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Reply #60 posted 06/11/16 4:16am

witnessmystyle

It's threads like these that remind me why I left the Org b4 & that it's time to leave again. More proof that P. was a Mozart mind in a Muzak World.

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Reply #61 posted 06/11/16 4:30am

CalhounSq

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witnessmystyle said:

It's threads like these that remind me why I left the Org b4 & that it's time to leave again. More proof that P. was a Mozart mind in a Muzak World.

but what would this place be like without some degree of debate/criticism? smile Personally, I find the bitchy protege threads incredibly stupid, & luckily they're not always allowed to remain lol but if it's about the music, ehh biggrin

heart prince I never met you, but I LOVE you & I will forever!! Thank you for being YOU - my little Princey, the best to EVER do it prince heart
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Reply #62 posted 06/11/16 5:16am

PeteSilas

CalhounSq said:

witnessmystyle said:

It's threads like these that remind me why I left the Org b4 & that it's time to leave again. More proof that P. was a Mozart mind in a Muzak World.

but what would this place be like without some degree of debate/criticism? smile Personally, I find the bitchy protege threads incredibly stupid, & luckily they're not always allowed to remain lol but if it's about the music, ehh biggrin

debate is wonderful, also, the org has some of the smartest most insightful, earthy people I've found anywhere on the net. It's just a sizable faction that just makes you want to break the rules and just get kicked off again.

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Reply #63 posted 06/11/16 5:32am

twistyt

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NorthC said:

Oh God, when will people finally stop shitting on this album. It's getting boring! If you don't like it, don't listen to it. It really is that simple. I don't like Rainbow Children, but do you see me creating thread after thread about it?! stfu

Totally agree👍🏽 This place is full of negativity. People take the simple joy out music😩 Just accept and judge it on its own merit, damn!!! Constantly critiquing everything, it so boring after awhile.
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Reply #64 posted 06/11/16 7:57am

Doozer

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I might have agreed with the OP in 1996. The unfortunate reality now is that there are no new recordings - ever. So bless all 3 disks of Emancipation. If one wants to pear it down to something more succinct, it's easy. We have 180 minutes to pick from.
.
Imagine if Emamcipation HAD been just on disk, an amazing one, even, and we were sitting here today clamoring for the 120 minutes of additional Emancipation-era tracks rumored to be in the vault.
.
A shorter version of this album wouldn't have changed Prince's legacy or popularity.
.
Amazing that this album is 20 years old. It was produced closure to For You than his final album.
Check out The Mountains and the Sea, a Prince podcast by yours truly and my wife. More info at https://www.facebook.com/TMATSPodcast/
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Reply #65 posted 06/11/16 8:18am

novabrkr

We shouldn't forget that some of his rawest-sounding material since The Black Album was actually on Emancipation.


For example,

In This Bed I Scream
Joint 2 Joint
Face Down

"Face Down" is pretty much a sequel to "Dead On It". Many other tracks have the same sparse production that emphasizes the electronic sounds in the same way his classic output in the 1980s did. The second half of "In This Bed I Scream" is made of looped feedback, so that's hardly what I'd call "clean". I've always failed to understand how anyone can seriously consider the album just "Prince doing R&B". "Joint 2 Joint" could be considered "R&B", at a push, but it's really one of his weirdest tracks ever.

For that matter, the title track isn't that far removed from "Let's Work" or The Time type of material.

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Reply #66 posted 06/11/16 8:29am

SPYZFAN1

"In This Bed I Scream", "Joint To Joint", "Face Down"....Those are some of my favorite cuts off of "Emancipation". I will admit some of the song titles were a little misleading..When I read "Jam Of The Year" and "Get Your Groove On", I was expecting some hardcore, nuclear club funk. But I love those songs for what they are......"how can anyone seriously consider the album just 'Prince doing R&B"....Very true..there's something for everyone on that record.

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Reply #67 posted 06/11/16 8:53am

PurpleMusic07

I think the thing with any 2+ disk record and cutting it down to a 1 or a 2 disk is that yes there might be a lot of great songs and there might be a lot of not so great songs but sequencing is fucking essential! And I didn't realize this until i heard Born Sinner by JCole for the first time. I listened to it on youtube and it was out of sequence and I didn't like it at all. I don't even think I got thru one full listen. I had songs that instantly liked but the sequencing affected my experience, and I actually felt like the sequencing was off while listening to it. So then I found a youtube version of it where it was in its proper order and BOOM it all made sense and sounded right. Born Sinner is now one of my favorite albums as a start to finish body of work.

