1987 and 1988 configurations of "GB", and it's unlikely that Prince planned to release it with his own voice, so there's a possibility that he planned to include guest vocalists from day 1.

BTW, your tracklist forgets "NPG Pt. 2" which is as good a closer as can be, and "The Question Of U", which is a bit odd as it might be the best track on the album.

Anyway I don't know how such an album'd have been perceived at the time, but probably not better than the actual album. I take it that u're a young fan and u have to realize what it was back then: Prince had been THE sensation of the 80's, and there were way to many expectations on him. Most considered either "SOTT" or "Lovesexy" to be the end of his "golden age" but everyone was waiting for the next masterpiece (with a big "M"). Prince simply wasn't allowed to release a GOOD album, it had to be a fucking masterpiece or nothing. "GB" was kind of a return to Prince's Minneapolis Sound and it wasn't perceived as something really challenging. Another thing that didn't help is that outtakes had started to escape the vault at this point, and fans knew that several songs actually were rerecordings of older songs (something that also happened on earlier albums, but no one knew at the time), so u could hear people claiming that Prince was out of inspiration. Not to mention the disastrous movie that came with it.

Personally, I don't think that making it a shorter album would have made it a better album. Just take the time to listen to it more and more and u'll see that it's full of delicious little details. It might be a grower for you as it was for many of us back then.

Not surewhat you standards of "younger" is but I was a freshman in high school when this album came out and even back then the album felt too chaotic and long to appreciate. Hence it taking me a good couple decades to actually buy the beast and even then only when I found it for a buck.

It just seems so strange to me that he didn't folow the same media model (ie, release a Prince album, Times album, Mavis album and Tevin album) at the same time as the movie release. I wonder if even he had doubts about the strenght of the album and decided to throw everything on one CD in an effort to at least have one sure fire success.

Pentacle said:

Graffiti Bridge is still his best album.

The people who want to take the 'associated artists' should be made to listen to News over and over again for three days straight.

The album flows llike a muthafucka and besides, Prince wrote and played all the tracks, it's just some other people singing. Get over it people.

i sort of agree. i dont like round and round though because of the kids voice... and melody cool i could definitely do without also. but i love the rest ^_^ i think its definitely one of his best albums.

sosgemini said:

databank said:

I think it's been documented but I don't have the answer to ur question about "why". Now what I know is that WB wanted Jam, lewis and Johnson to be involved in "Pandemonium": that led to "Corporate World" (an album entirely recorded by Prince and Morris) becoming 'Pandemonium", which in turn meant to exclude 5 songs in order to make room for 5 new songs. My theory, therefore, has always been that Prince really wanted the Time songs that ended on "GB" to be out and in the movie, which left him only one option, i.e. to include them in his own album. Then why not include "Round & Round" as well ("We Can Funk" probably would also have been here anyway, as it's a duet between P & George). Another thing is that "Melody Cool" is known to be on both the 1987 and 1988 configurations of "GB", and it's unlikely that Prince planned to release it with his own voice, so there's a possibility that he planned to include guest vocalists from day 1.

BTW, your tracklist forgets "NPG Pt. 2" which is as good a closer as can be, and "The Question Of U", which is a bit odd as it might be the best track on the album.

Anyway I don't know how such an album'd have been perceived at the time, but probably not better than the actual album. I take it that u're a young fan and u have to realize what it was back then: Prince had been THE sensation of the 80's, and there were way to many expectations on him. Most considered either "SOTT" or "Lovesexy" to be the end of his "golden age" but everyone was waiting for the next masterpiece (with a big "M"). Prince simply wasn't allowed to release a GOOD album, it had to be a fucking masterpiece or nothing. "GB" was kind of a return to Prince's Minneapolis Sound and it wasn't perceived as something really challenging. Another thing that didn't help is that outtakes had started to escape the vault at this point, and fans knew that several songs actually were rerecordings of older songs (something that also happened on earlier albums, but no one knew at the time), so u could hear people claiming that Prince was out of inspiration. Not to mention the disastrous movie that came with it.

Personally, I don't think that making it a shorter album would have made it a better album. Just take the time to listen to it more and more and u'll see that it's full of delicious little details. It might be a grower for you as it was for many of us back then.

Not surewhat you standards of "younger" is but I was a freshman in high school when this album came out and even back then the album felt too chaotic and long to appreciate. Hence it taking me a good couple decades to actually buy the beast and even then only when I found it for a buck.

It just seems so strange to me that he didn't folow the same media model (ie, release a Prince album, Times album, Mavis album and Tevin album) at the same time as the movie release. I wonder if even he had doubts about the strenght of the album and decided to throw everything on one CD in an effort to at least have one sure fire success.

The fact that u said u'd just bought it made me assume u were a new, young fan, sorry

Pentacle said:

Graffiti Bridge is still his best album.

The people who want to take the 'associated artists' should be made to listen to News over and over again for three days straight.

The album flows llike a muthafucka and besides, Prince wrote and played all the tracks, it's just some other people singing. Get over it people.

I'd listen 2 NEWS for 3 days straight anytime I actually probably did that when it came out

databank said:

sosgemini said:

Not surewhat you standards of "younger" is but I was a freshman in high school when this album came out and even back then the album felt too chaotic and long to appreciate. Hence it taking me a good couple decades to actually buy the beast and even then only when I found it for a buck.

It just seems so strange to me that he didn't folow the same media model (ie, release a Prince album, Times album, Mavis album and Tevin album) at the same time as the movie release. I wonder if even he had doubts about the strenght of the album and decided to throw everything on one CD in an effort to at least have one sure fire success.

The fact that u said u'd just bought it made me assume u were a new, young fan, sorry

Thanks a lot, take it back. Now I am an old fan. Great, super.

