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Toronto Star - November 16, 1996
Toronto Star Review
Reviewed By - Peter Howell

The Artist Formerly Known As Prince
Emancipation (NPG Records / EMI)

Leave it to this guy to make a record release seem like a combination of Lincoln freeingthe slaves, the Allied liberation of Paris and the raid on Entebbe.

If there has been one constant in his mercurial moves as an artist -- or as "The Artst",as friends and supplicants now call him -- it has been his endless capacity for self-promotion.

It was only last year that his The Gold Experience album was being hyped as his ultimate work. But lately he has been saying that The Dawn, an album still in the can, will top Gold.

In the menatime, there's Emancipation (out Tuesday), a three-CD, three-hour, 36-song opus billed as: "The recording he was born 2 make!"

It celebrates his freedom from the "slavery" of his record contract with Warner Bros., his flexible new business deal with EMI and his joy at discovering marriage and fatherhood at age 38.

The marriage and fatherhood aspect of Emancipation is what makes both the album and The Artist seem fresh -- or at least from what I've heard.

The Artist has forbidden the distribution of advance copies. Fifteen tracks from the album were previewed recently for the Toronto music press in a secure studio bunker watched by guards brandishing electronic security wands and presided over (via New York phone link) by The Artist's lawyer, Londell McMillan.

Judging by the songs played, and McMillan assured us they were representative of the entire album, The Artist has returned bigtime to the '70s soul sound that excited him as a youth and that has been heard in his work since the start.

The music is way more mainstream than the rock of Chaos And Disorder, released earlier this year, and the hard funk of The Black Album, released in 1995 after spending years in the vault.

He also has stepped away from the more overt sexual references that have long been a feature in his music.

As he pushes 40, embraces conjugal bliss and becomes a real Daddy Pop, he seems finally to have realized there's more to love than sex: "Relationships based on the physical over and done," he sings in "The Holy River."

This song and others refer to issues of faith and divinity, adding to an over-all impression of Emancipation as a collection of songs of much polished and melody and mature lyrical themes.

It really does seem that the ex-Prince has been hoarding his jewels until he could escape from Warner Bros., although McMillan denied this.

Here's a look at some of the songs previewed at the listening session:

• "Betcha By Golly Wow!": "You're the one that I've been waiting for, forever." An incredibly faithful cover of the 1972 hit by the Stylistics, a Philly soul group The Artist feels has been unjustly overlooked. He nails Russell Thompkins' falsetto and makes only minor changes -- such as adding the word "pow!" to rhyme with "wow!"
• "One Of Us": "What if God was one of us / Just a slob like one of us?" That's right, Joan Osborne's hit from last year is another of an unprecedented four cover tunes on Emancipation. But this time, it's a much different arrangement, a rock version with guitar solo and gutbucket vocals.
• "Jam Of The Year": "Did you come to jam, baby? Then c'mon." A funky, horn-injected sweat-box, ready as-is for club play or as a killer remix.
• "The Holy River": "I asked her to marry / She said 'yes' / I cried" Another rock song, and a glimpse in The Artist's spiritual and matrimonial thoughts. Sure to be one of the most talked-about tunes on the album, with "Purple Rain" comparisons already being made.
• "Somebody’s Somebody": "I wanna give good love 2 someone / And get good love in return." A beautiful love ballad with a gentle hip-hop beat, it opens with the sound of a rainstorm.
• "Let’s Have A Baby": "So long have I gazed into your eyes / Wondering what they'd look like on a newborn child" Featuring some of The Artist's most heartfelt lyrics, not to mention an impressive falsetto vocal climb, the title of this gorgeous piano ballad says it all. Could replace Paul Anka's "Having My Baby" as the maternity weeper of choice.
• "Sex In The Summer": "The coll boys just a-watchin' / All the pretty moves U make" Another song inspired by '70s soul, lush and romantic, working a groove The Artist fashioned from the ultrasound heartbeat of his unborn child. Perfect for adult pop radio and prenatal class parties.
• "Sleep Around": "Do it like she like it / So your baby don't wanna sleep around" Synthesized vocals and a classic disco beat, for another track that should have clubgoers shaking their booties.
• "My Computer": "I have a child, I have a lot 2 explain" An insanely catchy number, which America Online will exploit the hell out of -- it opens and closes with AOL compuspeak. The oddest of the tunes previewed, it suggests The Artist is happy staying at home with his computer on Sunday nights. No doubt he'll be logging much online time soon, when he gets up for those 2 a.m. feedings -- if, that is, all this new-age sensitivity is for real.

  (Hear "Betcha By Golly Wow! on StarPhone: (416)350-3000, category 2005)

  [Picture Caption] EMANCIPATION: Preview of 15 tracks from three-CD, 36 song opus shows TAFKAS (sic) celebrating his flexible new business deal with EMI and his joy at discovering marriage and fatherhood at age 38. Emancipation also seems to signal a return to the '70s soul sound that excited The Artist when he was a young Prince.