rialb said:

JoeTyler said:

Disc One: RBHIMA, Getcha By...ah, nevermind, We Gets Up, Courtin' Time, Damned if I Do

Disc Two: the whole album. except: Sex in the Summer, and the intro of Let's Have a Baby...

Disc Three: the whole album, except: Emancipation

so that's basically:

Jam of the Year

Get Yo Groove On

Somebody's Somebody

In This Bed I Scream

Sex in the Summer

Emancipation

not even a 9 songs album. So, For You wins!

[Edited 6/22/11 14:06pm]

I could take or leave the covers although I do rather like "One of Us" but as I suspected you and I do not see eye to eye.

What about "White Mansion?"

I honestly love all three discs and have no trouble listening to them all without skipping any tracks. Even tracks that seem to be universally hated ("We Gets Up" and "Mr. Happy") have some redeeming features that I quite enjoy.

I have to ask, when was the last time that you gave the set a listen? I really find it hard to believe that you can't find nine songs on the three discs that are as good or better than For You.

I remember the album (sold it three years ago) and I remember White Mansion, uggh, sounds like a poor man's version of mid-90's shit-hop. Pitiful. Mr.Happy is just as bad. But I don't HATE those songs. I just don't like 'em. But I don't hate them. Difference...

and the second disc, buff, All the ballads are just dull or random. Nothing as good as his early-90's ballads (Insatiable, Damn U, God Created Woman, Pink Cashmere, etc). Curious Child is the highlight but is too sad, not the kind of ballad I wanna hear from P...

the third disc,... kill me, kill me now. Awful production. Just imagine the reaction in a real dance club. People would kill the DJ...Third disc is a JOKE. The title-track was surprisingly memorable and catchy. Best song by far...

so no, I just can't find 9 strong tracks.

[Edited 6/22/11 14:46pm]

rialb said:

JoeTyler said:

Disc One: RBHIMA, Getcha By...ah, nevermind, We Gets Up, Courtin' Time, Damned if I Do

Disc Two: the whole album. except: Sex in the Summer, and the intro of Let's Have a Baby...

Disc Three: the whole album, except: Emancipation

so that's basically:

Jam of the Year

Get Yo Groove On

Somebody's Somebody

In This Bed I Scream

Sex in the Summer

Emancipation

not even a 9 songs album. So, For You wins!

[Edited 6/22/11 14:06pm]

I could take or leave the covers although I do rather like "One of Us" but as I suspected you and I do not see eye to eye.

What about "White Mansion?"

I honestly love all three discs and have no trouble listening to them all without skipping any tracks. Even tracks that seem to be universally hated ("We Gets Up" and "Mr. Happy") have some redeeming features that I quite enjoy.

I have to ask, when was the last time that you gave the set a listen? I really find it hard to believe that you can't find nine songs on the three discs that are as good or better than For You.

problem is, For You has a totally different sound, and it will appeal to some that don't like Emancipation's production

It may not be the songs so much as the sound

NDRU said:

rialb said:

I could take or leave the covers although I do rather like "One of Us" but as I suspected you and I do not see eye to eye.

What about "White Mansion?"

I honestly love all three discs and have no trouble listening to them all without skipping any tracks. Even tracks that seem to be universally hated ("We Gets Up" and "Mr. Happy") have some redeeming features that I quite enjoy.

I have to ask, when was the last time that you gave the set a listen? I really find it hard to believe that you can't find nine songs on the three discs that are as good or better than For You.

problem is, For You has a totally different sound, and it will appeal to some that don't like Emancipation's production

It may not be the songs so much as the sound

the sound AND the songs: Soft and Wet, I'm Yours, Crazy U, the a capella title-track, So Blue, etc.

Superior material.

JoeTyler said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

That is why most of Prince fans don't like "Emancipation". Anytime Prince embraces his RnB side in his albums, the so called fans tear it apart. Like they did with his masterpiece album 20TEN.....They rather him rock it out all the time on his lead guitar. Then embrace his true roots RnB.

why do "they" say "RnB" when, in fact, it's just "R.Kelly copycat"??

when I think of Prince doing real RnB I think of For You, The Truth (which I don't care for), Gotta Borken Heart Again, How Come U Don't Call Me, etc. but not the soulless, plastic copycat of Emancipation...

and 20TEN RnB???? perhaps the ballads, but that's all...

