Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic is the twenty-third studio album by American recording artist Prince, going by the unpronounceable "Love Symbol" as shown on the album cover. Released on November 9, 1999, by NPG Records and Arista Records, the album was issued shortly after the release of The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999). It includes several guest appearances, including by Gwen Stefani, Eve, and Sheryl Crow; Prince also completed a cover of Crow's 1996 single "Everyday Is a Winding Road". A pop and R&B album, it departs from the soul genre found on Prince's previous efforts.
The album received generally mixed reviews from critics, who enjoyed the guest appearances on the album, but were confused by Prince's attempts at harnessing the pop music market. Commercially, the album peaked at number eighteen in the United States and number five in Canada, becoming his most successful album in North America in over three years, with moderate results elsewhere. By the end of 1999, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album's sole single, "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold", peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. To further promote the album, Prince hosted a pay-per-view event, entitled Rave Un2 the Year 2000 which would later be released on DVD.
Background and release
Development of the album began in 1988, under the working title Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic. In June 1998, Prince resumed the project, creating a "reworked" version of the title track, and enlisting help from other musicians, such as Gwen Stefani, Eve, and Sheryl Crow. Prince described his decision to wear a blue jacket made out of faux wool instead of actual fur for the cover artwork:
<blockquote>
If this jacket were real wool, it would have taken seven lambs whose lives would have begun like this ... Within weeks of their birth, their ears would have been hole-punched, their tails chopped off and the males would have been castrated while fully conscious. [E]xtremely high rates of mortality [a]r[e] considered normal: 20-40% of lambs die b[efore] the age of 8 weeks: 8 million mature sheep die every year from disease, [e]xposure or neglect.
</blockquote>
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a non-profit organization regarding the humane treatment of animals, supported Prince, with member Alisa Mullins claiming that "Prince deserves a lifetime achievement award based on his empathy for animals alone". In select European countries, including Germany and Spain, the record was released on November 11, two days later. The CD's standard edition release included sixteen tracks, plus two hidden tracks, "Segue III" and "Prettyman". The record also includes some of Prince's first radio releases since Chaos and Disorder (1996), to which he commented: "I look forward to hearing my songs on the radio again. It's been a while." and the latter featuring contributions from Crow, including her vocals and use of a harmonica. On April 29, 2001, Prince released his first remix album, entitled Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic. The album contained 13 of Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastics tracks, along with additional remixes and an unreleased song called "Beautiful Strange". However, the remix album was not made commercially available and was only purchasable by members of his official fan club.
Singles
"The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" was released as the album's lead and only single on October 5, 1999, a month before the album's release; a CD single featuring the track plus three remixes was released in European countries on November 23, 1999. The issue additionally contained remixes with vocals from Eve. "So Far, So Pleased" and "Hot Wit' U", featuring guest vocals from Gwen Stefani and Eve, respectively, were also planned to be released as singles in 2000. The release would have included an extended play titled The Hot X-perience with remixes of both tracks, but the release was subsequently cancelled. However, both single versions were later released on Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic.
Two promotional singles, "Baby Knows" and "Man'O'War", were released in late 1999 and early 2000, respectively. "Baby Knows" features vocals from Sheryl Crow, and was released exclusively in the Netherlands. "Man'O'War" was released exclusively in the United States as a CD single; the package included three versions of the song: the album version, a non-guitar version, and a "Call Out Research" 15-second hook.
Critical reception
After its release, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic commented that the album "is frighteningly similar to Prince's 1998 album, Newpower Soul" and praised the collaborations, but stated that the effort "is one for the dedicated, like every album he's made since he changed his name to a symbol". describing the album as a lofty brand of "generic", "where pro forma cameos failed to produce the hits Clive Davis banks on". Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club congratulated Prince for "mark[ing] his return not just to major labels, but to commercial ambition and accessibility" while Adam Mattera in Echoes called the album "a savvy attempt to reignite his career through a series of radio-friendly missiles and superstar collaborations similar to Clive Davis' recent triumph with Santana’s "Supernatural"." Chris Willman, writing for Entertainment Weekly, was also impressed by the effort and praised Prince for "trying to recapture the spirit of '99".
On a mixed note, Toure of Rolling Stone stated that the album's "few sublime moments outweigh[ed] the lackluster album around them," further praising "Prettyman" for being "a roaring up-tempo number", but panning "Undisputed" and "Hot Wit' U" for being "the worst of his nineties work". Similarly, Robin Rothman of Village Voice enjoyed the collaborations, but opined that they would "be better described as augmentations". In a very negative review, a critic from NME stated "To paraphrase Woody Allen, genius is like a shark; it has to move forward or it dies. And what we have here is a patchily impressive, fleetingly satisfying, but very, very dead shark".
Commercial performance
Commercially, the album was unsuccessful compared to Prince's previous efforts. Despite this, it was able to peak at number eight on Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums component chart, becoming one of Prince's highest charting albums.
| title16 = Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do
| length16 = 3:16
| title17 = The Greatest Romance Ever Sold
| note17 = Adam & Eve remix; featuring Eve
| length17 = 5:32
| title18 = Segue
| note18 = hidden track
| length18 = 0:43
| title19 = Prettyman
| note19 = hidden track
| length19 = 4:23
| total_length = 69:40
Notes
- Every use of the pronoun "I" throughout the song titles and liner notes is actually represented by a stylized "👁" symbol.
- Track 16 and total length do not include the over five minutes of silence on physical copies after "Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do".
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the album's official liner notes and Guitarcloud.
- Prince – lead and backing vocals, electric guitars, Oberheim OB-8, Roland JV-80, Roland VK-7, Clavia Nord Lead 2, Roland A-90, Roland JD-800, Korg TR, Roland JV-2080, bass guitar, drums, Linn LM-1, Roland PAD-80 Octapad II; LinnDrum (1)
- Mike Scott – guitar (3)
- Ani DiFranco – acoustic guitar (13)
- Rhonda Smith – acoustic bass (6), bass guitar (7)
- Kirk Johnson – drums (7), percussion (11)
- Michael B. – drums (12)
- Kenni Holmen – saxophone (5)
- Kathy Jensen – saxophone (5)
- Maceo Parker – saxophone (18)
- Steve Strand – trumpet (5)
- Dave Jensen – trumpet (5)
- Michael B. Nelson – trombone (5)
- Gwen Stefani – co-lead vocals (7)
- Sheryl Crow – co-lead vocals and harmonica (12)
- Marva King – backing vocals (7)
- Larry Graham – backing vocals (9)
- DuJuan Blackshire – backing vocals (9)
- Johnnie Blackshire – backing vocals (9)
- Kip Blackshire – vocoder vocals (2, 9)
- Chuck D – rap (2)
- Eve – rap (5)
- Bros. Jules – scratches (2, 18)
- Clare Fischer – orchestration (8, 10, 14)
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Chart performance for Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic
! scope="col"| Chart (1999)
! scope="col"| Peak<br /> position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 82
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Certifications
Release history
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Release history and formats for Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic
! scope="col"| Region
! scope="col"| Date
! scope="col"| Format
! scope="col"| Label
! scope="col"|
|-
! scope="row"| United States
| November 9, 1999
| rowspan="3"|
| rowspan="4"|
|
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! scope="row"| Spain
|
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! scope="row"| France
| November 15, 1999
| CD
|
|}