Anji said:

Lets not talk of genres. Its simpler than that. Is a track/song average, or does it offer more. These two are in my opinion nothing more than average. Its not as though I don't want to like the album, the cursed thing cost me £30 when I was a poor student. The long and short of it is that the album is poor.

dewmass said:

Emancipation is not an 80's Prince record and does not want to be. What you've just said, does not apply in terms of what Prince wanted to achieve with this album. His goal was to make Emancipation a hit record by being better than what the best selling R'n'B, pop and neo-soul artists were doing at that time.

Likewise, I found the 80's Prince a more compelling listen than the 90's Prince but that is not what was concerning Prince. He was not trying to outdo himself, he was trying to better the market. In my opinion, he succeeded brilliantly. As we know, the project failed commercially for a number of reasons, least of all, the music.

Anji said:[quote]

dewmass said:

then he failed, because it sounds like the R. Kelly album that came out that year (and every other year R. Kelly put out an album).

i believe that was his true goal. to out-RKelly R Kelly. and on that level, he may have succeeded. but that's not a very lofty goal to aim for and acheive. doing an imitation of R Kelly doing an imitation of Prince really isn't what the doctor ordered. especially for such a massive collection, and the opening salvo in his war against record labels.

AaronFantastic said:[quote]

Anji said:

This is what it comes down to. I agree with the bolded statement, Aaron. However, I do think he outweighed R. Kelly.


[This message was edited Fri Mar 14 16:03:35 PST 2003 by Anji]

This is ridiculous...you cannot "chew" music upon first listen. If you're going to judge it that way, then to hell with you, you'll never learn anything.

Anji said:

The fact that he was attempting to have an hit record by copying what others were doing is the reason I don't like it. The reason I have always liked Prince is the way he set his own path musically, no matter what the trend was. Obviously, even in his pomp, he was reacting to the market to a degree, but mostly it was him who was setting the standard.

You say he succeeded brilliantly. HOW???
The album was a flop - Pure and simple.
If he wanted a hit he didn't get one, if he wanted to outdo someone, it didn't work. The projest failed due to the music and the music only. Of course, the triple didn't help. But lets say it was atriple of SOTT standards, then it would have been huge.

I aren't, and don't, hark back to the 80's. The thing is this. Prince is at his best when he makes music through trying and putting his heart into it. Emancipation seems lazy. TRC is the best example of how he can raise his game if his heart is in an album.

Everybody loves a number of tracks from E.

Anji said:[quote]

AaronFantastic said:

You are now arguing with yourself...

dewmass said:[quote]

Anji said:

Sorry, my complete argument is edited above, in my initial post. I am not arguing with anyone, not yet.

I agree with Teller. This blanket writing off of music by an artist supposedly dear to your heart on first listens alone is silly.

As is the presentation of anti-Emancipation views being fact on an album without worth. These are just opinions people, many like it without having bad taste or liking dilluted MOR sounds...
[This message was edited Fri Mar 14 16:11:27 PST 2003 by Essence]

AaronFantastic said:[quote]

Anji said:

R. Kelly didn't release an album in 1996.

Co-sign on all Anji's Emancipation sentiments.

dewmass said:

I disagree. His heart was into Emancipation. If you can't hear it, that's a shame. I can't convince you with any other of my points of view.

Wait a DAMN minute...



Emancipation is a GREAT CD...
I love EVERY song on Disk 1
I love MOST of Disk 2
I love MOST of Disk 3

This is a great effort, lots of
different styles, and Princes first
time covering different artists.
One Of Us is one kick ass song!

So many different sounds eminating from
a single man...incredible!

maybe I'm in the minority, but I like Emancipation. Not in my top 5 Prince albums, but not in the bottom 5 either.

I think Courtin Time is a cool song

I love his version of One of Us, and the other 3 covers are good too

I think Sex in the Summer would have been a hit

Face Down is funky

The Love we Make is haunting

You can feel the joy of being free of WB on Emancipation

In This Bed I Scream is cool

I remember when the album came out, a lot of people thought if you cut it down to 1 CD instead of 3 that it'd be an awesome album, only nobody could agree on which 12 songs to keep. Not even close. I think that's what makes Prince so great - he does so many styles so well that most people like some stuff and not other stuff depending on which style it is and how their tastes run.

One thing I learned about Prince music is that I can't always tell how I'm going to like a song long term on the first listen. Sometimes a song will sound good the first listen and then I'll tire of it soon, other times I won't really like it or notice it the first few times and it'll grow into a favorite. If you don't like it the first listen, listenn to emancipation for a few days, then set it aside for a week or two, then come back and listen again.

