Click above to hear an audio version of this review, with musical selections. Audio produced by Derrick Stevens.

Prince's Graffiti Bridge was released August of 1990, but was in the works for nearly a decade, with songs being recorded and rerecorded as early as 1983. It's a soundtrack to the '90s film of the same name, and it fared much better than the film, reaching number six in the U.S. album chart; it was Prince's third consecutive chart-topper in the UK.

Time called it a groovable feast, and while Prince wrote nearly every song on the album, he was generous with the mic, handing vocals over the Mavis Staples and Morris Day and the Time on multiple tracks, covering topics of love, sex, sin, and freedom in songs like "We Can Funk," "Round and Round," and "Thieves in the Temple." Plus, the album introduced the world to the New Power Generation in not one, but two songs.

On Graffiti Bridge, Prince focused on the central groove, and found the funk that would pull his star power into the '90s.