I was thinking about the D&P album reading the responses to the thread I set up yesterday about that album and this question came to my mind:

What if Prince never made the Graffiti Bridge movie but just the album and combined it with the best tracks of the in my opinion weak D&P album???

If you take out all the GB songs not performed by Prince (well, vocally at least…) you keep:

Can't Stop This Feeling I Got

New Power Generation

Question of U

Elephants & Flowers

We Can Funk

Joy in Repetition

Tick, Tick, Bang

Thieves in the Temple

Still Would Stand All Time


Well, that’s a kick ass album in my opinion, although a little short. Now suppose Prince took three or four of the best tracks of the (in my opinion sucky) D&P album and added them to the tracklist. Let’s say:

Get Off

Money Don’t Matter 2 Nite

Diamonds & Pearls

Cream (don’t really like personally it but it’s a rocker with commercial appeal)

This would make a killer album that would have been both commercially and artistically appealing.

You see, my “problem” is that the very strong Prince material on GB never got the attention it deserved because of the flop movie and the tracks performed by the other artists. Without the bad publicity for the GB movie and with this strong tracklist it would have been a killer album that would have received both critical acclaim and huge commercial succes IMO.

These are just random thoughts and I know some of you really don’t like the “What if…” threads, but I couldn't resist sharing these thought with you people...

...and what if Prince could travel thru time and had an invisible robot friend? you are right. This "what if" game is fun.

The best part of G.B. was RELEASE IT. Without it, I'd probably never put it in my CD player.

Problem is the production styles on both albums are so different. The four songs you chose from D and P would really sound out of place on Grafitti Bridge.

jtgillia said:

Dippydippydope said:

LOL@Dippydippydope!!!

Dippydippydope said:

"Release It" is a great track indeed that deserved to be the title track of a (never released) kickass The Time album!

jtgillia said:

As if the non-Prince tracks on GB don't sound out of place on the album!

Maybe you are right about the production style, but if you mix the songs in a good order I'm sure they would have fit.
[This message was edited Fri Aug 22 6:51:24 PDT 2003 by funkaholic1972]

To my ears,even if you removed the non-Prince tracks from 'GB',it would still be a mediocre Prince album,at best.

Dippydippydope said:

He DID...and I AM that robot friend! Please recharge me; I MUST return to 3836 A.D. to save the Princess Xorthon-7!!!

DavidEye said:

>To my ears,even if you removed the non-Prince tracks from 'GB',it would still be a mediocre Prince album,at best.

Agreed. The first two songs on that CD were decent back in 1990, but just sound terribly outdated now. The rest is quite good though.

Dippydippydope said:

IstenSzek said:

I'd still include "Release It" though.



if you think i'm afraid'a this edit...
[This message was edited Fri Aug 22 7:42:16 PDT 2003 by FunkMistress]

Dippydippydope said:

I also don't think those albums sound alike enough to combine them. Very different styles that are both good (in some cases, great) but don't sound right on one album.

I LOVE "what if" threads and I am always compiling alternate versions of the albums I think are weakest (in my opinion no-one elses) - damn I'm such a geek!

Personally I think the album should have been called "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" (as this was recorded in 89 it would seem logical). Possible track list would be:

Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
Can't Stop This Feeling I Got
New Power Generation
Question of U
Elephants & Flowers
God Is Alive
We Can Funk
Joy in Repetition
Thieves in the Temple
Last Heart
Witness 4 The Prosecution
Still Would Stand All Time

B-sides
Come Outside And Play
Tick, Tick, Bang
+ others?

Rationale for including Last Heart and Witness is that they come fromt he same era as CSTFIG, WCF and JIR and were all rerecorded for GB

Have deliberately left off Graffiti Bridge because it is quite probably the single worst song Prince has ever released!
[This message was edited Fri Aug 22 8:48:25 PDT 2003 by jaypotton]

Everybody wants to fuck the greedy bitch...

FunkMistress said:

i knew somebody had to come along and sing that sooner or later...

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

It's a little-known fact, but those were the original lyrics. If only he had recorded it that way...imagine how different the world would be...

FunkMistress said:

...would folks not diss the album/movie so much if it were that way, i wonder...
















...eh, the movie would still be vomitrocious anyway

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Pukealicious, even. Barfarrific. Utterly craptacular.

FunkMistress said:

!!! I think I just shit my pants...film at 11...

Funny! I just blew the dust off this CD last week and thought the same thing. I skipped the Mavis Staples and Tevin Campbell song and thought-"What a great EP!" "Still Would Stand..." is probably one of Princes most passionate performances and one of my top 5 all-time favorites. Except for the lead actress the movie is unwatchable. Is it me or does the entire movie look like it takes place on a teenie tiny movie set w/dirt cheap production values? I guess after "Under the Cherry Moon" the dollars weren't as available.

flymfly said:

It was!

Such a nasty looking film - cheap, plastic - not at any moment did I believe the Graffiti Bridge or Seven Corners were outdoors - they look like sets from a pre-school childrens TV show.

Prince likes things done quick and cheap though.

What do you mean, it is a brilliant album.
The Times contribution only make it more fun in my opinion (this album is superior to their own, Pandemonium) and where would melody cool b without Mavis?
Still Would Stand All Time is my all time fav Prince song. Its so touching

funkaholic1972 said:

That's the cd I made for myself, but I put the song "Can U Come Outside And Play" between "Joy In Repetition" and "Tick, Tick Bang" and baby it flows!

I agree with those who maintain that even without the side projects included, Graffiti Bridge is still a mediocre Prince album.

If all of the side projects were removed, I would probably never listen to the album -- IMO, the only reason to ever put it in the CD player is "Release It"...

Graffiti Bridge...the Prince album that I could truly do without...

I think that if all non-prince tracks were removed, it'd be much more enjoyable, but still mediocore.

As far as "release it" goes, I think that should've been put on the time's "pandemonium" album

You shouldnt all slate this, theres a lot of evidence to show this was Prince's favourite work (he decided to make a film of it) as he has the freedom to control the message.
I think the album is a brilliant work, and although the film has its flaws it is very spiritual and raises interesting moral questions in us all.