well folks, the years. Some good tracks, tons of shit...

Rave and Emancipation, two albums that were supposed to be HUGE; sadly, both were moderate sellers, at best

Similar plastic production, some classics, but also filler and dreadful tracks

which one do U prefer?

Hell, I prefer Rave, the cameos of people Like CHuck D or Gwen are refreshing, the production is more eclectic and less-modern R&B obsessed, and there are some GREAT songs: title-track, So Far So Pleased, Greatest Romance, Strange But True, Mano'war, etc.

That said, both albums are uneven... but at least better than NPS, PE or MPLSound...

I didn't not hate Rave.

To me, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic was a repeat of Diamons & Pearls, but minus the rap. Also, it was far more melencholy sounding.

I don't get why folks hate that album so much--the songs are standard, nothing special. But, the album wasn't terrible. Hell, it's better than 20Ten.

But, I far prefer Emancipation. Emancipation oozes sex in places, and has some really good songs, despite the candy production.

I'll go with Emancipation too, but I do like Rave.

I mean, I love you but I don't trust you anymore.. how beautifully sad can this song be.

Damn good question! 'Emancipation' gets my vote though.....only because, if it was paired down a disc or two, it would be even doper.....

Emanciption is full of great melodic stuff,much stronger then Rave.

Easy question.

Rave, cuz "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold", is on there.

Emancipation is a stronger body of work but a less coherent album. Rave is more coherent and shorter, so it gets more spins.

Hard question. It is like asking me what I prefer, plate of terd, or bowl of terd.

Rave is a good enough album, but Emancipation has about 30 songs I like (about 12 I love) on it, so it's easily the winner. Not really fair to compare a single disc and triple disc album. If you put Rave up against any one disc of Emancipation, then it might stand a chance for me.

I prefer Rave. Emancipation has its moments. Some like One Kiss At A Time, and Joint to Joint are classics to my ears. However overall I just dont like a lot of the 3 disc set. Songs like Da,Da,Da, Style , My Computer, and Email are completely forgettable. There are only like 4 or 5 Rave songs I don't like. I know its a single disc, but I like the rest of it way better than Emancipation. Even the best of E. is just lacking something.

Emancipation easily. For me any random 15 songs from Emancipation would make a better album than Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. I have grown to appreciate Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic marginally more than I did when it was released but it is still something of a disappointment. Emancipation is still one of my favourite Prince albums. Sure, it is a bit messy but I have always loved the ambition behind the album.

meisme said:

I prefer Rave. Emancipation has its moments. Some like One Kiss At A Time, and Joint to Joint are classics to my ears. However overall I just dont like a lot of the 3 disc set. Songs like Da,Da,Da, Style , My Computer, and Email are completely forgettable. There are only like 4 or 5 Rave songs I don't like. I know its a single disc, but I like the rest of it way better than Emancipation. Even the best of E. is just lacking something.

"My Computer" is great if for only the following line:

I can count my friends with a peace sign/One, two

Emancipation is one of my (the?) most-disliked Prince albums, while Rave is just one of my most ignored. So I guess Rave wins. So Far So Pleased, I Love U But..., Tangerine, and even Wherever U Go are stronger to me than anything on Emancipation. That album let me down in a big way - especially because I'd actually loved much of Chaos and Disorder, which came out a few months before.

That said, I must confess that I consider 'Hot Wit U' to be one of the most insipid things he's ever done.

eyewishuheaven said:

Emancipation is one of my (the?) most-disliked Prince albums, while Rave is just one of my most ignored.

I guess I lean more towards Emancipation because it's one of the first Prince albums I ever got to know and listened to in it's entirety so it's got that significance for me.

And yes, it is all over the place but there are standouts that more than make-up for the mess! 'One Kiss at a Time', 'Somebody's Somebody' 'Friend/Lover', 'The Human Body', 'Let's Have a Baby', 'I Can't Make U Love Me', 'Dreamin' About U', 'The Love We Make', 'Sleep Around', 'Curious Child', 'Saviour' .. this one is definitely a keeper for me

It's pretty close, but I'd have to go with Emancipation. Though I adore songs like ILUBIDTUA and Tangerine, Emacipation's sweet spots are just sweeter. Plus I'm a sucker for the volume of music released as a whole, and 36>

new power soul slays both .. come on and the one beat i love you but i dont trust you anymore but aside from slave there is not much going on emacipation .. man o war remix is pretty great .. too much filler on all 3 but over all new power soul works best as a set .. especially if u have it on in the back ground and tune out some of the lyrics ..

TrevorAyer said:

new power soul slays both .. come on and the one beat i love you but i dont trust you anymore but aside from slave there is not much going on emacipation .. man o war remix is pretty great .. too much filler on all 3 but over all new power soul works best as a set .. especially if u have it on in the back ground and tune out some of the lyrics ..

I love you but... is COMPLETELY different from Come on and The One. The subject matter and mood are on completely different spectrums.

In an album with 36 songs, you only like 1?

