A black day in Prince history. This was the first Prince album I didn't buy on the day of release.

I thought Emancipation was shockingly bad on first listen. I was listening in disbelief, in an almost panicked state, skipping from song to song, it seemed like a three disc long bad joke to me. I just couldn't believe that my hero Prince would celebrate his "emancipation" with a 3 disc overdose of sugary, plastic sounding ballads. I had expected he would come with an album of sensational songs like the song Crystall Ball. Not with some poor ass R. Kelly imitations. BRRRR!!!!

I thought the production was piss poor, those stale Kirky J beats sounded very plasticy bad compared to the kind of triphop/breakbeat beats that I was listening to around '95/'96. It really put me off that record, to me it felt like he was completely disconnected from the Zeitgeist. I didn't like the music, I didn't like the artwork, I didn't like his flamboyant look as it didn't fit the times. It felt like he had completely lost the plot.

A few years later I bought the album from the bargain bin and tried listening to it again but this album set just doesn't work for me. I can't get over the plastic production style and the excessive amount of ballads an boring midtempo stuff. By far not enough raw funk on this album.

thedance said:

bonatoc said:

Maybe it's precisely the reason.
He doesn't feel like going back to anything that reminds him this period in time.

"Friend, Sister, Mother, Wife" — see what I mean ?

wrong spelled song, the correct title is

"Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/ Wife". Mayte being the Mother/ Wife

[Edited 11/13/15 22:20pm]

Someone refresh my memory but was this the song that Prince said he wrote that was played as Mayte walked down the aisle or at the reception or something?

I was very excited.

I remember looking for Rosie Gaines in the band because I thought I heard her on can't remember which song was played now either Get yo groove on or Jam of the Year, but never saw her.

If I remember it was Mayte's birthday the night it was recorded. Exciting time for me being a fan of Prince.

The 3 cd set I was really psyched for, I mean 36 songs!! All were not what I hoped for but a lot of good ones.

It was later when I got to see him perform for the first time doing the Jam of the Year tour, I think it was called that.

callimnate said:

Count me among those that consider this the beginning of his slide from fascinatingly great to merely very good. So celebrate this anniversary. I say nay!