What about The Velvet Rope?

Janet's. What about that?

the one with the generic housebeat about like someone in heaven was sorta great at the time but is boring retrospectively. I'd say it's a weak point.

Very good album. I like how it captures R&B on the verge between the plushness of the mid-nineties and the robotech of the late-nineties, and synthesises the two impulses into a general veneer of expensiveness that says "glamour" (Janet always tried to make "The Velvet Rope" as a theme sound cod-metaphysical; I think it worked better as a kind of unironic celebration of her own intriguing celebrity).

There's not much to dislike on it (though if I recall "Every Time" is "Again v. 2.0" but not nearly as good; and nobody asked for a cover of "Tonight's The Night", although it's better than you'd expect). At the time I thought "The Velvet Rope" the track was fabulously hi-tech, it'd probably remind me of late 90s Max Martin if I heard it now, perhaps cross-hatched with Soulshock & Karlin album. "You" was excellent millenial R&B done fairly well in advance. "Got Till It's Gone" is an aggregate of signifiers in search of a purpose, but is fun nonetheless. "Go Deep" is an excellently fluffy electro-disco throwback. If Gwen Stefani or Kelis Solange Janelle Monae made "Free Xone" everyone would pronounce it avant genius (albeit in different terms depending on which). "What About" doesn't work as a song necessarily but what a great trick generally - and the choruses are a good reminder of how fun Janet's contributions to "Scream" were. Admittedly I can't really remember the last few tracks but it's a very long album!

My favourite track though is "Empty" by far - not just Janet's greatest ballad but one of the most astonishing modern R&B tracks ever, I think.

how do I attain a general veneer of expensiveness that says "glamour"?

holy shit "Free Xone" is really fucking good

"how do I attain a general veneer of expensiveness that says "glamour"?"

Hire Jam & Lewis?

I just remember the *endless* ads on the radio for it most of all. Very melodramatic.

Janet seemed like a very big star in the late 90s, didn't she? Like, worldstriding. All 4 U is a great album too but it felt like her career had contracted markedly already.

I think as of right now this is my favorite Janet even if it ends kind of ehhh (The children's choir on "Special"? Really?). "My Need" is the best track you didn't mention. The bridge on that captures a sense of desperation so perfectly. "Go Deep" always struck me as what all the g-funk-influenced r&b jams of the mid-90s would have sounded like if they took their cues from DJ Quik instead of Dr. Dre. I still can't believe my parents gave me this tape when I was 11. Rather eye-opening.

I recently envisioned this:

Side one:

1. The Velvet Rope
2. You
3. Got Til It's Gone
4. I Get Lonely
5. My Need

Side two:
1. Go Deep
2. What About
3. Empty
4. Free Xone
5. Together Again

Like some other 90s albums, "Velvet Rope" is a bit too long, but it's a much better album than "Janet" and the best tracks are probably among her very best.

LOL INTERLUDES MUCH???

Tim F is OTM about "Empty."

Also I don't think anyone's ever copied it really. The closest reference point I can think of is Basement Jaxx's "Always Be There".

I hate to admit it, but ... yeah, a decade-plus later and "Together Again" really does sound sort of boring now, even if I appreciate the gesture.

Didn't care for that song at all at the time, love it now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrnBS2dpuds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOdINxvEun4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plnmqfPPsWE

That's the kind of beat that makes me hate Jay Dee. (Of course, the OG is one of those beats that makes me like him, so it balances out.)

I think he purposefully did a screwed up remix due to him not getting a credit on the original Got Till It's Gone. I'm surprised no one addressed it at all especially since there were problems with his estate after his death.

wow this album is really really dope. i never really was that curious to hear it at the time because i thought she had kind of a quality dropoff with her singles compared to before, but great album, gives me kind of a proto-Last Train To Paris vibe.

"Empty" is 15 years old and it still sounds like the future. A rainy garden in the future.

^^^

It's like lying in a terrarium.

Odd that it directly follows one of the most instantly dated-sounding (on purpose) tracks.