The Rolling Stone Review
****

Right before the techno-thunderclap that introduces Graffiti Bridge, Prince, trembling, breathes: "Dear Dad – things didn't turn out quite like I wanted them 2/Sometimes I feel like I'm gonna explode." Urgent and yearning, the confession serves as a mission statement for a seventeen-song tour de force that reclaims Prince's rare stature as a pop Picasso – an experimentalist with enough mass appeal to make his experiments matter.

Titanic ambition, obsessive vision, furious virtuosity, Prince's gifts have seemed uncanny – Mephistophelean, profligate. But squandered on the off-hand dance formula of last year's Batman – a tactical slip, because, dunked in the movie's mainstream splash, His Royal Badness disappeared – those gifts have not glistened of late. Graffiti Bridge, the soundtrack to Prince's upcoming movie, revives our gasp of wonder at Prince by making more emphatic than ever the power of his tense persona, a persona strung tight on the wire of his daring coupling of funk and rock, black and white, male and female, flesh and spirit.

In its first four songs, Graffiti Bridge covers more musical waterfront than some bands do in an entire career. "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got," a fizzy, elegant rocker fueled by trebly guitar and cheesy keyboard, brings on the funk anthem "New Power Generation." Then comes the drum blitz of "Release It," a James Brownish workout as fierce as "Housequake" (from Sign o' the Times) or "Tamborine" (from Around the World in a Day), followed by the bluesy hauteur of "The Question of U." What makes this opening flourish more than a mere flexing of skill is a fresh militancy in the lyrics. Prince tough-talks like an embattled champ – "Try 2 tell me how to paint my palace/That ain't where it's at"; "The only thing that's in our way is U"; "Whose crib is this – my crib!/Whose wine U drinkin' – mine!" And with the existential media fret of "The Question of U" ("Must I become naked? No image at all?"), he mines a tormented realism and self-doubt that fight the coy narcissism of some of his earlier work.

A sharper focus and harder groove raise Graffiti Bridge above the feckless genre dabbling that often enlivened but sometimes undercut Parade, Around the World in a Day and Lovesexy. Having long proved that he can credibly emit any sound, from orchestral lush to Beatlemaniac cute, Prince forgoes his more outré style tinkering to fix on rock and funk, pumping the latter with neat guest spots by George Clinton on "We Can Funk" and by Prince's resurrected R&B protégés in the Time on "Shake!" Gospel veteran Mavis Staples shines on the strutting "Melody Cool," but most of the album is Prince solo – his guitar soaring from crunchy Steve Cropperisms to baroque Hendrix frenzy, his studio smarts peppering tracks with enough hand claps, keyboard peals and artful noise to keep the listener, in this day of texture-happy production, consistently surprised and intrigued.

All through the album, Prince reprises his trademark themes of love sexy and love divine: "Lick it like U like it," he pants on "Love Machine," and, on "Elephants and Flowers," he promises that "There will be peace 4 those who love God a lot." So sure and catchy, though, are the tunes and so cleareyed (for Prince) the words that his omnivorous mysticism is newly convincing – convincing, but still startling, sensual and freeing.

Along with the sinuous "Thieves in the Temple" and its air of dread, "Graffiti Bridge" is a standout, a "Purple Rain"-like electric hymn, a call for transcendence, a moving quest for "A bridge that leads 2 a better land than real." Built up from an album's worth of nervy, confident material characterized by a new maturity – though only as mature, happily, as we'd want Prince to be – the song's cry for salvation hardly seems escapist or fantastic. Prince – among other things, one of rock's greatest actors – comes off as desperately real.

Appearing, since Dirty Mind, able to master anything, Prince's willful, almost perverse bravery (like David Bowie's or Bob Dylan's) has meant skirting the obvious – eluding the platinum ozone of Madonna or Michael Jackson, where sheer size rules and significance falls sadly beside the point. Rather, he has mustered a subversive triumph, making records half-brilliant, half-quirky, managing the Minneapolis scene with the ghost hand of a funky Gatsby, deploying an army-harem of disciples and flashing a dazzle of guises unified in their harlequin outrageousness. By the very promiscuity of these bold strategies, he has inseminated the whole of pop. With Graffiti Bridge and its firm coalescence of his styles and concerns, Prince reasserts his originality – and does it with the ease of a conqueror. (RS 585)

PAUL EVANS
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[This message was edited Tue Apr 1 6:03:26 PST 2003 by Anji]

too bad the public felt other wise

Now if only...

Giotto said in an

earlier post:

starbuck said:

Giotto said in an

earlier post:

Prince's most soulful 90's album.

