Oh no, I have an (admittedly resistable) urge to buy Prince's "Emancipation" set!

Emancipation [NPG, 1996]
Writing the book for the young turks of a reborn, historically hip r&b--three disks and hours of liberation, hubris, divine superfluity, and proof that he can come all night even if by six in the morning it takes too long and he never actually gets hard. Yet although there's not a bad track in the 36, I bet he himself would have trouble remembering them all, and hear nothing that tops the Delfonics and Stylistics covers, which latter wasn't the debut single for nothing and flopped anyway. Great grooves abound, however. As does great singing. Harmonies too. Did I mention that the horns are surprisingly cool? And hey, the little guy has a sense of humor. A-

In fact, can we turn this thread into an Emancipation S&D so that I can create that single disc?

I think I bought that record because of the X-gow recommendation. Nobody's mentioned the Joan Osborn cover, which I actually kind of like.

Very much worth that price. It's random to an extreme and that's a compliment. Rip it and listen to it with a different track order each time.

1. Jam of the Year
2. Courtin' Time
3. White Mansion
4. Damned If I Do
5. I Can't Make You Love Me
6. In This Bed I Scream
7. Soul Sanctuary
8. Curious Child
9. Holy River
10. Let's Have a Baby
11.My Computer
12. One of Us
13. Love We Make
14. Emanicipation

ive probably robbed it of its range but i think those are all the first rate tracks.

but sadly that is not saying much.

the only track i can still remember offa it is My Computer everything else is just a blur. but for 3 pounds why not.

"Gee, artist who I've never liked after hearing half-a-dozen of his singles, but lots of folks say he's brilliant, and oh, this isn't one of his classic albums that I can recall--it's a triple, so it's prolly bloated. But....And yet...it's just...I mean, WOW! It's a whole LOT of songs FOR CHEAP! I'll buy it!"

I bought this a few years ago for $5, finally breaking it out at work.

Will report back later.

It's awesome!

i've been waiting for a friend of mine to make me a 1 cd distillation of this for years

I dig into this every eight or nine months and uncover something I overlooked. "Let's Have a Baby" and "Face Down" were 2008's winners.

"The Human Body" is probably still my favorite track on here.

the Joan Osborne cover is ungodly.

when it came out, it was prob his most focused/considered album for ages (and still better than a lot of his recent albums) but prince loses something with that lack of spontaneity thats there on half the crap that makes up 3121 (and vice versa - the recent albums dont have the songwriting focus of emancipation). the sterility of the production doesnt help either but theres lots of good material, and even the stuff with some horrible 90s production like sleep around has some lovely melodies. its just not always memorable as a whole (both the album, and several of the songs).

id prob reduce it down to this now -

2. Courtin' Time
6. In This Bed I Scream
7. Soul Sanctuary
8. Curious Child
9. Holy River
10. Let's Have a Baby
11. My Computer
12. One of Us
13. Love We Make

If you can get past the mid-nineties r'n'b sound (which I know many Prince fans dislike, but I have no problem with it), this is easily one of Prince's top 5 albums. There's simply so many great tunes, and so many different things he tries on it: r'n'b, rap, house, regular Prince pop songs, funk, house, slow jams, traditional soul, swing, cover versions... My personal favourite is "Soul Sanctuary", which I think is the most beautiful ballad he has ever done, alongside "Sometimes It Snows in April".

(x-post)

he does do a lot of styles, but i dunno, in the 90s it felt like he was doing all diff styles (and some that he really should have stayed away fromm) quite consciously rather than really integrating them like he used to.

the Joan Osborne cover is ungodly.

That's Prince's song!
There are at least ten great tracks on this and at least ten of his worst tracks as well.

i do love his vocals on the delfonics and stylistics covers though - some of his loveliest singing ever.

the Joan Osborne cover is ungodly.

That's Prince's song!

What do you mean by this? The song most definitely wasn't written by Prince, and the Joan Osborne version came out a year before Emancipation.

There are at least ten great tracks on this and at least ten of his worst tracks as well.

Ten of his worst, really? Have you heard Come?

wtf are your ears broken, Come is fantastic

the only terrible Prince album is Rave Un2 The Fantastic (haven't heard the Jehovah Witness one with Najee).

I dunno, I like the sound of Come, but as far as songwriting is concerned, it is weak for a Prince album. The only really memorable tune is "Space".

and "Come" and "Loose" and "Pheremone" and "Papa" and "Letigo" and u are crazy

Tuomas Rave Un2 He Crazee

Come is easily my favorite of his 90s albums and actually the only one out of all of his albums that I pull out on a regular basis.

