Tick tick tick tick.......boom! Here it is, we have 'released it', our review of the album - Graffiti Bridge. Listen and enjoy!

http://peachandblack.podb...um-review/

.

Excellent...I'll be listening while mowing the lawn tomorrow guys. Thanks for another episode!

Alright! Thanks for the new show!

[Edited 9/7/13 21:14pm]

Jimi's fart

I love the '86 vers of We can funk (at least i think it's the '86 vers), when this album came out i really wished that vers had been used. I like the GB vers but i love the '86 one.

1990 was a great year here in london, i saw P 8 times at the arena & at a few club, met most of the band. I saw The Time, Wendy & Lisa, George & quite alot of other acts frm other genre's.

Also had a front row (& center) seat at the last night of the arena run! (24 aug) U P&B guys may remember my story about that night

Btw imho - Question of u, Elephants & flowers, Joy in rep, Theives, SWSAT

They used to play the Thieves vidoe on the screens b4 the show started and a roar used to go up, everyone would stop, look up and watch. I can't hear that track or see the vid without being transported back to that moment. Then the show would start with 'Thunder'.... ooooh.....very exciting times....the energy that went up in there right at the start was electric.

Yeah this album (and many others) has some great memories attached to it for me

P.S : he danced his butt off

OMG! The "fart" discussion! I have never laughed so hard listening to Peach & Black. You guys are the BEST.

bluefish said:

OMG! The "fart" discussion! I have never laughed so hard listening to Peach & Black. You guys are the BEST.

P&B Outtakes

People keep asking for some so instead of cutting some of that stuff out, we just left them in...

Enjoying it now!

MattyJam said:

I really enjoyed listening to that. How many albums have you guys done now? I heard the Rave one, but not any others. Are the older ones still online??

We've done most of them now... We only have five or six left to go !!! What will we do then ?

All of them should be available here - http://peachandblack.podbean.com/

FunkyStrange said:

MattyJam said:

I really enjoyed listening to that. How many albums have you guys done now? I heard the Rave one, but not any others. Are the older ones still online??

We've done most of them now... We only have five or six left to go !!! What will we do then ?

All of them should be available here - http://peachandblack.podbean.com/

Start reviewing the unreleased/non-album stuff???? That could last for a good couple of years...

I spent about six hours yesterday catching up on these podcasts, the Chaos one, the NPS one, the D&P one.

Are you Captain? You're my favourite one. I like how you're not afraid to go against the grain of popular opinion. Although I think you criminally glossed over Into The Light/I Will - two of Prince's finest tracks of the 90s IMO.

I love how you readily admit to not paying attention to the lyrics... I'm kind of like that too. I was listening to these album reviews last night and they'll cherry-pick a line from a song I've listened to countless time and I'll be like "I don't remember that bit."

FunkyStrange said:

bluefish said:

OMG! The "fart" discussion! I have never laughed so hard listening to Peach & Black. You guys are the BEST.

P&B Outtakes

People keep asking for some so instead of cutting some of that stuff out, we just left them in...

The funniest bit of the fart section was Captain (I think it was him) say 'Smelody cool' - it went pretty much unnoticed but it tickled me.

*

Great review again. I've heard reference on several reviews of a meeting with Prince - what happened or where can you read about this?

MattyJam said:

FunkyStrange said:

We've done most of them now... We only have five or six left to go !!! What will we do then ?

All of them should be available here - http://peachandblack.podbean.com/

Start reviewing the unreleased/non-album stuff???? That could last for a good couple of years...

I spent about six hours yesterday catching up on these podcasts, the Chaos one, the NPS one, the D&P one.

Are you Captain? You're my favourite one. I like how you're not afraid to go against the grain of popular opinion. Although I think you criminally glossed over Into The Light/I Will - two of Prince's finest tracks of the 90s IMO.

I love how you readily admit to not paying attention to the lyrics... I'm kind of like that too. I was listening to these album reviews last night and they'll cherry-pick a line from a song I've listened to countless time and I'll be like "I don't remember that bit."

