jackmitz said:

rialb said:

I was nodding my head in agreement with just about everything that you typed until the bit about Emancipation. One day you people are going to realise that Emancipation is a masterpiece.

I am a bit curious, which songs would you consider to be the weak half of Emancipation? I'm guessing the usual suspects ("We Gets Up," "Mr. Happy" and "Da, Da, Da") but what else?

Why do I feel like I'm on different planet than the rest of you fans?! '

because these guys dont know what the hell they're talking about...and you do

rialb said:

JoeTyler said:

There'll Never B Another Like Me: classic

Chocolate Box: pathetic attempt at creating a 00s shit-hop single

Dance 4 Me: classic

U r Gonna C Me: intriguing intro, but the song is nearly as bad as The Arms of Orion

Here: overrated and forgettable

Valentina: dull, repetitive and boring

Better with Time: completely unremarkable, I don't even remember how it sounds

Ol' Skool Company: bag of crap, even worse than Chocolate Box

No More Candy 4 U: very silly, but nevertheless it's the third good song of the album, and a decent sequel of goofy/old songs like Horny Toad or Jack U Off...

overall: one of his weakest albums of the 00s, and of his career. The good songs are good but the bad songs are extremely bad. If this was intended to be an unofficial/indirect sequel to 1999, the results were pathetic...this sounds like 00s shit-hop, not early 80s MPLS...the only positive thing I can say about the whole album is that is, by far, more entertaining/listenable than the Slaughterhouse/Chocolate Invasion, half of Emancipation or even NPS...

20Ten is 1.000.000 times better...

I was nodding my head in agreement with just about everything that you typed until the bit about Emancipation. One day you people are going to realise that Emancipation is a masterpiece.

I am a bit curious, which songs would you consider to be the weak half of Emancipation? I'm guessing the usual suspects ("We Gets Up," "Mr. Happy" and "Da, Da, Da") but what else?

my problem with Emancipation is that it was the FIRST Prince album without a true instant classic: Get Yo Groove On comes close, but even that song is hated by many people here...

the first disc is full of competent but unremarkable songs, disc 2 is dated as hell now (Mayte/lost son stuff, too painful to hear now) and disc 3 is full of disappointing dance jams and some ballads that just don't catch fire. I know you love The Love We Make, My Computer is a good song but of course that line "I'm a father now" ruins it

if u add the very weak booklet and the repetitive mid-90s R&B production to the picture you can see why I think Emancipation is one of the true failures (noble failure, but failure after all) of his career...in 1986/87 Prince had the triple-disc masterpiece Crystal Ball / Dream Factory / SOTT, ten years later he only had Emancipation, that's a clear decline in my book...

quick conclusion: I can live without any song off Emancipation...

[Edited 11/18/11 16:12pm]

rdhull said:

jackmitz said:

Why do I feel like I'm on different planet than the rest of you fans?! '

because these guys dont know what the hell they're talking about...and you do

Here is nothing special. Not a classic

face it, deal with it, lol

told ya lolo

.

[Edited 11/18/11 16:52pm]

[Edited 11/18/11 16:56pm]

NouveauDance said:

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.... to which end, I will from hereonin stay as silent as the Mayor of Silentown, Silentville, in the province of Silentopolis, on the continent of Silentia, on the planet Silentios, in the Silentari system, of the Silentarium galaxy.

jackmitz said:

rialb said:

I was nodding my head in agreement with just about everything that you typed until the bit about Emancipation. One day you people are going to realise that Emancipation is a masterpiece.

I am a bit curious, which songs would you consider to be the weak half of Emancipation? I'm guessing the usual suspects ("We Gets Up," "Mr. Happy" and "Da, Da, Da") but what else?

Why do I feel like I'm on different planet than the rest of you fans?! 'Here' is a masterpiece...the harmonies are just SICK. As for Emancipation, I really don't get the hate for that record. Perhaps I'm a little biased, as living in Chicago at the time allowed me to see the record release party, as well as many of the JOTY shows, but I absolutely LOVE that album. There are a few weak songs, but the rest is just sonic bliss. Never has Prince sounded so mature in his approach.

For me the ballads on MPLSoUND are just a bit too syrupy and schmaltzy. It also doesn't help that there are three of them right in the middle of the album, they kind of derail the momentum a bit. One ballad would have been acceptable, two would have been pushing it but three is just too many, especially for an album whose title references the Minneapolis Sound. For what it is worth I always thought that there were too many ballads on Prince also.

