Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic is the twenty-third studio album by Prince (his stage name at the time being the love symbol he created). Featuring a radio-friendly sound, the album was conceived as a return to commercial success after several years without significant public attention. However, the album received only modest sales, mixed reviews, and is generally viewed by fans as one of Prince's weakest efforts.
The album's first single, "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold", achieved modest success, peaking at number 63 on the Hot 100. Though Prince's duet with Gwen Stefani, "So Far So Pleased", was considered to be a single, plans were halted when No Doubt's label refused to grant permission (fearing it would confuse fans since the band's album, Return of Saturn, was about to be released).
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| The A.V. Club | (favorable) |
| Entertainment Weekly | B− |
| NME | (2/10) |
| Q | |
| Robert Christgau | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Village Voice | (mixed) |
| Yahoo! Music | (favorable) |
Read more about Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic: Track Listing, Chart Positions
Famous quotes containing the words rave, joy and/or fantastic:
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“Nor good, nor bad, nor fools, nor wise,
They would not learn, nor could advise:
Without love, hatred, joy or fear,
They led—a kind of—as it were:
Nor wished, nor cared, nor laughed, nor cried:
And so they lived; and so they died.”
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721)
“A poet is no rattlebrain, saying what comes uppermost, and, because he says every thing, saying, at last, something good; but a heart in unison with his time and country. There is nothing whimsical or fantastic in his production, but sweet and sad earnest, freighted with the weightiest convictions, and pointed with the most determined aim which any man or class knows of in his times.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)