THIS IS ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE ALBUMS! i LOVE IT! THE ALBUM SWITCHES GEARS ON YOU SO MANY TIMES, FROM THE POP OF "cant stop...", straight into the newjack funk of "New power generation" and to comedy funk on "Release it"! And their only the first 3 songs!

No other album I can think of has so many different styles of good fun funk numbers. Tevin campbells "Round and round" is one of the best pop songs ever written! "Love machine" may sound dated but its so much fun, as is "Tick,tick bang" with incredible squeling guiter and "The latest fashion" which has the best Prince rap!

"Still would stand all time" is very moving and beutiful and "Joy in repetition" changes gears again by delivering a thoughtful serious song! "Melody cool" has great vocals and "Elephant and Flowers", like the whole album in general, has so much energy and power! This album sounds so refreshing today! I wish Prince would make more "fun" music again. Good lyrics are nothing without a good melody, hook or rythem. Who cares if the lyrics arn't "Deep". Listen to someone else!

Iam not saying anyone hates this album, but this album is often very overlloked thanx to the accompanying movie (which I love!)

Give it up for the whole Graffiti bridge project! And tc's rap on "New power..part2 is very cool and a good way to end a very fun, sparkly, funky record!

The main problem that I have with this disc is the presence of the other artist. It would have been a helluva lot better without the Time tracks "Release It" and "Shake (those should have been on "Pandemonium"), and the Tevin and Mavis tracks are totally out of place. The disc has some great tracks, like JIR, and E&F, but it gets bogged down by having too many guests on it. If he had released it with just the Prince solo tracks, and maybe the duets with George & The Time, it would have been much tighter. Don't get me wrong, I love the Time, Mavis and Tevin tracks, but I just feel like they break up the flow of the album. Many fans I've talked to feel this way, and site it as the reason why the album is not higher on their list of great Prince albums.

Oh, and I have to disagree with you about TC's rap. I really can't stand TC. He's only slightly better than Tony M. Just my opinion. Peace.

GB will forever be my favorite Prince album.

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

Cool. I'm glad you enjoy it. I actually made a tape back when it came out (my car didn't have a CD player back then) where I put all the Prince songs and duets on one side, and then all the other artists stuff on the other side, along with cuts from pademonium, Ingrid, Sheila, etc. I played that tape until it died a painful death in my deck!

glad you posted this!

i never understood why folks seem to dis this album. i too was a bit bummed that this wasn't a Prince-only album, but come on, this is by far the best produced Prince album!

the tracks are very tight: the first three songs alone cover incredible musical territory.

I believe if Prince or WB would have been more agressive with releasing the right singles, Prince or other songs on this album could have taken over the Billboard Top 10---simultaneously...

this album is definitely one of my favs! don't let the movie dissuade y'all!

whatsurname said:

There certainly was potential for that album to be huge, but Prince and WB both seemed to bungle it. Of course, that can be said of many of Prince's 90s albums.

The Album, was "ok" at best. J&R was clearly the best track on the disc, but I have to agree, TC Ellis is one of the wackest MC's ever. Any track with him on it is a sure loser. That's my 2 percent of a dolla.

thesexofit said:

Damn, once again I have to agree with you on every detail. First Pandemonium, and now GB- you and I seem to draw the same stuff out of what we hear.

"Fun" is the key word with GB. I dig the album as well as the movie for the fun of it. I've always loved the movie despite everybody else's masochistic desire to not have a good time.
While I can see where the Disney Channel original movie / High school drama team production as well as the out of place melodrama might stifle some people, I'm not into it to worry about that stuff, I'm in for the fun. And that seems to be the appeal of both the CD and movie.

I wouldn't mind a remaster or digitally enhanced disc to coincide with the DVD release !

Oh yeah, and who can forget during the "Tic Tic Bang" scene when the Kid approaches Jerome, who shoos him away with a lollipop ? I love that.

I like the related artists tracks on the album, the core of 9 Prince songs makes it a very strong LP, I guess it is watered down by their presence, but Round & Round is a good solid pop song (might have been better if Prince kept it?) - and Melody Cool is a great, great song - and one of the original songs from the 1987 version, so it's earnt it's place on there.