I'm with Dan on this one.

diamonds and pearls is his best 90s warners album, song for song. so many strong tunes. come is cool, and solid, but its more of a low key sleeper album. and for a short album its still got its fair share of dudness.

U MAD!

"Jughead" and "Push" are terrible songs!

Agreed on Come being brilliant.

I always forget that Ned is a Prince fan!

theyre bad lol, obviously. but theres still the title song, strolling, walk dont walk, get off, cream, money dont matter...

The artwork really does feel like a Lyndon Larouche poster:

http://www.loriferber.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/a/larouche_for_president_poster.jpg

after revisiting this, i have discovered (after 20 years of having it), that nearly every other song seems to have these weird, unnecessary endings. a song will seem like its about to end.... and then it will suddenly come back with a new vamp, or a latin section, or some other unnecessary instrumental breakdown or flourish. at first i thought it was something to do with him trying to just stretch out (sometimes its memorable like the end of in this bed i scream), which might be the case, but sometimes it just seems like irritating filler. and then i read that there was something about him needing to make every disc 60 mins (i suppose if it was less than it wouldnt constitute a triple album in the CD era), and it suddenly made complete sense. argh. why, prince, why. lot of good songs on here, but not that many that i think are 'great'. if he had just released the second disc and left it there, i think it might have been better. the ballads and slow jams are def the most inspired stuff on here. the christgau review seems to have it about right -
"Yet although there's not a bad track in the 36, I bet he himself would have trouble remembering them all"

Listened to nearly all Emancipation yesterday. Yikes. Don't think I can handle that much again. Custom playlists would be appreciated here.

People always keeps saying how Emancipation would be a brilliant album if reduced to a single disc, but to me the over-abundance of it has always been its charm! For all its flaws, it really is the ultimate statement of artistic freedom Prince undoubtedly meant it to be: "without any labels or produceers to limit me, I can do this and this and this and this and this, all on the same album!". Of course such freedom also leads to silly indulgencies, but IMO Emancipation just wouldn't have the same "anything goes" charm if it was reduced in any way, if it didn't have the pointless cover of "One of Us", and the weird house experiments on disc 3, and the stretched R&B jams StillAdvance mentions, and the endless ballads of disc 2, and...

I wouldn't want all of Prince's albums to like this, but I'm glad Emancipation is! It's still among my personal top 5 Prince albums, alongside Controversy, 1999, Sign 'o' the Times, and Love Symbol.

the one of us cover is excellent! one of the most spiritually inspired performances hes put on record actually. its a song that was written for prince to do. im glad its there, but its the kind of epic album that id rather he made 10 years earlier. at that point, when the inspiration was running dry somewhat, it seems a bit surplus to anyones requirements. i think it has a lot of great ideas, novelty aspects, and of course, its just ridiculously varied, but even a lot of the weird/unusual aspects like tap dancing, a song about email, etc, etc, theres something just a bit flat about it all. you dont get that sense of someone with boundless ideas like on 1999, its more someone thinking quite hard about how to extend each song. maybe thats also the production. he was obv trying to discard his rockier sonics for something more contemporary, more 90s R&B, but even so, its just a chore to listen to. and i like long albums!

i often change what songs i like, but if im being esp ruthless, and thinking about it in a pop-ruthlessness kind of way, i would only keep these -

Courtin' Time
I Can't Make U Love Me
In This Bed I Scream
Soul Sanctuary
Curious Child
Dreamin' About U
The Holy River
Let's Have a Baby
The Plan
My Computer
One of Us
The Love We Make

also, its a shame he didnt get people to remix some of these songs. its so obviously trying to keep up to date with R&B or house at the time, if he had gotten MAW or babyface or carl craig or someone else to remix some of them, it could have been interesting.

Agreed... Some of the remixes on his earlier singles, like the Femi Jiya remix of "I Wish U Heaven", the house remixes of Batdance and The Future by Mark Moore/William Orbit, and the Junior Vasquez remix of Thieves in the Temple, are excellent, so it's too bad he didn't get any good remixers for Emancipation (it's not like anyone would've refused). IIRC the house tunes at the beginning of disc 3 are done in collaboration with some other producers, but they still sound more like what Prince thought house was rather than proper house music.

I once started a whole thread on Prince's relationship with house music, might be relevant to this discussion:

Prince and house

I'm glad its there, but its the kind of epic album that id rather he made 10 years earlier. at that point, when the inspiration was running dry somewhat, it seems a bit surplus to anyones requirements.

precisely why I like it -- I wouldn't have wanted Emancipation during his peak. In 1996 it was a farewell.

a farewell to what? i thought it was the start of something new. a new period of endless bounties. i thought he would be releasing a triple every year after that. just to show he could. (thank god he didnt).