Yes.. I be him

& I'm not here to be popular .. If I don't like a song - why should I say I do just because everyone else does ? I've never understand that sort of logic...

I'm a musician (some might disagree on that point LOL) & I listen to the music, I'm not a poet, I don't really care for lyrics..

Apart from Prince one of my favourite artists is Mike Oldfield who for the majority of his career never even bothered with lyrics - which is fine with me, that way it is ALL about the music

dodger said:

FunkyStrange said:

P&B Outtakes

People keep asking for some so instead of cutting some of that stuff out, we just left them in...

The funniest bit of the fart section was Captain (I think it was him) say 'Smelody cool' - it went pretty much unnoticed but it tickled me.

*

Great review again. I've heard reference on several reviews of a meeting with Prince - what happened or where can you read about this?

yes - Smelody Cool was mine

You can listen to the Prince story here - http://peachandblack.podb...m/2010/10/

[Edited 9/10/13 20:25pm]

Exactly the same message and answer I placed on the peach and black forums and I still agree with it. Just can't be bothered typing it all again.

Overall I have to say I agree with you guys in the Pod cast, the Prince material ranges from average to outstanding and the associated artists stuff does not. Its mostly filler and bad filler at that, only Tevins song is decent and the Time stuff is way below what you would expect and Pandemonium is much better.

Again, the Captain made me laugh with his defence of New Power Generation Part 2 and a few other lesser parts. I totally agree with your summaries of Still would stand all time and Joy in Repetition which are the two best songs and are easily in the finest songs he has ever recorded. That's what frustrates me so much about this album, is that it is very uneven and is the first of a patchy decade, the 90s would be characterised with almost there albums with a range of outstanding songs, some good ones, some filler and some dreadful experiments. Only the Gold Experience was consistently great.

Princes 80's output excepting Batman was at least consistent and consistently great at that, Prince watched the quality control on everything from Dirty Mind to Lovesexy like a hawk, after this time, he seems to care less. Lovesexy shows some signs of the decline, but the wheels really come off here. Its like he almost doesn't care in parts. Most of the better songs are old (1981 -1988) and the lesser songs are recent . I agree totally he is trend chasing now and that Shake sounds like a tired 60s vocal with a late 80s keyboard and drum machine backing.

I think it may sound this way also, as he was coming from a bad place, he was upset with the relatively poor reception to the Lovesexy album and tour in the states (He must have been wrapped with it in Europe?). He fired most of his band and is having money issues, several actresses turn down Graffiti Bridge roles and he probably knows the movie is going to be a turkey. Batman is a temporary uptick in his fortunes as the album is a huge hit (Mostly for the popularity of the movie and the Batman franchise, rather than the quality for the music - Batman is by far his least satisfying efforts of the 80s and generally in lower half of his material overall). He's also worried about adjusting his music to fit with the times and trying to adopt a more hip and masculine image. In all Prince is confused here. And to me this is why the album is less satisfying as a whole sum of its parts. Individual songs work better than the album as a whole.

And again like Purple Rain, he makes a cardinal mistake by leaving off a superior ballad like "The Grand Progression" which would have made a great companion to Still would stand all time. Anyway going through the album track by track this is my opinion.

I rank the song out of 10 and then call it either Filler, Killer or neutral

Can't stop this feeling I got - This is an okay rather than great opener, good rockabilly type chorus and guitar lines - Neutral 7/10

New Power Generation - A very weak song, some good melody, but tried sounding childish vocals, far weaker than anything on Purple Rain, but by no means the worst song on the album, easy to see why it tanked as a single - Filler 4/10

Release It - A Time number, some good call and response, but overall a pretty weak number. Still its not too bad - Neutral 5/10

The Question of U - A very good song, a great Prince ballad, good lyrics and nice building strings, one of the true highlights - Killer 9/10

Elephants and Flowers - Not a bad dance pop song, good choruses, not as strong as above, but a better than average piece - Killer 8/10

Round and Round - An okay TC song, some good lyrics and feel, not great, but not bad - Neutral 6/10

We can funk - Average duet with George Clinton, great melody and good feel, but a nit simple, nowhere near as good as early versions by P, still does its job okay enough - Neutral 7/10

