It's a strange record, it was supposed to be released by MCA in 1989 but shelved under 2007 after MCA abruptly decided not to release it. This really leaves me wondering whether MCA was infuriated by Clinton signing on Paisley Park for a solo album that same year of if they just assumed that the material was too weak. The funny thing is while The Cinderella Theory sounded almost avant-garde and extremely sophisticated by the standards of its time (and in my opinion is one of Clinton's strongest efforts ever), By Way Of The Drum already sounded dated in 89: it reminds me a lot of the sound Clinton had on 1985's Some Of My Best Jokes Are Friends and had a loud, robotic sound more reminiscent of the "new school" hip-hop of the mid-80's and albums by the likes of Afrika Bambaata than the new jack swing and early "golden age" hip-hop that dominated Afro-American music back then. I kinda wonder whether it was really recorded in 88-89 or if it was recorded earlier in the decade and planned for a release that was too late to make it relevent. Despite being too experimental to make an impact on the charts, The Cinderella Theory received quite a warm critical response when released if I'm not mistaken. On the other hand I suspect contemporary critics would have slaughtered By Way Of The Drum if released. The funny thing about this record, though, it's that despite the cold drum machine sound it displays, it really deserves to be catalogued as a Funkadelic record because guitar is all over the place and it has a very agressive "metal" feel to it. It's not a bad album per se, just marked with a sound that's probably one the most dated of modern pop music history.

If anyone knows more about this album's recording sessions and back-story it'd be appreciated, and you are of course welcome to share your opinion about it

uh.

[Edited 1/21/14 14:01pm]

databank said:

It's a strange record, it was supposed to be released by MCA in 1989 but shelved under 2007 after MCA abruptly decided not to release it. This really leaves me wondering whether MCA was infuriated by Clinton signing on Paisley Park for a solo album that same year of if they just assumed that the material was too weak. The funny thing is while The Cinderella Theory sounded almost avant-garde and extremely sophisticated by the standards of its time (and in my opinion is one of Clinton's strongest efforts ever), By Way Of The Drum already sounded dated in 89: it reminds me a lot of the sound Clinton had on 1985's Some Of My Best Jokes Are Friends and had a loud, robotic sound more reminiscent of the "new school" hip-hop of the mid-80's and albums by the likes of Afrika Bambaata than the new jack swing and early "golden age" hip-hop that dominated Afro-American music back then. I kinda wonder whether it was really recorded in 88-89 or if it was recorded earlier in the decade and planned for a release that was too late to make it relevent. Despite being too experimental to make an impact on the charts, The Cinderella Theory received quite a warm critical response when released if I'm not mistaken. On the other hand I suspect contemporary critics would have slaughtered By Way Of The Drum if released. The funny thing about this record, though, it's that despite the cold drum machine sound it displays, it really deserves to be catalogued as a Funkadelic record because guitar is all over the place and it has a very agressive "metal" feel to it. It's not a bad album per se, just marked with a sound that's probably one the most dated of modern pop music history.

If anyone knows more about this album's recording sessions and back-story it'd be appreciated, and you are of course welcome to share your opinion about it

Glad to hear Cinderella Theory get some respect. I love it too!