It shouldn't be forgotten also that GB is much more of a 'musical' than PR was, and the record has a real 'cast album' feel to it. Like, you gotta admit, a cast album of West Side Story with only the 'Jet' songs on it would be a little weird.

eyewishuheaven said:

It shouldn't be forgotten also that GB is much more of a 'musical' than PR was, and the record has a real 'cast album' feel to it. Like, you gotta admit, a cast album of West Side Story with only the 'Jet' songs on it would be a little weird.

But to do that would mean one would have to acknowledge that the movie actually exists.

Good point though...

sosgemini said:

But to do that would mean one would have to acknowledge that the movie actually exists.

sosgemini said:

So, I finally bit the bullett and bought this CD (used for a buck) and it got me to thinking, why didn't Prince follow the same release pattern ala Purple Rain? If you strip the associated artist songs from the album you actually end up with a solid Prince release (well, as solid an album can get with New Power Generation and Graffiti Bridge songs on it) yet picture this:

Graffiti Bridge Album

Can't Stop This Feeling I Got

New Power Generation

Question of You

Elephants & Flowers

Joy In Repetition

Tick TickBang

Theives In The Temple

Still Would Stand All Time

Graffit Bridge (maybe added as a hidden track and played entirety in reverse)

That's a much more digestable album then what was released. Then you give The Time their songs and you have a much proper album than Pandemonium.

Does anyone know if this was the original intent? Did the label have a role in this after hearing how, umm, uninspiring the resulting work was for this album? And, seriously, who the f*ck greenlit the actual film? I hope that exec has been locked away and had their Hollywood pass revoked.

[Edited 3/21/11 11:37am]

Makes total sense to me. You should definitely keep We dan funk tho'. Shame on you, brother lol.

I've always thought GB would have been a solid album, if it would have been stripped of all the Time songs. But Prince didn't make much sense those days.

For years I've heard how Graffiti Bridge should only have had Prince's songs and it would have been better...

At the same time, I keep finding new fan-made extended versions of Purple Rain where fans have resequenced the album to include all the songs by other artists!

Also, so many fans claim all his good music was from the 80's, well the outtakes pulled out for this album are from... duh, the 80's, so that should be good, right?!?

Weird how some fans dig P so much they have to hear everything, even outtakes from bootlegs, then complain when they finally get released because they are not new to those fans.

There is a simple solution.. don't listen to outtakes if they ruin your experince when eventually released.

Seems to me, some people will never be happy...

Personally, I think GB is his most under-rated LP. Lots of gems on there, try to forget the movie, it's a separate thing...

[Edited 3/22/11 20:31pm]

Pentacle said:

Graffiti Bridge is still his best album.

The people who want to take the 'associated artists' should be made to listen to News over and over again for three days straight.

The album flows llike a muthafucka and besides, Prince wrote and played all the tracks, it's just some other people singing. Get over it people.

Finally somebody who agrees it is his best!

sosgemini said:

Pentacle said:

Graffiti Bridge is still his best album.

The people who want to take the 'associated artists' should be made to listen to News over and over again for three days straight.

The album flows llike a muthafucka and besides, Prince wrote and played all the tracks, it's just some other people singing. Get over it people.

Actually, I love all the guest songs however, the album itself is weighted down. Keep in mind, Apolonia, The Time and Brownmarks songs all were featured on Purple Rain but were not featured on the album. That's the point of this discussion so please get your granny panties out of their bunch.

You mean Dez Dickerson.

Pentacle said:

Graffiti Bridge is still his best album.

The people who want to take the 'associated artists' should be made to listen to News over and over again for three days straight.

The album flows llike a muthafucka and besides, Prince wrote and played all the tracks, it's just some other people singing. Get over it people.

Ur opinion so i really cant argue, but i jus really dont like this album at all, r anything in relation to it, i dont think the associated artist tracks take away from it though, i'll agree there, but best album???? no where near "best" my opinion

I wonder why I Can't Stop This Feeling I Got isn't in the movie

I sat through the whole thing waiting for it

minneapolisFunq said:

I wonder why I Can't Stop This Feeling I Got isn't in the movie

I sat through the whole thing waiting for it

parts of it are.

I agree that just releasing the Prince songs would have been better but I guess Prince wanted a true soundtrack album. To me, it's he's weekest album although The Question Of U and Joy In Repetition are amazing!

The777Man

this is what the album should have been:

1. Can't Stop the feeling I Got

2. Girl O My Dreams

3. We Can Funk

4. The Ball

5. Joy In Repitition

6. The Question of U

7. Thieves in the Temple

8. Pink Cashmere

9. Monnbeam Levels

IMO the above album would be comparable to any of his 80's work except sign. How gems like Pink Cashmere were left off, yet those time songs made it, i will never know

ufoclub said:

minneapolisFunq said:

I wonder why I Can't Stop This Feeling I Got isn't in the movie

I sat through the whole thing waiting for it

parts of it are.

You can hear a little bit of it at the beginning of the movie,when Prince is getting dressed and arguing with Jill.

A complete performance of this song was filmed,but edited out.It shows Prince wearing a white outfit,dancing up a storm and even sliding down a staircase at one point.I've seen this footage and it definitely should have been included in the movie.

I think for Graffiti Bridge he was embracing the cd length format, something he continued to do for D & P and and they all suffer from being a couple of songs too long.

Graffiti Bridge was the 2nd album I bought by Prince. Saw it at a Half-Price books and thought "Well, hey... Purple Rain was really good so maybe this will be too!"

I really do love most of the Prince songs. They bring back some awesome nostalgia.

I don't mind the associated artist songs but agree that the album starts to look much more focused and stronger with them removed.