Joy in Repetition - Words fail me here, this is a superb number and has some amazing lyrics and melody. Its pure genius and stands out, equal best on the album - KILLER 10/10

Tick, Tick Bang - Whereas this is much weaker, silly simplistic lyrics and watered down over produced feel. The 1981/82 version is a million times better and more to the point - Filler 2/10

Love Machine - Very silly Time song, pretty bad overall and below their standard, highly forgettable - Filler 2/10

Shake - As above a tired dated mid 60s feel with bad programming, average vocals and very overproduced and forgettable melody - Filler 3/10

Thieves in the temple - A very good single, classic Prince pop, and a good melody. One of the better ones, was a big hit - Killer 8/10

The latest fashion - More bad Time style R and B, Prince's rapping doesn't help, shallow lyrics and forgettable - Yawn Skip - FILLER 3/10

Melody Cool - Its just boring, okay its Mavis, but this is tired and the song has a yawn able melody - Snore - Filler 2/10

Still would stand all time - A stand out gospel number, the gravitas is amazing and Prince just gets into the song, he sings the shit out of it and it has a beautiful melody, a great message, amazing vocal prowess, along with Joy, this is a standout and probably one of his best ever songs - KILLER 10/10

Graffiti Bridge - Ridiculously bad saccharine nonsense, this is just awful, I agree that they could have ended the album after the last track. Probably one of his worst ever songs. I don't often give marks under 2/10 for Prince songs, but here goes - Mega Filler 0/10

NPG Part 2 - Another stinker, just a melodic rehash with some super bad but quite sticking rapping. TC Ellis is not the greatest rapper but its okay overall, has a good chugging melody and a positive feel, not as bad as many list it to be, still FILLER though 4.5/10

Overall this is a 6.5/10 out of 10 album for me, taking out the filler and associated artists tracks, would make it a much better album. It probably stopped me from getting into Prince a year earlier, the fact it had a dreadful movie to go with it didn't help either. Just not one of my favourites, but there are some shining high points as well, and if the filler was gone and "Grand Progression" was put in, this would have been a Lovesexy quality album.

[Edited 9/10/13 19:14pm]

If I had to choose an album where I thought ALL the Prince tracks were great, it would be this one. Too bad it was muddled with various other songs from other artists but I do like some of those too. Still a great album anyway to me.

sfinky1 said:

I recall reading that the GB project started out as a broadway musical.. This explains, at least to me, why the title track sounds like it is from a stage musical ensemble, just has y'know that Glee vibe

I think even Glee would reject GB on the grounds of being too corny.

Adorecream said:

Exactly the same message and answer I placed on the peach and black forums and I still agree with it. Just can't be bothered typing it all again.

Overall I have to say I agree with you guys in the Pod cast, the Prince material ranges from average to outstanding and the associated artists stuff does not. Its mostly filler and bad filler at that, only Tevins song is decent and the Time stuff is way below what you would expect and Pandemonium is much better.

Again, the Captain made me laugh with his defence of New Power Generation Part 2 and a few other lesser parts. I totally agree with your summaries of Still would stand all time and Joy in Repetition which are the two best songs and are easily in the finest songs he has ever recorded. That's what frustrates me so much about this album, is that it is very uneven and is the first of a patchy decade, the 90s would be characterised with almost there albums with a range of outstanding songs, some good ones, some filler and some dreadful experiments. Only the Gold Experience was consistently great.

Princes 80's output excepting Batman was at least consistent and consistently great at that, Prince watched the quality control on everything from Dirty Mind to Lovesexy like a hawk, after this time, he seems to care less. Lovesexy shows some signs of the decline, but the wheels really come off here. Its like he almost doesn't care in parts. Most of the better songs are old (1981 -1988) and the lesser songs are recent . I agree totally he is trend chasing now and that Shake sounds like a tired 60s vocal with a late 80s keyboard and drum machine backing.

