"I have put together an extensive review of Rave while listening to it. I hope
whatever I wrote sways your decision to get the CD.
My Review Of Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
Ok, I had 2 weeks with this CD already, so I am going to give it a review that
may help sway the decision of the people who are thinking about getting it. I
have been a fan of the mans music for about 20 years, and I will be the first
one to tell you, the man has not had a decent PRINCE quality album since The
Gold Experience, that was the last time a new release by the man was up to par
with his potential. It had some experimental sounds and some real commercial
stuff. I still don't know what the hell Warner Brothers was thinking when they
decided to not promote it. New Power Soul on the other hand was a major
disappointment and Emancipation was too overbloated, it had some high points,
but was not consistent from beginning to end, like Prince CD's usually are.
Ok, now on to the task at hand, RAVE. The packaging is interesting, a little
cheesy, but interesting, the case was sitting on my car in direct sunlight and
that blue glossy picture of him looked pretty cool. I like the foldout booklet
and the fact that the lyrics are on it, not a separate purchase from newfunk.
What is scary is that the dude looks like he stepped out of 1988 and into 99, I
could not stand his look from the mid 90's on, with those ridiculous Parka
jackets, the short hair, and those ridiculous Versace sunglasses with the gold
all over the sides. This look he has now is ultrareminiscent of his past
looks, which is a mad plus, dude was the coolest MF back in the late 80's with
all those funky suits and long hair. If any of y'all seen the Lovesexy tour,
y'all would know what I mean. That and the Sign O the Times period was his
best.
Well guess what folks, HE'S BACK!!!!
Like I said before I had the CD 2 weeks and I really listened to it alot and
now, I am over that NEW CD phase. I have bought 3 cd's since, so I had the
chance to listen to other music besides Prince since I bought it. But that is
irrelevant. Here we go:
TRACK 1-RAVE UN2 THE JOY FANTASTIC--Ok, right from the beginning, PRINCE all
the way. The vocals, that guitar and the drum machine with the keyboards.
Than the classic falsetto with the screams and all, I know this track is old,
but it is what we been missing. I know alot of y'all probably had this on
bootleg over the years, but I am gonna tell you the truth, I never heard this
version in full EVER. I heard a live boot of Rave and a snippet of it, but
never the whole song. Granted, this song does not fit in on the CD, but since
when does anything the man do make sense, it is great to hear, some amazing
guitar teasers throughtout this song, but he never breaks out in a full fledge
solo, which keeps me wanting more. Maybe on the Special Edition of Rave, we
will see. This song is straight out of that Lovesexy-SOTT time period I miss
and loved so much, I would love to see him do this live. This is a great start
to the CD, UP NEXT....
TRACK 2- UNDISPUTED-- This is a funky jam, love the drum programming on this
one. The lyrics show the cool, confident dude who knows his stuff don't stink,
trends follow him like Israelites through the red sea, on this track true no
doubt. This is PRINCE, the attitude is there, definitely not cheese, right up
there in the funky stuff dept with Housequake. The quirky guitar part and the
part where he does that bad singing are hysterical. I can ever put up with the
NPG-GET ROWDY chants, it fits. This is like an updated PRINCE, not THE ARTIST.
Than Chuck comes in, this adds to the song, granted I thought the song would
be more of a duet between P and Chuck, but Chuck is on there just enough. This
is not HIP HOP, it is funk, despite people thinking it is hip hop because CHuck
is on it. Overall, a really good song. Not my favorite, but than again, maybe
one day it will be, you know how Prince songs are, sometimes you are driving
and GLAM SLAM will pop into your head and you gotta get home and listen to it.
This is still a great track, so far 2 for 2. Than comes....
Track 3- The Greatest Romance Ever Sold-- This is the most New Power Soul
sounding track on the CD, but that is actually a good thing here. When I first
heard the single over a month ago, I was not too excited as this as a first
choice of single. I just was not too thrilled with it, but oh man, this GREW
on me big time. It is one of my faves now, and get this, I played it for some
friends at a halloween party and the non-Prince fans were jamming to it, so I
guess the song is good. You gotta understand, we, as P-fans, hear his music
differently than other people, strange but true, LOL!!! This song is great to
cruise in a convertible too with a mad pumpin system bangin it. The CD version
has the cool extended ending, it adds a happy change to the song, changes it up
a bit, which is cool. The vocals are awesome. so far 3 for 3. After some
silence in respect to Miles Davis comes....
Track 4-Hot Wit U-- This is the Billy Jack Bitch of the CD, got the horns and
Prince, not rapping but rhymically speaking as he says. This is a very funky
track, although at first listen I did not like it. It grew on me, has that
cool synth in it, like a classic Prince song, another classic Prince funk song.