I think Emancipation suffers from that a little bit, and it's hard not to. Whereas Crystal Ball worked because you kind of knew going in to it that it was a collection of songs rather than an album album, Emancipation is supposed to be Prince's epic freedom spectacular and there's just SO much and I understand that it's probably hard to sequence that much material well. I think if as fans we kind of looked at it from the perspective of these songs go together thematically and/or sonically and these songs prop each other up better production wise vs oo I can't leave this out because it's a great song or oh that track was garbage gotta take that one off , then there would be more consensus on what could have been a solid 1 or 2disk Emancipation.

Sometimes a so so song sounds great because of it's sequencing, and a great song suffers because clearly u recognize it's greatness but in listening to the full picture of the album you kind of think ehh what's this doing HERE though?

[Edited 6/11/16 8:55am]

"Where you are now is in a place that does not require time." - Rest In Power, PRINCE
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Reply #68 posted 06/11/16 12:43pm

NorthC

AlexHahn said:

I find it funny that half the threads on this website are wanting unreleased material to be released, and the other half are about released albums that should have been cut back. Imagine if Emancipation had been two albums -- we'd see countless threads about how "the Human Body" was unjustly left of the album.




Not only that... I never see people starting threads saying: "What if Sign O' the Times were a three album set?" while we all know that was supposed to be three albums that were cut down to two. So I guess all these Emancipation-as-1-disc threads are just another way of saying, "his later music sucked..." bored2
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Reply #69 posted 06/11/16 1:21pm

Spanky

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luvsexy4all said:

another ..not THIS thread AGAAAIN.... why cant u be happy that he gave us albums + outtakes in one package.....the "sound" is an issue....its different ...deal with it


I agree, this is kind of a treat that we got his hits and b-sides all together. And we are able to decide which are hits and which are b-sides instead of some record exec. It was exactly what Prince wanted.
I just listened to Disc 1 this morning-- my first time since he passed-- and it sounds... different. I can't explain it but I actually liked the experience and even bobbed my head to We Gets Up. There were moments I didn't realize we're there-- like the hard guitar on the end of We Gets Up.
If you haven't listened to these discs in a while, give it a try today. You might be surprised.
I wish u heaven
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Reply #70 posted 06/11/16 1:37pm

SanDiegoFunkDa
ddy

Emancipation is a 100% masterpiece. especially The Love We Make, one of his greatest songs

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Reply #71 posted 06/11/16 1:39pm

MMJas

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IstenSzek said:

it's also nice to FINALLY see "my computer" get some love on this thread.

massively underrated/underappreciated and often shat on. i've never quite
understood why people hate it. i think it's probably the gem of this entire
collection, although there are more really strong tracks on here. but that
one is special. so good.

I love that song. It's one of the songs I put on repeat everytime I listen to Emancipation. That and Curious Child, Friend, Sister..., Saviour and The Love We Make.

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Reply #72 posted 06/11/16 3:11pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

NorthC said:

AlexHahn said:

I find it funny that half the threads on this website are wanting unreleased material to be released, and the other half are about released albums that should have been cut back. Imagine if Emancipation had been two albums -- we'd see countless threads about how "the Human Body" was unjustly left of the album.

Not only that... I never see people starting threads saying: "What if Sign O' the Times were a three album set?" while we all know that was supposed to be three albums that were cut down to two. So I guess all these Emancipation-as-1-disc threads are just another way of saying, "his later music sucked..." bored2

Actually people have done many threads about SOTT being a shorter or longer album.
And then there are the Crystal Ball vs SOTT threads

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Reply #73 posted 06/11/16 3:15pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

twistyt said:

NorthC said:
Oh God, when will people finally stop shitting on this album. It's getting boring! If you don't like it, don't listen to it. It really is that simple. I don't like Rainbow Children, but do you see me creating thread after thread about it?! stfu
Totally agree👍🏽 This place is full of negativity. People take the simple joy out music😩 Just accept and judge it on its own merit, damn!!! Constantly critiquing everything, it so boring after awhile.

the world is full of negativity. But there was nothing negative about the OPs post or opinion.
There is a huge difference in critique vs putdown.

Just don't click on a thread you think you won't like. There are so many more that are fun and remind u of the joy of music.

