this cd sound like ringtones
[Edited 1/16/10 18:12pm]

Then don't listen to it.

I like all 3 cds

My favorite songs from Emancipation(not in any order)

1.Get yo Groove on
2.Damned If I Do
3.Soul Sanctuary
4.The Holy River
5.New World
6.Style
7.Da Da Da
8.Emancipation

I Love the whole album.

ernestsewell said:

Dang....

I put it on the other day and it did sound dated...and weak. I like to go back and listen to cd's I thought was bangin' back in the day and most times I'm like "no wonder this album didn't sell". LOL

There are some joints on there that still sound good.

prime said:

There was a lot of truth when Prince said he "unloaded the barrel" on this album. It was recently noted on the Org that the triviality of each disk being 60 minutes was a farce in the music's final cuts. There are a lot of tag endings that might not need to be there, like "Damned If I Do" (although I love the salsa feel to it), "White Mansion", "Jam Of The Year", etc. "Joint 2 Joint" is a bit long too. I think with some of those changes made, and deleting a few unnecessary songs ("The Plan", "Da Da Da"), the album could pack a better punch.

However, the other thing missing from the album is a live drum kit. Stuff like "Courtin' Time" and even "Jam Of the Year", etc should have had a live drum in it, not a drum machine. I think that "band" feel could have really made the album even better. Most of the songs are strong, or at least very very good, in composition...it was the production is where the album, overall, suffered a bit.

I still like it. Disk 1 is perfect in almost any configuration. Put it on Shuffle sometime, and check it out.

Alamine said:

I've turned many-a song from this album INTO ringtones.

I don't know what makes this CD sound any more "dated" than his albums from the late '70s and '80s. Each decade is going to have a different sound no matter what genre you're in.

You listen to the Self-Titled album, and it's going to sound '70s. Is it still good, and listenable? Of course.

You listen to the Purple Rain album, (I'm gonna get hit with a fish for this) and it's going to sound '80s. Is it still good, and listenable? Of course.

So in my humble opinion an album in the '90s is going to have somewhat of a '90s feel to it.

I'm not disputing at to whether the CD is GOOD or not. Some like it, some don't. Happens to be on my favorites. I'm just commenting on the comment of it being "dated".

^^^^

One reason why Emancipation may sound dated is because it came out over 15 years ago.

What goes around comes around. I remember when I bought Purple Rain in the late 1990s it sounded really dated, yet today it sounds really quite fresh.

I think Prince's so-called 'plastic production' period from Emancipation, Newpower Soul and Rave was just a natural reaction to the 'thick' recordings he did from through Come and Gold Experience...

... just as the Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone period was a reaction to the 'plastic' sound... and then the more structured 'pop/rock' of Musicology and 3121 was a reaction to that...

My point is, music trends flow in waves, whether it be by era or by artist. That's the cool thing with prolific artists like Prince - you can really hear how each album evolves from one to the other.

i still love it all 3....

Alamine said:

I disagree. You have to be slapped.

Paris9748430 said:

It sounded dated in 1996.

Dated? I disagree, I like Emancipation a lot better now, than I did in 1996... back then I disliked it: especially the production.

Back in november 1996... it was a completely different album than the funky Gold Experience, Emancipation was more pop, soul and r'n'b... including a very sugary production.

To me it was the 1st Prince album I did not like at all, it took me years and years and a lot of listenings to get used to this album.

today I rate it 8/10.

I enjoy listening to Emancipation, better than Musicology, 3121, Planet Earth.

imo.

NouveauDance said:

Well, yes. In a different kind of way though.

The album I'd compare it to certainly isn't SOTT, it's much more like Graffiti Bridge in many ways.

ernestsewell said:

Totally agree on almost everything you say; especially missing the live drums.

The Somebody's Somebody live in the studio version is proof alone of how much more energy some of these songs could have had, (and I love the original).

The only thing I would disagree on is I happen to not like Damned If I do and We Gets Up from the first disc. Those would defintiely have been left off my version of an edited down two disc release.

This CD did not stand test of time , very plastic, it was when it came out
Maybe it was ahead of it's time because alot of the songs sound like ringtones

ernestsewell said:

Not sure why people don't like this track, maybe it's to close to the truth, to close to real hip-hop/rap and people just don't want Prince to be in that space, like his Jazz stuff it's too much for the "pop/rock" Prince fans..?

I never used to dig Disc I very much when I first got the album, but gradually over time it is probably the disc I listen to most out of the three.

There is some filler on there, particularly the opening three cuts. JOTY is by no means strong enough or interesting enough to open such an ambitious album. Right Back Here In My Arms sounds like a Bobby Brown song and Somebody's Somebody is pedestrian mid-tempo 90's R&B drivel.

I really enjoy the rest of this disc though. As for it sounding dated, don't forget he was deliberately going for the ol-skool retro sound on some of the cuts, such as the run of Get Yo Groove On / Betcha By Golly Wow / Courtin Time / We Gets Up. That is a great sequence of tracks right there. You have a Stylistics cover, an all-out jazz standard, a nod to Sly & The Family Stone... it's like Prince's way of paying homage to those who've inspired him and it sounds like he's having great fun doing so. These tracks sound breezy and full of life. I wish I could say the same for some of the material on 3121 or Musicology.

And we can't discuss Disc I without bowing down to the masterful In This Bed I Scream.
[Edited 1/17/10 10:18am]

I'm 17 and I don't think it sounds dated so ...

NouveauDance said:

Damn you beat me to it!

I still think in this bed eye scream is a GREAT song; masterfully produced. That, and a few on the 2nd disk are timeless gems. I agree w/ some other posters though that the plastic feel detracts

Alamine said:

Music in pop culture is cyclical. In the 90's most of Prince's early 80's material sounded super tiny and dated. Now those 80's synth sounds have come back in vogue and the 90's stuff is dated to you.

skywalker said:

Prince was as ever on this CD ahead of the game ...tracks like Email, Joint 2 Joint, Da Da Da, ITBIS, Face Down, New World etc...

The mix of musical styles is just too much for most it took me near 10 plays to get into each time i found something new in the CD ...sounds are all over the place it's a very smart CD a future timeless classic that's just about to reach tasting....

Like good wine it takes a long time to get the taste right...

I think many you must not forget that Kirk Johnson "influnced" a lot of the production on Emancipation, that probably would explain why the "sound" feels dated. Prince leaned on Kirk's production skills during that time period the same way he "used" Levi in the early 90's.

I agree with the O.P.

Emancipation, NPS and Rave, all part of the cull on itunes today. gone cause they're mostly shit and i need space.

novabrkr said:

I can see the comparison.