This song has HIT written all over it. So if this drops as a single gets a
funky video, we got a classic hit, I mean something that people will really
dig, more along the lines of a hit as in the way Cream was rather in a hit the
way Kiss was. Will do well , but will never be a CLASSIC PRINCE HIT in the way
Kiss was. But this will be a classic to us Prince fans. Having Eve on the
song does not hurt either, that should help sales of the song a bit. Prince
did a good thing having a hot rapper guest instead of lame old Dougie Fresh, or
that fool from Emancipation, Scrap Dog or something. He went and got the
number 1 rapper out there to be on this song. Good move, it is a little bit
like cheating, but hell, if this is a way to get people to hear his quality
stuff, than so be it. 4 for 4, not bad, would make Wade Boggs proud. Next
up..
Track 5- Tangerine-- This is a cool little jazzy number, way short. But this
song does not catch me like the rest of the CD. But the way it ends and goes
into the next jam is DA BOMB!!! As it fades we go into....
Track 6- So Far So Pleased-- CAN SOMEBODY SAY MAJOR HIT SONG HERE!!!! This
is the track, when this drops it is gonna be huge. P has not done anything
like this since I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man. There is something
about his vocals and Gwen Stefani's on this song that mix so well. This track
is gonna make me wanna get the new No DOubt cd when it drops, just to hear the
song P did on that one. This song, with a kick ass video will no doubt be
huge. This songs makes you wanna cruise around the town with the top down.
did that for a while with it. Cool solo in the middle, a Prince solo,
something we ain't seen in a while. The keyboards and synths playing in the
back throughout the song make it also. I can even put up with Kirky's
drumming. Than at the end when he ends with that AHHHHHHHH!!!! OOOHHH!!!!
got chills man, this song is Prince all the way. But next up he slows things
down a bit.....
TRACK 7- The Sun, The Moon and Stars-- this is different from him. I love
the strings in the background, this song would not sound out of place on
parade. Got that Under The Cherry Moon sound to it, a little more updated
though. His vocals on it are great, who said he is losing his falsetto??? The
song cruises along, another good driving song. Than it breaks into a reggae
jam, which is him singing in a reggae accent, which believe it or not, sounds
pretty good. It builds up with some cool singing at the end of the reggae
part. I really like this song, reminds me of Strolling or Willing and Able,
that type of vein, with some parade thrown in. A good hybrid of Prince's past
sounds mixed together with a little of maybe the future, we'll see....
Track 8- Every Day Is A Winding Road-- Done nicely, but does not hold my
interest, this was better left off the CD, I count this as filler. Sounds very
gospel. Does not go with his theme of the album which I assume was supposed to
be a Prince album. Somebody else in a prior review said this track belongs on
GCS2000, and guess what, I agree 100%. The song is good though, just don't fit
in here. Got that bell sound in the background, sounds like it is trying to
get that 70's disco sound in it. I am just wondering, what was going through
his head when he decided to do this? Sounds good, just sounds like something
he should not have done. Should have thrown 1999 the New Master in there or
something, just to get it on a CD, like he did with The Most Beautiful Girl In
The World on the Gold Experience. I assume that this spot on the CD was saved
for 1999-TNM, but he had a change of heart and placed this song there, sounds
similar in sound to that, the Larry Graham bass influence, which is not bad, it
just don't fit. Much like he replaced Rave with Partyman on the Batman CD.
For some reason this song reminds me of Sleep Around off Emancipation, is that
good or bad???? Next up.....
after a very cool Under The Cherry Moon type string segue comes...
Track 9- Man O War-- this song is a classic Prince ballad in the same style of
Adore. The lyrics are strong and sad. This song I was listening to the car at
full volume and it almost brought me to tears, being I have been through a
relationship that ended bad and it made me think. This is that type of song,
guys, next time you and your girl call it quits, listen to this, or maybe
don't, may tear you apart. The sound of the song has those horns in the
background that sound like the horns off Adore. Cool little guitar solo in the
middle. This will be one of those songs you hear on the Quiet Storm in NY when
listening to BLS. If this song was done by 98 Degrees or Backstreet Boys,
would be a huge hit. This still could be a huge hit, if this whole Prince
revival thing catched on. This is one of my favorites off the CD. Sung in a
combination of his falsetto and regular voice, excellent track, after crying
from this one, I need to have some fun....
