The Velvet Rope Music Cd

Janet Jackson - The Velvet Rope

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The Velvet Rope      Artist : Janet Jackson      List Price : $17.98 USD        Your Price : $10.97 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 1997-10-07      Studio : Virgin Records Us      Label : Virgin Records Us      Avg. Customer Rating : (314 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for The Velvet Rope      Very Special      Rating:      The Velvet Rope is an album with a purpose: to unravel the enigma of our human actions. Janet Jackson has made it clear in the title track that "we have a special need to feel that we belong". This is Jackson's answer to why we do some of the things we do. While the album is sexually explicit, every explicit moment simply leads back to the human need to feel special. Janet Jackson's jump into the arena of sexually explicit music is done with grace, and compared to some of her contemporaries, Jackson dominates (no innuendo intended!). While Madonna's songs such as "Erotica" showed how sex can be a means of pain and pleasure, The Velvet Rope's songs transcend raw pleasure. One might say it is about the need for love. Though Jackson's voice is a soft wispy one, she is capable of breathing life into songs due to her personal experiences with depression and marital problems, her experiences outside of her own concept of the "velvet rope". This album is a heartfelt reminder that we all need to be accepted by ourselves as well as others. Truly a masterpiece!     Customer Reviews for The Velvet Rope Cd      Serious Janet almost strangled with velvet rope (3.5 stars)      Rating:      The timing for "The Velvet Rope" must have been excellent. Released in the fall of 1997, Janet's album got a favorable review in Time magazine and over the years it developed a cult status among her fans, but also many casual listeners fell in love with it. The question remains: Why? On the surface an antidote to the happy and loose blockbuster "janet." album of 1993, this is a darker, brooding, personal and sexually charged CD. However, this alone does not necessarily make for great music. In fact, the album copies "janet." in more ways than one. Not only in the matters of length and use of Jackson's very own type of interludes. Sometimes it resembles its predecessor more than it should - the song "Every Time" sounds like "Again" Part Two and comes at just about the same time as that beautiful smash came on "janet." Overall, both "janet." and "The Velvet Rope" start with fresh, danceable tunes and get slower towards the end. But while "janet." finished with good songs like "Where Are You Now" and "Any Time, Any Place," the last two good songs on "The Velvet Rope" are "I Get Lonely" and a cover of Rod Stewart's "Tonight's The Night". "Rope Burn" and "Anything" may be pushing sexual boundaries, but as tunes both are merely boring and even the optimistic closer "Special" does not remedy the situation much. Beats at the beginning of the album reach a peak on "Got 'Til It's Gone", one of the first real hip-hop singles that still hold water now (even though the artist's reputation was tarnished by not crediting British singer Des'Ree hit "Feel So High", which was also recognized by the court). Other faster tracks offer some novelty beats, but lackluster songwriting. As for the highlights, though, the middle of album showcases Janet at her late 1990's best. The dance hit "Together Again", "Empty", depicting a computer-love obsession and rock-guitar-fed "What About" on an abusive relationship all carry great music over meaningful lyrics. In the final analysis, Janet Jackson's career took a different turn with "The Velvet Rope". Although praised as the bold, courageus step toward meaningful music, in fact it meant that she was not anymore delivering super-consistent albums full of potential great hits. With Janet this was a trademark, as from her first three regular albums almost every single song was a potential hit - the songs were so good, not just a fluffy forgettable fare you hear on radios these days. "The Velvet Rope" is different. It marks a start of Janet producing uneven albums. "All For You" in 2001 showed a certain promise (being a better, stronger record that Rope), but the slow decline of the legend has continued ever since then. Editorial Reviews for The Velvet Rope Audio Cd      Amazon.com      Teaming with her most accomplished collaborators, producer-songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson delivers what is easily her finest record since Rhythm Nation--and arguably her best ever. Highlights include jams like "You" and "Got 'Til It's Gone," which recontextualizes samples from War and Joni Mitchell, respectively; the funky memorial to a dear departed, "Together Again"; and a slinky cover of Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night." Best of all, though, is "What About." An accusatory throwdown for a lover who beats and cheats even as he professes his love, it swings angrily between tender quiet and raging bitter funk. --David Cantwell