The entire thing feels like a love letter to Mayte, the youngling he was banging at the time.

LondonStyle said:

TRUST ME!
I have plenty of funk in my trunk!
And alot of it WAS gotten out of my box last night.

I ate very spicy Thai

Sorry wrong type of funk ... this is not a huey lewis track ..it's not hip and it's not square i.e..like a box...it's

an earthy, unsophisticated style and feeling, or the style and feelings of blues.
oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth370/gloss.html

music combining elements of jazz, blues and soul and characterized by syncopated rhythm and a heavy, repetitive bass line.
www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0776052.html

Play the track twice and then get your definition corrected!

Imago said:

jamie Callum? oh christ.

Christopher said:

Milty said:

ouch ouch ouch we need 2 get that right.. its Jamie Cullum, no Cullam or Callum or Callus or Phallus.

its Jamie Cullum.

For me, this goes to the Prince mytique that he has tons of great music that can be crunched into an album at any time. Truth is, he has tons of music. I'm one of those that would rather see one great album as opposed to 3 albums of fluff. The last great multi disc collection is Sign o the times, period. After that, I don't think he has done anything of substantial quality until musicology. (waiting to be shot at)

hollywooddove said:

No, youre just a sad individual who knows nothing

hollywooddove said:

No, youre just a sad individual who knows nothing

You like Prince too much.

Oprah dubbed it, per Prince’s words, the album Prince was born to make/release . Prince, himself opened his Paisley Park complex up to Orpah’s studio and allowed what, at that time, appeared to be unprecedented access to his private life complete with musical performances live for her studio audience.
For once, Prince was promoting the hell out of an album, such as we’ve not seen him do since Diamond’s & Pearls. Dare I say it, there was actually a good deal of ‘hype’ surrounding the release of his 36-song / 3-CD opus. For all of the criticism thrown at Emancipation, it did go gold, which for 3 CD albums isn't a easy trick to pull off I'd imagine.

This isn’t the first review I’ve ever given of the album. In fact, I believe this is my third one here on the org. But Emancipation is an album that delights, irritates, and confounds me all at the same time. It’s one of my most listened to Prince albums. In short, I have a strange love affair with Emancipation .

Despite my expectations that I was going to be listening to 3 hours of The Gold Experience with it’s riot of fierce screams, guitar solos, off-the-chain drums, and the disappointment such expectations would have produced, I’ve grown to appreciate Emancipation as a true gem of the 1990s.

Let’s face it. I don’t care what anybody says. If Emancipation had been released after 1999 and before Purple Rain, it would have been hailed as a masterpiece—an imperfect masterpiece, but a masterpiece none-the-less. Prince covers an entire range of topics, musical styles, and moods that many other musicians spend their entire careers trying to accomplish. The songs are slickly conceived, tightly held together by a syrupy, sticky, glittery production style. Sure, the drum track and guitar parts aren’t quite what we came to expect post LoveSexy, but neither are some of his most loved albums, Dirty Mind and 1999—and nobody knocks those albums. Emancipation is an album that deserves more respect that it’s been given.

But how the hell does someone listen to a 3 CD , 3 hour , album? How do you digest such a thing in one sitting? Personally, as I’ve stated in previous posts concerning the album, I have to listen to it like it’s 3 sister albums (cd 1, 2, and 3).

Emancipation CD1

If Prince had released just the first CD alone, he would have succeeded in releasing a great, tight, return-to-form pop album, in the spirit of Batman, COME, or Diamonds & Pearls.
The first CD opens with Jam of the Year , a jazz infused song that doesn’t quite live up to it’s title, but is a great introduction into the rest of the album (cds 1, 2, and 3). The chorus is simple, easy to follow, and although not anything spectacular, it sticks in your mind long after you’ve moved onto the next few tracks.
Followup tracks like Right back here in My arms and Somebody’s somebody solidify the fact that Prince is releasing a pop album. A very long, wordy, seemingly rambling, pop album, but an album focused on popular music none-the-less. But, as silly as this sounds, if one looks past the drum programming, toned down, less-than-daring musical arrangements, there’s no denying Prince has an ear for a good pop tune. Emancipation is about the songs themselves—not the musicianship, not showing off, not over-the-top flashiness, but just smooth, groovy, tight pop songs. Ironically, it ends up being a risky , audacious, album just by how self-indulgent and loooonnnnng it is. Prince pulls a few weird things in the first CD though, with the charming but equally annoying Courtin Time, the less-than-necessary remake Betcha By Golly Wow, and endlessly annoying We gets Up (a song Prince seems to love repeating in each of his albums following Emancipation—think Get on the Boat).

