Yesterday i was listening to Emancipation album

and noticed how bland and weak drum patters are.

is it possible that Prince let very untalented Kirk to produce his beats?
with live drums or better programming it could have been much stealer
album.
Even New Power soul beat weak drum programing

Who would say that the same guy that made 777-9311 ,When Doves Cry
made Emancipation album.

thebanishedone said:

Yes

eireboy34 said:

That's all folks, close the thread.

Why close the thread
there is so many things we can say
Prince is well known to be a perfectionist right?
here we have a case of having produce your music
because he is your best man
it affected the quality of the album a lot

Jakeasaurus said:

Then go the fuck away.

ernestsewell said:

It was merely a humorous text representation of my agreement with the opinions stated in the original post, and a statement that not much else was left to say on the topic, my dear jolly fat man

thebanishedone said:

The liner notes are there for a reason, silly. Kirk J. did a lot of the programming on the album. In a recent thread, Emancipation was discussed and how it would have been a stronger album with live drumming. It sounds dated in that way, and someone noted it sounds like ring tones. HA! (Sort of agree on some levels.) The songs are good songs, but the production is very cold and lacking. It's the same theory for NewPowerSoul. It would have been a better album with the alleged "band" playing on a "band" album. Not great, just better.

Emancipation lacks because of the drum thing.

The same guy didn't make "When Doves Cry" that made "In This Bed I Scream", and I'm not talkin' name change either. Kirk obviously wasn't around back then. Prince had a tighter band, and better influence around him than he might have had around the Emancipation time. His Emancipation band lacked GREATLY in cohesiveness and depth.

Kirk's drum beats were the worst things to happen to Prince since Tony M.'s rapping.

?

The programming on "In This Bed I Scream" is actually good - it uses very basic elements in a rather unusual way. It's most of the R&B-ish tracks were the whole thing falls sort of flat on its face.

Dreaming About u have nice drum programing also

novabrkr said:

imo the programming is decent enough. it just doesn't hold up for 36 songs
in a row.

i commented on that on another thread. that album should have had at least
8 to 10 songs with the 'gold/come' style of production, just to keep it a
bit more diverse and a bit less 'tunnel vision'.

the point of the production and the programming, fcuz, was to make it feel
like a whole but in this case the individual parts, although very good and
interesting in places, combined to make a rather stale, uninspired and very
'flat' sounding 3 disc set.

IstenSzek said:

I have seen a lot of posts which complained about this album's sound and mediocrity, but the above really puts its finger on what is wrong here. "Tunnel vision", that's good. And this comment also acknowledges that the album is great in places.

IstenSzek said:

I totally agree. It has a consistent feel. The programs provide a beat, nothing more or less. They are not terribly exciting, but they don't overpower a song either as you could easily say 777-9311 does.

When I am feeling even more generous to this album, I point out that Prince used the Great Pyramids as inspiration. They, on the outside, might seem bland, too. But looking past the obvious, the pyramids (and emancipation) are pretty remarkable achievements. For a guy to hold 36 songs together, 3 discs that each have a personality but also fit together as an album, is something not many artists could do.

Moreover, the album does not wear out my ears like some other long albums do, like say Stadium Arcadium or Chinese Democracy, which have great drumming. I can listen to the whole thing if I have the time and it doesn't kill me.

Prince has the versatility to pull it off, even though track by track it's not close to my favorite album, and I do understand the criticism leveled at it.