Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic

by

Prince

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"Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic" contains some of Prince's best work ever. One of the first things I noticed about the album is the breadth of musical styles. Prince effortlessly jumps from dance-funk to sweet, beautiful ballads, pop/rock, even a touch of reggae.

This album is impressive in several other ways. There are several top level cuts -- old school Prince Dance music (Rave), Hip-Hop (Hot Wit U), Euro-Rock (So Far, So Pleased), Reggae (The Sun, The Moon and Stars), soulful ballads (Man O' War), blues rock (Baby Knows) and even 80's-made for a Top Gun/The Breakfast Club! soundtrack rock (Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do). Pure 80's cheese, man!

The album flows well, is eccentric, accessible, funky and fun. While people may not like every song (will rock fans get into the hip-hop stuff? will hip-hop/soul fans get into the blues?), this album is a shining example of Prince's master of music.

Add to that great guests like Chuck D, Gwen Stefani, Maceo Parker, Larry Graham, Sheryl Crow, Ani Difranco and you've got a must have album. The albums' best song is "I Love U, But I Don't Trust You Anymore." A stunning, cryptic, heartfelt piano ballad with Ani Difranco on acoustic guitar. Words can't describe the beauty of this song. An instant classic that you can listen to all day and it'll still get to you. One of those rare songs were you just stop and listen, feel it in your soul, and appreciate life more. I haven't even mentioned the Joni-Mitchell like "Tangerine," or some of the other solid cuts on the album... check this album out and escape the mediocrity of today's chart-topping, empty music (Mariah Carey, BSB, N'Sync, Puff Daddy).

First thing's first: the other CD available now, "The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale", is not an Artist CD. It's a compilation of older Prince material from Warner Bros., and it's unlikely the Artist had much, if anything, to do with producing it. Dismiss it. That said, this CD is by the Artist on the NPG label - an important distinction. What's it like? Mostly it's of the slow-jam, r&b-based, more synth and drum machine than grinding guitar sound that you heard way too much of on "Emancipation" and "Crystal Ball". But it's a little better, perhaps just because it's one cohesive CD instead of 3 disjointed catch-all's. Interestingly, it's not an Artist & NPG cd; it's just the Artist and some guests. Prince is credited with some of the work (stuff the Artist did when he was Prince if you don't follow), and the NPG contribute only a little. Finally, don't let the words "Enhanced CD" put you in a tizzy; all it does in your PC is connect to the Artist's web-sites. In fact, hidden track 17 is an ad, which is a pretty obnoxious "sign of the times". Hidden track 18 is pretty good, though. Here's the upshot: if you're a die-hard fan, you'll buy it anyway; if you're middle of the road, sample all you can on the Web or listen to your friend's disc first; if you're the average listener who normally doesn't buy Prince/Artist music, you're gonna be bored by this one. I'm somewhere between hard-core and middle of the road and I know that buying Prince/Artist music is tough these days - hope this helps! wrockage@home.com