Review rated by 11 Ciao members on average: very helpful
Musicology is Princes long-awaited return to the limelight since reclaiming his name after the 7 years of being a symbol.
The earlier albums under his own name again, One Nite Alone, The Rainbow Children and NEWS have alienated alot of fans and the critics have been fairly harsh in their opinion of them (although a few admit they are good albums, which they are).
However, ONA was a piano solo album only available to members of his music club, the New Power Generation Music Club, TRC was a jazzy funk concept album about his religion of choice, the Jehovas Witness' and NEWS was a 4 track instrumental album, each track a hefty 14 minutes long (it was Grammy nomintaed, but Ry Cooder won instead) and Musicology is a return to short snappy pop songs that made Prince so beloved in the late 70s and throughout the 80s.
As usual most of the instruments are played by Prince, though a few times he takes jams from his NPG band and cuts them up using ProTools, then taking the credit as "All instruments and voices by Prince". One such track is the opening track and lead-off single, Musicology.
It's a fun song, and certainly a grower, with a great bass riff. During the song Prince namechecks some of his funkier influences, such as James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone. Sadly the single didn't do too well but it did it's job in promoting the album and letting people
know what it was about (a return to old skool funk, everyone playing instruments live etc).
Following this is Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance, and while this is also good, it could never match up to the amazing title! The main riff sound similar to the ones Prince was using back in '89 on the Batman album but is combined with his 90s style funky dance songs. It works nicely and the guitar playing is great.
A Million Days and Life O' The Party follow and for me they are the two weakest links on the album and spoil it as a whole. That is not to say they are throughly bad songs, they are actually listenable and I rarely skip them, but for some reason they just don't do it for me. The former is a pure pop song and has a nice little solo in it, but the lyrics are rather plain and typical, but then you get the feeling Prince is showing the world he can still write a short pop song that is catchy and fun, and he isn't trying to match up to everything he's done in the past.
Life O' The Party is another 'fun' song, with sax player Candy Dulfer sharing lead vocals. It's a fun song, and the bridge weirdly copies Missy Elliot and has the excellent line 'All the purple hippes bang your head on the one!' but other than that, it's not that noteworthy. Prince has done this sort of song many times before, and better, although alot of fans note that the live version is much better.
Call My Name is next and this was the second single off the album. Prince called it one of the best he's ever done and in a sense you can see why. It's a homage to monogomy now that he's happily married to his second wife and knowing this and all Prince's history it takes on an extra 'niceness' to it. Again, like Musicology, this one is a grower but is now one of my favourites on the album. Its a real chilled out RnB ballad.
Third single, Cinnamon Girl is next and if you've checked out Prince in the news lately you'll see the video has been causing all sorts of controversy due to the depiction of an abused American Muslim imagining what would happen if she blew up an airport. Many people seem to be confused and think she actually does, but she clearly didn't. What they also ignore is that the song is very good, and it's the best pop song on the album, featuring a great guitar solo too.
What Do U Want Me 2 Do was released on his music club before the album came out (but noone knew if it would be on the album or not, or even if there was an album!) and it sees Prince combine his Linn Drum machine sound of the 80s (particularly on Sign O' The Times' Ballad of Dorothy Parker) with the jazzy leaning of recent years. And the result is a pleasantly mellow song about Prince fending off and telling off naughty women who try to seduce him even though he's married (tut! tut!).
The Marrying Kind and If Eye Was The Man In Ur Life are next, and the two songs almost merge into each other. They are both very good RnB type songs, that seem to both nod towards the current scene in style but contain a musicianship that the scene itself doesn't have. The guitar comes to the fore abit more here too, so distorted guitar chords mix with a more RnB beat.
The last section of the album contains the songs On The Couch, Dear Mr. Man and Reflection. All three songs are great and for different reasons. On The Couch is a bluesy song about trying to get your missus to let you back into bed, and not make you sleep on the aforementioned couch. It's also Prince being raunchy and seductive, which is nice to see if only to shut up the people who can't see past his religious choice of late.
Dear Mr. Man is the most overtly political song on the album (though Call My Name mentions the war and Cinnamon Girl is about racial abuse post 9/11). Political messages aside (the line 'Ain't no sense in voting, same song with a different name', is a sentiment few critics took in a positive manner!) the music behind the message is brilliant, and again shows Prince hasn't left his jazzy stuff completely behind for a return to the mainstream pop.
To close out the album is the best song on it, Reflection. A very mellow acoustic song is frames the album out nicely, with Musicology opening it, talking about music back in the day and such forth, and Reflection closing it, talking about life way back when, and at the same time looking to the future with a loved one. You can download a video of Prince performing this online at his music club (for about 50p) on acoustic alone, performing with Wendy from Wendy and Lisa fame too (Wendy and Lisa were in Prince's band, the Revolution, in the 80s, but they haven't worked together for about 15 years, so it was a big thing for Prince fans to see!) and that performance alone should blow anyone away who doubts Prince's talents.
Overall then, a good album, and while I write up the songs, and realise there are only two or three at most I don't think alot of, the album as a whole drops abit because of it. I've given it three stars because you can't do half marks or else it would be 3 and a half, or 7/10 if you will.
I'd still recommend it to people getting into Prince as it's very accessible and like I say, has some absolutely amazing songs on it, and it's as good a starting point as any into the career of one of the greatest musical genius' ever (at least in my opinion!)
appoint. Most of the songs are produced, arranged, composed and "per4med" by the artist himself, with the occasional musician chipping in here and there. This complete contro...
appoint. Most of the songs are produced, arranged, composed and "per4med" by the artist himself, with the occasional musician chipping in here and there.This complete control f...
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14.10.2004 17:41
I only have one Prince album, but what I've heard of this one sounds good. Nice review. ~Liz
14.10.2004 14:04
Not really an album that appeals. A good review. Maureen
14.10.2004 02:27
I think i'm a bit too young to fully appreciate the musical qualities of Prince, but a good review nethertheless