BTW, Emancipation is really too much music
for one listening...like a good steak
dinner, you need time to digest it.

Anji said:

I think his heart was with Mayte and so he brought some sugar to the album, but creatively there is absolutely nothing fresh in Emancipation. NOTHING!!
Prince is creativity. Without that we'd all be idling away on Jackson.Org or Timberlake.Org. If Emancipation wasn't by Prince, most people on this site would find it shit. I've tried to like it, but the majority is shockingly average. Average is the worst word you can throw at music IMO. And Emancipation is just that

Prince succeeded brilliantly with Emancipation because in my opinion, no other R'n'B, pop and neo soul record at that time could come close, musically speaking. As I said before, the album failed for a number of reasons, least of all the music.

You must appreciate that had Warners been in control of this record, we would most likely have had a double album consisting largely of hit material and this side of the debate would be much more easily argued. Prince left Warners, and didn't appreciate what was needed to package and sell commercial music to the masses.

Simple!

dewmass said:

Emancipation was more creative than anything out in the marketplace at the time. In addition, it was composed of hit material. Prince knew it, he just didn't know how to sell it.

Basically, you will be disappointed with Emancipation, as I am with Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, because you don't see it as a particularly inspiring piece of work (by Prince's standards).

Two great examples of songs that didn't catch my ear the first listen are Pink Cashmere and How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore. I was dissapointed by all of the edited tracks on the Hits, so hardly listened to the album. Then I heard a small clip of How Come You Don't call Me anymore on the Prince Interactive CD-ROM and thought it was awesome and wanted to hear the whole thing only to discover I already had it. Pink Cashmere didn't catch my ear until Girl 6 came out. Both tracks are among my all time favorite Prince songs now.

whatever anyway emancipation is an album you have to listen to more than once. discuss it once you have.

adorable2 said:

well, i loved it for about 3 months. and then, i came to my senses. it gets very boring, very quickly. same beats over and over, little passion in the voice, and probably the worst part the band was gone.

Emancipation was going to be a huge hit. The music wasn't the problem. The leadoff single, Betcha by golly wow, was a modest hit. The problem was just as the album was being released, his baby died. Who has the motivation to promote an album when they just lost their baby? How could he promote something like Sex in the Summer, which would have been a big hit, when the song was built around the heartbeat of his then unborn child?

teller said:

alandail said:

hmmm. as i recall, he gave the record ample promotion. an unprecedented number of print and television interviews, a tour, 4 videos, and numerous tv performances. in fact, Prince promoted this album himself more than all of his others put together, to that point.

i don't think it was the promotion that failed Emancipation. the sheer volume of music, price tag, and rotten singles/videos is what killed it.

oh, and it was by Prince/. and considering the lack of promotion he gave the Hits/B-Sides, Come, Gold, C&D and Girl 6 when they came out, he was history. he hadn't had a hit in over 2 years, and hadn't had an album that he'd promoted in 4 years. he was already over. Emancipation was a mis-step. but the promotion was the only decent thing about it.

HORESHIT!!!


EMANCIPATION WAS A GREAT ALBUM AND COURTIN TIME WAS A STANDOUT TRACK.

JAM OF THE YEAR
SOMEBODY'S SOMEBODY
RIGHT BACK HERE IN MY ARMS
FRIEND LOVER SISTER MOTHER WIFE,

HOW CAN U ARGUE WITH THAT...

DAYUM,
HE HAS SOME IGNORANT FANS OUT THERE...

EMANCIPATION...ONE OF HIS TOP 5 BEST CD'S EVER!!!

liv4luv said:

You were fine until that last statement.

So sad...for $3.99? I mean you can say it's good for the price, but the quality of it, it's not just some regular CD, so sad...it's a beautifully made CD, try to enjoy it, especially Disc II, heard it over and over, the other ones I'm still reaching out to it because I became so immersed in II, but I hold the whole work of art very close to my heart .
[This message was edited Fri Mar 14 17:29:42 PST 2003 by Starmist7]

liv4luv said:

66 posts and no avatar...wtf is up with this forum?!

sawatdiikhrap said:

Emancipation is Prince's most disappointing album. NPS is worse but in sheer terms of being let down Emancipation claims that crown. For those who often say there's a great double album i cannot see where. In fact id be hard pushed to find a decent single album in there.

WildheartXXX said:

BLASPHEMY! :OMFG: