Velvet Rope.

Easily The Velvet Rope, though janet. is not that far behind. I'll say that janet. is easily her most versatile and ambitious record.

[Edited 6/28/12 4:59am]

4 me Rhythm Nation is her baddest from beginning to end

but it's a hard call Janet is lighter and loose Velvet Rope more shadowey & introverted, both in a good way

Janet was her album that she wrote the majority of songs and tried to stretch out, there are some good stuff and all her singles were hot choices, plus her 'B-sides' 70's Love Groove & On & On should have replaced a few songs on there

the Velvet Rope gets my choice B-side Accept Me is nice, I can listen thru this album from beginning to end mostly

remixes for both were very good

this is a hard one i'd say the velvet rope 'what about' is one of my favourite JJ songs along with special, janet. isnt far behind though with great songs like 'this time' and 'you want this'

how would you describe the vibe of Velvet Rope?

I see Rhythm Nation as 'Futuristic -Industrial'

I see Janet as 'Tribal'

Janet.

Although for me RN is her best.

Easy, The Velvet Rope... although Rhythm Nation is her best album.

I would say Velvet Rope out of those two but Control and Rhythm Nation are my 2 favourites

OldFriends4Sale said:

Although, "Velvet Rope" was a great album, "Janet" was where she found her voice as an artist. For that reason, I pick "Janet"

Velvet Rope.

I didn't like the drum programming for the uptempos on "Janet". It sounded too hiphop imo. Still a good album.

[Edited 6/28/12 9:26am]

PrettyMan72 said:

Velvet Rope.

I didn't like the drum programming for the uptempos on "Janet". It sounded too hiphop imo. Still a good album.

That's the very reason I dropped her ass after buying that album. As for "Velvet Rope", I have no idea what it sounds like because I didn't even think about buying it.

vainandy said:

janet

janet. for no other reason than because "If" is on it.

Otherwise, 1814 is a masterpiece in New Jack Swing.

silverchild said:

Easily The Velvet Rope, though janet. is not that far behind. I'll say that janet. is easily her most versatile and ambitious record.

This. janet. had house, hip-hop, pop, opera, scat, big-band, R&B, rock...it was an amalgam of funky music for the senses.

However, my pick of the two is The Velvet Rope (by a small margin).

Velvet Rope. One of the best albums I've heard

I love both too....help! Though I was crazy about both in the 90's, I gravitated towards janet. more, but overtime, I gravitated towards Velvet Rope the most. I loved the tattoos and red hair styles on her and considered her a fashion icon for that time, and the tour was so amazing, the first era where I met janet and went to her tour, so it holds special memories for me too. I could also relate to a lot of the songs on Velvet Rope for different reasons and love the topics she sings about, especially when touching on domestic violence and lonliness. I was really wishing it was selling more in those days and that more people my age appreciated her instead of for just together again or I get lonely and her older work. Most people seemed to be into teen pop and hip hop by then.

So I'm going with the Velvet Rope.....but I will say some of the best and most creative songs of Janet's career were included on janet. songs like This Time, If, and the beautiful ballads Again and Anytime, Anyplace. And I LOVE those B-Sides!!! I couldn't stop playing And On and On when I discovered it, 70's Love Groove is a timeless classic and the remake of One More Chance gives me chills.

[Edited 6/28/12 15:43pm]

robertlove said:

Janet.

Although for me RN is her best.

Agreed.

I also agree Rhythm Nation is her best album ever, though of the two you asked about, I'm going with Velvet Rope, as I think RN and VR are my faves

mjscarousal said:

Easy, The Velvet Rope... although Rhythm Nation is her best album.

This.

I have too many favorite tracks on janet. to NOT vote for it!:

You Want This

If

This Time

Throb

Funky Big Band

New Agenda

Because Of Love

Where Are You Now

Anytime Anyplace

PrettyMan72 said:

Velvet Rope.