A farewell to good artwork

a farewell with trying to broach pop. Emancipation is his most realized R&B album of the '90s.

Alfred you're right about disc 2, it's magnif

isn't it?

*rushes to play it*

oh great
now you think you're my soulmate
you don't even know what kind of cereal i like

wrong

cap'n crunch
with soy milk

Emancipation was this last one I bought, should try to locate my copy. Basically agree with StillAdvance's take, and the only tunes I can really remember are these two from him short list "My Computer," and "One of Us."

i wish all the people who are covering PR for the zillionth time had heard the love we make. it might just be prince's all time best power ballad.

this is sort of interesting - the original message prince posted before emancipation about WB/his masters/the whole slave thing and name change.

https://medium.com/@anildash/message-from-the-artist-c611535da21c#.v2ger75ca

Welcome 2 the Dawn.
U have just accessed the O(+> experience.
On December 22, Paisley Park issued a press release that read as follows:
“ O(+>has officially given notice to Warner Bros. Records (WBR) of his desire to terminate his recording agreement with the company. Over the course of their nearly two decade long relationship, The Artist and WBR have developed irreconcilable differences. Most recently, the unstable and ever changing management structure within WBR has made it impossible for the company to effectively market and promote its flagship artists, including O(+>.
The Artist is prepared to deliver the three (3) remaining albums under his former name Prince which will fulfill his contractual to WBR. Currently, the albums are titled: Prince: The Vault — Volumes I, II and III.
O(+> will release a new recording entitled Emancipation once he is free from all ties with Time Warner.”
The press release wasn’t very detailed, but it outlined my feelings as the Holiday week approached. While it was a message to everyone, it was more for the ears of the entertainment industry, and specifically it was geared towards the music industry and its musicians — both young and old, green and seasoned, struggling and successful. These words from Paisley Park are from me. My ultimate message is a cry for solidarity amongst artists and a reprieve from the greed of entertainment executives.
My message stems from a lifetime of development as an artist and as a businessman, and my increasing awareness of a greedy structure within the music industry that unjustly rewards large, slow corporate management teams, while overlooking and not protecting its bread and butter — the artists.
As difficult as it is to admit now, when I began my career with Warner in 1978, I had a lot to learn. The transition into the artist I am now hasn’t been a smooth one. I don’t want other young artists to be mislead in the same way. I’m expressing my feelings so that others will learn from my mistakes. I also want all established artists to understand the issues and know that there should be a better way and to join with me to create that new path.
A little history.
At 37 years old, I have been a recording artist for Warner Music for what will be seventeen years this April. I was only 19 years old when I recorded my first album as Prince. Recording for a large label was new and exciting. I had an opportunity to reach millions of people around the world, not just my faithful following here in Minneapolis around the club scene. As time passed, the realities of the music industry and its current hierarchical pecking system sunk in. Artists are last on the totem pole in terms of recoupment.
My path has been a long and arduous one. In the beginning, both youth and excitement towards the opportunity to have an album produced made me, as Prince, naïve. Saavy lawyers claiming to have my interest at heart, long in bed with the record companies they pimp, offered me what seemed to be a lucrative contract, without fully explaining the ramifications of its terms. I wrote an album a year for many years until I realized a trap had been laid. I would never be able to leave the legacy of my music to my family, my future children or anyone, because “Prince” did not own the Masters—I did not, and still do not, own my Art.
For most of all of my adult life, I have labored under one construct. I compose music, write lyrics, and produce songs for myself and others. My creativity is my life; it is what guides my everyday, my sleepless nights. My songs are my children. I feel them. I watch them grow and I nurture them to maturity. I deliver them to my record company, and suddenly, they are no longer mine. The process is painful. I have been long ready for a new program. The time is now.
As an artist, I want to share my music with others. I crave the experience of writing and sharing with others. It is what I do as an artist; as a human being. I take pleasure in the fact that others are able to share in my joy once the process is complete. My fans are my children’s friends; I respect them and want to communicate with them.
As a businessman and the owner of NPG Records—the label that released The Most Beautiful Girl In The World—the 1994 Number One release by an independent, I realize that record companies are a natural part of the food chain. It is the record label that allows a musical artist to reach out to his or her audience, but that does not mean that whichever organization markets and distributes the music should own the final product, i.e. the Masters.
What I have learned as both an artist and a businessman is that a middle ground must be developed. All artists, whether new or established, must have a substantial ownership interest in the music they create. Conversely, all record labels need an incentive to market music and push it thorough their distribution systems; still, that incentive should not be ultimate control. Record labels have no right to enslave the creators.
The first step I have taken towards the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to O(+>. Prince is the name that my Mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros.
By my 35th birthday, June 7, 1993, I was beyond frustrated with my lack of control over my career and music. It seemed reminiscent of much that had been experienced by other African-Americans over last couple of hundred years. They had turned me into a slave and I wanted no more of it. The dilemma had only one clear solution. I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was O(+>, a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.
I look forward to the release of Emancipation in the near future. It will be The Dawn of the next phase of my life as a musician. It will represent my freedom from the past and it will be a continuum of what I have started here today.

