Publication: Nieuwe Revu [?]
Date: November 21, 1996
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Page Number(s):
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Title: "Lots Of Freedom, Lack Of Joy"
Reviewed By: Gert Jonkers

[Translated by E Barendregt]

Hooray, a triple-album by Prince. Or The Symbol, or Tora Tora, or TAFKAP, or The Artist, or whatever you like to call him. Not so long ago, on American TV, 'The Ego' was suggested - nice one too! The artist is freed from his 'horrifying' contract to Warner, a label for which he refused to give his best for years. Now he's in control - 'Emancipation' is relaesed on his own NPG-Records -, you would expect him to bring us a deliriously collection of brilliant work, sublime songs in shocking arrangements who have been laying around for years. In that sense 'Emancipation' is a bummer. The artist has mathematically succeeded to fill three CD's with exactly one hour of music, but in other respects he wasn't that precise. CD I en II are hardly listenable. They show the artist as super-funker, as singer of very very sweet ballads, as a Christian. All the things we all know for about 15 years yet. After half-an-hour, especially the symphonic funk gets to your nerves. A few songs are likeable: 'The Holy River' (gospelpop) and 'Get Yo Groove On' (disco), and for the real Prince-lover 'Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife' (written for the wedding to Mayte) or the dixieland-tune 'Courtin' Time' are nice. Then you put on CD III. And damn, suddenly he begins to do this wonderful stuff: as reincarnation of Sylvester in 'The Human Body', as synthi-frog in 'New World', as rapper in 'Style', as soul-dude in 'La, La, La Means I Love You', as horny funkman in 'Sleep Around', as ghetto-kid in 'Da Da Da', as ballad-king in 'The Love We Make'. Only the Joan Osborne-cover 'One Of Us' is rather bad, the rest is nice, exciting and fresh. It's a great mystery, that The Artist ruins a beautiful (one-) album with over two hours of muzak. But hey, it must be like this: you invite nice people over to your house, pop open a nice bootle of wine, use CD I and II as table-covers en put CD III in the player. It will be nice after all.

CD I * (of possible 5)
CD II * (of possible 5)
CD III **** (of possible 5)