i've been listening to this song an awful lot lately ever since
it popped up on an old compilation album i made to listen to in
the car.

it's a really good track. damn. i liked it first time round but
it has aged pretty well. (in much the same way prince's 1980's
output ages: it sounds like an era but doesn't sound tired).

anyway. something i've always found striking is that segment in
the song where prince goes

"up the stairs to my lovely room..." and you hear a door
open and a crowd talking as the music plays on. that is totally
lifted out of Björk's "There's More To Life Than This" where it
appears she's singing on a toilet of a crowded bar (milky bar).

which ties in with the interview he gave to the BBC round 1998
for the promotion of NPS when he mentioned "Joint 2 Joint" for
being on of those songs that just came to him, in his mind, in
an instant and just clicked and lived their own life.

in the same interview he applauded Björk for her daring stance
in music today and for doing what she does musically.

i just love it when a song has a bit more history to it than a
gliph in the liner notes about who plays on it.



anyway, loving this song. the tap solo is really great too and
although i could probably live without her presence on the cut
i don't think Poet 99 is much of a hindrance. i just wish they
had given her a few better lines, lol.

oh and let's not forget that whole

"oh great now you think you're my soul-mate" that's so
really nice bass in that part too. nice and up front.

another Emancipation track that was on that same compilation
was "White Mansion" which is another one of a select few songs
on that album that i really love.

together with "My Computer" they really have something special
going on. shame that Emancipation didn't have more variety and
was dragged down by that weird production that keeps balancing
between great and totally plastic.

the good songs on that album are absolutely top notch quality
material but they should have been interlaced with more "gold"
like production material. more guitar, more live drums and the
occasional really weird song like 'papa' or 'solo' just for a
bit more of an entire spread of the prince pallet.

I like how Prince goes through at least three different styles of music before it's over. Definitely my favorite from Emancipation. Totally daring and inspired, it really stands out amidst the more conservative stuff.

emancipation is brilliant, imo

one of my favs

Great song, definitely one of my favorites off "Emancipation".
The vocals are amazing.

I really love the song, especially the way it goes through completely different segments. Great bass sound on it, my favourite bit is when he says "Come with me, 4 those who wanna change/But nothing comes 4 free" in that deep electronic voice.

IstenSzek said:

Well to be pedantic there isn't any party noise precisely at that point. I think you're referring to the earlier bit after he says "Come upstairs 2 my room" and then there's the Poet 99 rap. When he later says "Up the stairs to my lovely room" there is a door opening, but then it is silent apart from Prince singing. There is party noise right at the start of the track, also. Not hearing the Bjork track you mentioned I have no idea if it is lifted from that - it would seem strange since Prince is perfectly capable of generating his own party music, as shown on the Eye No/Alphabet St. Joy In Repetion segment.

Another great bit to this song, you have the seduction, then suddenly he stops the flow with "Oh great, now you think you're my soul mate" which is quite harsh, he's basically slept with this woman then he's saying, 'hey, because we did that don't mean we're suddenly an item or anything!'.

I love this cut too

Its one of the reasons I used to only listen to disc 2 of Emancipation when I
first got that set.

I discovered the other 2 cds like a year later

do it LIVE LIVE LIVE

a LIVE performance is coming

XxAxX said:

Surprisingly little filler considering it's a 3 disc set, imo. There's only about half a dozen tracks I'm not fond of.

And Joint 2 Joint!

Very sexy!

Cloudbuster said:

Thats about the same here. But iam the only fucker who likes "mr happy" aswell.

Joint 2 Joint is cool!

Sex me

Mr Happy makes me smile.

Joint 2 Joint is one of my faves.

"You don't even know what cereal I like" I love that line. I'm thinking only the genius of Prince could think up some of the lines in the song.

The Savion Glover touch is pretty cool too.

Probably my fave track of all the disks of Emancipation... even though it's not on disk III, which is probably the best... or is disk I... I'm never sure.

I remember this album very clearly. I got a lot of exposure to it, quite close up. It was exciting and then so very disappointing that the momentum of the project was sacraficed. Hey-ho, that's Prince for you, I suppose.

IstenSzek said:

.....and that part always reminded me of "All we ever look for" by Kate Bush where Björk obviously has lifted her idea from.
[Edited 10/26/06 3:46am]

this song is awesome..until it gets to the "3 minute" mark then it sux and becomes really annoying all bcuz of Poet 99's rappin. ..if i new of a good program that could take out parts in songs, i would take out her rappin part.

That's how I live my days.

so is Prince actually talking about a JOINT in this song? couldve sworn prince never done drugs

metalorange said:

no, no, i didn't mean he lifted the actual party noise from the björk track.
he just lifted the idea of the atmosphere from it. like walking into another
room and having the vocals change along with that and feeling the crowd talk
coming closer.

Oneluv3121 said:

I think he means joint as in your body joints.
"I could lick you joint to joint"

I like this tune, one of my favourites off disc 2 of Emancipation, quite hipnotic and strangely addictive!

IstenSzek said:

I think you'd be hard put to prove he got the idea from the Bjork track, as I said he's done the party sounds himself as far back as the mid-80s and I wouldn't be surprised if someone else had done something similar even earlier.

This is the song that pulled me in. I had it on the shelf for two years but that song got me to listen to the whole thing after all that time.

I remember them playing this in the background just before the 1996 live Emancipation concert that aired on MTV. They just showed the cover of the album and kept playing this, for several minutes.

I like the song alot, and wish the rest of the album were in a similar approach. It was fun in the same way alot of his BSides were, kinda bizzare, kinky and quirky, not a blatant attempt to be a radio friendly hit song, but cool in it's own right.

White Mansion is hands down my fav track from that album.