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]

You like Prince too much.

Paging DreamyPop...where r u???

Imago said:

[Edited 10/17/08 17:21pm]

Yeah, I still dig this album a ton and there's also only about half a dozen tracks I'm not keen on as well.

These are my faves:

Right Back Here In My Arms
Somebody's Somebody
White Mansion
Soul Sanctuary
Dreamin' About U
Joint 2 Joint
Sleep Around
My Computer
The Love We Make

whoa that's a very detailed review.

interesting. thanks for posting your thoughts!

Idk if i've ever sat through the whole thing since i got it. Never really cared for the contemporary sounding Prince. But, after this, I think i'll go take a lesson, but it'll have to be tomorrow, friday night, college freshmen, you know the deal

Imago said:

Great review agree with 99% of what u said (especially about F,L,S,M/W 1 of my faves) however am i the only person who actually luvs Da,Da,Da?. I mean i truly love that track its so catchy and i love Princes little rap at the end like hes some kind of angel giving the poor and down trodden man (Scrap D) guidance and a message...that loving 1 another is the only way.

Seriously am I the only person that actually digs Da,Da,Da?...anyone outthere?
[Edited 10/17/08 19:02pm]

I enjoyed reading Ur review...It was very nice minus the occassional insult. Although, I'm still a sucker for the whole album...I honestly only dislike the backing vocals on "Joint2Joint." The rest of the record is beautiful/cool 2 me.

Damn!! Imago's doing album reviews now?

nurseV said:

he's re-reviewing a review of an album which he had already reviewed a first time!

Anxiety said:

A review of a review A new Org low

Anxiety said:

If I were 2 put the CD out it.
Would include and b retitled;

THE LOVE WE MAKE
Jam of the Year
Right Back Here In My Arm
Somebody Somebody
White Mansion
Holy River
Dreamin About U
One Kiss At A Time
Sex In the Summer
Savior
Sleeo Sround
One of Us
The Love We Make
Bonus - in this bed I scream

The perfect DC

12 Years too late but still an interesting take.

Anxiety said:

It's not like I want to take his skin and boil it in a soup

kjamal said:

nah, thats mostly consists of ballads and slow rnb jams, I think face down deserves 2 be on there its his best attempt at rap (excellent attempt actually)...other than that very good choices
[Edited 10/18/08 3:51am]

Great review Imago! Nice one.

optimus - I dig Da, Da, Da as well

Militant said:

and thought I was the only 1

[/quote]


WOW!!!

First of all, Imago, I must applaud you
Thanks so much for posting this and I love your review of this album. I'd just started to listen to it myself. When I first came here and heard about all of Prince's albums, this one really caught my attention. I'm an enthusiast, though very enthusiastic at times, who looks at Prince's music not only as enjoyment but as ways to see just what kind of person he is.

Given that, this album was a must-have because I thought it'd be one where Prince was at his happiest (I was opposed to getting TGE and Come at first cuz I believe he wasn't happy at the time of their production. Got them both and love them both). Where Prince is at his happiest, most uninhibited and when he's in love. I wanted to see what THAT Prince was like. A good friend of mine sent me this album because I wanted the whole packaging. A burned copy wouldn't do and the first thing I did was look at the album insert. The contents are gorgeous

For the album itself, I've heard Disc I the most and I've only heard Disc III once all the way through. Disc II is still growing on me a bit, but I think now its a matter of listening to it in its entirity a couple more times.

Reviews to come later

My fave albums in this order and as u can see Emancipation is quite high


1. The Gold Experience
2. Parade
3. Emancipation
4. SOTT
5. Come
6. Dirt Mind
7. Purple Rain
8. Musicology
9. 3121
10. ATWIAD
12. Chaos and Disorder (only had it a few days and i love it)
13. Girl 6 (yes i know its a soundtrack of previousley released stuff but its fucking great and features some of my fave P songs ever!)
14. Diomands and Pearls
15. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (every track is easy on the ears)

Imago you still think prince is gay?

Disc I comes off any typical Prince album. It has 12 tracks, all of varying length and subject. Most of which deal with the gaining, the having or losing of a relationship. A handful of tracks are more extroverted, dealing with letting loose and having a good time, rather than focusing on something personal.

The whole purpose of this 3-disc set was for Prince to truly spread his wings as an artist and release the album he was born to make. Not only celebrate his own family starting to take shape, but also his freedom from his record company. Naturally, the first track gives you the whole feel of freedom. The first line where he says it’s the jam he’s been waiting for, comes right out and says that he’s been waiting a very long time to put something like this together. Therefore, he uses this track to kick off the entire project and show how and why it’s the type of album he’s always wanted to make. “Jam of the Year” is a very upbeat number that has a standard run of verses and chorus, but once that part is done, the rest of the jam sounds improvised at will and the sound of freedom is unmistakable between the sound of the instruments or Prince’s vocals.

The next two tracks deal with the losing and wanting of a relationship, both of which fall into the R&B category. “Right back here in my arms” is more of a group number, using back-up vocals from multiple people that chant the song’s title whenever appropriate. “Somebody’s Somebody” has Prince’s vocals only, but his back-up vocals are layered, giving the song more of a personal feel to generate sympathy. In both cases, the instrumentals back up the lyrics, making you feel whatever Prince wants to get across in the song. “Somebody’s Somebody” is my favorite on this disc because of that personal feel to it.