Listening to this again and... I'm guessing Prince thought he was really going to take the world by storm with this record!

and if trimmed down to a single album/cd, he could have.

I think a single disc version of this could have been as good as The Gold Experience at least!

umm, is that genuine or a back handed compliment ?
i happen to think that TGE is bloody wonderful but there are many that do not.

It's a genuine compliment - I think The Gold Experience is one of his best '90s LP's.

Toss up between The Gold Experience and Come for me.

I think The Gold Experience is one of his best '90s LP's.

low bar. Come is a bit better imo.

Come is up there too, IMO. His most underrated LP.

('90s LP, I should say)

blimey, i have Come in the archive.
guess its time to give it another spin as i have no recollection of it.

Of course, his '90s work doesn't really compare to his '80s work, but that goes without saying!

huh I had no idea that was the Sagrada Familia on the cover of Come

funny how he wanted to release it simultaneously w/the Gold Experience in some weird market-manipulation attempt to make his "love symbol" branded stuff more popular

Not so funny how he dismissed it as being "old material" when it wasn't!

This could be been his best 90s album if he edited it

The rest, while good, isnt anything that remarkable

The craft is there, but the inspiration isnt

But at this point in his career, a triple is crazy. Weird way to relaunch yourself! Buried in this is a really lovely, mature album, subdued yes but more reflective if an adult prince in a way his later albums weren't, and that's something g this album proved might not be exciting or a hit,but could be still quite beautiful and moving.

Gold would have been a much better 45 min album. This would be a much better 60 minute album. Yeah it has some cool little weird moments, but it never comes alive. Would have been better to just focus on the love songs, the stuff about being a 37 year old who just got married. Might not have been a smash but would have been a sharper, more cohesive album. All the rest could have been on maxi singles. The party songs on here are asinine or lifeless, the raps are just awful, production is overly measured but it hasn't dated strangely. It's just a bit devoid of energy.

Idk who is management was at this point but they were crazy.

I enjoy the production on some of these and if they come up on shuffle I wouldn't skip but agree it's just fatiguing to listen to for 3 hours straight.

Hasn't got the highs of gold experience (I hate u pr Billy Jack bitch) but it's got so many well honed songs (maybe too well honed), it's a shame it sunk, and if it wasn't 3 CDs long, it might not have done.

A triple in the 80s, that's one thing, a triple when each disc can be 70 mins long, that just untenable

Also every ballad on disc 2 is worth listening to, but there are just too many of them. Saying that though, the opening line of one kiss at a time, 'come and get your cum on' is just a bit weird. And sex in the summer just sounds so forced.

Actually listening to it now, my main thought is yes, a song can be good, but that doesn't mean it needs to be on an album. All the outtakes from the late 80s even, they're great, but he made the right call in not including them on the albums released.

disc two >>>>>

Has anyone ever posited an entirely post-Lovesexy greatest hits tracklist, and what it might entail?

disc two >>>>>

― ivy.

second side of Disc Two.

will no 1 stan for "Emale"

― Neanderthal, Sunday, April 24, 2016 4:47 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

*raises hand*

I just risked visiting www.emale.com on my work computer to discover that "The owner of emale.com is offering it for sale for an asking price of 485000 EUR!"

this is a weird album. every time i try to make it a single or double album, it doesnt work really. i think its cos while a good 75% of it is very good, theres no real amazing highlights on there, or no 'big' standouts apart from the covers (one of us is still one of the best things he did in the 90s, and well, ever, the most perfect cover he ever picked). its also really fussily engineered and produced, theres not a note out of place. i guess that makes it both state of the art in 96, but also just a bit... sterile? as an album/playlist, i like to make it start with slave, and end with emancipation, but i find both tracks a bit of a bore really, even though it makes sense to have them there to create an album kind of experience (and this an album that needs to be an album as it doesnt have many big peaks). i love sleep around but its too long, and needed a proper house remix. it is his one true 90s rnb album, def more conservative in many ways for him, but i think he lost something in the process, just cos trying to be a more pure (relatively speaking) rnb artist wasnt really prince i think, even though he did try to cleave more to that as he got older. but this was the last time he was trying to sound current maybe, until the art official age album (which i like more, and was maybe the best late period album he did).