Customer Reviews

Musicology

5 star:		(159)
4 star:		(89)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

At the 20 year anniversary of when Prince took over the world with PURPLE RAIN comes MUSICOLOGY -- his return to light hearted straight ahead funk ... with a couple of songs that cut a little deeper. There aren't any more anti-war messages than the typical Prince album, and none of them seem directed at anyone in particular ... simply the world at large. Prince is at the top of his form right now, and poised to jog your memory of why he belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

But here's the catch -- almost every PRINCE recording has a concept behind it. RAINBOW CHILDREN was a Jehovah's Witness jazz experiment, NEWS was instrumental noodlings, and here we have Prince paying homage to James Brown and other artists like Sly Stone that influenced him. He even pays tribute to his old persona by working out some old school 80s Minneapolis sound tracks complete with some help from SHEILA E and CANDY DULFER. At the end of the title track we hear samples of some 80s Prince ("Little Red Corvette", "17 DAYS" and others) and it sets the stage for a look back with an artist who the world never seems to catch up with.

My favorite new track is A MILLION DAYS which laments a lover leaving and reminds me of the days when Prince was pop. CALL MY NAME will go down as one of his great slow jams! DEAR MR MAN gives you the most blatant "the world is troubled message". LIFE OF THE PARTY is his latest "Housequake" or party tune like "DMSR". The CD is totally clean and has escaped any lyrical or content warning, so it's safe to listen with kids or parents present!

So put on your purple paisley and get ready to party like its 1999! MUSICOLOGY is a funky return to form for one of music's biggest talents. Will it be big and huge like PURPLE RAIN or 1999? Nothing could top that era. But this one will please the hardcore fan and the casual listener.

Musicology is one of the most accessible prince albums of the last years, no real tricks or treats, just old fashioned funk and soul. The title song really is a killer, also nice is that a video of the song is added to the CD which you can view on your PC. Some highlights: "Life O the party" is a solid party jam with a nice role for Candy Dulfer (which i like as a dutch citizen:), "Call my name" is in my view destined to become a classic prince song, "Dear Mr. Man" is a nice political song in the funk tradition of sly stone. If there is any criticism to make i would like to say that the last few tracks of the CD seem to be less brilliant than let's say the first six songs, however I am not complaining about the quality in general.
Maybe this album can put Prince back in the spotlight, a place he deserves if you look at the quality of his work and his undeniable influence on many other artists. If you ever liked prince, but didn't appreciate his latest albums, don't hesitate, buy it, you won't be disappointed.

Look, this album was a great way for Prince to enter the new Millenium! This album has a lot of good songs on it like Musicoloy, Life O' the Party, Cinnamon Girl, A Million Days, Illusion Coma Pimp and Circumstance, and On the Couch. These songs are just good funk material! They have a lot of nice grooves and beats. But, you will have to listen to it more than once to like it. Especially if you are used to the Prince that did "1999", "Controversy", and "Dirty Mind". It's a great album. But if you find yourself asking the question "Is this Prince?" you should calm down and listen to it again. It really is a fabulous album that will grow on you.

This is absolutely one of the most enjoyable and easily accessible albums that Prince has put out in many years. Prince does not often get the credit that he deserves for being the master guitarist that he is, which he so adeptly proved during his performance at the rock and roll hall of fame, but he continuously proves his dexterity with this instrument throughout this album. He is the master of subtle magnificence when it comes to the guitar. Prince seems really comfortable with his position as a highly skilled seasoned musician on this album. And the music is not at all "highly pretentious" as the title may suggest. He gets things off to a plain and funky start with the title track. This is a pretty simple and wonderful funk jam that Prince uses to pay homage to a time in which such well crafted simple funk jams were common place. The second track is pretty much more of the same but with an interesting tale to go along with it. The next song, 'A Million Days' is absolutely amazing. This song has a really majestic, almost etheral feel to it and is extremely rich in texture and density. 'Life O' the Party' is not a bad song, but it is the weakest song on this album. It pretty much sounds like a warm up jam that some of the band members would play while waiting for the other band members to arrive so that they could do their real stuff. 'Call My Name' is one of the best slow jams that Prince has made in a long time--Outstanding! 'Cinnamon Girl' sounds like he lifted it right out of the vaults of his masterpiece "Sign O' the Times". It is basically an ingenious pop/dance track in its sound and texture but not in its lyrical content. This song offers the clearest glimpse of the old Prince that many long to hear again. 'What Do U Want Me 2 Do?' is a tightly constructed jazz/sophistafunk jam with some absolutely masterful guitar playing. The next two songs ("The Marrying Kind" and "If I Was The Man In Your Life") are basically part one and part two of the same song. The first part has Prince telling a guy who is losing his woman to Prince that he has lost a really good thing and he should have recognized and valued the really good woman that he had. The second part finds Prince telling a woman who is not being appreciated by the man in her life about the many ways that he would show his appreciation for her if she were his woman. 'On the Couch' is an ironically humorous slow song about a man who is trying to smooth things over with his woman who is angry with him about something. 'Dear Mr. Man' is a very strong straightfoward socio-political track. The final track is a wonderful slice of simple, smooth, buttery bliss. He vividly paints an effective and authentic picture of a wonderful union between two people in love without at all sounding corny or cliche. This is a very strong release by Prince, and I encourage you all to check it out.