I am right there with you in your love for Emancipation.

JoeTyler said:

rialb said:

I was nodding my head in agreement with just about everything that you typed until the bit about Emancipation. One day you people are going to realise that Emancipation is a masterpiece.

I am a bit curious, which songs would you consider to be the weak half of Emancipation? I'm guessing the usual suspects ("We Gets Up," "Mr. Happy" and "Da, Da, Da") but what else?

my problem with Emancipation is that it was the FIRST Prince album without a true instant classic: Get Yo Groove On comes close, but even that song is hated by many people here...

the first disc is full of competent but unremarkable songs, disc 2 is dated as hell now (Mayte/lost son stuff, too painful to hear now) and disc 3 is full of disappointing dance jams and some ballads that just don't catch fire. I know you love The Love We Make, My Computer is a good song but of course that line "I'm a father now" ruins it

if u add the very weak booklet and the repetitive mid-90s R&B production to the picture you can see why I think Emancipation is one of the true failures (noble failure, but failure after all) of his career...in 1986/87 Prince had the triple-disc masterpiece Crystal Ball / Dream Factory / SOTT, ten years later he only had Emancipation, that's a clear decline in my book...

quick conclusion: I can live without any song off Emancipation...

[Edited 11/18/11 16:12pm]

For me I see many parallels between 1983-1986 and 1993-1996. I see both eras as peaks. Sure, the earlier era was better but there was a ton of great music in the early symbol years. After Emancipation I slowly started losing interest in his new music and it wasn't until Musicology that I really started to enjoy him again. So I guess one reason I love Emancipation is because for a number of years it was, in my opinion, his last worthwhile album.

One criticism I don't get is dated/plastic production. Go back and listen to Dirty Mind and Controversy. Both great albums but they sound very dated now. 1999 is probably the most dated sounding album he ever released but few people complain about that. Why do people crap all over the sound of Emancipation but not his other dated sounding albums?

rialb said:

JoeTyler said:

my problem with Emancipation is that it was the FIRST Prince album without a true instant classic: Get Yo Groove On comes close, but even that song is hated by many people here...

the first disc is full of competent but unremarkable songs, disc 2 is dated as hell now (Mayte/lost son stuff, too painful to hear now) and disc 3 is full of disappointing dance jams and some ballads that just don't catch fire. I know you love The Love We Make, My Computer is a good song but of course that line "I'm a father now" ruins it

if u add the very weak booklet and the repetitive mid-90s R&B production to the picture you can see why I think Emancipation is one of the true failures (noble failure, but failure after all) of his career...in 1986/87 Prince had the triple-disc masterpiece Crystal Ball / Dream Factory / SOTT, ten years later he only had Emancipation, that's a clear decline in my book...

quick conclusion: I can live without any song off Emancipation...

[Edited 11/18/11 16:12pm]

For me I see many parallels between 1983-1986 and 1993-1996. I see both eras as peaks. Sure, the earlier era was better but there was a ton of great music in the early symbol years. After Emancipation I slowly started losing interest in his new music and it wasn't until Musicology that I really started to enjoy him again. So I guess one reason I love Emancipation is because for a number of years it was, in my opinion, his last worthwhile album.

One criticism I don't get is dated/plastic production. Go back and listen to Dirty Mind and Controversy. Both great albums but they sound very dated now. 1999 is probably the most dated sounding album he ever released but few people complain about that. Why do people crap all over the sound of Emancipation but not his other dated sounding albums?

I feel ya

but for me, TGE is his last worthwhile album, until the 2004 comeback (TRC being in another dimension, not necessarily better or worse, it just doesn't compare to any pre-1996, post-2003 album), so, for me, Emancipation was his first "I truly don't care about this album, I don't need to buy this".

and about the production...ahh, the sound of the early 80s was HIS sound, the sound he created and dominated the scene for some years. But during the 90s (specially the 96-00 era) he just seemed interested in mainstream rock and modern R&B, which was safe and unoriginal...Prince was soooo mainstream during the 96-00 era that I still cant believe he didn't release a cover of the Spice Girls "Say You'll Be There "

JoeTyler said:

rialb said:

For me I see many parallels between 1983-1986 and 1993-1996. I see both eras as peaks. Sure, the earlier era was better but there was a ton of great music in the early symbol years. After Emancipation I slowly started losing interest in his new music and it wasn't until Musicology that I really started to enjoy him again. So I guess one reason I love Emancipation is because for a number of years it was, in my opinion, his last worthwhile album.