Who is they? What U mean by they?

Prince sounds or even trys to sound nothing like R. Kelly. Why pick him?

On 20TEN, Prince funky rhythm guitar work on that album is reminiscent of The 1999 album, straight funky RnB.

rialb said:

JoeTyler said:

Disc One: RBHIMA, Getcha By...ah, nevermind, We Gets Up, Courtin' Time, Damned if I Do

Disc Two: the whole album. except: Sex in the Summer, and the intro of Let's Have a Baby...

Disc Three: the whole album, except: Emancipation

so that's basically:

Jam of the Year

Get Yo Groove On

Somebody's Somebody

In This Bed I Scream

Sex in the Summer

Emancipation

not even a 9 songs album. So, For You wins!

[Edited 6/22/11 14:06pm]

I could take or leave the covers although I do rather like "One of Us" but as I suspected you and I do not see eye to eye.

What about "White Mansion?"

I honestly love all three discs and have no trouble listening to them all without skipping any tracks. Even tracks that seem to be universally hated ("We Gets Up" and "Mr. Happy") have some redeeming features that I quite enjoy.

I have to ask, when was the last time that you gave the set a listen? I really find it hard to believe that you can't find nine songs on the three discs that are as good or better than For You.

Gonna listen to it next week (after our second wedding) and report back. Oh yeah, I forgot "Get Your Groove On" and "Damned If I Do". Two more stinkers. Some outtakes are outtakes for a reason and those four tracks should have been outtakes. Then at least they would have been charming and bad instead of just bad.

I think if you narrow emancipation to 10 tracks, its easily better than For You

Jam of the year, Somebody's Somebody, Right Back here in my arms, Soul Sanctuary, Dreamin About U, Sex in the Summer, Curious Child, Sleep Around, The love we Make, Emancipaition, The Holy River. Come on, if you narrow it down to that, its obviously better than For You.

hhhhdmt said:

I think if you narrow emancipation to 10 tracks, its easily better than For You

Jam of the year, Somebody's Somebody, Right Back here in my arms, Soul Sanctuary, Dreamin About U, Sex in the Summer, Curious Child, Sleep Around, The love we Make, Emancipaition, The Holy River. Come on, if you narrow it down to that, its obviously better than For You.

most interesting to me is how everyone picks different favorites

NouveauDance said:

Spanky said:

We Gets Up and Mr. Happy are his two worst songs EVER.

I like 'We Gets Up', always have

Mr Happy is pathetic though.

...and I absolutely hate We Gets Up but enjoy Mr. Happy whenever I play it. I always thought releasing a 3CD set was best for the fans. Each one could whittle it down to their favorite songs as they wished.

JoeTyler said:

Gotta Borken Heart Again

[img:$uid]http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll171/kriisttenn_random_xo/Chef_Sing.gif[/img:$uid]

Oooh, just seeing them mentioned above - Courtin' Time is a nice little track one of my favs on the set, dunno why people dislike it. Would probably benefit from being produced in a different period, or with a full band - D&P/ era NPG even.

And White Mansion is an odd one, it does have that 90s R&B drawl to it that makes it quite dull, but there's something I like about it, dunno what - actually some of Emancipation wouldn't be hugely out of place on Exodus - like White Mansion, or even Mr Happy, which fits with those slew of mid-tempo hip-hop/R&B influenced tracks from then like Good Life, Mad, Funky Design etc.

NDRU said:

hhhhdmt said:

I think if you narrow emancipation to 10 tracks, its easily better than For You

Jam of the year, Somebody's Somebody, Right Back here in my arms, Soul Sanctuary, Dreamin About U, Sex in the Summer, Curious Child, Sleep Around, The love we Make, Emancipaition, The Holy River. Come on, if you narrow it down to that, its obviously better than For You.

most interesting to me is how everyone picks different favorites

Yeah, the common complaint is that it should have been a double or even a single album but there is virtually no consensus on what songs to cut. Maybe there is agreement that the cover songs should have been cut but there are quite a few people that love "One of Us."