After those three tracks, things start to change direction a little bit. “Getcha groove on” sounds like a track you’d hear at a 70’s discotheque. Prince starts the track with a narrative about how he just got paid and now he just wants to get out and party. The story then shifts when a couple of characters are introduced as they enter the club and comment on the goings-on. This track feels like a throwback to the group Earth Wind and Fire with its catchy beats that make you want to get up and dance.

Afterwards, you go back even further in time to the 1940’s when big band music was the most popular. “Courtin’ Time” is a short track where Prince simply explains how he’s “courting” a girl and wants to make her his. While the previous track made you want to go dancing at a night club, this track makes you want to grab a partner and do the Quickstep across the dance floor.

Both of these tracks sound a little dated, though there’s probably a reason for it. That reason is “Betcha by Golly Wow,” a song Prince grew up with and decided to cover and remake for this particular album set. It seems that even a musician as gifted as him needs a little help describing what he feels for his special one. This is most likely because he believes very strongly that Mayte is his special one, his soulmate that he’d been waiting for all his life. No song he could write could describe quite what he felt for her like this one. The spoken portion he does towards the end of the song says it all.

“Sometime a man can’t find words to express all the thing he feels inside, but even just so often, the words of another who’s truly in love seem to work out fine.”

After all that is said and done, Prince goes back to the present and comes out with somewhat futuristic track titled “We Gets Up.” While the title makes me want to gag because that’s not proper English (and yet I have no problem with Getcha ur Groove on and Betcha by Bolly Wow, also titles that aren’t in proper English), it has a good beat. It’s a song that addresses the thoughts and feelings of Prince and his back-up band. It’s another group effort that is anything but a love song with more of an extroverted subject matter.

“White Mansion” is another R&B track where Prince tells the story of a relationship gone bad and it contains elements of his life as well as attitudes towards his old record company. He talks about how having a white mansion is his dream, but towards the end of the song, he dismisses it, saying how people who live in them are arrogant and leave others in the cold.
Come to think of it, I don’t know what the hell this track is about, haha

“Damned if I do” sounds like an updated version of his old song, “Strange Relationship,” which is filled with contradictions. No matter what he does, he can’t seem to do anything right. “Strange Relationship” is where he addresses as much as he hurts his girl, he hates that he does, but can’t seem to control the contradictions that take place in the relationship. He places the fault on the girl here unlike before where he was the one with the problem.

“I can’t make you love me” is another cover song that seems to continue from where the last song left off. In the end, the relationship is lost and Prince realizes that he can’t make this work unless she wants it to. Well done as it is, the song gets very repetitive after a while, making it one of my least favorite tracks on the whole album.

“Mr. Happy” is a song I’m still getting my head around and can’t quite get into. The delivery of the lyrics remind me somewhat of the popular “Days of Wild.” Then during the rapping section, some of the lyrics spoken are references to other songs Prince had written in the past. The subject is more about Prince, but it doesn’t have quite the same personal feel to it, so I feel like its closer to “We gets up” than any other track.

He chooses the end the album with a song that talks about the loss of a relationship, interestingly enough. Next to the title of “In this bed eye scream” on the album insert, is “For Lisa, Wendy & Susannah” written backwards, leading me to believe he wrote this song with them in mind. Back in the mid 80’s, Prince would write songs and leave them for Wendy & Lisa to finish, giving them a very close bond that he doesn’t have with his other past band members. At some point, he lost touch with Wendy & Lisa and had since had a shaky relationship with them. This song has a bit of a psychedelic edge to it much like his work with them was and the harmonies he had in the bridge were among the best in any song he’s written. Susannah, he’d collaborated with a couple songs that ended up on Sign o’ the Times and is someone he’d written many songs about, which is why she gets thrown in the same category with Wendy & Lisa. Overall, this is one of the best written songs on this disc. The music’s good and the lyrics are very catchy. The list goes on and on about reason why I love this song. Together with “Somebody’s Somebody,” these two songs give enough reasons why Prince is awesome.

[Disc II: coming soon]

can sum1 plz tell me who kirk is? who he mentions in Sex In The Summer?

"Checkin' out Mahalia's greatest - "In The Upper Room"
When my boy Kirk calls singin'
"Hope we get 2gether soon (soon, soon)'

That reminds me, I NEED to listen to 'In this bed I scream' again!

optimus said:

Kirk Johnson, aka Kirky J., his drummer/drum programmer at the time. Also best man at his wedding, I believe.

BTW, Emancipation is a great album - there: my

Wish I had a young Puerto Rican score!...let alone have her doin' it on the floor!



I like the album...really like it. But there are some trax I DON'T like and some that I downright HATE. I completely content with it's release under ANY condition less it be WITHOUT In This Bed I Scream, which in my opinion is a rare true gem so late in his career(and it's STILL 12 years old....DAMN I'm OOOOOLLLDDD). H e's has some really good songs often late in his career but true gems are rare(well less rare than early in his career).



disregard this post (shy of the Puerto Rican score bit...I still wish I Had one of those....)

I should just go make a In This Bed I Scream appreciation thread....lol.
[Edited 10/18/08 19:01pm]

Imago said:

excellent analysis...except for 6 songs I loved Emancipation on first listen, especially disc 2.

I love the hell outta Face Down, here's my other favorites...

The Love We Make
Soul Sanctuary
Curious Child
Savior
Holy River
Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother, Wife
Dreamin' About U
Human Body
One Kiss At A Time
Sex In The Summer

I loooove his covers of I Can't Make You Love Me and One Of Us.

I don't get why it's panned by so many peeps...different strokes I guess.

Very underrated IMO.

Cloudbuster said:

yup. Tremendously pleasurable album.





Do you bottom?

LoyalAndTrue said:

You're welcome