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Reply #74 posted 06/11/16 4:51pm

PeteSilas

OldFriends4Sale said:

twistyt said:

NorthC said: Totally agree👍🏽 This place is full of negativity. People take the simple joy out music😩 Just accept and judge it on its own merit, damn!!! Constantly critiquing everything, it so boring after awhile.

the world is full of negativity. But there was nothing negative about the OPs post or opinion.
There is a huge difference in critique vs putdown.

Just don't click on a thread you think you won't like. There are so many more that are fun and remind u of the joy of music.

the negativity was pervasive, not in this thread or that thread. I got to the point where i'd just come and keep up on news once a week or so but other than that, would just shake my head at some of these posters. I mean, they not only were negative, they acted like Prince was their own personal toy who they wanted absolute control over.

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Reply #75 posted 06/11/16 4:58pm

SoulAlive

I have always had mixed feelings about this album.Some of the songs are great,some are not.It's not one of those Prince albums that I listen to all the time.

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Reply #76 posted 06/11/16 5:02pm

PeteSilas

truth is, dude was so productive i don't even have time to catch up on all the vast material that's on you tube. some of his albums I've only listened to a couple times. Chaos and Disorder, the Rainbow Children, if an album doesn't catch me right from the gitgo, i don't care who it is, i don't listen to it much again. Springsteen has a few albums that I'm pretty indifferent to to and I'm the biggest Bruce fan in the world.

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Reply #77 posted 06/11/16 5:46pm

Askani

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leecaldon said:

Askani said:

It's very sterile. And there's a LOT of filler.


Saw an article about Hans-Martin Buff being his engineer from about 1996 to 2000(?).

I think the combination of Kirky J producing/programming/whatever and Buff engineering gave everything from that period a kind of hollow, soulless, plastic feel.

The thing is, you ask 100 fans for their cutdown 1 or 2 CD tracklist, and you will get 100 different combinations. Which means it is perfect as a 3 CD set.




True. But there are a lot of Prince fans with notoriously shit taste in Prince music. That's why fans don't assemble the albums. The "filler" on this album would be much more greatly appreciated as b-sides or outtake discoveries.

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Reply #78 posted 06/11/16 5:51pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

PeteSilas said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

the world is full of negativity. But there was nothing negative about the OPs post or opinion.
There is a huge difference in critique vs putdown.

Just don't click on a thread you think you won't like. There are so many more that are fun and remind u of the joy of music.

the negativity was pervasive, not in this thread or that thread. I got to the point where i'd just come and keep up on news once a week or so but other than that, would just shake my head at some of these posters. I mean, they not only were negative, they acted like Prince was their own personal toy who they wanted absolute control over.

yeah. That is cyberspace. It's like that everywhere, or else we censor to the point people complain about that too. We try to squash nonsense threads as best as we can. Best thing to always do is people not pay attention, definately don't post in it, and they fall down to page 5 in a few hours.

But I mean the OP post on this topic was not negative.

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Reply #79 posted 06/11/16 5:56pm

feeluupp

Askani said:

leecaldon said:

The thing is, you ask 100 fans for their cutdown 1 or 2 CD tracklist, and you will get 100 different combinations. Which means it is perfect as a 3 CD set.




True. But there are a lot of Prince fans with notoriously shit taste in Prince music. That's why fans don't assemble the albums. The "filler" on this album would be much more greatly appreciated as b-sides or outtake discoveries.

AGREE!!

I mean I've seen endless posts where some fans say 1999 is a bad album, or SOTT isn't on his TOP 5, or Planet Earth is better than Purple Rain... lol

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Reply #80 posted 06/11/16 5:59pm

PeteSilas

OldFriends4Sale said:

PeteSilas said:

the negativity was pervasive, not in this thread or that thread. I got to the point where i'd just come and keep up on news once a week or so but other than that, would just shake my head at some of these posters. I mean, they not only were negative, they acted like Prince was their own personal toy who they wanted absolute control over.

yeah. That is cyberspace. It's like that everywhere, or else we censor to the point people complain about that too. We try to squash nonsense threads as best as we can. Best thing to always do is people not pay attention, definately don't post in it, and they fall down to page 5 in a few hours.

But I mean the OP post on this topic was not negative.

most of the places i go aren't as bad as far as how petty and small minded people are. I'm a boxing fan, sometimes we'll argue, one guy even wanted to drive from minneapolis and fight because I said Manny Pacquiao wasn't a very smart boxer. but that is seldom, most of the members on that site are very knowledgable, we may disagreements but they usually don't get that bad. Problem I had was people want to just criticize Prince with the most petty grievances and then they go running to a mod when things get out of hand. That's a cheap shot, as in, they can talk as much shit about this other person as they want but they can't take any. I don't know, can't really compare a boxing forum with this one but I feel a lot more free there and I enjoy the discourse for the most part. Other day I went to TMZ to see what I could find out about Kimbo Slice's death and I looked at the comments and they were just atrocious, the kin of people that make you think "these are the kinds of assholes that we come in contact with everyday but we don't see their true natures".

