Prince - Graffiti Bridge 1990

 

Graffiti Bridge is the twelfth studio album by American recording artist Prince and is the soundtrack album to the 1990 film of the same name. It was released on August 20, 1990, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records.

The album was much better received in sales than the film. It reached number 6 in the United States and was his third consecutive chart-topper (following Lovesexy and Batman) on the UK Albums Chart.^[3] Nearly every song on the record was written by Prince despite the handful of artists performing, including Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples, and the Time. The album produced the hit singles "Thieves in the Temple" and "New Power Generation", an anthem in two parts celebrating Prince's newly created backing band, the New Power Generation. The band would get its first official outing on Prince's next album, Diamonds and Pearls. 

 

The concept for the album and film began as early as mid-1987, but experienced delays for various reasons. The title track was originally recorded during this period, hence the liner notes listing Sheila E. and Boni Boyer as performers on the track. In fact, nearly the entire album is composed of previously recorded sessions that were updated for this release.

"Tick, Tick, Bang" was originally from 1981 during the sessions for the Controversy album. Written by Prince, it was originally a more punk rock song with a bass synthesizer; the update of the song includes an uncredited drum sample from Jimi Hendrix's "Little Miss Lover". "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" was from 1982, but later updated in mid-1986 during sessions for aborted album Dream Factory, before further updating. "We Can Funk" was first recorded in 1983, originally titled "We Can Fuck", before Prince re-recorded the song in 1986 with the Revolution (under the title "We Can Funk"), before further updating to the 1983 version took place. A melody similar to that of "Purple Rain" can be heard during the bridge of "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got". The three tracks were drastically updated in 1989 for release on Graffiti Bridge.

"The Question of U" was recorded in 1985 during sessions for Parade with little updating added to the original version. "Joy in Repetition" was first included on the unreleased Crystal Ball album in late 1986, and the same recording was used for this album (the track was not updated further for release, unlike the other "old" songs). Prince also kept the original segue of party noise at the start of the song (this time segueing from "We Can Funk" on this album instead of "The Ball" when "Joy in Repetition" was placed on Crystal Ball in 1986) which is also heard at the end of "Eye No", leading into "Alphabet St." on Lovesexy. The title track (from 1987) was updated for the album as well as "Elephants & Flowers" (from the 1988 unreleased Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic album) and "The Latest Fashion" (later given to the Time for their unreleased Corporate World album). "Melody Cool" and "Still Would Stand All Time" were intended for Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic and were later performed in some Lovesexy aftershows. "Still Would Stand All Time" was later considered for Batman, but was replaced by "Scandalous". The four tracks featuring the Time were originally going to be on Corporate World, recorded in 1989, though "The Latest Fashion" reuses music from "My Summertime Thang" from their album Pandemonium. "New Power Generation" was originally recorded in 1982 as "Bold Generation".^[4]

The only truly "new" compositions recorded for the album were "Round and Round", performed by Tevin Campbell, and "Thieves in the Temple". The latter song was the final track recorded for the album, recorded in early 1990. The B-side "Get Off" would soon be incorporated into "Gett Off" the following year.