The Artist Formerly Known as Prince

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Emancipation

• NPG/EMI

Freed from his contractual battles with Warner Bros., the Artist Formerly Known as Prince celebrated by releasing this exorbitant three-CD set containing some of his strongest songs in recent memory. From the cool groove of “Jam of the Year,” to cuts like the hard funk of “We Gets Up,” the powerful tale of deliverance “The Holy River,” and surprising covers of Joan Osborne's “One of Us” and the Stylistics's “Betcha By Golly Wow!,” there are some masterpieces here. But it's also watered down with too much filler and would have been a far more satisfying single CD or double disc.