Dear .Org,

You can often hear how Prince 'progresses' in recording from one album to another, however, in the case of The Gold Experience, there is clearly a marked difference in sound between its predecessor, Come, and the main album afterwards, Emancipation, whereas interestingly both Come and Emancipation sound similar to each other. If Emancipation was compared to Come, given that they are quite similar sounding, then would the results still stack in favour of Come given its reputation as a dark fan favourite? To make the analysis fairer, I decided to strip Emancipation to the same number of songs as Come (en enjoyable but quite impossible task). Here are my results:

COME vs EMANCIPATION

01. Come vs 01. Slave [Come wins]

02. Space vs 02. Sleep Around [Come wins]

03. Pheromone vs 03. Joint 2 Jount [Come wins]

04. Loose vs 04. The Human Body [Emancipation wins]

05. Papa vs 05. Dreaming About You [Emancipation wins]

06. Race vs 06. Face Down [Emancipation wins]

07. Dark vs 07. Saviour [Come wins]

08. Solo vs 08. Let's Have A Baby [Emancipation wins]

09. Letitgo vs 09. In This Bed I Scream [Emancipation wins]

10. Orgasm vs 10. The Plan [Come wins]

In other words, it was a draw. The result surprised me because I had always considered Come a far better record than Emancipation and even The Gold Experience.

Your challenge:

1. If you were to do the same as above, what would be your Emancipation comparison tracks to Come?

2. After you have chosen your comparison tracks, which 'album' wins in your voting system?

3. To answer the question, is Emanicpation really that good?

love,

Spirit

hmm, i fear you have lost me on this one spiritotter

i just don't hear the comparisons. in fact, i feel that Gold and Come are more alike than

come vc emancipation. probably because the material was all recorded at the same time

but come got the somewhat darker material and was less tinkered with before release.

(the whole 'gold too so long to release he kept going back to the songs, overproducing).

as much as i like emancipation and recently had a re-acquaintance with it (you know all

about that anjan) i have to admit that i would always pick come in favour of emancipation.

come is one of my favorit prince records.

the only comparison i ever think of with regards to come is how it relates to Gold just like

the black album is a sort of companion/opposite to lovesexy.

I hear you, Isten. For the life of me, I have never once ever considered comparing Come to Emancipation; it just doesn't make any sense. However, when I did (as above) i.e. track for track, I was quite surprised about my results.

Go on, live a little, give it a go, Isten...I, in particular, would be interested in your 10-song Emancipation album (if for nothing else), although I think the Emancipation comparisons make the execrise a touch more enjoyable.

love,

Spirit

shall we say a 1 disc emancipation instead of a 10 song one?

i tried comparing songs or positioning songs against each other

but i fear that i lack imagination in this particular task since i'm

totally unaware of any sort of connection here. i'm sorry, i tried

but my 1 disc emancipation is an easy one, i've got it saved in

my prince emancipation folder as the 4th disc:

01. 20/20

02. New World

03. My Computer

04. She Gave Her Angels

05. Face Down

06. White Mansion

07. In This Bed Eye Scream

08. Somebody's Somebody

09. Joint 2 Joint

10. Dreamin' About U

11. The Holy River

12. Soul Sanctuary

13. The Love We Make

it makes for a very mellow disc with a few bangers thrown in just

for diversity and to prick your ears up from time to time.

i know, i know but there will be too many slow songs following slows song

if the sequence is changed up again.

what emancipation truly needs is another 2 fast songs that are not corny

I prefer the COME album to Emancipation... any day!

Come is such a fantastic Prince album,

if only the single: "LoveSign" had been on the Come album..

then perfect..

I love Come more too, but not by much. Both albums are self indulgent to some degree. The Holy River and One of us along with Somebody's Somebody, One Kiss at a time, The love we make and Saviour are stand outs on Emancipation. Theres stuff like Face Down, Mr Happy and Dadada and Friend mother sister whatever that shit is called, which is unlistenable.

On Come you only have one stinker and thats Solo, although Orgasm is not really a song at all, just Prince fucking some girl on a beach. Dark, Come, Space and Loose are outstanding on the other hand, but Letitgo is incredible, add Beautiful girl and get wild from Exodus and you have a classic album.

Emancipation was a self indulgent mess overrall, Come was at least decent.

Hey, has anyone ever tried to whittle down Emancipation into one disc?