BoxerMJ's Full Review: Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic by Prince
The truth about Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic is that is a quintessential 90s album by Prince. If you are not familiar with Prince, his legacy of incredible music in the 80s, and his downfall in the following decade into silly symbolism and run-of-the-mill music, let me put it this way: it's okay.
I mean, you've got "The Sun, The Moon And Stars," which is the album's highlight; a beautiful melody that bops along on top of a skittering, reggae-influenced beat and bass. Even the rasta-man rap interjection works; it's that kind of experimental stuff we loved about Prince's greatest 80's work. That "hey, why don't I put a rasta-rap here for the hell of it?!" ballsy-ness. "Strange But True" is another, slightly less successful venture into new territory. An almost-techno riff carries on in the background as Prince speak-raps his (strong) opinions on...what else?...his mistreatment in the music business. Then it just gets FUNKay, a metallic synth riff coming in and slicing the air in half; good stuff.
After those choice selections, we have some fun funk-rock on "Baby Knows," a song Prince smartly let Sheryl Crow sing on. It's the kind of party-rave up number she has been trying to do on each of her albums; Prince makes it sound like he just burped it out of him one afternoon in the studio. It's effective, it's fun, it's not mind-blowing. The same can be said for "So Far, So Pleased," a pop-rock number with a great harmony vocal with Gwen Stefani (where was the eye-catching video for this song???). And "I Love You But I Don't Trust You Anymore" is a sweet, simple piano ballad that sounds heartfelt, if a little on the sappy side. When Prince's voice vibrates and cracks on the line "you tricked me," YOU can feel the pain of her evil trickery. "Prettyman" is a great funk jam with witty lyrics in the tradition of other JB rip-offs like "Housequake" and "Sexy MF." So why is it a hidden track?
But the good stuff ends there, as the rest of the album finds Prince boasting about his supposed continued trend-setting-brilliance ("Undisputed") -- sure Prince, whatever you say -- and waxing philosophically about Adam and Eve on "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold," the album's overblown, surprising choice for a single (yawn). The title track starts off thrilling enough with that killer vocal layer of 10 Princes that he does so well ("Thunder," "7"). But the remaining four minutes of the song don't live up to the ultra-cool beginning; it's so sparse and lifeless it sounds like he forgot to finish it. "Man O' War" is the same soul ballad he's been doing (worse and worse) for 20 years; "Hot Wit U" has an effective vocal/chorus hook, but the slight hip-hop arrangement and rap by guest Eve (who sucks) just SCREAMS "please give me a hit on R&B radio and TRL...PLEASE?" Yuck. Worst of all is his cover of Sheryl Crow's "Everyday Is A Winding Road." I don't think I need to describe this. Imagine Prince doing this song...that's right, you get the picture. It's really, really, really embarrassing.
Three stars because a lot of it is better than what you hear on the radio today, but it doesn't even come close to the brilliance that the name Prince used to suggest. Will he ever get back there? Why do we keep waiting?
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