And i still feel like it would have been a GREAT DOUBLE album. So why does it dissappoint me with three discs? Shouldn't i just see the leftover tracks as bonus tracks?

Here's an idea... chuck a disc in the bin, then you'll be happy.

Perhaps you you can enjoy the Emancipation experience if you just listen to one disc. Most people try to listen to all three, one after the other, and often fail. It's too much to take in.

Emancipation has had it's criticisms but what you're left with are people like Rdhull saying Face Down has one of his favourite basslines, CalhounSq having her clit throb to White Mansion, Tron's love for The Human Body and BinaryJustin's respect for In This Bed I Scream. I could go on but these are a few people here who love their 80s Prince.

And for those people who will diss Kirky J. for Emancipation's production and beats, I think the overall responsiblity lies with Prince. It's his artistic vision afterall, and doesn't he tend to stamp his musical authority over most of his work? I think so.

Anji said:

'80's Prince

Therapy said:

There are some tracks on each disc i like. I guess i could burn them to disc, but i don't listen to the album THAT much to rip it.

Emancipation is one of my favorites, disc 2 is a gem. Sex In The Summer and Joint to Joint are classics to me.

I'm gonna make my Emancipation compilation right now. I've been wanting to do this for ages. I love certain tracks, and tend to skip over some everytime.

Aside from the second disc which I feel is the most consistent in mood and theme,the first and third discs suffer from lots of throw away songs and overblown covers.

Songs like Right Back Here In My Arms,Get Yo Groove On,We Gets Up and Mr.Happy make the first disc somewhat of an unlistenable experience for me.

The second disc is the most consistent in theme and mood and generally the songs flow very well into each other.

The third disc suffers from a lack of continuity with too many "style"s of music ranging from rap to techno.

So here's my own condensed version of Emancipation

Jam Of The Year
Somebody's Somebody
Courtin' Time
White Mansion
Slave
Face Down
My Computer
Style
In This Bed I Scream
The Love We Make



Sex In The Summer
One Kiss At A Time
Soul Sanctuary
Joint 2 Joint
The Holy River
Let's Have A Baby
The Plan
Freind,Lover,Sister,Mother,Wife

SuperC said:

No.
They're not bonus tracks.
Great double album.
Killer single album.

There is little I have to object to about disc 2.

I can't even see a really decent single album in there. I think Rave has stronger tracks on it that Emancipation.

Supernova said:

Disc 2 rocks!

Emancipation accompanied my rebirth as a fan. I had just acquired a computer with connectivity, discovered Prince sites like The Dawn, DMSR page (with outtakes info from Library of Congress copyrights), Diana Dawkins' Prince Family newsletter, Pierre's Le Grind, and Warren Mason's "The Royal Court" / "The Vault," and of course PPML, and was like WHOA!! I can't believe I've been missing this.

BedIScream was P's internet messenger sending cryptic emails on AOL, he was on Oprah, premiered the album on MTV, BET AND VH1 simultaneously, and was touring. As a result, I rediscovered not only what I liked about P's music, but what moved others as well... and found a community that could nurture and support my habit. A bunch of enablers for my fien'in

Emancipation reminds me of that time so the album will always hold a special place in my heart.

EMANCIPATE THE EDIT.
[This message was edited Tue Feb 11 20:08:41 PST 2003 by NuPwrSoul]

NuPwrSoul said:

When was it released, '96? That's the year I first traveled into cyberspace and found Prince fans more fanatical than I had ever been (or will ever be).

Oh, even music enablers are devilish too.

Anji said:

Very wise comments, Anji. Much respect. Much Respect

I’ve never read about nor heard of a 3-hour musical work that’s ever been created that is essential and completely cohesive. I wouldn’t put it past Prince doing it some day, but he hasn’t done it yet.

I think "Emancipation", despite the run-of-the-mill production, the too-poppy and clean sound of Disc 1, and the cover songs (with the exception of "One of Us") that serve virtually no artistic purpose, was a very good record nevertheless.

People seem to love to make Kirky J. the whipping boy for everything they don’t like about Prince, but what they don’t seem to understand is that Prince is the ultimate control freak and creates or at least approves of every single note that ends up on record. So blame Prince if you don’t like something. I think one of the most overlooked quotes in Prince’s entire career came in an interview around 1996-97. In that interview Prince stated that he wasn’t sure why but that he didn’t want drums to be a big part of his sound right now. Now if you want the drums to just keep the beat or sit in the background and be inconsequential, you don’t hire a great drummer, you hire someone like Kirky J.

People seem to also forget that this was a very well received album in the critical community. It ended up being named as one of the Top 20 albums of 1996 in the Pazz and Jop poll from the Village Voice, made-up of hundreds of North American critics.

Disc 2 for anyone who has been in love and/or has even the smallest amount of romantic inclination was a little valentine masterpiece in the middle of an album that was admittedly over long. I’ve played this disc for music lovers who have in turn dropped their jaws in disbelief at “Joint 2 Joint”, “The Holy River,” “Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife”, “Soul Sanctuary”, “Dreamin’ About U”, “Savior,” “Curious Child” and “Let’s Have a Baby.”

I also think this record suffers some in the Prince community because he has a lot of fans that are not big listeners of R&B music.

Much like with “SOTT”, had Prince whittled this sucker down to 2 discs and perhaps about 90 minutes, he would have had one of his greatest works, even with the production that’s a bit too plastic for my taste. The songwriting is just that good.