I didn't like the drum programming for the uptempos on "Janet". It sounded too hiphop imo. Still a good album.

[Edited 6/28/12 9:26am]

Specifics please. Which uptempo tracks are you talking about?

i didn't know rene elizondo co-wrote all the songs with janet and jimmy on the Rhythm Nation, Janet, and Velvet Rope.

from an old interview

Elizondo, 37, said he was a dancer when they met, and during their relationship and marriage they co-wrote 37 songs and worked together on several hit albums, including Rhythm Nation 1814 and Velvet Rope. He also directed the videos for her songs, That's The Way Love Goes, Again and Together Again. He also had a cameo role as a postal worker in Jackson's film debut Poetic Justice.

Asked if he could see the two of them working together again, he replied, "I have sort of left that up in the air. I guess it all depends on how everything goes."

He added, "Hopefully, everything will remain amicable. We've done a lot of great work together. I wrote 37 songs, That's The Way Love Goes, Together Again, Rhythm Nation, Black Cat, Come Back To Me and on and on."

Jackson always stood by her man and gave him credit for his work.

She once told Rolling Stone: "Rene has been my co-writer on almost all my songs since Rhythm Nation but refused to take credit. He wanted to prove that he wasn't with me to take, but to give. I appreciated that attitude, but I also saw that it was leading to feelings of fraudulence--on his part, not mine. On Velvet Rope, Rene's name appears for the first time as co-executive producer and co-writer. Just as it's wrong to claim undeserved credit, it's wrong to deny credit when it's deserved."

[Edited 6/28/12 22:57pm]

vainandy said:

PrettyMan72 said:

Velvet Rope.

I didn't like the drum programming for the uptempos on "Janet". It sounded too hiphop imo. Still a good album.

That's the very reason I dropped her ass after buying that album. As for "Velvet Rope", I have no idea what it sounds like because I didn't even think about buying it.

As much as you championed Throb, you give If and Funky Big Band no love. What's up with that?!?

TonyVanDam said:

vainandy said:

That's the very reason I dropped her ass after buying that album. As for "Velvet Rope", I have no idea what it sounds like because I didn't even think about buying it.

As much as you championed Throb, you give If and Funky Big Band no love. What's up with that?!?

I love the live renditions of Throb and I have some hot remixes, also SNL Throb performance thrills me still but IF kills Throb as an album cut

vainandy said:

TonyVanDam said:

vainandy said:

That's the very reason I dropped her ass after buying that album. As for "Velvet Rope", I have no idea what it sounds like because I didn't even think about buying it.

As much as you championed Throb, you give If and Funky Big Band no love. What's up with that?!?

"Throb" was a decent house track but mainstream R&B artists, including Prince, usually just make fairly average generic sounding house tracks because it's not their specialty. It was tolerable but it wasn't no Black Box or 49ers by no means. I used to play "If" a little bit if I was just feeling a little desperate and running out of things to play also. I didn't consider it a hard strong song though. I don't even remember "Funky Big Band" or any of the other tracks on the album. I just remember not liking the majority of the album. I had it on cassette (this was during the era when records were extinct and CD players were too expensive to afford). When I either replaced old cassettes with CDs years later, or recorded tracks from cassettes onto CD, I didn't even keep one track from the cassette and just went ahead and threw it away when I disposed of my old cassettes.

I shouldn't have even bought it anyway after hearing the absolutely horrible lead single "That's The Way Love Goes" with it's "smooth" midtempo vibe with the weak shit hop sounding drum machines but I took a chance and was disappointed anyway hoping the rest of the album would be strong sounding like her previous albums. Since shit hop was first starting to take over but hadn't quite completely, it was definitely the perfect period of time for someone huge like her, who everyone was looking forward to a new album from, to come back hard and strong with a successful album doing hard jams like they were known for and influencing others to get back on the right track. Instead, she decided to join the enemy and sell out and do what they were doing so I said "fuck her" from then on.