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Graffiti Bridge

Prince - Graffiti Bridge Audio CD

A fair review of the Prince "Graffiti Bridge" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Prince reviews here, or go back to the Prince tabs.

Band: Prince
Title: Graffiti Bridge
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-08-13
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Can't Stop This Feeling I Got - Prince 2: New Power Generation - Prince 3: Release It - The Time, The Time 4: Question of U - Prince 5: Elephants and Flowers - Prince 6: Round and Round - Tevin Campbell, Prince 7: We Can Funk - George Clinton, Prince 8: Joy in Repetition - Prince 9: Love Machine - The Time, The Time 10: Tick, Tick, Bang - Prince 11: Shake! - The Time 12: Thieves in the Temple - Prince 13: Latest Fashion - Prince, The Time 14: Melody Cool - Prince, Mavis Staples 15: Still Would Stand All Time - Prince 16: Graffiti Bridge - Tevin Campbell, Prince, Mavis Staples 17: New Power Generation, Pt. 2 - Tevin Campbell, , Robin Power, Prince, Mavis Staples

not his best, but tolerable
"The question of U" is probably the sexiest track here. Graffiti Bridge is not Prince's strongest work but features some cuts worth a listen. The collaboration with George Clinton, "We Can Funk", is also worth a listen.

Mr. Prospector
The material was recorded as far back as 1981, with the only "new" tracks recorded for the project being Round and Round, New Power Generation and the outstanding single, Thieves in the Temple. Taking the route of digging through the vault for music makes for a very uneven soundtrack.

Out of the five singles issued to promote the album (which peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200), Thieves in the Temple charted the best (#6), as its Middle Eastern flavor is an intriguing standout in the 68:32 - 17 total tracks - that features a vast mix of musical styles. If nothing else, Melody Cool (performed by Mavis Staples) and We Can Funk (performed by George Clinton and Prince) show the respect other major artists have for Prince due to his incredible body of work.

But playing the game of "Mr. Prospector" yields minimal gold nuggets from this 1990 release.

A mixed bag
amazon. Watch Video Here: http://www. amazon. com/review/R3QSCS6IQG5F6W .

Highly underrated
Flashback to 1990: The CD was released that summer, but the movie didn't come out until November. One of the biggest disappointments of GRAFFITI BRIDGE--the movie--was that many of the great songs on this album weren't even in it. "Thieves in the Temple" was the lead single, a well-written rock number that called to mind "When Doves Cry. "

The first 5 tracks offer everything you could want from a Prince record: Rock (Can't Stop This Feeling I Got), funk (New Power Generation), a sense of humour (Release It), blues (The Question of U) and psychadelic pop (Elephants and Flowers). Things do start to take a detour of sorts when the Purple One lets the guest stars take center-stage, though. Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples, and The Time are all talented artists. But their contributions here pale in comparison to what the Man himself had to offer.

The exception is the George Clinton duet, "We Can Funk. " Stepped in a classic p-funk groove, the track offers up some of Graffiti Bridge's most salacious lines: "You know the Karma Sutra?/I could re-write it/With half as many words. " Or my personal favorite, as the song begins to fade: "People tell me I got no taste/Blow the candle out. . . we'll see if it's true. "

There's really no defending the MOVIE Graffiti Bridge, an amateurish vanity project that only about 14 people even bothered to see in the theatre. But the album has much to offer, and is worth another listen.
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This Album is a Complete Train-Wreck for Prince
Despite a couple of low points (the commercial failure of the movie "Under the Cherry Moon" and poor sales of the "Lovesexy" album), Prince would achieve a great amount of commercial success and even more critical acclaim. For the most part, Prince would have one of the most successful decades of any artists. At the center of this success was "Purple Rain". Prince's "Purple Rain" was a surprise success at the box office and prove to also garner critical acclaim. At the same time, the soundtrack of the "Purple Rain" album would prove to be one of the true landmark albums of all time. With a successful decade under his belt and plans for the sequel to "Purple Rain", there was much anticipation for both the movie and the associated soundtrack. These hopes would be completely dashed when 1990's "Graffiti Bridge" was released. "Graffiti Bridge" would serve as the sequel to the movie and become a complete disaster from both a commercial and critical standpoint. While something similar happened with "Under the Cherry Moon", the "Parade" soundtrack to that album would still prove to be successful. Such was not the case with the "Graffiti Bridge" soundtrack. In a nutshell, except for a few good points, this album was also a complete train-wreck.