I remember when this album came out, i was very thrilled with it. I really loved P's tracks (didn't care much 4 the others) and it remained in my cdplayer 4 most of the year!!
nowadays I made my own GB with outtakes and b-sides for a more cohesive P album

The album that disappointed me at first listen was 0(+> , i was very disappointed with it...

Anji said in an

earlier post:

starbuck said:

Starbuck, can you show us your version of Graffiti Bridge?

starbuck said:

I actually disliked Graffiti Bridge upon first listen but loved both Diamonds & Pearls and instantly.

Whilst I still maintain my beliefs that Diamonds & Pearls is a classic pop record, I've always found lasts too long and loses its momentum; the segues don't help.

Anji, I will 2mw, I'm at work right now



I disliked the segues and also felt the album was 2 long ( 0(+> ) , I fonly he woulda put some of the tracks on cdsingles or b-sides...

I also disliked Cream at first (don't hit me) But when I first heard that song...horror... I did like the Arsenia Hall live version though ...
[This message was edited Tue Apr 1 6:48:09 PST 2003 by starbuck]

Cool Starbuck!

This era is unjustly overlooked: Batman - Graffiti Bridge - Diamonds & Pearls -



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[This message was edited Tue Apr 1 6:52:50 PST 2003 by Anji]

I also remember seeing the video 4 Question of U at that time... I was really happy that it would be released (as I hoped it would sound like the extended live version which incorporated electrtic man), imagine an extended Q of U!! but alas the single got canned

It's true, the singles potential off Graffiti Bridge were significant (in terms of cult status):

* We Can Funk
* Joy In Repitition
* The Question Of U

Anji said:

april fools

This is one of the more intelligent reviews that actually shows that the author has listening to the music and studied the art of Prince. So many dont.

There is simply no accounting for taste.

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[This message was edited Tue Apr 1 7:38:32 PST 2003 by Anji]

LaMont said:

Very true.

I remember this review how psyched I was when it was thought to be a masterpiece. I played the CD for hours on end. However, I don't think that one needed to know what had been left off to truly appreciate this album. That would be like assesing a film's worth by what was left on the cutting room floor!

Though those left overs and demos are cool to have around it only gives me a glimpse ( and I stress the word "glimpse") of what Prince was looking to achieve.

Random thoughts of 1990...

I remember reading this review when that issue of RS was on newstands. I was living in Indiana at the time and had a friend who made trips to MN to "pick up material" from some friend of his inside the PP loop. I had heard Soul Psychadelicide, Tick Tick Bang and the original non-house version of Round and Round thanks to this guy, who dubbed them on a cassette for me. The tape sounded horrible -- hissy and garbled in spots, but I was so excited about this album. I was disapppointed that Soul Psychadelicide wasn't there, held out hope that it would end up on a maxi-single, but no dice. I was also *really* disappointed in the Junior Vasquez boring-down of Round and Round, and I bought the Round and Round maxi single in hopes that the original version would be there, but again, no dice. (Later I would come to appreciate the tune a bit, but it's not at all one of my favs).

I also remember thinking that, even when it's clear that an album reviewer gave the album a good listen (and obviously likes the album, too), you can never believe everything you read in an album review, even when it appears to be fact and not opinion:



On my first listen to the album, I remember being honked off that it the song was by The Time, and it was Morris saying "lick it like you like it" and not Prince. It was all made up when I realized that it *was* Prince laughing during one part of Love Machine, towards the end.

Its hard to give too much credibility to a reviwer who call Graffiti Bridge the "standout" track, and doesn't even seem to think Joy In Repitition is noteworthy. Seems with the passing of time this is reversed, who would take Graffiti Bridge over Joy In Repitition? GB is one of my least favourite Prince tracks ever, almost as cheesy as Arms Of orion!
Just goes to show how we can never agree with reviews though, I'm arguing with a great review of a Prince album!
I neeed to lie down.

kiwirefugee said:

Also keep in mind that Prince agreed to do an interview with Rolling Stone that year, which I'm sure encouraged them to write a glowing review of the album. GB is a great album IMO, but I'm a bit surprised at the 4-star review from RS, especially (as kiwirefugee said) since they praised the song Graffiti Bridge, but not Joy In Repetition... RS tends to give good reviews to those pop stars who give exclusive interviews.

dekabes said:

I'm inclined to agree but without the evidence, who am I to say? Giotto posted that comment re: outtakes / demos.

Doozer said:

Cool post, Doozer.

kiwirefugee said:

I don't think the review takes Graffiti Bridge over Joy In Repitition. He states that it's a standout track, not the standout track. It's very easy to be cynical about this song (due to its 'hopeful' nature).

geminito said:

Regardless, I still think this is one of those very rare reviews that is actually spot on.

Anji said:

Is he Prince?

CAMILLE4U said:

He's an associate of mine (and BorisFishPaw).