Heck, I don't think he was ambitious enough. I would have loved a four disc set with each disc being 75 minutes each. That would have been about 60 songs totaling about five hours of new material.

For some reason I think "Get Yo Groove On" is the highlight of the whole triple disc.

Yes, I know it's only a pop number, but just as good as his 89-93 highlights...

JoeTyler said:

For some reason I think "Get Yo Groove On" is the highlight of the whole triple disc.

Yes, I know it's only a pop number, but just as good as his 89-93 highlights...

I loved the alternate version from the Emancipation concert which mixed in elements of Madhouse 6 (I think). Seeing as though everybody apart from Prince mimed & pretended to play their instruments, it gives me hope that there is an actual studio version of this somewhere.

A very slim hope, granted, but hope all the same

erik319 said:

JoeTyler said:

For some reason I think "Get Yo Groove On" is the highlight of the whole triple disc.

Yes, I know it's only a pop number, but just as good as his 89-93 highlights...

I loved the alternate version from the Emancipation concert which mixed in elements of Madhouse 6 (I think). Seeing as though everybody apart from Prince mimed & pretended to play their instruments, it gives me hope that there is an actual studio version of this somewhere.

A very slim hope, granted, but hope all the same

I think there is probably close to a 100% chance that a studio version does exist. Unfortunately there is probably a 0% chance that it will ever be released.

jtfolden said:

JoeTyler said:

Gotta Borken Heart Again

[img:$uid]http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll171/kriisttenn_random_xo/Chef_Sing.gif[/img:$uid]

That had me laughing out loud. In the office.

NDRU said:

IstenSzek said:

I was listening to that song last week, hadn't heard it in seven years, i think. And i was struck by hiw much i liked the second half. I was wondering if that's the purpleaxxe he's using to make that noise that sounds halfway between a keyboard and some weird guitar/trumpet hybrid. Love that sound. Which got me wondering how many emancipation songs did he use the purpleaxxe on? It's on Get Yo Groove On too iirc.

I feel like Emancipation is just full of that kind of thing. I get why people do not like it, but there is a wealth of musicality and sounds on that thing. After 100 listens you might notice another guitar part in the background.

Yeah, no other Prince albums have those things. Oh wait...

Srriously, he does those things IN HIS SLEEP. And on Emancipation, it sounds like he did just that.

BartVanHemelen said:

NDRU said:

I feel like Emancipation is just full of that kind of thing. I get why people do not like it, but there is a wealth of musicality and sounds on that thing. After 100 listens you might notice another guitar part in the background.

Yeah, no other Prince albums have those things. Oh wait...

Srriously, he does those things IN HIS SLEEP. And on Emancipation, it sounds like he did just that.

So again, your answer to the question is "no, Prince did not try too hard with Emancipation."

[Edited 6/23/11 11:53am]

...so the conclusion of this thread is whether it seemed he tried too hard or not, EMANCIPATION IS AN AWESOME ALBUM OVERALL, right?

Emancipation89 said:

...so the conclusion of this thread is whether it seemed he tried too hard or not, EMANCIPATION IS AN AWESOME ALBUM OVERALL, right?

Correct!

erik319 said:

Thanks Emancipation89 & Emancipationlover for that honest & unbiassed response...

You're welcome! We always do our best...

Emancipation89 said:

...so the conclusion of this thread is whether it seemed he tried too hard or not, EMANCIPATION IS AN AWESOME ALBUM OVERALL, right?

Yep!! Absolutely!

My picks for a single disc (~ 78 minutes):

Emancipation (demo version)

Right Back Here In My Arms

Somebody's Somebody

Style

Mr. Happy

Face Down

Emale

Betcha By Golly Wow

In This Bed Scream

Joint 2 Joint

My Computer

Saviour

Can't Make U Love Me

The Holy River

Soul Sanctuary

I need to tweak the track order a bit; having 4 ballads in a row to end the disc bugs me. Any suggestions to fix this and still maintain a nice flow?