Prince
Emancipation
»
Prince
Emancipation
NPG, 1996
RiYL: Kelly, Maxwell, Kate Bush |
Which is a shame really, because 1996's three-disc set Emancipation proves the man can still funk it up better than anyone. The first CD is a collection of mid-tempo and up-beat R&B party songs. It's easy to name-check current artists like R. Kelly when describing some of these songs, but that ignores the fact that the Artist was the fore-runner for a lot of today's music. Every R&B artist working today owes something to the Artist, who can still deliver the goods as well as any R. Kelly (Check out "Jam Of The Year" and "We Gets Up" for proof).
Though the second disc starts out with the funky/sultry "Sex In The Summer," most of its songs are ballads, written for his wife Mayte ("Curious Child" and "Let's Have A Baby" are two of the strongest). But by far the best song on this disc and maybe the entire album is the Bruce Springsteen-like "The Holy River."
The Artist returns to his funkiest for the third disc, with its first four songs guaranteed to make you move your butt. On the bad ass "Face Down," the Artist goes off on all those that have disrespected him over the years:
Somebody once told him that he wouldn't take Prince through the wringer / Let him go down as a washed up singer / Ain't that a bitch / Thinking all along that he wanted to be rich / Never respected the root of all evil / And he still don't to this day / Bury him face down / Let the mutha fuckers kiss ass / OK? FACE DOWN! Just like Elvis. FACE DOWN!
The Artist writes a song a day and that pretty much guarantees some bombs. This album certainly has its share. "Emale," with its ridiculous lyrics: "W-W-W dot / Emale / Dot com / It's on, it's on, it's on," is probably the worst. In addition, why would anyone who writes so prolifically need to cover someone else's material? Well, the Artist does it three times here. The worst offender? A cover of "One Of Us" the appalling song made famous by Joan Osbourne.
However, the biggest problem with this collection is that it's far too long -- 36 songs! There is at least a disc's worth of weak cuts here. Had the Artist narrowed down his selections to two discs it would be a vastly improved album. Even better, he simply could have cut out ten songs and then released the remaining tracks as two separate albums, and he would have surely increased his commercial and critical success. That said, Emancipation is still the best album the Artist released in the '90s.
BRADLEY SMITH |