Emancipation CD 2
Off all 3 CDs, this one is the most self-indulgent one. The entire thing feels like a love letter to Mayte, the youngling he was banging at the time. And in all honesty, this was my least favourite of the CDs. But as with so many Prince albums, over time, I grew to love it, and appreciate it.
Gems like the hypnotic, understated, Soul Sanctuary , the oozing sweetness of One Kiss at a Time the simplicity and sing-along sensibilities of emale set the tone for the rest of the CD. The quiet, sugary, dream-like Curious Chid draws either adoration or ire from its audience—I fall in the group that adores this track. If Prince has the ability to do anything at all on Emancipation, it’s the ability to paint a clear picture of a scene in my mind’s eye. He paints pictures in my mind with every note.
A few missteps , that offer interesting moments despite are the overbloated, quirky, Joint 2 Joint featuring some of the most annoying rap moments Prince has tortured us with since the Jughead raps on Diamonds and Pearls. And for some reason, though Oprah got wet for the song, I’ve never been a fan of Let’s Have a Baby, though his falsetto hasn’t sounded this spot-on since For You.
Along the way, prince manages to throw in a Purple Rain style anthem, The Holy River, which doesn’t quite reach same emotional highlights of the former, but prove none-the-less that Prince can still write a convincing sing-alone anthem.
Finishing off the album are the beautifully rendered love songs, Savior and Friend, Lover, Mother, Sister, whatever.., I could listen to the last track over and over again.

Emancipation CD 3
If any of the CDs evoke any sense of the Old Prince—the obsessive, experimental, head-scratching, ‘old’ Prince, it’s the last CD in this album.
The album opens with the sparse , slave-hymm styled, ‘slave’ a song sounding oddly -like an under-produced demo (compared to the rest of Emancipation). New world is very much something I’d expect from Dirty Mind or Controversy. The Human Body proves that Prince could easily release an electronic album if he so desired…in his sleep.
Missteps, to me are the exceedingly annoying and unnecessary, la la la la la means I love U and disco-infused Sleep Around where, once again, Prince proports that it’s a man’s duty to keep his woman from straying—cause you just know those bitches can’t control their vaginas without a man’s guidance and attention.
Da Da Da is also a track I really really wish Prince would apologize for. I mean, it sucks ass.
Notable highlights are his treatment of Joan Osborne’s One of Us the only remake I love, and upbeat, danceable Emancipation—lawd do I love the way that man plucks the bass in this song


Sure there are songs I dislike on Emancipation—I make no secret of that. As a matter of fact, I’d say there are about 5 or 6 songs that I simply do not like..at all.
But 5 or 6 songs out of 36 is a damned good number for such an ambitious, sprawling, opus like Emancipation.
When was the last time a musical act released an album and you could claim to like half the songs on the album, let alone 30!



[Edited 10/21/08 7:56am]

I have always thought the discs 2 and 3 were largely superior than disc 1. To me Disc 2 is Prince's midtempo music at his best. Songs are so well crafted. The melodies are beautiful. Saviour is just beautiful.

I never understood the hatred of We Gets Up. Maybe it's the idiot screaming "YEEAAHH NPG K-K-K-KICKIN!!!"

The cool thing about Emancipation (and the thing that initially turned me off) is that it is so damned subtle. I expected more of an entire album like Joint 2 Joint or Endorphinmachine. Big, bold, wild, loud, creative. Emancipation is very nice.

It's got all the brilliance of Prince, but hidden in the background and polished and plasticized. But listen to the guitars in the background of Get Yo Groove On and they're as good as any of Prince's arrangements, as are the vocals and synth parts.

The surface can be very cheesy (Damned If I Do, Right Back Here iN My Arms) and pointless ( the covers) but this album, like Prince's best, got better over time.

That's just a small part of it, too. To make three discs that are all different, yet sound like part of a greater whole is an achievement that not many musicians would be capable of. To make it in such a rigid structure, to do it (virtually) all by himself yet make it sound nice & easy is all the more worthy of my admiration. Plus, I actually enjoy most of the songs, if perhaps I wouldn't eagerly play them for all of my friends, as I might for some stuff off of the opposite/twin Crystal Ball.

It's one of his less creative efforts, but one of the most impressive all the same.

I never understood the hatred of We Gets Up. Maybe it's the idiot screaming "YEEAAHH NPG K-K-K-KICKIN!!!"

How in the hell is that silly ass 'propose to Prince' thread beating this one?