I'll get the negatives out of the way first: It's too long, at times too sappy, and at times too contrived. However, Emancipation contains some of the best O(+> music this decade and again displays a range unseen in any artist or band of this generation.

Disc 1 is on the whole very good. The standouts on this disc are "Back in My Arms," "White Mansion," "Damned If I Do," the exquisite cover of "I Can't Make U Love Me," and "Jam of the Year."

Disc 2 is the "Mayte disc," was obviously cut while during their honeymoon period, and is a hit-and-miss affair. I enjoyed "Sex In the Summer," "Soul Sanctuary," "Joint 2 Joint," "Saviour" and "Holy River."

Disc 3 is a cornucopia of interesting songs that offer some promise but are basically a slew of unfinished ideas. I liked "Slave," "Face Down," the quirky "My Computer" (which has a slammin' "A Love Supreme"-like flourish at the end), and the remake of "One of Us" (stellar guitar) and "Emancipation" (one of THE best bass lines in ANY Prince song).

Non-fans should purchase this if they are in an adventurous mood. Fans should have this collection and mine out the diamonds among the coal. But in any event, it features great snapshots of the new era in the Artist's career.

Okay, it took about a full year to digest the damn thing, but the pleasures are many and still forthcoming. Of the entire 3-disc set there are only maybe a few truly lame cuts - and that's due to my dislike of most modern R&B (think Babyface and Boys II Men), which for some reason he copies stylistically in 'Somebody's Somebody' and 'Right Back Here in My Arms'. Yecch! They are the worst offenders but they're sequenced back to back at the beginning so they're easy to skip. The only other questionable areas are two of the cover songs - 'Betcha By Golly' and 'La-La-La Means...' which, though undeniably great songs, are given sort of fruity treatments here. And there are maybe two ballads on disc 2 which are soft cheese, namely 'Curious Child' and 'Soul Sanctuary' - but they're sort of guilty pleasures in my opinion. Anyhoo, the remaining gazillion tracks are all great and run the gamut from his funk party workouts to classic Prince pop rock, from dancefloor horn laden hipshakers to solo piano confessionals. Two huge plusses at work here in my opinion - one is that (for the most part) he's dispensed with the overbearing and bombastic productions of his last however many albums and returned to a less is more approach, a la '1999'. Second is the grooves and jams that he mines as he takes advantage of the space that a 3-disc set allows. Prince is second-to-none these days when it comes to getting down and working it out in the studio (or on the road for that matter). Anyway, a great time is to be had discovering a renewed Prince. Emancipation indeed.

This is an excellent album. Musically, it's wonderful.

Why am I giving it only 1 star? Because, for reasons I don't understand, two tracks are censored - they have some horrible noise on them masking the lyrics which means the songs become unlistenable. (The tracks are 4 and 8 of Disc 3).

There is an answer: get the 'uncensored' version. Make sure you don't get the censored one.

By the way, can anyone explain who is responsible for this madness? Prince of all people - he spends years having a dispute with his record company about artistic freedom and now he puts out censored music...? What's that all about?

The artist---the genius...the only person who's made an album better than this is Prince...(Sign O the Times)....Playing all instruments leading all vocals...produces all tracks...the only true musician of our time....we sadly have 2 compare him with the image conscious Madonna and Michael Jackson--only 4 star power...The Artist is the only musician...highly recommended..he has never released a bad album.

Who needs 1,000 words to describe this album! In 1996 Prince released the best album set ever. Over 230 mins of brilliance. To say much more will only delay the ordering process.

Just buy it!

PB