Another orger did a thread a few days back about Emancipation being at HMV for £3.99 so I thought I'd snap it up. I got it today, just put it in the CD player 20 mins ago and as I write this I'm just listening to the start of 'Courtin' Time' and I'm hoping this record is going to get much better and fast.

So far this is very bad. I didn't have particularly high expectations, hence my not buying it earlier, but DAMN, this is poor!



No real drums? Crap synth sounds? The music on 'Courtin' Time' sounds like a dodgy MIDI track.

I guess I could say more but basically the songs I've listened to so far are just extremely weak.

Is it going to get any better?

...
[This message was edited Fri Mar 14 14:03:02 PST 2003 by sawatdiikhrap]

This couldn't be further from the 'real music played by real musicians' vibe he's been extolling of late.

It's not very soulful either yet. It's very poppy, and dare I say it, not particularly 'black'.

God, I can't believe it. I thought NPS was bad. I can't even say I'm cringing because that would suggest a brief grimace or distortion of my facial features, but I've felt this discomfort since I put the CD in.

It gets better by Disc 2. That's where the meat is.

chickengrease said:

Ok, right now I'm on 'Damned If Eye Do' and it's still all very disappointing.

"Damned if I Do" and "Courtin' Time" are among the weakest on the album. The album gets better with each disc, peaking on disc 3.

Moonbeam said:

Ok. Well, I'm just about to put the 2nd disk in. I thought that for the most part the first CD was awful. At least "Eye Can't Make U Love Me' seemed to have some genuine feeling and soul to it, but then that's not even his track.

Not good.

Hope u're right. Seems like most agree it gets better so maybe it will.

Yep, I was the one who said it was for £3.99. I also said there were maybe 6 good songs on the album - most of it is SOOO crap I can't even begin to explain. Anyway, for £3.99 I think its worth having for the 'collection' and plus thats the price you pay for a cd single these days. There must be ONE song you like on there! I liked

Sleep Around
Friend, Lover, Sister, Wife (But sometimes it makes me puke)
Somebody's somebody
I can't make U love me
Soul sanctuary


Err - okay I guess that makes 3/4 songs not 6 as orginally stated!!

Tell you what pissed me off about Ecrapcination:

every song was formula: Start the song off by saying the title of the song. I think 85% of the songs on there START with him singing the title of the song - suddenly, I was afraid that he'd run out of ideas. And the cover art was HORRIBLE - the whole thing STANK of a home project - which it was, I suppose, but Prince was the LEADER of AWESOME home projects back in the day - this was a toss off, it seemed. And to think I paid $35 when it first came out.

What a let down.

sawatdiikhrap said:

The only ones I really like on the first disc are "Mr. Happy" and "In This Bed I Scream." The second disc starts out a little weak too but heats up in the middle.

I Love - Getcha Groove On~, In This Bed I Scream, Face Down, Love4oneanother, Slave, and many others. Give it a chance girl.
Prince's genious never sinks in on the first few listens.

He purged on that album. It has alot of different styles.

Jimmy Jam said that No One Artist in the Business could match what Prince put on that set at the time of its release.

Bambi319 said:

Yeah, I guess u did warn me.

Well right now I'm on 'Soul Sanctuary'.

I had heard a few songs before today, but not many.

I do quite like Friend, Lover...

Eye Can't Make U Love Me is ok too.

Have to wait and see.

buttcheeks said:

I'm male.

No worries.

I appreciate that there are many different styles. Right now, as much time as I want to give it, I doubt much of it will ever get anything more than a first listen.

sawatdiikhrap said:

You're coming up on "Emale," which is my favorite track on the album. Talk about FUNK.

That starts off a string of winners, with "Curious Child," "Dreamin' About U" and "Joint 2 Joint" consistently great. Hope you enjoy.

Moonbeam said:

Yes, I'm on it now. I don't want to be hard but I came back to this thread with the intention of saying I'm listening to E-Male and I was wondering what the code is for the vomitting emoticon.

Honestly.

Oh well, each to their own.

But how is this funk???

Funk is James Brown or Sly or Prince playing Everlasting Now.

ye give it a few listens disc 2 will defo improve.I only bought it 2 weeks ago and its go much better the more i played it,I didnt think it would but.

sawatdiikhrap said:

That BASS and that quirky high synth just have this GROOVE that I love.

I actually quite enjoyed 'Soul Sanctuary' just because it was simple so there wasn't too much to go wrong.


I guess I'm being negative. But really I love Prince so I want to like this. For me it's hard to understand why some Prince fans love the stuff they do because for me Prince at his best means 'Everlasting Now', 'Rainbow Children' and the tight band stuff, or incredible 80s stuff like 'Sign 'O' The Times' and all the innovative stuff.

This is a little better now. But still very mediocre. But maybe it is getting better.

I just don't like the instrumentation (or lack of it).

Friend Lover..
My Computer
One Of Us
Betcha By Golly Wow
Holy River

Other than that, the whole thing is truly awful

sawatdiikhrap said:

There is a very "polished" feel to "Emancipation" that distinguishes it from the other recordings you mentioned. Perhaps that will get in the way of you fully enjoying it. I can appreciate both kinds, though, so the synths on "Emale" don't bother me- they appeal to me.

sawatdiikhrap said:

Exactly!
How can anyone seriously like the MOR dross of the album. Its just so average. There is very little in the whole thing which has the slightest amount of inovation. Bland bland bland - and fuckin boring

i think that it is quite light music with an uplifting vibe and is alright depending on your mood.

dewmass said:

If you've got a list of songs THAT short then you must include "The Love We Make." If you're looking for a heartfelt song that's not "formula" and does not sound as overproduced as the rest of the album, that song is the shiznit.

Doozer said:

True. Maybe I'll include that in my list. It is better than the rest of the dross on there. 6 Songs out of 36 isn't a great return though...

despite being 1/3 crap, Emancipation is also 2/3 fucking good, good music

Emancipation is not about live instrumentation. If that's what you like most in Prince's music, you won't be able to appreciate this album for what it is. It's fantastic on a whole number of other levels.

Anji said:

Such as?
Its great as a comparison piece, showing how bad a great musician can get
Its also great if you run out of coasters
Another level may be a cure for insomnia
Or maybe anger management, cause it bore the tits of even the most harderned criminal

Were these the levels you were thinking of???

dewmass said:

No. The levels are R'n'B, pop and neo-soul, musically speaking. Naturally, Prince cuts through these elements with his funk. If you don't actually like R'n'B, pop and neo-soul, you'll be struggling to appreciate it's brilliance.


[This message was edited Fri Mar 14 15:30:18 PST 2003 by Anji]

dewmass said:

Okay...what's wrong with "Dreamin' About U" and "Joint 2 Joint?"

slowly trying to grow dewmass's list of good songs from Emancipation...

Doozer said:

There's nothing wrong with those songs. Some people may not like certain genres of music.

Anji said:

The bar for R'n'B, pop, neo-soul and even rock was raised by a little kid called Prince on albums throughout the eighties. He continued that albeit less spectaculaly in the early 90's.

To compare that Prince to the one offered on Emancipation is fine. If your taste allows you to find it a brilliant album and if you are happy with what Prince gave you on that album, then fine

For me, as a lover on what Prince can do when he can be bothered, as he finally showed on TRC, I wasn't and aren't happy with Emancipation. Its shoddy, lazy, average, lame and mostly run of the mill painting by numbers by someone we all know on here is far better than any contemporary musician.