I think it may sound this way also, as he was coming from a bad place, he was upset with the relatively poor reception to the Lovesexy album and tour in the states (He must have been wrapped with it in Europe?). He fired most of his band and is having money issues, several actresses turn down Graffiti Bridge roles and he probably knows the movie is going to be a turkey. Batman is a temporary uptick in his fortunes as the album is a huge hit (Mostly for the popularity of the movie and the Batman franchise, rather than the quality for the music - Batman is by far his least satisfying efforts of the 80s and generally in lower half of his material overall). He's also worried about adjusting his music to fit with the times and trying to adopt a more hip and masculine image. In all Prince is confused here. And to me this is why the album is less satisfying as a whole sum of its parts. Individual songs work better than the album as a whole.

And again like Purple Rain, he makes a cardinal mistake by leaving off a superior ballad like "The Grand Progression" which would have made a great companion to Still would stand all time. Anyway going through the album track by track this is my opinion.

I rank the song out of 10 and then call it either Filler, Killer or neutral

Can't stop this feeling I got - This is an okay rather than great opener, good rockabilly type chorus and guitar lines - Neutral 7/10

New Power Generation - A very weak song, some good melody, but tried sounding childish vocals, far weaker than anything on Purple Rain, but by no means the worst song on the album, easy to see why it tanked as a single - Filler 4/10

Release It - A Time number, some good call and response, but overall a pretty weak number. Still its not too bad - Neutral 5/10

The Question of U - A very good song, a great Prince ballad, good lyrics and nice building strings, one of the true highlights - Killer 9/10

Elephants and Flowers - Not a bad dance pop song, good choruses, not as strong as above, but a better than average piece - Killer 8/10

Round and Round - An okay TC song, some good lyrics and feel, not great, but not bad - Neutral 6/10

We can funk - Average duet with George Clinton, great melody and good feel, but a nit simple, nowhere near as good as early versions by P, still does its job okay enough - Neutral 7/10

Joy in Repetition - Words fail me here, this is a superb number and has some amazing lyrics and melody. Its pure genius and stands out, equal best on the album - KILLER 10/10

Tick, Tick Bang - Whereas this is much weaker, silly simplistic lyrics and watered down over produced feel. The 1981/82 version is a million times better and more to the point - Filler 2/10

Love Machine - Very silly Time song, pretty bad overall and below their standard, highly forgettable - Filler 2/10

Shake - As above a tired dated mid 60s feel with bad programming, average vocals and very overproduced and forgettable melody - Filler 3/10

Thieves in the temple - A very good single, classic Prince pop, and a good melody. One of the better ones, was a big hit - Killer 8/10

The latest fashion - More bad Time style R and B, Prince's rapping doesn't help, shallow lyrics and forgettable - Yawn Skip - FILLER 3/10

Melody Cool - Its just boring, okay its Mavis, but this is tired and the song has a yawn able melody - Snore - Filler 2/10

Still would stand all time - A stand out gospel number, the gravitas is amazing and Prince just gets into the song, he sings the shit out of it and it has a beautiful melody, a great message, amazing vocal prowess, along with Joy, this is a standout and probably one of his best ever songs - KILLER 10/10

Graffiti Bridge - Ridiculously bad saccharine nonsense, this is just awful, I agree that they could have ended the album after the last track. Probably one of his worst ever songs. I don't often give marks under 2/10 for Prince songs, but here goes - Mega Filler 0/10

NPG Part 2 - Another stinker, just a melodic rehash with some super bad but quite sticking rapping. TC Ellis is not the greatest rapper but its okay overall, has a good chugging melody and a positive feel, not as bad as many list it to be, still FILLER though 4.5/10

Overall this is a 6.5/10 out of 10 album for me, taking out the filler and associated artists tracks, would make it a much better album. It probably stopped me from getting into Prince a year earlier, the fact it had a dreadful movie to go with it didn't help either. Just not one of my favourites, but there are some shining high points as well, and if the filler was gone and "Grand Progression" was put in, this would have been a Lovesexy quality album.

[Edited 9/10/13 19:14pm]

I agree with your entire review except for one thing. We Can Funk is a killer 10/10 track. One of his best 90's tracks IMO.

