This is one of the few Prince albums I hardly listen to anymore. Not because the music is bad, but because it's too much to take in. 3 CDS, 3 hours worth of music in one sitting, is a little too much.

I think Prince made a bad decision packaging this all together. He should have released it as 3 seperate albums, like he just did with Lotus, MPL, and Elixer.

So what do you think? Overblown or brilliant?

shipoffools said:

Both. Essentially you are saying that you are put off by the presentation of the music...not the music itself. Like eating 3 different kind of pizzas at one sitting is too much, but if you could spread them out, you'd enjoy the experience a lot more.

Why don't you spread out your listening sessions? Really, what is the difference between Emancipation and Lotusflow3r? It's mainly perception. Each disc on Emancipation has it's own personality. Treat it like separate album and maybe you'll digest it more easily. Lord knows, I don't sit and watch all of the Star Wars films in one sitting...you gotta have space in between.
[Edited 4/3/09 6:21am]

skywalker said:

ditto

I love Emancipation. I skip about 6 tracks. But 6 out of 36 ain't bad.

The lotusflow3r package has 31 tracks, and I skip 10 tracks, but still consider it an artistic success. (the 10 tracks I skip comprise the whole of Bria Valente's CD )
.
[Edited 4/3/09 6:17am]

Beautifully Brilliant.

One really god cds worth. But everybody's track list would be different Much better than the current offering overall.

I like Emancipation because it exposed some of his most private songwriting ever. The production is a little stale and now dated but there was a lot of thought and effort put in many of the songs. Of course its bloated with filler but even the filler had some new (at the time) sounds for Prince.

Unfortunately, lots of the "filler" have become new Prince staples and have outworn their welcome but over all its possibly the last Prince album that feels "complete."

I think it's brilliant.

I does have "some" filler, but realistically only about 3-4 songs would fit that category IMHO. There are also 4 covers, which were the first ones to make their way onto a Prince album.

It is a looonnnngggg album to get through. Listen to every track separately and at different times. Judge it by each track's strength, and I think you will think it's brilliant too.

I've done that... listened to my Prince collection alphabetically by song. It's weird but also cool.

The correct answer is "both."

One more comment: this was one of the last Prince CDs of the 90s that feels like he "believed" in the project. Good or bad, that goes a long way. In contrast, I don't get that from NPS or the NPGMC tracks.

I also appreciate that Prince sent out magazine-sized full-color lyric books for Emancipation. That increased my enjoyment of the album.

Se7en said:

Edit: the NPGMC tracks were 2001. My point was that "era".

I love it I love it I love it I love it

It's OK.

I have to say that Emancipation was the first Prince album I was disappointed
with. It was just too 'samey' for a 3 disc set IMO. To take the pizza analogy
further, it was like getting 3 Margaritas. So I'd say that it's problem was that
it wasn't overblown enough (or brilliant).

I love Emancipation. Prince has a story to tell of love, and freedom and happiness and sorrow. Emancipation is great.

one2vibe said:

florescent said:

x's 2

Overblown in the amount of songs.

Almost brilliant in all the subjects and styles he covered. It's a great two disk set, when whittled down.

ernestsewell said:

It has 3 disc whittled or not
[Edited 4/3/09 16:15pm]

Theres a great single cd hidden amoung the set.

Get Yo Groove On
Love We Make
One of Us
My Computer
Holy River
In This Bed I Scream
Joint 2 Joint
Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife
Emancipation

Some decent to great songwriting to be found on that 'album'.

Unfortunately its is spoiled by too much filler and uninspired, plastic production.

It would be brilliant if it were maybe a 1 or two disc and some of the lesser strong tracks were shipped off to the vault.

A masterpiece, just listen to Curious Child

SanDiegoFunkDaddy said:

theres enough great tracks on there for it to be called Brilliant in my mind and just forget the crappy tracks...just look at the positive not the negative

Absolutely brilliant, various styles of songs, Love it

I like Emancipation. I think i've heard the people who say they don't like it its that they don't like the production, to them it sounds too cold or computerized. I like all kinds of different production style though so I like it anyhow.

Riverpoet31 said:

And there is the term I was looking for. I knew someone would use it: "plastic".