Aside from mavis on this LP, I love GB. I cant say enough about my appreciation for Elephants and Flowers, and Question of You - just Prince at his very best. I played this tape to death- print on outside of tape was completely worn away, by the time I got this on CD.
[This message was edited Thu Mar 25 8:07:39 2004 by ndigo]

Don't nobody respect 'Thieves in the Temple' round here? Along with 'Joy in Repetition', 'The Question of U' and 'Still Would Stand All Time', this is a Prince classic. One of his greatest OTT songs.

Miles said:

The long version of Thieves kicks all forms of ass.

Good post!

"Can't Stop" is a GREAT song, not often mentioned! It's energy is a great start to the cd, like "Lets Go Crazy"

"New Power Generation" is a neat dance track & fun to sing along with-the lyrics are suprisingly defensive!

"The Question of You"-isn't that guitar break just so meloncholy and happy at once? Beautiful song-love the thudding beat-the alturnate bootleg versions are creepy & so cool!

"We Can Funk"is so cool around the "You can turn the candle on baby" part onward!

"Theives in the Temple" extended version is so hot! The video version was so weird though, with the motorcycle helmet!

"Joy in Repition"-cool,cool,cool!

"Melody Cool"-love Mavis' intro; this song is SO catchy, better than Prince's version!

"Still Would Stand All Time"- Fantastic Vocals!

"NPG Pt.2" is cool too!

This album is great. Just great! The last spurt of that 80's spirit.People complain because of the guest vocals-but that makes it cool and unique in the overall scheme of Prince's catalog!

The only real negative to me was the cover.Unappealing.

Great post! It's curious to me why people appreciate non-efforts like "C&D" over a fun album like GB!

JediMaster said:

u r so right

I've burned my own version w/out the other vocalists - and it's so much better. Too bad no great b-sides to add. Loveleft, Loveright and Get Off are lame, lame, lame. But I added them anyway and the extended verion of Thieves, which is really excellent.

But why do folks think he bungled the single choices? Thieves was the obvious choice for 1st single, and NPG was the obvious choice for 2nd single. I think Elephants and Flowers would have maken a great (Prince vocal) 3rd single had it gotten that far.

I don't think WB and Prince bungled the promotion - it was the movie that killed the music in this case. The movie was so bad and (rightfully) despised that the music had no chance to prosper and escape the negative stigma. Parade suffered from this same thing (to a lesser degree). It should've had a string of Top 10 singles (Mountains, anotherlover, girls and boys, maybe New Position) but it too was doomed by being married to a bad movie.

P should stick to what he does best. What if UTCM and GB the movies had been released as home-video only accompaniments to the albums? The albums would have done much, much better.

Anyway. How did i get off on this rant....?

Graffiti Bridge was great. Very 90's production sound to it all, with some pure Prince gems on it. Prince plays all the instruments on Joy In Repetition, Elephants and Flowers, Thieves In The Temple, We Can Funk and The Question of U. Now that's fecking genius.

As for the movie... I actually quite liked it myself, despite all the badmouthing it got. Yeah, the sets are cheap, and the film takes place entirely inside Prince's ego, but I think this gives it a certain naive spiritual charm.

warning2all said:

I agree. "Can't Stop" is GB's "Play in the Sunshine."



It's silly and too earnest but ya gotta love it because it recognizes and "tips the hat" to the hardcore. It talks about the Prince Nation...so it stands with "Days of Wild," "Uptown" and "Paisley Park" as a song that pays respect to the group. It might be even better live...but it's never been played live, to my knowledge. Anyone else know?



Word. Wait 'til you hear the Fillmore version from Sunday Feb. 15th 2004...in, out and back again with amazing guitar...un-freakin'-believable. I had my doubts about this tune when the album came out...but there's no denying it, the song has endured. It's great.



And the lyrics are unique...only Prince could have written those lyrics. A serious beam of light to the dome.

Not to mention, it holds a special place for the way he schooled Boni Boyer on Small Club '88 (Lovesexy aftershow)....Trojan Horse Club in the Hague..."Who's the fool singin' 'WILL'??? It's 'WOULD'! Still would stand all time..."



Well...I might have to disagree with that. Steve Parke's work had a wide range of quality, but he also had Prince in his ear, making demands, putting time pressures on him, and giving him limited resources to produce the work. This fold-out cover was one of Steve's best pieces. Come on, the sun dripping out of the flower? The lightning bolts? The world in the palm of the hand? Soul psychedelicide indeed!

Great post, people...