One criticism I don't get is dated/plastic production. Go back and listen to Dirty Mind and Controversy. Both great albums but they sound very dated now. 1999 is probably the most dated sounding album he ever released but few people complain about that. Why do people crap all over the sound of Emancipation but not his other dated sounding albums?

I feel ya

but for me, TGE is his last worthwhile album, until the 2004 comeback (TRC being in another dimension, not necessarily better or worse, it just doesn't compare to any pre-1996, post-2003 album), so, for me, Emancipation was his first "I truly don't care about this album, I don't need to buy this".

and about the production...ahh, the sound of the early 80s was HIS sound, the sound he created and dominated the scene for some years. But during the 90s (specially the 96-00 era) he just seemed interested in mainstream rock and modern R&B, which was safe and unoriginal...Prince was soooo mainstream during the 96-00 era that I still cant believe he didn't release a cover of the Spice Girls "Say You'll Be There "

I'd rather have had a cover of "Say You'll Be There" than the version of "Everyday Is A Winding Road", or even of "One Of Us". Seriously.

[Edited 11/19/11 3:45am]

[Edited 11/19/11 3:46am]

Javi said:

JoeTyler said:

I feel ya

but for me, TGE is his last worthwhile album, until the 2004 comeback (TRC being in another dimension, not necessarily better or worse, it just doesn't compare to any pre-1996, post-2003 album), so, for me, Emancipation was his first "I truly don't care about this album, I don't need to buy this".

and about the production...ahh, the sound of the early 80s was HIS sound, the sound he created and dominated the scene for some years. But during the 90s (specially the 96-00 era) he just seemed interested in mainstream rock and modern R&B, which was safe and unoriginal...Prince was soooo mainstream during the 96-00 era that I still cant believe he didn't release a cover of the Spice Girls "Say You'll Be There "

I'd rather have had a cover of "Say You'll Be There" than the version of "Everyday Is A Winding Road", or even of "One Of Us". Seriously.

[Edited 11/19/11 3:45am]

[Edited 11/19/11 3:46am]

I kind of like his version of "One of Us." For me that was the only cover on Emancipation that improved on the original. However, "Everyday Is a Winding Road" should have stayed locked way in the back of the vault. I've been living on compliments and herbal tea? Yikes!

It is kind of interesting to see how hard he was trying to be commercial and how badly he failed at it. Stuff like The Truth and "The War" was fairly uncommercial but for the most part the 1996-2000 era was Prince desperately trying to fit in with the times and he failed rather spectacularly. Most of the NPGMC tracks date from this era, right? For me those songs are probably his absolute nadir.

Still, I think that Emancipation could have been a bigger hit under the right circumstances. Between the death of his child and the distribution problems he had with the album there were big factors working against him at that time.

rialb said:

Javi said:

I'd rather have had a cover of "Say You'll Be There" than the version of "Everyday Is A Winding Road", or even of "One Of Us". Seriously.

[Edited 11/19/11 3:45am]

[Edited 11/19/11 3:46am]

I kind of like his version of "One of Us." For me that was the only cover on Emancipation that improved on the original. However, "Everyday Is a Winding Road" should have stayed locked way in the back of the vault. I've been living on compliments and herbal tea? Yikes!

It is kind of interesting to see how hard he was trying to be commercial and how badly he failed at it. Stuff like The Truth and "The War" was fairly uncommercial but for the most part the 1996-2000 era was Prince desperately trying to fit in with the times and he failed rather spectacularly. Most of the NPGMC tracks date from this era, right? For me those songs are probably his absolute nadir.

Still, I think that Emancipation could have been a bigger hit under the right circumstances. Between the death of his child and the distribution problems he had with the album there were big factors working against him at that time.

I'm not being original saying this, but if Emancipation had been edited to a single CD (70-80 minutes), I'd maybe rate it among Prince's best efforts. But at the time Prince hadn't the inspiration to compose a brilliant 3-CD set.

[Edited 11/19/11 4:26am]

'Here' is great.

'Old skool company' is very funky and creative, but it sounds forced.

'Chocolate Box' is not that bad, but not Prince either. It's like teh Black eyed PEES (yeah PEES)

It's all kinda boring or mediocre for the rest.

Biggest problem: it doesn't SOUND Like Prince. So what's up with that title?