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Reply #81 posted 06/11/16 6:04pm

SPYZFAN1

Damn...I didn't know Kimbo Slice passed. A guy wanted to drive from Mini just to fight you?...People are insane, I tell ya.

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Reply #82 posted 06/11/16 6:10pm

PeteSilas

ya, probably steroid related. but ya, some guy was ready to drive all that way. I've read about stories like that one in my state where some guy caught a plane to fight some other guy, ended up dying from brain injuries. Human beings, what can you say, we're not really that evolved.

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Reply #83 posted 06/11/16 6:16pm

blacksignparad
e

1725topp said:

There seems to be Prince fans who want every Prince album to sound the same, and Prince fans, like me, who are glad that every Prince album doesn't sound the same.

.

.

and there are prince fans that want prince to sound like prince. emancipation was as bland and generic as prince ever sounded. there was no edge, no funk, no emotion, nothing. nothing to make this music in this album stand out from the crowd. to me 90% of the album was muzak.

.

.

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Reply #84 posted 06/11/16 6:17pm

blacksignparad
e

witnessmystyle said:

It's threads like these that remind me why I left the Org b4 & that it's time to leave again. More proof that P. was a Mozart mind in a Muzak World.

.

.

funny you would say this in this thread seeing emancipation is full of muzak music.

.

.

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Reply #85 posted 06/11/16 6:41pm

SPYZFAN1

"to me 90% of the music was Muzak"............that's funny, because that's what I thought when I first heard "Kamasutra".

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Reply #86 posted 06/11/16 6:55pm

gerardv

thedance said:

Really? No to a 1-cd... because:



noone here can/ will agree on which songs should be on a 1 cd version and which should be deleted, which should be taken out from the tracklist..

therefor it's impossible... smile

I don't agree. A community like org would be ideal to make this selection. Just float a public poll of people's top 10 Emancipation tracks and go for the songs with the most points. You'd get a very interesting picture soon enough..

[Edited 6/11/16 18:57pm]

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Reply #87 posted 06/12/16 2:55am

leecaldon

feeluupp said:

Askani said:




True. But there are a lot of Prince fans with notoriously shit taste in Prince music. That's why fans don't assemble the albums. The "filler" on this album would be much more greatly appreciated as b-sides or outtake discoveries.

AGREE!!

I mean I've seen endless posts where some fans say 1999 is a bad album, or SOTT isn't on his TOP 5, or Planet Earth is better than Purple Rain... lol

Yeah, but the point is, albums are made for fans, and if each fan can take an album or two worth's material out of Emancipation that they like, then it has earned its right to be 3 CDs.

P.S. There is someone on here that thinks Planet Earth is better than Purple Rain??

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Reply #88 posted 06/12/16 5:21am

rocknrolldave

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novabrkr said:

I think it's mostly the drums. Change them to something closer to what they sounded like on TGE and C&D and far fewer people would complain. I've sometimes toyed with the idea of doing minor tweaks like just adding a harder, reverberated snare hit to some songs, upload the stuff to Youtube and see what people's comments would be like.

Interesting point about the rhythm guitar. It might have been interesting to hear TGE / C&D -sounding version of "Damned If I Do", for example.

One of the reasons I dig Prince's production style is that every instrument is usually easily audible and he doesn't rely on a "wall of sound" type of approach. Oh, God, I'm so bored of modern day producers adding all kinds of shit to the choruses to make them sound bigger. Especially when there's not much of a melody present and we're just expected to think everything sounds "epic".


This. It's mostly the drums. The live in the studio version of Somebody's Somebody is SO much better - Michael B on drums, if I'm not mistaken. Uninspired drumming a Prince album....cardinal sin, IMO
This is not an exit
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Reply #89 posted 06/12/16 6:10am

Se7en

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Looking back, I probably would've left off (or cut down) the cover songs. I don't think he needed them at that moment. Might've also left off The Plan, but then again it's better on its own than to listen to Kamasutra in full.

Otherwise, it's a very strong set.

Listen to mid-90s R&B/Pop from just about anyone else. Wasn't a great time for music overall.
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