Prince is definitely an artist that you can't define. After listening to this album, No one can run through many styles of music with this much ease. The lead single "Musicology" is a straight funky song as well as the second song "Illusion,Coma,Pimp, and Cirumstance". Then he switches gears into a nice mid-tempo rock song " A Million Days". The music on this album that he touches are straight funk, jazz, rock and roll, and soulful r&b. This album is definitely a study of music. R&B folks might be put off by a couple of rock songs like " A Million Days" and "Cinammon Girl" and vice versa. But this entire album flows from the first song to the last song. You definitely can't put a format on this album. I love all kinds of music and this album braces this concept. No one can run through many different styles of music like this but Prince. That brother knows MUSICOLOGY!!!

Although always capable of making provocative music, I was having my doubts whether or not Prince could reassert himself in the mainstream of contemporary pop culture (or if he would ever even want to). Well, MUSICOLOGY TKOs that concern: Prince clearly wants a hit, and thankfully manages to concoct one in a manner that stretches his musical talents, rather than compresses them (which would have pleased neither his fans nor the general marketplace). It reasserts his multi-level musical skills in a manner that could very well attract enough attention that he walks away with some major Grammy awards next winter, while at the same time reinvigorating his fan base that has stuck with him in recent years as he fell off the pop music radar. This could very well be the first Prince CD in well over a decade that pleases everybody, including himself.

I've found fair chunks of most of Prince's past releases flirted with his talent rather than maximized it, but this CD shows him consistently passionate, focused, and coming from a more mature lyrical perspective, while avoiding any potentially-awkward attempts to imitate such emulators as Outkast. In fact, Alicia Keys' runaway success in mixing classic substance with modern style may have opened the door for a Prince commercial comeback. MUSICOLOGY may display less nods to current hiphop-based musical trends than Keys, but the bottom line is that Prince consistently manages to tweak his classic funk and ballad sounds in a near-perfectly balanced way that results in an album that sounds so familiar, yet so fresh even by 2004 standards. Highly recommended to anyone who was ever captivated by any part of Prince's career from back in the day up to now.

What can you say about Prince? ALOT! And usually I read negative things by people who queston his every creative move. He has fallen off, He has lost it, The Purple Regin is over, He's weird, he should only do certain types of music. Well for the most part people have to say he is one of the most talented/acomplished musicians, writers and live performers around and arguably ever. I am writing this after having been to 3 Musicology shows (off the hook!) and getting the CD there. I listend to it on the way home after the first show and for the next 3 or 4 days after & I must say it is a very very good effort from him. You can tell he is in a different place mentally and spiritually from the days of Controversy but don't we all grow and learn from our younger days? But the cd still is Prince up and down with mixes of the soulful, funky, thoughtful, poetic, political, and romantic. And he threw in a little blues for good measure. It is not as heavy as the Rainbow Children and not an Instumental Jazz Fusion like NEWS. It is straight up Prince like you have known him funky guitar and fallseto workin it! Call my Name is my favorite and almost reaches the level of Adore as my all time favorite slow jam from him. If you were a fan and you thought maybe he had fallen off, the buzz about the tour and this cd is no joke. Take a chance on this one it is worth putting in the collection.

Prince's "Musicology" can be called a real comeback. The feel of the album is surprisingly close to his 1980's masterpieces -- THE stamp is unmistakeable. This is all the more interesting, since the sound as meeting the ear on "Musicology" is a far cry from the synth-heavy 1980's. Rather, it draws from the 1960s and 1970s, including nods to Earth, Wind and Fire on the splendid title track. Most songs follow their own unique grooves, often detected only on repeated listens. "A Million Days" is a typical Prince showdown, multifaceted in its power. Delicious "Call My Name" is as black as Prince gets, while "Cinnamon Girl" actually sounds closest to the 80's here. The bulk of album is gritty and funky, worn smoother before the end. Most tracks both stand out on their own and blend into one another well and although there is no single with "Let's Go Crazy" or "U Got The Look" potential, lyrics offer lots of variety; the spiritual, the marriage life ("Don't let me sleep on the couch") and state of the world getting a fair share. With the quality of current pop music disappointingly low, "Musicology" should easily finish among the best albums of 2004.

