What does everyone else think of this album? It's so full of filler, that's the problem. My personal favourite songs are: Right Back Here In My Arms, I Can't Make U Love Me (although I prefer George Michael's version), White Mansion, Emale, New World, Face Down, One Of Us and The Love We Make (The best track on all 3 discs IMO). If you could cut it down into one disc, without the filler, which tracks would you pick?

Singingboy said:

This is not exactly a new topic. The problem will be (and you'll find out that soon) that you'll get 20 different one-disc versions in 18 posts.

I don't understand the problem with having too many tracks on a release anyway. We live in the age of CD burners. Better than getting short albums and spending time and money on finding studio bootlegs with the outtakes imo.

I play the first 2 discs straight through and only a few on #3

Singingboy said:

Assuming one disc is 9-17 tracks

Jam of the Year
Right Back here in my arms
Get Yo Groove on
We Gets Up
White Mansion
Sex In The Summer
Curious Child
Joint to Joint
Holy River
Slave
Face Down
One Of Us
The Love We Make

actionthisday said:

What about "Style"

BlackBuddy said:

I am not too fond of that song. It was the little Mayte rant that turned me off

It continas 1.5 CD's worth of top rate (if not ground breaking) material, despite the glossy production.

It contains 1 CD's worth of interesting b-side worthy filler

It contains .5 CD's worth of liquidous, steaming, putrid smelling, shit.

Over 75% of the songs on this album sound good when you listen to them out of order/out of context.

Try playing them on random/shuffle and you might appreciate them more.

I've found that I judge Prince songs differently (not always better) if they're judged interspersed with the rest of his catalog on random.

actionthisday said:

He only talks about Mayte twice in that song

It´s a great album, only flawed by the cheap sounding production which is no wonder considering he had just fired one of his baddest, funkiest bands ever.

I guess a lot of people would appreciate it much more if the production was rougher,rawer and tighter.

Instead of listing the songs I like I´d much rather list those I CAN´T STAND so you get an idea what I like and don´t like about it.

Songs I absolute hate:

Courtin Time
We Gets Up
Damned If I Do
Jam Of The Year

WTF was he thinkin when he released We Gets Up ???
and probably a few others



The rest is really good, even Da Da Da contains certain parts that I like, for instance Prince´s uplifting rapping, the beats etc.

Style is also nice.

Right Back Here In My Arms is killer, seriously underrated song.

Dreamin About U , Soul Sanctuary and Somebody´s Somebody are cool.

And so on.

Sometimes I wonder what certain songs, not just off of Emancipation, but in general, would sound like if Prince revisited them.

He is the master of covering others songs and taking them to the next level, wonder what would happen if he rereleased some of them. Something In The Water in its many incarnations is so so cool, and then again, some of his revisited songs sound shitty, like 1999NTM.....but, all in all, most of his remakes are nice.

Singingboy said:

In my modest opinion it's simply the greatest Prince album ever. & i fail 2 hear any filler in it. If it had been a 1 CD release people would say they'd die 2 have the outtakes released & with it being a 3 CD-set people shout there r 2 many songs ...

Now PurpleKnight is gonna tell u it's 3 hours of pure crap, just wait 4 a few hours 'til he find this thread

I listened to Emancipation constantly when it came out, although I was only 16 at the time.

My favourite disc is disc 3, love the Electro punk stuff at the start, and my favourite song of the lot, My Computer, is on there too.

Albums like Emancipation, The Rainbow Children, ATWIAD and even N.E.W.S. are the reason I love Prince music. Love them or hate them, you can't help but admire his daring, his adventurous spirit, when he's doing something against the grain.

shaomi said:

I agree 90 % (just that SOTT is my favourite Prince album)! I think Emancipation is the SOTT of the 90's though!

Maybe the problem some people have with it is the unexpected musical direction. After the Symbol album, Prince turned to a rawer, more unpolished sound. Many people seem to like that for Prince, and after an album like TGE with the announcement of "the album he was born to make", they expected some kind of TGE x 3 from Emancipation. Instead, Prince did a turnaround again and did a mostly lighthearted, happy pop album. It's just like ATWIAD after Purple Rain. Some people on here still have problems with that turnaround, so give Emancipation 10 more years.

I like the album-- hell, I like all Prince albums save one or two-- but coming off the heels of my favorite Prince era (early 90's) it was a hard act to follow. I was only 10 when Purple Rain was out so you're not gonna see me dressing up like Dr. Fink holding a lighter up for Purple Rain. However, if I ever saw him rock out to I Like it There or Zannalee I might act out of character for a brief second. Don't get me wrong though. I'd love to see the Revolution back together for an album/tour-- I ain't crazy.

Oh, Emancipation... it was cool and I don't have a problem with the production. That's just geek speak to me. Overall it's a good album and I'm glad he gave us everything. If you've got a problem with the "filler" you can burn your own version (though it should be a crime to tinker with disc 2).

Emancipation =

To paraphrase another orger (whose name escapes me)...it stinks like a skunk that crawled out of the ass of another skunk. I hate it. I've tried numerous times to listen to it and it fuckin' sucks.

I like exactly 4 songs, the rest is three discs of hot steaming .





hot mess edit
[Edited 6/4/06 15:54pm]