Eh!
[This message was edited Tue Feb 11 21:54:13 PST 2003 by Brendan]

Whoa, stop right there! Some of you need to come along on a long drive with me and I'll show you why all 3 discs have a purpose. "If you've got the time, I've got the ride."
[This message was edited Tue Feb 11 22:42:32 PST 2003 by TongueBox]

TongueBox said:

True. True.

I've listened to this album all the way through countless times back when it was released. I'm just saying that it doesn't compare at all to "1999" or "SOTT" because of the weaker material that's part of the mix. I don't find any of it really bad enough that I have to hit the skip button, although "Mr. Happy" is close to embarrassing funk.

I've got a burner if I really want to make my own 90-minute CD. So it's all good.

WildheartXXX said:

co-sign!

Therapy said:

Therapy, have you been studying Reality Therapy as well?

Brendan said:

I hadn't heard that interview back in 96 but it makes sense. I think Emancipation will have appealed to his more R&B influenced listeners, which is where some 80s fans forget that he has earned an entirely new audience, with different needs. I don't think I have ever seen him use one vibe as wholeheartedly and I can't see any other explanation other than wanting to belong to the musical landscape. He continued with it through till Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, and although the sound's progressed now, it' can also just be viewed as a more live sounding R&B, with more soulful and jazz influences. Muse 2 The Pharoah is a perfect example.

I also think while Emancipation's music is great R&B, even whittling it down to a double album, it still wouldn't be comparable to Sign O The Times. That is the classic 80s album. However, I think the classic 90s pop and R&B albums such as The Gold Experience, Symbol and Diamonds and Pearls, would have been in trouble. A single album at that time is inconceivable to me, because he was all about putting out music as he wanted it and we all knew it was going be a long ride.

I agree with everything NuPwrSoul said.

SuperC said:

Prince was just overflowing, I don't mind the three discs, the more the better...

Anji said:

I can confirm this - it did throb.

"Do it like she like, Do it like she like it"

Sleep Around is the tune for me. But most of this album is cool. Disc 2 being the best. Joint 2 Joint, anyone?

i think its his best effort ever in making radio friendly music. this album is loaded with good songs. maybe 2 much on the plate, but it does taste good. i love it my fav prince album

joelmarable said:

I agree. It's a shame he didn't have anything like Gett Off to sell the record upfront. Days Of Wild should have been then, not now.

Despite saying that I don't particularly care for Emancipation, it does have some good songs on it. It's just that as a triple album, it's very samey. You can get away with it on 1 disc, but over 3 you tend to switch off after a bit.

There's just not enough variation on it to make it a great album. To illustrate what I mean... take SOTT: Adore is a great song, but if Prince had made an album just of songs that sound similar to Adore, it wouldn't make a particularly interesting album, no matter how good the individual songs were.

Nothing on Emancipation really seems to let rip. There's no extremes, it all seems very tame and unadventurous. Where are the funk jams like D.M.S.R., Days Of Wild, or Housequake? Where are the rock tracks like Let's Go Crazy, Endorphinmachine or Bambi? Where's the experimentation of tracks like Sign O The Times, Dance On or When Doves Cry? Disc 3 is the only disc that has any spirit of exploration and real variation in musical styles.

It wasn't until I made myself a single disc 'best of Emancipation' that I really began to appreciate some of the songs.
[This message was edited Wed Feb 12 13:17:47 PST 2003 by BorisFishpaw]

Disc 1: patchy...only a few great songs (White Mansion, Courtin Time, In This Bed I Scream), some mediocre (Somebody's Somebody, Jam of the Year, Right Back In Your Arms, Damed If I Do, Mr Happy), and some embarrassments (Betcha, We Gets Up, Get Yo Groove On)

Disc 2: Almost brilliant. Its the only disc in the set. I can listen to as a whole without skipping songs. Has classics like Joint, Sex in the Summer, Holy River. But all the songs are either great or good.

Disc 3: Pretty good...but there are a few clunkers but there are some awesome tunes too (Face Down, The Love We Make, & My Computer).

...as a whole the thing is WAY too long. I have made my own Crystal Ball set with the original set list from 86/87. I can listen to that album as a whole with no problem. All songs are killer. Emancipation is almost impossible to listen to all the way through. I know he's always wanted to make a triple album...but this was simply not the material to support such a project.

Pagey said:

thanks2joniandu said:

You'll have to rename the condensed version as the former title track hasn't made the cut.

Honestly, I think I am my biggest stumbling block to really appreciating this album.

Given all that Emancipation represented to Prince's career and his struggle to get free of Warner Bros., I was anticipating something mindblowing...and what we got just didn't measure up to my lofty expectations. I've never really been able to see it as anything other than a letdown since. Too bad for me.

Peace, David

Emancipation should have been Prince's mainstream attempt on R&B. However, that market is not about experimentation or jamming as much as Prince is and I think that's the problem. All too often, we find Prince in the middle of these two extremes. Artistry or industry? In Emancipation, he's neither this or that consistently enough.

Overall, he failed to achieve everything he wanted to probably because he set himself unachievable goals and he didn't know which space he really wanted to be in with his new found freedom. In addition, miscalculated single choices, leaving the project prematurely and a 3 disc set are just some of the reasons Prince failed to make a massive impression on the popular market.