If anyone thinks this album is bad because their expectations of Prince are so high that the Purple one himself cannot meet them... then they're wrong. I'm what you call a "casual Prince fan". I don't own any of his albums prior to "Musicology", but I have never heard a bad Prince song on the radio. The only reasons I don't buy his albums is because of the occasional vulgarity he may display within them. I bought this album based on the James Brown-esque single "Musicology" alone (I like how he mentions all of the preceding pioneers of funk). I wasn't disappointed at all. "Musicology" is indeed a study of what makes Prince so great. Prince has been around for the past 25+ years and his music, along with his appearance, age very well. This cat is well-versed in every style of music and plays his OWN instruments. He arranged and performed these songs nearly by himself (with a little help from saxophonists Candy Dulfer and Maceo Parker from Parliament). You have to admire that. And to add to what is already a banging album, it's totally clean, so you don't have to worry about playing it aloud or squirm in your seat with the headphones on. That's truly something I didn't expect. I like how Prince stays true to his roots, but not totally. He keeps it a little bit modern with songs like "Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance" (my favorite out of the bunch). The rest of the album is just good old blues, pop-rock, and funk. I like the social commentary of "Mr. Man" (with Prince's old pal Sheila E. on the shaker). It shows that he isn't lyrically one-dimensional. Old school Prince fans will totally lambast this new effort from one of the most prolific and talented artists to ever hit the scene because they want something mind-blowing, but casual fans will be totally pleased because there is not one bad song on this album. Don't sleep on Prince.

Prince has released a solid, coherent and cohesive pop album full of well-crafted songs with gr8 melodies and catchy arrangements. 2 things u may like 2 know:
1)The ROCK SONGS R BACK! 4 of the 12 tracks r energetic, immediate rock/pop numbers.
2)The lyrics r the most interesting and accessible since 'Sign o' the times'.
MUSICOLOGY:Propelled by a catchy 'Sign 'o the times'-style bass line, this is a simple, spare funk number about 'the old school joints' we all miss. Tasty synth and organ fills add 2 the interest. The first time I've listened 2 this song I've thought 'good but nothing special' but I was wrong. Give this a little time. It brings back the classic Prince rhythm magic. And it's not even that J.Brown tribute that it seems. Listen carefully:it's pure Prince.
ILLUSION...:Funky song about a young man having a relationship with an ugly but rich woman. The singing is playful and vivacious. Features a synth line reminiscent of P's 1989 b-side 'Sex'. Interesting guitar licks provide a counterpoint 2 the rhythm. Note that an average arranger would have emphasized in some way the chorus, while P keeps it bare all through the song.
A MILLION DAYS:Easily the best track. Stunning rock song with killer melody and the lyrics about parting r sung in a touching way. Tremendous crescendo, short but blazing guitar solo. Beautiful.
LIFE O'THE PARTY:Funky party song. The melody of the chorus is borrowed from P's 'Nasty girl'. The groove is a hard,'Gett off'-style beat, the production is sparse. P's vocal r delivered with energy.
CALL MY NAME:Gr8 love song. Effective and soulful. Neo-soul rookies need 2 go back 2 school. Check out the bass line.
CINNAMON GIRL:Immediate rock/pop number about the aftermaths of 9/11.
WHAT DO U WANT ME 2 DO?:Jazzy pop song with well-crafted melody and harmony. Features the best drum pattern in years with the classic Linn LM-1 drum machine ingeniously programmed, completed by a killer bass line.
THE MARRYING KIND:witty rock melody with P warning a friend not 2 leave his woman or the purple 1 will get her straightaway.
IF I WAS THE MAN IN UR...:the former song and this 1 -altough clearly distinct- work like a 1 narrative, musical-like number. This time he urges a woman 2 leave her man and get with him. Gr8 rock song with beautiful verse.
ON THE COUCH:Bluesy number with classic P falsetto and passionate soul vocals. Check out the organ.
DEAR MR MAN:An open letter 2 the government. Powerful drumming with sparse arrangement(bass,wha guitar,Rhodes and beautiful horns highlighting discreetly some parts of the song).
REFLECTION:peaceful,contemplative pop song with hints of Joni Mitchell and intimate lyrics:'What does that 1 thing have 2 do with the another 1?/I don't know I was just thinking about my Mother.......Mirror tiles above the bed/fishing nets and posters all over the walls/Sometimes I just wanna go sit out on the stoop and play my guitar/and just watch all the cars go by'.
The cd includes the video for 'Musicology' which I think is very good.
Bottom line:P is back in2 the mainstream with immediate and strong songwriting. But be aware that there's nothing sloppy, boring or 'commercial' about this album -in fact it takes repeated listenings 2 fully appreciate it:P never sounds (and never sounded, in my opinion) like any1 else. Still it's a simple and accessible record. What more do u want from a pop album?