Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic Review: Prince’s 1999 Solo Stint Suffers From Overproduction

Prince’s 1999 album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic was supposed to be a comeback. It was his first record on a major label after years of independence, and it arrived with a star-studded guest list and a title that promised celebration. The record wants to be a party, a slick, radio-friendly statement that reintroduces Prince to the mainstream. It is not that. It is a stiff, overproduced affair that sounds less like a joyful rave and more like a man working alone in a studio, punching buttons and layering synths until the life drains out of the songs.

The album runs 70 minutes across 18 tracks, and most of that time is spent polishing a formula that had already grown tired. The collaborations are the moments that nearly work, because they force Prince to share the room. The rest is him talking to himself. The result is a record that is technically competent and emotionally empty, a collection of grooves that never quite lock into anything human.

Running Order

Opening Rave

The title track opens the album with a promise it cannot keep. It is a four-minute funk workout with a decent bassline and a chorus that wants to be an anthem, but the production is so clean and sterile that it feels like a demo of a demo. The drums are programmed to within an inch of their life, and Prince’s vocals are buried under layers of effects. It is not bad, exactly, but it is forgettable, which is worse for a man who built a career on being unforgettable.

“Undisputed” follows, and this is one of the few tracks that earns its place. It has a guest vocalist who brings a grit and urgency that Prince’s slick production cannot smooth over, and the track becomes a genuine highlight. The beat is heavier, the energy is higher, and for a moment, the album feels like it might actually take off.

That moment does not last.

“The Greatest Romance Ever Sold” is a slow jam that tries to be seductive and ends up being merely long. At five and a half minutes, it overstays its welcome, and the melody is not strong enough to carry the weight. It is the kind of song that plays in the background of a hotel lobby, pleasant and utterly forgettable. The “Segue” that follows is four seconds of noise, a transition that does not transition anything.

Middle Stretch

“Hot Wit U” is another attempt at a hit, and it fails for the same reasons as the opener. The production is too clean, the groove is too stiff, and Prince sounds like he is going through the motions. The featured guest is buried in the mix so deep that the contribution barely registers. The song wants to be playful and fun, but it comes across as work.

“Tangerine” is a one-and-a-half-minute interlude that does nothing. It is a fragment, a sketch, a piece of a song that was never finished. It is followed by “So Far, So Pleased,” which features a female vocalist more prominently, and this one nearly works. The duet has a lightness to it, a sense of two people actually enjoying themselves, and it is one of the few tracks that feels alive. It is not a great song, but it is a breath of fresh air in an album that is mostly stagnant.

“The Sun, the Moon, and Stars” is a ballad that tries for grandeur and settles for pomp. It is five minutes of sweeping synths and earnest vocals, but the melody is not strong enough to support the arrangement. It is the kind of song that Prince could have written in his sleep, and it sounds like it. “Everyday Is a Winding Road” is a cover of a Sheryl Crow song, and it is a strange choice. Prince does not add anything to it, and the result is a faithful but lifeless rendition that makes you want to listen to the original instead.

Back Half

The second “Segue Instrumental” is another fragment, nineteen seconds of nothing. “Man ‘o’ war” is a mid-tempo track that tries to be epic and ends up being bloated. It has a decent guitar solo, but it is buried under so much production that it loses its impact. “Baby Knows” is another highlight, featuring a guest vocalist whose voice cuts through the mix in a way that Prince’s does not. The track has a looseness that the rest of the album lacks. It is not a great song, but it is a good one, and that is enough to stand out here.

“Eye Love U, but Eye Don’t Trust U Anymore” is a title that is more interesting than the song itself. It is a ballad that tries for emotional depth and settles for melodrama. The lyrics are about betrayal and distrust, but the delivery is so flat that the emotion never lands. “Silly Game” is a throwaway, a three-minute track that sounds like it was assembled from spare parts. “Strange but True” is more of the same, a mid-tempo groove that goes nowhere.

“Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do” is the longest track on the album at nearly nine minutes, and it is the worst offender. It is a slow, meandering jam that repeats its chorus so many times that it loses all meaning. The song is a test of endurance, and most listeners will fail it. “Welcome to the Dawn (Commercial)” is a 44-second advertisement for itself, a snippet of something that never materializes. “Prettyman” closes the album with another attempt at a ballad, and it is as forgettable as everything that came before it.

Production Problem

The central problem with Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic is the production. Prince produced the album himself, and it shows. The drums are programmed, the synths are layered, and the vocals are processed until they are indistinguishable from the instruments. There is no air in the mix, no space for the music to breathe. It is the sound of a man who has spent too long alone in a studio, tweaking and polishing until the life has been squeezed out of everything.

Rave, like its predecessor, is stilted and canned, clearly the work of one man with guitars, synths, and a drum machine.

That quote, from AllMusic, captures the problem exactly. The album is the work of one man, and it sounds like it. The guests are there, but they are not enough to save the record. Prince was capable of making great music alone, but he was also capable of making music that needed other people to challenge him. This album is the latter, and it suffers for it.

Final Call

Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic is not a terrible album. It is competently made, and there are moments—”Undisputed,” “Baby Knows,” “So Far, So Pleased”—that show what it could have been. But it is a disappointment, especially from an artist of Prince’s caliber. It is formulaic, overproduced, and ultimately forgettable. The title promises a rave, but the record delivers a dirge.

It is an album for the dedicated, for the fans who will buy anything Prince releases. Everyone else can skip it.

1999 albums · album review · pop music · Prince · Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic