Polling Emancipation

It's really hard to choose, but I think I gotta go for "Soul Sanctuary", which is maybe my favourite Prince ballad ever, alongside "Sometimes It Snows in April".

i know its cliche to say double (or here, triple) albums would be better as single albums but its really true in this case. itd be better if it was cut down to:

Courtin' Time
White Mansion
Damned If Eye Do
Eye Can't Make U Love Me
In This Bed Eye Scream
Soul Sanctuary
Curious Child
The Holy River
My Computer
One Of Us
The Love We Make
Emancipation

never that big a fan of the last song but just keeping it as its the title track.

I don't think cutting it down to a single album would work, because there are so many great tunes on it. Your list includes the poppiest tunes on the album, but it would still leave out many of the great dance tunes on it, such as Joint 2 Joint, Sex in the Summer, Style, Get Yo Groove on, etc.

I mean, leaving those out would be like saying Sign O' the Times would've been a better album if Prince had dropped Housequake, Hot Thing, and It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night. Sure, they aren't among the catchiest pop songs on the album, but making great, funky dance tunes is an equal part of Prince's genius.

every track is as good as the other on sott though. i dont think that should ever have been a single album like some reviews said. the qualitys not as high on emancipation imo.

Did anyone actually listen to this whole album? Really? Get out.

I don't think every tune on SOTT is as good as the others ("Slow Love", anyone?), but I do agree that the overall quality on it is stronger. However, Emancipation is more than twice as long as SOTT, and part of its charm is exactly the huge, sprawling nature of it... Even with some weaker tunes, few other pop musicians than Prince could've ever made a 180 minute album this full of greatness. And if Emancipation were reduced to 80 minutes like SOTT is, I think it would be just as tight.

part of its charm is exactly the huge, sprawling nature of it...

I'd use that argument for Sandinista, but not so much with Emancipation.

i am a huge prince fan, but this album is just str8 garbage (although better than chaos and disorder ugh)

Why do you think so?

its true theres nothing outright bad on this, well except maybe da da da and face down, but theres still lots of tracks with production elements that marr the songs or just sound too much like overproduced R&B of the time. i do still like tracks like sleep around though (george michael needs to cover this). burnt myself a cd of it that was only 11 tracks long - courtin time, in this bed, white mansion (silly lyric - are we meant to believe hes still poor? - but lovely melody), cant make you love me (too much soft porn sax, even for prince, but i really like it), soul sanctuary, curious child, holy river, lets have a baby, my computer, one of us, love we make.

i owned this at one point...i sold it back at one point...

but is it a bad sign that i remember exactly ZERO of these songs?

haha courtin time sounds like the band in the bar in star wars meets madonna in dick tracy.

one thing that separated this from most of princes 90s albums was that it sounded like he painstakingly created each song rather than just rush it out. but it still doesnt have the same inspired vibe of other tracks from the 90s like dinner with delores or eye hate you.

but theres still lots of tracks with production elements that marr the songs or just sound too much like overproduced R&B of the time.

I guess this is a key reason why many Prince fans don't count this among classic Prince albums. I do agree that the production isn't as original as on those 80s albums, but I do still like that mid-90s rnb sound in general, and Prince does it well enough that it doesn't ruin Emancipation for me. I think even those who don't like the sound might admit that the songcraft on it is just as tight as on those classic 80s albums.

"Soul Sanctuary," closely followed by "I Can't Make You Love Me," mostly for the "between my thighs" line. At one point I listened to this thing a whole lot, and can remember approximately half the songs now.

Disc 2 my favorite.

Bump.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I can't wait
no moooohh

The fact jam o the year got the most votes (still only four though lol) suggests no one has listened to this lol

lol

lol I literally only remember “jam of the year”, “back in your arms” and the stylistics cover

pretty much all the worst songs then (though i quite like his voice on those old covers)

jam of the year is so subdued, how can anyone believe his claim that this is the jam of the year. such a sluggish opener.

I am 100% about "Slave", "The Human Body", "Eye Can't Make U Love Me", "In This Bed Eye Scream", "Somebody's Somebody", "Emale", "Face Down", and "Mr. Happy"

‘The Love We Make’ is phenomenal but didn’t realise cos I don’t think I made it past cd2 when it came let alone the last track

I was just coming back here to add “The Love We Make”

it is weird re listening to this now. while its got some tracks that are pretty bad (style, da da da), a lot that arent esp inspired, and none of it really hangs together despite the production, theres very little thats actively bad here either. weird. i like a lot of it as individual songs, just not sure its a great album.

lot of discussion on this in the gold experience thread.

i like a lot of songs on this, love quite a bit less.

but as a huge triple or double it just lacks the highs of SOTT as well as the kind of experimentation to make it interesting which an album this long needs.

i find it is easier to make it just a straight up album of prince doing 90s rnb more or less than anything more ambitious. also more fun that way, as it removes any big expectations.

i.e:
jam of the year, right back here, get yo grrove on, sex in the summer, emaile, mr happy, joint to joint, sleep around, somebodys somebody, one kiss at a time, saviour, friend lover sister mother wife.

and if i want a version of it thats a more 'mature', intimate, romantic version, and more like the kind of album i wished prince would have released as he got older (ie not just a mainstream idea of a prince album):

holy river (this has to be one of his all time greatest songs), soul sanctuary, curious child, dreamin about u, lets have a baby, the plan, cant make u love me, my computer, one of us, love we make.

My vote would've gone to "La La La," "Sleep Around," "The Human Body" or "Right Back Here in My Arms."

On second thought, it's not worth trying to rearrange this. Best to take it for what it is.