Much of Prince's 1980s's success proved around the "The Minneapolis Sound". "The Minneapolis Sound" contained a mixture of Funk, Pop, R&B, and Rock. Prince was largely responsible for being a contributing architect to this sound movement. Following the success of "Purple Rain", the follow-up albums would go in different directions. Subsequent albums would introduce psychedelic elements ("Around the World in a Day"), a European influence ("Parade"), and even some Hip-Hop ("Sign O' The Times"). For the most part, "Graffiti Bridge" returns to the classic "Minneapolis Sound". There is a "gospel" element toward the end of "Graffiti Bridge" and I also think Prince pushes the Hip Hop element some more. However, just because he maintains and expands the "Minneapolis Sound" doesn't mean it's very good. For the most part, the album disappoints overall.

One big difference from this album compared to "Purple Rain" is that "Graffiti Bridge" is a true soundtrack. "Purple Rain" only contained Prince's contributions to the film (and didn't contain music from The Time or Apollonia). On "Graffiti Bridge", there are non-Prince songs included - such as the music of the Time, Mavis Staples, Tevin Campbell (his first break through album), and George Clinton.

There are four tracks that I would term "stand out" tracks":

1. "Can't Stop This Feeling That I Got": On "Purple Rain", it was "Let's Go Crazy" that set the intensity and tempo of the album as the first track. I thought this song would do the same thing and I would prove to be wrong. I thought some of the Hip-Hop elements at the beginning worked, but overall this song was classic "Minneapolis Sound". I was surprised this was never even released as a single.

2. "We Can Funk": Historically when Prince sings in a duet, he proves to be at his best. This particular song with Funk legend George Clinton is no exception. This might be the album's strongest contribution. Obviously from the title, this song is - Funk (well "Minneapolis Sound" style of course). The last minute of the song is unbelievable and great work by Prince and Clinton.

3. "Thieves in the Temple": This song was the first single released. This song has some of the Rock elements that remind you of the "Purple Rain" days. Since this was released before the film, many thought this would be indicative of a true sequel to "Purple Rain" - but not the case. Still a very good song.

4. "Graffiti Bridge": Much like the title-track of "Purple Rain" provided the emotional climax for the film and soundtrack, so does this particular title track. It is truly worthy of being the title track. This song brings a gospel element to the music, as well as an orchestral sound Mavis Staples and Tevin Campbell share lead vocals with Prince as he proves he is at his best when sharing vocals with others. Again great stuff.

Honorable mentions go to the tracks "Joy in Repetition", "Shake!" (one of the Time's four tracks), and "Still Would Stand All Time". These songs are good, but don't hold up against the four tracks above. As for the rest of the tracks, there really isn't much to say. In other words, I mention seven tracks above, yet there are still 10 other tracks that I really don't have much to say about.

With the exception of "Shake!" (good bass line), there is not much else to say about the Time's contributions. There is a long awaited duet with Prince on "The Latest Fashion" and while some "Minneapolis Sound" fans embraced this particular track, I found it to be very extremely disappointing. Tevin Campbell got some praise for his track "Round and Round", but again it didn't have me doing handstands. I would also say the same for Mavis Staples' other track, "Melody Cool". Overall, I think the theme as "not much to the other songs" is prevalent throughout the remainder of this album.

Once last point worth mentioning is the "New Power Generation" and "New Power Generation (Pt II)" songs would eventually become the name for Prince's new backing band with that name - soon to be seen on subsequent albums.

The liner notes did not contain the lyrics to these songs. Overall, with the exception of the four very good tracks and honorable mention tracks, this album has to represent Prince's low point of the career. Perhaps it is that this album has less of the Rock elements of "Purple Rain" on why this album disappoints. This would probably be the impetus for why Prince would assemble the New Power Generation band and go back to the drawing board in the 1990s. Overall, I'd recommend the tracks I mention, but not the album as a whole.

You can see a complete list of all Prince discography, or go back to the Prince tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.