Product Description

In her most personal and emotionally revealing album to date, Janet Jackson tackles subjects close to her heart, including homophobia, abusive relationships, AIDS, and sexuality. THE VELVET ROPE is deftly produced by longtime Jackson collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who have a knack for injecting heavy, emotionally charged themes into musically flawless, stylistically innovative settings. The understated "Got 'Til It's Gone" features A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip and a sample of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi". "What About",an edgy narrative from the perspective of an abused woman, contrasts a romantic, moonlit beach scene with memories of abuse. "Free Xone", highlights Jackson's open-minded perspective on sexuality: "Free to be/Who you really are/One rule/Norules". It is this expansiveness that marks THE VELVET ROPEas more than just another mainstream pop record.

Track Listing

1. Interlude
2. Velvet Rope
3. You
4. Got Til It's Gone
5. Go Deep
6. Free Xone
7. Memory
8. Together Again
9. Online
10. Empty
11. Full
12. What About
13. Every Time
14. Tonight's The Night
15. I Get Lonely
16. Rope Burn
17. Anyhting
18. Sad
19. Special
20. Can't Be Stopped

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16341 in Music
• Released on: 1997-10-06
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 recontextualises 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 throw-down 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

Customer Reviews

Brilliant!
1. Twisted Elegance. 8/10
2. Velvet Rope. 9/10
3. You. 10/10
4. Got 'Til It's gone. 10/10
5. Speaker Phone. 7/10
6. My Need. 10/10
7. Fasten Your Seatbelts. 8/10
8. Go Deep. 10/10
9. Free Xone. 8/10
10. Memory. 4/10*
11. Together Again. 10/10
12. Online. 5/10
13. Empty. 8/10
14. Full. 6/10
15. What About. 10/10
16. Every Time. 8/10
17. Tonight's the Night. 7/10
18. I Get Lonely. 10/10
19. Rope Burn. 8/10
20. Anything. 7/10
21. Sad. 6/10
22. Special. 10/10
And If You Keep Listening You Will Hear Track 23 (HT)
23. Can't Be Stopped. 9/10

OVERALL GRADE: 10/10
This album is definately Janet's best album, though 75 minutes is a bit long! (If you're in Japan you get 78 minutes!)

* Totally pointless.

Still an all time favourite
Even though this is an old album now, I felt the need to review it as one of my all time greatest albums, and with a lot to choose from I've had a bit of a list to go through.

After all these years this is an album I can still put on the player and love. I listen to it a good few times a year even now.

Yes some of the lyrics are explict but she only airs her views that a lot of people would be scared to admit to.

Musically the album is fantastic and has something for everyone. My favourite is 'What about' harsh subject, beautifully written. 'Together Again' is lovely and something everyone can relate to. The cover of Rod Stewarts' 'Tonights the Night' shows the song as a piece of song writing genius, having not been a fan of Mr Stewart before.

If you loved RN 1814 I think you just may like this one.

One of the best album of the 90s
This is my 2nd favorite Janet album (second only to Rhythm Nation 1814). Since I have it, I admire Janet Jackson even more I used to. She has an opinion about everything, and she expresses openly what she thinks and feels. This is a confession from Janet to you, she shows her bare soul, you'll get to know her as if you were her intimate friend.
The title track is the best in my opinion, the music is fantastic and the words find their way into the bottom of your heart. It is followed by "You", often called Janet's version of MJ's "Man In The Mirror", then the first single "Got 'Til It's Gone" - this one is the kind of song you maybe won't like at first hearing, but later it grows on you and stays in your ear for days. Going on with what she began on the previous albums, there are sensual songs like the ones on the Janet album: My Need, Tonight's The Night (a cover of a Rod Stewart song which he sang to a girl, and Janet haven't changed the chorus :) , Rope Burn, Anything; then there are some socially conscious ones which deal with homophobia (Free Xone) and abuse (What About, a very Control-style song).
The love songs on the album are bittersweet (Empty, Every Time, Got 'Til It's Gone, I Get Lonely), and, interestingly, the only song that has a positive, sunny feeling, Together Again, is in fact written about friends she has lost to AIDS, still it is a happy song about knowing that once they will be together again.
Returning to the opening theme of the album, the last two songs are uplifting songs about everyone's being special: one of them is called Special, the other is a hidden song Can't Be Stopped (sometimes called Strong Enough).