Hi, is there any chance someone here could give a little review of these albums? What do they sound like, they came out after Rainbow Children and N.E.W.S. so do they have the same sound or are they more like Musicology from the same year? Cheers

imo... The Chocolate Invasion sounds very 90s

The Slaughterhouse

They both have an Emancipation outtake vibe.

squirrelgrease said:

they both contain an emancipation outtake

chocolate invasion -> the dance
slaughterhouse -> hypnoparadise

Smillan said:

the material for both albums was recorded between Rave and TRC.

most of it was released on the npgmc in 2000 and they sound a
bit more like Rave than anything on The Rainbow Children/NEWS
or anything else that came after those albums.

i suppose the only resemblance they have to Musicology is that
they are made up of individual songs, following no specific
concept and center mainly on fun and pop and a bit of funk....

The Chocolate Invasion is a more consistent and better album
and Slaughterhouse is more of a "New Power Soul" pt II with a
lot of party tunes and 'rapping' etc.

however, both contain some cool tunes. Chocolate Invasion tho
is more likely to appeal to a lot of people i guess.

Actually, TCI & TS were recorded between 1998 & 2000, before The Rainbow Children, so they r the next & last step of the "post-Emancipation/pre-The Rainbow Children" era.

Both albums feature minimalist electrofunk tracks with indeed a 90's hip-hop/r&b flavor. Still, the presence of the Linn Drum Machine & the minimalist aspect of most songs might remind u of Prince's sound in the 80's. I happen 2 love these tracks because of this "rough" sound which makes them sound a bit wild.

Most of the songs on this album were recorded in order 2 b on 2 canceled albums: Prince's "High" & a 5th NPG project called "Peace." Eventually, the songs were released in 2001 via NPGMC, then compliled in2 albums (with some little reworking) in 2003.

IstenSzek said:

R u sure of that???

shaomi said:

yes i am. it's been reported on several occasions. i'm sure
someone who knows their prince stuff better than me will be
able to give you more details.

from dtt-lyrics.com for what it's worth

The Dance

This song was originally recorded during the sessions which produced the Emancipation 3-CD album. The production and drum programming are typical of songs recorded from that era. This composition, however, is an unusually plaintive love song for 1995/6, in which Prince refuses to offer commitment for fear of having his hopes dashed and heart broken. Equally, he cannot face the frustration of mere friendship with someone whose love he craves. Ultimately, he recognizes that the relationship is doomed, the 'dance' he leads will be a lonely one, and the song closes with him asking his potential lover to leave. Musically, the song's mournful tone and pace matches the sorrowful subject matter. The recording was released as a download on March 29, 2004 as part of the Chocolate Invasion download album, which largely comprised songs previously made available through the NPGMC (albeit some tracks had minor variations). "The Dance" was the only song that had previously not been released. A re-recorded version with some new lyrics was later released on 3121.

Hypno Paradise

A breezy, uptempo number, "Hypno Paradise" is clearly one of the most appealing of Prince's internet-only tracks, with an addictive trance-like hook line as a key ingredient. The song is similar in tempo and overall feel to "Sleep Around" on Emancipation. It is not known when "Hypno Paradise" was tracked, but the overall sound is close to that of many Emancipation tracks, so it is quite possible that it was considered for inclusion in Emancipation. Asking "Am I in heaven on Hypno Paradise?" the lyric concerns a woman or a spirit, Prince's savior, who is always there when he is scorned, offering support. He describes "hypno paradise" as his destiny. Prince introduced a fast, house-influenced instrumental number on the December 1998 tour of Europe by repeating the words "hypno paradise". The instrumental was performed twice. This has led many to assume that "Hypno Paradise" was a title of a number that he came up with on the tour. However, the instrumental may have been an improvisation since it has little musically in common with the track "Hypno Paradise" made available from the NPG Music Club in July, 2001

IstenSzek said:

Would you say that if I like a lot of the tunes from Slaughterhouse, like S&M Groove, In SIlicon, Peace, Northside, Daisy Chain and Radical Man 2045, I'd like NPS?

I do have to say that these were pretty good "releases". WHen they came out at the same time as Musicology, I thought the material was better than what was on Musicology. I was pretty stunned at the quality of many of the tracks that he released via the NPGMC.

The Chocolate Invasion is a wee bit better than Slaughterhouse, but both are very hodge podge. TCI is more weird/strange prince and has a lot of electrofunk on it. It's quite electronic sounding. Standouts would be...

"When I Lay My Hands On U"
"Judas Smile"
"Supercute"
"Sex Me, Sex Me Not"
"High"
"U Make My Sun Shine"

The Slauterhouse, I'd say was much more funk/party "R&B" oriented. For me it has fewer standouts and a couple of songs I really don't care for. Standouts would be

"Silicon"
"S & M Groove"
"Y Should I Do That When I Can Do This"
"Peace"
"2045: Radical Man"
"The Daisy Chain"


The issues with the fans lie in...

These songs were released individually to begin with, with no intention on puttin gthem in a cohesive package. The High album got scrapped, which was a hodge podge of these tracks. Also Prince was to release a 7 disc set called the Chocolate Invasion which would include all of the NPG tracks (some like My Medallion didn't make the cut)that would essentially be

The Chocolate Invasion
Slaughterhouse
Xpectation
One Night Alone
C-Note
and a couple of others I can't recall.

Personally, I think if he took the best of TCI/Slaughterhouse and Musicology, he'd have something that could stand up to SOTT. But that's IMHO.

superspaceboy said:

well no, not really but it's the same type of album. consisting
mainly out of fairly easy beats with a funk/rap/hip hop theme to them.

the songs on Slaughterhouse are a bit more raw though. the tunes on
NPS are more slick.

To me, they both come across as official bootlegs. A sort of 'what if' for 2001 had we not had The Rainbow Children.
They also have that 'unreleased' charm, as in they're not as polished, bar one or two, as they ought to have been for an official release. Mind you, it was fascinating to see a Prince song in its skeletal stages and how it evolved into something he was proud to release on a commercial album (The Dance).

i cannot comment on this thread.

IstenSzek said:

hen will people relise that nps is the best album ever made??