Man O War Remix isn't on Rave Un2.

Bolded part: You like the album and it "slays" Rave and Emancipation because it's background music?

[Edited 7/31/11 1:36am]

I know most fans hate Rave but I love it.

BUT, there's only 1 right answer to this thread......:iheartEmancipation:

I like both but I prefer Emancipation. It's got twice the number of songs so there are more good songs and even if I calculate an average the average song on Emancipation is better. Hightlights for me include Jam Of The Year, Courtin' Time (his best jazzy song ever - by far), In This Bed I Scream, Saviour and The Love We Make. And I know some don't like the production but I like it for the most part.

just1lousydime said:

TrevorAyer said:

new power soul slays both .. come on and the one beat i love you but i dont trust you anymore but aside from slave there is not much going on emacipation .. man o war remix is pretty great .. too much filler on all 3 but over all new power soul works best as a set .. especially if u have it on in the back ground and tune out some of the lyrics ..

I love you but... is COMPLETELY different from Come on and The One. The subject matter and mood are on completely different spectrums.

In an album with 36 songs, you only like 1?

Man O War Remix isn't on Rave Un2.

Bolded part: You like the album and it "slays" Rave and Emancipation because it's background music?

I love u too but .. lets face it prince took a nose dive lyrically after the sex symbol (love symbol) record .. emancipation is nice for the oprah crowd but that certainly is not me and i don't feel it contains any true stand out tracks .. 'come on' and 'the one' hold up well for me as stand outs and classics in his cannon .. probably some of his last listenable songs he wrote .. I like 'I love u but' but rave has a lot of super bad stuff .. emancipation annoys me and new power soul has at least 2 great songs .. a couple that are better than emancipation as a whole and a few good groves that overpower some cheesy lyrics .. and the lyrics aren't as bad as say the rave cd in general .. and i have found myself digging the whole nps record to my surprise quite a few times .. rave and emancipation on the other hand can be a grating attempt to listen for me .. therefore new power soul wins hands down

I love both of these! I find it hard to choose; considering Emancipation has more tracks than Rave. I recent have developed a deeper love for "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic". I pretty much skip about 5 songs on the CD. But in comparison I have a handful of them I don't like On Emancipation; which makes more sense because there is a total of 36 songs. Out of 36 I don't care for about 12 of them...lol. Which makes out a random selection out of each disk.

However I am going to go with Emancipation, because the creativity, production, sound, and R&B flow hits me all the time. Songs like: 'In This Bed I Scream', 'Somebody's Somebody', Heck even 'Face Down' I really think is brilliant. I still find it hard to compare the both of these albums though. I love Rave so much, but only because of the songs. The Era as a whole seems lousy and over carried with other things. The Clothes, the transition to another spiritual awakening...Lol. You are not asking about the era but the album, and hence I chose Emancipation. However Rave still is FANTASTIC!

If Emancipation was cut drastically and included the best tracks, such as...

Somebody's Somebody

In This Bed I Scream

Curious Child

Face Down

Sleep Around

The Love We Make

it could be much stronger.

As much as I love TGRES and I Love U, but I Don't Trust U Anymore, the album is average. Emancipation has much stronger songs overall.

TrevorAyer said:

just1lousydime said:

I love you but... is COMPLETELY different from Come on and The One. The subject matter and mood are on completely different spectrums.

In an album with 36 songs, you only like 1?

Man O War Remix isn't on Rave Un2.

Bolded part: You like the album and it "slays" Rave and Emancipation because it's background music?

I love u too but .. lets face it prince took a nose dive lyrically after the sex symbol (love symbol) record .. emancipation is nice for the oprah crowd but that certainly is not me and i don't feel it contains any true stand out tracks .. 'come on' and 'the one' hold up well for me as stand outs and classics in his cannon .. probably some of his last listenable songs he wrote .. I like 'I love u but' but rave has a lot of super bad stuff .. emancipation annoys me and new power soul has at least 2 great songs .. a couple that are better than emancipation as a whole and a few good groves that overpower some cheesy lyrics .. and the lyrics aren't as bad as say the rave cd in general .. and i have found myself digging the whole nps record to my surprise quite a few times .. rave and emancipation on the other hand can be a grating attempt to listen for me .. therefore new power soul wins hands down

I don't love you, I was referencing the song "I Love You But I Don't Trust You Anymore" ....

I'll plant the flag for Rave on this one. The production is better, the compositions are stronger, and I kinda like the meloncholy vibe that it has going for it.

Emancipation's production is just weightless and the plastic sound has always bothered me. Although there are some stunners (The Love We Make is amazing), the mediocre material outnumbers the total of good songs.

Your guess?

Easy answer: Emancipation. Now, if Prince hadn't released NPS and had combined the strongest songs from NPS with the strongest from Rave, and included Beautiful Strange on Rave Un2, we would have a real contender there...

Risico said:

Emancipation's production is just weightless and the plastic sound has always bothered me.

It's not exactly that Rave sounds like The Undertaker - just sayin'...