Almost every one of the "Prince songs" on Graffiti Bridge would have benefiited from having the original or alternative versions featured. The original or altnernative circulating tracks are superior in each instance I feel. We Can Funk is perfection without the associated artists presence, New Power Generation is more stripped down for example. I also would have loved to see God is Alive on this album....a great track with awesome guitar and a hypnotic beat.

Graffit Bridge - could have been a great album.

FunkyStrange said:

dodger said:

The funniest bit of the fart section was Captain (I think it was him) say 'Smelody cool' - it went pretty much unnoticed but it tickled me.

*

Great review again. I've heard reference on several reviews of a meeting with Prince - what happened or where can you read about this?

yes - Smelody Cool was mine

You can listen to the Prince story here - http://peachandblack.podb...m/2010/10/

[Edited 9/10/13 20:25pm]

Thanks for that, just listened to it. Must have been some experience as a Prince fan to sit in a bar with him and ask him questions like that.

*

I loved the Jim Crow/Tony M bit as Tony's rap is also for me being non-American where I knew Jim Crow from!

MattyJam said:

FunkyStrange said:

We've done most of them now... We only have five or six left to go !!! What will we do then ?

All of them should be available here - http://peachandblack.podbean.com/

Start reviewing the unreleased/non-album stuff???? That could last for a good couple of years...

plus...

maxi-singles

videos

digital releases

associated artists albums

...you could go on for a long, long time!

[Edited 9/13/13 19:58pm]

[Edited 9/13/13 19:58pm]

FunkyStrange said:

MattyJam said:

I really enjoyed listening to that. How many albums have you guys done now? I heard the Rave one, but not any others. Are the older ones still online??

We've done most of them now... We only have five or six left to go !!! What will we do then ?

All of them should be available here - http://peachandblack.podbean.com/

Yes and the ones you have to go are the epic ones!!!!

Prince, Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain, Crystal Ball, NEWS only ones I can think of.

After that, maybe, your favourite albums and songs and why and then maybe another Greatest Prince song of all time quiz and you could flesh it out by saying where every song scores on the list. That should keep you busy for a while

After that, a favourite albums vote from worst to best and then review rest of the Relevant Proteges, say

1. Time part 2 - Ice cream castles and Pandemonium

2. Time Part 3 - Original 7 and condensate

3. Sheila E - review Glamorous life, Romance 1600 and Prince songs off Sheila E

4. Vanity6 and Apollonia 6

5. Jill Jones album - deserves a podcast of its own, if you can review Andy Allo and Montreux, you can do these guys

6. Any other protege albums, ie Mayte, Bria, Carmen, TC, Eric, Ingrid, your choice

Then themes like

1. Prince genres, rock, funk, soul, pop, jazz etc

2. Prince instrumental attributes, like guitar and drums, best guitar solo, best scream etc

3. Best bands and favoruite Prince band dynamic

4. Focus on important people like Wedyn Lisa, Andre, Pepe, John Blackwell, Sonny T, Levi, Sheila, Cat etc

That should keep you going until 2020 and of course, rehash some of the older album reviews and update them, say albums you reviewed in 2009/2010, you may have changed your mind slightly since then.

This GB podcast was really fun guys!

I agree with most of what you said and it could've been a great album instead of an album I rarely listen to.

Great podcast, man do you guys ever like this album a hell of a lot more than I do.

FunkyStrange said:

MattyJam said:

I really enjoyed listening to that. How many albums have you guys done now? I heard the Rave one, but not any others. Are the older ones still online??

We've done most of them now... We only have five or six left to go !!! What will we do then ?

All of them should be available here - http://peachandblack.podbean.com/

You will do the much anticipated review of Bria Valente's Elixer.

[Edited 9/18/13 11:38am]

rialb said:

FunkyStrange said:

We've done most of them now... We only have five or six left to go !!! What will we do then ?

All of them should be available here - http://peachandblack.podbean.com/

You will do the much anticipated review of Bria Valente's Elixer.

[Edited 9/18/13 11:38am]

If that day ever comes, it will be time to end the show...