TRACK 10- Baby Knows-- BANG!!! Here is the fun, this track kicks ass, he got a
major hit on his hands with this one. The drums are awesome, you know this is
Michael B, you can hear the difference. This is fun Prince, got the keyboards,
and all the craziness of a song like Delirious, this song is no doubt about the
hip hop VIP room at Life in New York City. I am there alot, and that part
where goes funky little joint way down in the city where the girls sing along
to the hip hop all night long describes Life to a tee. He even adds some
barking on the song, I ain't heard him bark on a song since LaLaLa HeeHeeHee
back in the 80's. If this song gets a kickass video with Sheryl Crow in it,
TRL will be swamped with requests for it. This sounds like it is gonna be a
major live jam when he performs it live. is it me or does P need some sort of
creative women around to create kick ass songs like this. This song and So Far
So Pleased top anything he did in the 90's so far. The end is hilarious. Ok,
ok. I will stop RAVING about this one and depress y'all some more....
TRACK 11- I Love U, But I Can't Trust You Anymore-- Man, if Man O War don't
make you cry, this one will. DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS DEPRESSED AFTER A
BREAKUP!!! This song is reminiscent of Condition Of the Heart, or Sometimes It
Snows In April. I am listening to it as I type this review, and I am getting
some mad chills. The acoustic guitar and piano with the wierd background
noises are making me sad. This is a serious breakup song, you gotta be
wondering what the hell him and mayte are going through, I feel for both of
them after hearing this song. This song is the antiwedding song, LOL!!! After
this song, I am gonna go begging my girl to come back to me. he has not done a
song like this in a long time, this is a Prince song to the utmost. He needs
to make more ballads like this in the future, by the way, Ani Difranco is
playing acoustic guitar on this one, how come my 3 favorites off the CD feature
girls as guests??? Just makes me think what if he got together with Wendy and
Lisa for a track. Hmmm, hopefully one day we will see that...
Track 12- Silly Game-- Song is a little bit cheesy. Sounds like a 70's love
song. The vocals are very reminiscent of his For You period. Not very
musically complex, still a good track. This one also qualifies as filler. The
strings on it are nice, also very reminiscent of the Parade era. If you
combined For You and Parade, the results would be this song. SOunds like a
nice song to drive around to. The strings are beautiful though. Nothing much
to say otherwise...
Track 13- Strange But True-- I really love this song, this is PRINCE. This is
what people say when they say that Prince makes experimental records. This song
is really different, but it is still a Prince song. This song has a
Controversy sounding vocals to it, but the music is more Pheromone. I love the
way it starts. This sounds like it could be early Prince. This is definitely
a classic. I love the keyboards and guitar and synths, the sounds all work.
Has that Dance Electric guitar in it. This song is a real throwback. I cannot
say I love it more times. Could also be something off the Black Album, along
the lines of Superfunkicalifragisexy. i like it, any Prince fan would.
Track 14- Where U Go, Whatever U Do-- This songs combines some of his old
songs, starts off with a Sign Of The Times era sound, with I Wish U Heaven
thrown in. This song is missing an extended guitar solo, which hopefully the
special edition of Rave will have. I like this jam also, the thing is, it just
sounds like it never gets going. This one must be cool live with a solo thrown
in. His vocals are awesome, he is dueting with himself the whole time. The
funny thing is at times, it sounds like a Backstreet Boys song, LOL!!!!
Anyway...
almost done, some wack commercial for New Funk shows up, with Bob George doing
the add, LOL!!! and than comes THE JAM
Track 15- Pretty Man-- This song is truly a jam, this is pure funky ass
Prince. This is another one that rates up there with Housequake. This song is
hilarious, reminds me of Movie Star. The whole song is him bragging about how
pretty a man he is, LOL!!! The lyrics are so funny. The music is nothing but
downright dirty funk as only he can do it. This is a great song musically as
well. Has a James Brown influence on it for sure, James could probably do this
song himself, maybe because none other than Maceo Parker is the sax player on
it. And boy, Maceo, can he blow. LOL!!! I can picture throwing this jam on at
a jam and having the whole place goin nuts dancing to this. Like somebody said
before, this is everything Cloreen Baconskin wasn't. He does some awesome
Prince screams throughout the song. Great way to end this thing.
Ok, now that my review is done, overall I give this album 9 out of 10, barring
1 or 2 songs, this album is a major ass kicker. I predict major success for
this CD if he gets the right promotion from Arista Records. I am eagerly
awaiting the Special Edition of Rave. it was nice to finally get some new
music from Prince, not o(+> or the New Power Generation. In my opinion, dude
should work with creative women more often, he creates some magical stuff when
does that. I am very happy with this CD, I like it even more than The Gold
Experience. TGE had much more filler on it in my opinion. I would not place
this CD up there with Sign O The Times, but I would definitely put it up there
with Parade or Around The World In A Day. This by far his best work of the
90's including Diamonds and Pearls and the Symbol album. Now, where the hell
is playing New Years Eve?????
Peace"
