Track Listing

1. Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
2. Undisputed
3. The Greatest Romance Ever Sold
4. Segue
5. Hot Wit U
6. Tangerine
7. So Far, So Pleased
8. The Sun, The Moon And Stars
9. Everyday Is A Winding Road
10. Segue
11. ManOwar
12. Baby Knows
13. I Love U, But I Don't Trust U Anymore
14. Silly Game
15. Strange But True
16. Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do
17. Interlude
18. Prettyman

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32408 in Music
• Published on: 1999
• Released on: 1999-11-09
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Leave it to Prince to put the best music of Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, his return to major-label status, on a hidden track. That would be No. 18, a.k.a. "Pretty Man." A deep-fried groove and sax by guest Maceo Parker underpin a hilarious mock self-celebration ("I write a check and the bank bounce") that proves the Artist can flow at full power any time he wants to. And whether Rave will prove as durable as 1995's vastly underrated Gold Experience, it's a fine Prince album. Despite his current affiliation with Clive Davis, who returned Carlos Santana to Billboard's No. 1 slot by pairing him prominently with a number of guest stars, Prince employs the likes of Sheryl Crow, Ani DiFranco, and Eve to season his own blend, not to run off with the whole steaming pot. (Just to show who's boss, he includes a funky re-creation of Crow's hit "Everyday Is a Winding Road" that renders the song nearly unrecognizable.) The sounds here, from the Parade-style balladry of "[Eye] Love U, But [Eye] Don't Trust U Anymore" to the frenetic title track, won't surprise longtime followers, but they won't find a lot of reasons to complain, either. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Works for me
Undderrated, exciting and utterly danceable, this CD was an example of Prince trying new things. It's a fascinating bridge between his megahit albums of the '80s and his safer, mellower tunes of recent years.

Uninspired - glad I got it cheap.
The biggest problem with Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, other than its ridiculous title, is its pure length. There are eighteen songs here, and they take up exactly seventy minutes of space. You're probably wondering what's up with this, since I've constantly said that Emancipation, a thirty-six track triple-album that has twice as many songs as this one and runs almost three times longer, is a masterpiece and my favorite Prince album. Well, here's my justification: Emancipation worked because, quite simply, it's packed with fantastic, eclectic, songs with lots of creativity and lots of the Prince persona. Nothing on that album is standard-issue. But here, only the acoustic pop song "Tangerine" displays Prince's true colors; it doesn't help that there aren't enough good songs here to fill a 20-minute EP, let alone a 70-minute album. Prince rounded up a few famous guest stars, supposedly to celebrate the upcoming millennium (and, of course, party like it's 1999, since this album came out in 1999), but none of them have anything to add: No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani adds her trademark breathy, throaty, awful vocals to the dull funk "So Far, So Pleased"; Chuck D. adds a forgettable rap to the NPG advertisement "Undisputed"; Eve's rap on "Hot Wit U" does nothing for the song other than reestablish all the points Prince made about his own sexiness (By the way, "Hot Wit U" is bad); Sheryl Crow comes along to duet on "Baby Knows", but can't save it from being more mediocre funk. Then again, most of the blame here can be placed on Prince himself: he rips off his arrangement of "(What if God Was) One of Us" on "Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do"; his sampling of "Controversy" on "Strange But True" only leaves me longing for more of the old-school Prince, or the Emancipation-era Prince, back when he was really inspired; bedroom ballads like "The Sun, the Moon, and Stars"; "I Love You, But I Don't Trust U Anymore" (the guy's falsetto has been ruthlessly killed, I'm afraid) and "Silly Game" walk a long, rocky, excruciating path to nowhere; and the funk-rock is getting blander and less entertaining by the second (title song; "Man `O' War"). There are a few examples of prime Prince here - take a look at the mellow funk ballad "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold"; the aforementioned "Tangerine"; the fun, danceable "Everyday is a Winding Road"; and the saxapalooza hidden track "Prettyman". Especially "Prettyman", with a sax solo from Maceo Parker - by the way, Maceo's got quite an impressive resume. James Brown, P-Funk, and Prince? Impressive! I wonder if he's ever sat in for the Ohio Players or Sly & the Family Stone?

Slick
"Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic" finds Prince continuing the slick R&B sound that he first utlized with "Diamonds & Pearls" and continued with the "Emancipation" collection. It's smooth and easy to digest, but lacks the raw, experimental quality that Prince had back when he was with the Revolution. Once again on a major label, Prince (or maybe his new record company) appears to be hoping to reclaim a mainstream audience, which might explain both the pop-oriented material and the array of guest appearances by other artists. The collaborations do create some of the better material ... the best one probably being "So Far, So Pleased" with Gwen Stafani. Prince and Gwen's voices meld well together, and create a sexy sound similar to when Prince produced No Doubt's "The Waiting Room" from their "Rock Steady" album. Cheryl Crow's signature guitar pop infiltrates "Baby Knows", but then Prince transforms Crow's own "Everyday Is A Winding Road" into a completely different song on another track. Rap cameos by Chuck D and Eve add spice to two other tracks, but that's about it. Other highlights of the album are the title track, which hints at electronica, and "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold", a slinky ballad peppered with middle eastern sounds.

"Rave" could be categorized the same way that "Diamonds and Pearls" could ... as "Prince Lite". Not bad, but doesn't compare to his earlier work. The sad truth is that Prince partied like it was 1999 better when it was 1983.