Emancipation

 (97 customer reviews)

Those of you expecting the old Prince will be disappointed. While I agree this album marks the end of innovation we came to expect from him in the 80's and the beginning of a familiar mixture of funk, rock and R & B, this is nonetheless a masterpiece. Prince would not elect to put out a 3 record set unless he was dropping a bomb on us, and it is. This album is produced, performed and mixed flawlessly, a nasty stew here. The first disc consists mainly of funk and rock with a few surprises jabbed in. Disc 2 is mostly ballads and disc III is a mixture of dance, techno, rap, hip-hop and more funk! Perfection must have been on his mind when he made this. Beautiful ballads and freaky funk; the Beauty and the Beast. Best tracks are "Jam Of The Year," "White Mansion," "Emale," "Dreamin' About U," "Style," and "Sleep Around." Get this if you like traveling in the constellations he creates....

Three hours of perfect Prince is hard to believe. Here it is. All the grooves are present. All the funk. The indulgent boudoir ballads. The ambiguous spirituality. Cameos of soul & gospel & rap. If you've ever liked any Prince song, then you're bound to find another favourite on this explosion of creativity.

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Of course there's a reason this album is so overwhelming, both in terms of quantity and quality: it represents the best of five years of songwriting. Allegedly in 1991 or so Prince walked into the Warner Bros. offices and dumped five albums' worth of music into their laps, thus fulfilling his 'contractual obligations' for the next five years. He then went home and continued to write songs. Once 'emancipated' from WB, free to form NPG music, he released this treasure trove. Without normal distribution, however, it "only" reached No.11 on the Billboard Album Chart, and spawned only one single. Crazy stuff. There's enough musical genius here for...Read more

"Emancipation" has to be one of the best under-rated Prince CD's - ever! I think that is actually better than "Musicology" and they're definitely some major gems on this album. I think that it was overshadowed by his temporary name-change status and his contract battle with Warner Brothers. One day, this album is going to be considered a classic and a major collectable item. This production is solid, several "would be" hits, and good music - using live instruments. This album found Prince in a space to create and release whatever his purple heart desired! There are three hours of pure Prince. He's got something for everybody - gospel, old school, hip-hop, rock, house, and even electronica. You may want to visit "Jam of the Year", "Right Back Her in My Arms", "Betcha by Golly, Wow", La- La Means I Love You", "Sleep Around", "In this Bed I Scream", "I cant' make you love me", "Joint 2 Joint", and "Holy River." I think that both old and new school Prince fans will appreciate this "must"...Read more