Publication: St. Paul Pioneer Press [US]
Date: November 21, 1996
Section:
Page Number(s):
Length:
Title: "Fresh (ex) Prince"
Reviewed By: Jim Walsh

WHEN: 4 p.m. today

WHERE: "Oprah," WCCO-TV (Channel 4)

TITLE: "Emancipation"

LABEL: NPG Records

RATING: ****

PRICE: $31.99 (Applause); $24.99 (Best Buy)

Meet the new , same as the old Prince: lush, warm, funky, effortless, romantic and in it for the long run.

Deep into the three-CD, three-hour, 36-song opus that is the artist formerly known as Prince's "Emancipation," there is a slow-burn funk track titled "Face Down." It lambastes a sucker gangsta rapper who embraced the glamorous thug life and now resides in a grave, "just like Elvis."

's reference to Presley -- pop music's most tragic casualty -- takes on added irony here, considering that it comes from an artist whose own Elvisisms led one writer to describe him as "the Howard Hughes of rock."

But "Emancipation" goes a long way toward dispelling the myth that is headed down the same path of such reclusive madmen as Presley and Hughes. Music is how connects and communicates with the world. When all is said and done, "Emancipation" is the sound of a musical genius taking control of his own destiny, and subverting what the Fates have in store for him.

Other artists, from Elvis to Mozart to Hemingway, have let their muses get the best of them in the latter stages of their careers, producing half-baked or inscrutable "art" that came off as either forced or feeble. But on "Emancipation," lets his muse flow freely.

None of the material here sounds labored over. Instead, it spills forth in a gush of aural brilliance that absolutely crackles off the laser. The most telling sign that this is the most effortlessly produced album to date is that he breaks many of his own rules, most notably Thou Shalt Not Record a Cover. "Emancipation" features four such tracks, including the cosmic reworking of Joan Osborne's "One of Us," and the effervescent first single, a remake of the Stylistics' 1972 hit "Betcha by Golly Wow!"

Unlike his last three albums ("Come," "The Gold Experience" and "Chaos & Disorder"), which combined old tracks from the vault and new (or, in the case of "Gold," dated) material, the whole of "Emancipation" captures as he was, exactly, in 1996: bold, commercial, silly, freaky and whipped-in-love.

And though it's fairly impossible to absorb three hours of music in two or three listens, there are plenty of immediately recognizable high points.The party sounds that open "Jam of the Year" pay homage to Marvin Gaye's "After the Dance," while "Right Back Here in My Arms" and "Joint 2 Joint" (featuring KMOJ-FM deejay Michael Mac on vinyl scratches, a spoken-word segment by New York poet 99, and Savion Glover performing a tap-dance interlude) sound like vintage club hits.

The frisky "Courtin' Time" harkens back to the swing era (not to mention Prince's "Delirious"), and "Let's Have a Baby" is one of 's best piano ballads.

"The Human Body" is an irresistible techno-rave, "We Gets Up" an NBA-arena staple waiting to happen and even uncorks a couple of decent hip-hop work-outs in the nasty "Face Down," and the cheeky bookends "Style" and "Mr. Happy."

The set's high point, however, is the glorious "The Holy River," an affirmation of his spirituality that takes on a decidedly Eastern bent. The only drawback to "Emancipation" is that it doesn't encompass the kind of innovation that made Prince one of the most potent musical forces of the '80s, but that is also part of its charm. Like a handyman relying on his most trustworthy tools, builds an infrastructure of economical jazz, lush pop, romantic R&B, bubbly funk and elegant ballads.

And though Kate Bush, Rosie Gaines, Eric Leeds and others contribute cameo performances, the lasting reaction to "Emancipation" is astonishment -- that this wellspring of diverse sounds sprang from a single soul.

There are countless Elvises out there, collapsing under the weight of their self-myths. But "Emancipation" proves that isn't interested in such cliched conclusions to his story. Like a great painter or composer who did his best work in his twilight, "Emancipation" is confirmation that will be making beautiful music into the next millennium -- on his own terms.