Haven't listened to "Rave Un2" for years and always cringed at the idea of putting it back on; even though I remember when it was new I listened to it quite a bit.

The whole look on the CD cover from his hair on down to that blue thing, the attempt at having another "Santana" -like success with guest stars, "new-found" respect, sung by but "produced by Prince," the Rave New year pay-per-view, the tacky 800 New Funk ad, etc. all kind of blurred me to the music.

I put it on last week and the songs are all pretty good.

Pretty good.

Plus the best line, "I'm supposed to tremble because they call u the Artist."

when you get down to it, the cover might actually be the most interesting thing about the album. it's at least so gawd-awful that you can point and laugh. the musical contents of the album, on the other hand, are just awful in a bland and boring, un-entertaining way.

Rave is one of my fave cds of Prince in the last 10-12yrs!! I like just about all the songs on the cd, and I adore the ablum cover minus the hair. That blue thing worked for me!!! I do have to admit, alot of the other things going on in his life were quite distubing! That whole spiritual marriage but living in 2 different countries, weird symbol/name mess, weird hairdo, all of it was a mess! But I just chalked it up to "One of Prince's moments I will elect to forget! Only the good music and the cute interviews/performances will I remember!"

I should try it again, but the whole project was underwhelming. The album itself just didn't seem to have any cohesiveness at all. As individual songs go it falls even flatter, BUT I should try it again. "Wherever you go" and of course the 80's title track were good. Didn't mind "Undisputed", but the dump "NPG" chants ruin it abit. It was so old and tired by then.

Alot of it just seemed average filler to me. Not inoffensive, but just abit bland.

I honestly don't even think HE knew what direction he was going in at this time, he seemed LOST. And you can't find yourself when you're with someone who's gonna co-sign your every move instead of actually challenging you and perhaps give you a different perspective on what you're doing. But that's neither here no there.

There are a few decent songs on Rave tho. I'm content with Greatest Romance, I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore and Man O War. Undisputed is cool also, altho a little dated.

That being said, I hate collaborations, especially when they are done with artists that I feel are above that kinda thing, Prince being one of them. Gwen Stefani? Eve? BLECH.

[Edited 9/13/10 21:31pm]

thesexofit said:

I should try it again, but the whole project was underwhelming. The album itself just didn't seem to have any cohesiveness at all. As individual songs go it falls even flatter, BUT I should try it again. "Wherever you go" and of course the 80's title track were good. Didn't mind "Undisputed", but the dump "NPG" chants ruin it abit. It was so old and tired by then.

Alot of it just seemed average filler to me. Not inoffensive, but just abit bland.

THIS. That's the main reason I think Undisputed sounds so dated, HE dates it with that damn NPG nonsense up in there. I'm like LET IT GO already.

I think the cover art and music match up too well. Tangerine makes me really happy, and Mr. Pretty Man gets some spins too, but I don't listen to the rest very much.

No way. It's a steaming pile of poo. Was and always will.

errant said:

when you get down to it, the cover might actually be the most interesting thing about the album. it's at least so gawd-awful that you can point and laugh. the musical contents of the album, on the other hand, are just awful in a bland and boring, un-entertaining way.

forgettable album, i had to play the songs mentioned here so i could remeber them, Pretty Man is a nice song, so is tangerine, i do member liking man o war, but the album is forgettable, the awful cover is the only memorable thing.

I like the title track, thats only cos i've played it over and over

never considered either the cover or the music to be anything less than prince being prince

really liked the album when i heard it, and the cover seems OK to me

rave - unto the joy fantastic - rave

It's a mediocre album but there are a few great songs ("So Far,So Pleased","Baby Knows","Silly Game" and "Wherever U Go").

The title track is about the only thing on it that I like. It was a sellout album. I mean, guest stars? What the fuck is this, "Thriller"?

I love the album. It's funky and fun.

Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than what preceded and followed - "New Power Soul" and "The Rainbow Children".

Nobody's mentioning Strange But True?!?

IMO the saving grace of the LP...

'Prettyman' is what saves the album for me.

In my book, even worse than NPS. Rainbow Children's in my top 10 anyway.

To me, I don't think the album is that bad...even though I prefer the In2 version. I just think the overall album is weak, but it has some really good songs to me. They just didn't work that well together as an album.

Favorites:

TGRES

Undisputed

Hot Wit U

Wherever U Go

Prettyman (of course)

I Love U But I Don't Trust U.

It's a good album. If NPS could be Emancipation disk 4, then Rave fits nicely as a maturation of that sound.

The varying opinions and the different songs that people love/hate on this album are always interesting. I agree with some of them on both sides of the fence. Between the two versions of this album I could probably pull together ten songs that I really like. But I will never again listen to either album all the way through. Lots of "skippers".

Side note: I was actually pretty excited when the regular version of this was released. Picked up the double vinyl and played it quite a bit. I ordered the NYE PPV, too.... That might be when I started to not like the album as much.

the glorious spandex made that episode just that little bit more interesting! woohoooo!

I think it's a great pop album.

The only song I'd get rid of is Everyday is A Winding Road. He should have put Beauiful Strange In It's Place.

I believe the album started out as more of a Pop Rock album but prince was persuaed to add more RnB tracks by Londell.

I love to hear the songs that were left off.

I think it's a far more enjoyable album than The Rainbow Children and I think I probably prefer it to the Gold Experience or like it as much.

I loathe the album cover ...

however, I think the album is good. It has grown on me with every listen. There are hits and misses, but most of the misses are still funky enough for me to enjoy.

I JUST took this out of my cd deck...I like it better then some of the later releases I can tell ya that.