I agree, I love most of the tracks off Graffiti Bridge, but it would have been much better if it had been split into 2 separate albums - a 'Prince' album, and a 'soundtrack' album (containing the other artist's songs).
[This message was edited Fri Mar 26 0:45:53 2004 by BorisFishpaw]

Still would stand all time Elephants and flowers New power generation We can funk
all great songs infact there is onley one waek track imho and that is The latest fashion
Great album

Well somebody has to be a hater and I guess it's down to me. One thing I dislike about GB is the production. It just sounds too clean. And also the relative lack of hit singles really hurt this album. Just my opinion but I think that Thieves In The Temple is so much better than most of GB. What do you think the album would have been like without Thieves? It was a last minute addition wasn't it? I will say that I like GB much better than Diamonds And Pearls. But in my opinion 89-92 was a pretty disappointing time to be a Prince fan. Prior to that it seemed like his albums had great singles but there was also great experimentation. With GB it seemed like he was trying too hard to be poppy. But to all those who love it I think that's great. I do love Still Would Stand All Time, Can't Stop This Feeling I Got, The Latest Fashion, Elephants & Flowers, Thieves In The Temple... wait a minute. Maybe I don't hate GB. I guess I'll agree that the guest appearances hurt the album. But in the case of Purple Rain I think it would have been cool if that was a double album with guest vocalists so I guess I'm contradicting myself. I'll stop now.

JediMaster said:

I had the joy of getting a bootleg of The Black Album on the same day as Graffiti Bridge, so I had a LOT of Prince music to hear that day. My mom's coworker actually had the Black Album, and graciously made me a copy. Cassette, but better than nothing . . .

I agree about too many guest artists. I'm hoping that if there is ever a reissue of GB, they will be missing. It could happen.

The only song I wish Prince would've kept for himself was Round & Round. That was too good to give away.

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

Yes!! Preach it, preach it!!!!

At the time of its release the GB album was OVERRATED. Rolling Stone gave it 4 and half stars (more than Sign of the Times). The album is very dynamic and made a great first impression but the songs didn't age well like Prince's previous releases. For me this album was the first one to follow trends. A lot of the songs sound very dated. Example: Round and Round. Didn't Tevin fit in great on the radio next to MC Hammer,Vanilla Ice and Bell Biv Devoe? 1990 was craaaaazy. I was in University at the time and believe me all that stuff sounded great after 10 beers.

Allright, all right!!! I hate Eolephant and Flowers. It just gets on my freaking nerves. And no, I don't like Play in the Sunshine either.

I personally think the album is slamming regardlessly if you skip a track or not. It's also tather dark - I may be the only who thinks so. It tells the story better the than movie did. And most you have to remember, the album is true to the movie. Morris Day (Pandamonim) and Prince (Glam Slam) were battling for Meleody Cool (club) and Clinton's place. So the "duets" had to be included.

But riddle me this: Why wasn't 7 Corners (the instrumental constantly played through out the movie) included on GB or Ingrid's cd?

This is an album that has suprised me over the years after it came out. The reason being there was a time I thought this was one of the weakest albums of his career. However, now it is THE album from the 90s that I listen to the most. It's cheesy, disjointed, kind of a mess, but its also fun, funky, and fresh sounding. The only tunes I am not crazy about are We Can Funk (LOVE the 86 version...this one just isn't as good) and Melody Cool (never liked this one). But the rest of it rocks...

But I will never say that about the movie...man, what a piece of shit that thing was. Totally killed any kind of potential the album might of had (sales wise).

Glad you agree.
Its my favourite of Prince's albums, there r some greats on there. It is very underrated, it very spiritual as well.
Still Would Stand All Time I feel is one of Prince's best songs, its probably my favourite.

I love this album too. There are some great songs and most importantly it's fun. The only song I can't stand is LoveMachine. Can't Stop, JIR, We Can Funk, Elephants & Flowers, The Question of U, and Thieves in the Temple together stand up to just about any other combination on other Prince albums. I even love the album cover.

Why does nobody remember that critics RAVED about Graffiti Bride (the album) when it was released? 4 stars in Rolling Stone! "A true return to form!"

The prince tracks alone are great, if you put the Extended version of 'Thieves', 'The Lubricated Lady', 'Get off' and 'Loveleft, Loveright' from the NPG maxi-single, and the outtakes like 'My Tree' and 'Play' you've got yourself a good album right there.

That's a version i burnt anyway.

thesexofit said: