So I'm listening to the Purple Rain live video yesterday and I was digging this whole part in the middle where Prince is just standing in front of a dark blue light. You only see his silhouette and here these doves and snare drum and synthesizer and it goes on for 5 minutes. Very cool. And I remember the Purple Rain show I went to in SF where the lights went out, he played 17 days in the dark behind the curtain and then the lights went back on and the show didn't start for another 20 minutes. Then after the last encore, with the lights on and the arena half empty, he comes back out and plays America with all the lights still on. Damn!

My point is that from the day I first got into Prince I've looked to him to give me the unexpected. Remember when each album sounded TOTALLY different from the one before? I remember picking the needle up off the record and putting it back on Housequake after the first listen. No way!

I'm still a faithful fan. The Rainbow Children blew me away. But then came Musiclogy - Prince lite for the masses. It's not a bad album. But it certainly is not a return to form (as many have said) of the Prince that I know is somewhere out there. The "Professor" attitude he's taken up is kinda boring.

"Don't you miss the feeling Prince gave you, back in the day." Am I the only one who sees Musiclogy as the emperor with no clothes?

Well, NPS for me was the first album that didn't sound new at all - "Emancipation" had a fair share of novelty moments to it, but it was already stretching it. And "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" could have been just 14 random songs from the "Emancipation" album, even with the LinnDrum on it. So I would say "The Rainbow Children" was a really welcomed change.

As far as "Musicology" goes, yeah I don't hear any progress at all. But at least he's sticking to the better values of his post-WB days, and that's all that I was just asking: for him to just for once to concentrate on the production, and make all the songs sound like they belong on the same goddamn album.

I disagree with you. This album will go down in my mind as one of his best since SOTT. I like every song on the album. His lyrics are meaningful in some songs and fun in others. I am not knocking all the other releases but I feal this is his most focused project in a long time and it shows.

I feel the same as the original post. In a weird sense, Musicology is like early in his career when you really sensed the possibilities but still looked forward for the next album to see if he kicked it to another level.

While the last two tours have been first-rate and this year's honors are cool, I'm hoping for something more interesting on the next release than we've gotten since '01.
[Edited 10/21/04 6:35am]

Musicology is a neat little album...

I think that it was ON TIME as well. For the past several years Prince has put out some really sprawling and hard to digest material -- not to say "sprawling and hard to digest" is bad, it is just not what the casual "shot caller" in the record industry wanted from Prince.

Warner Bros. decided blast Prince with the charge of being "too proficient" and "untidy," and this picture is what has seemed to stick, among other things. Never mind that the music the man has been putting out is literally unbelievable, he had no way to really market his goods.

If you look at:
Controversy, 1999, Vanity 6, Time, What Time is it?

and then look at:
Gold Nigga, Exodus, Come, Gold Experience, 1-800-New-Funk


I mean that side stuff from the early eighties was cool, but he was just learning his craft if you ask me. The materials immediately surrounding his breakup with Warner Bros. was some tight shit... it just wasn't sold is all.

Prince is quite audacious, and the things that he did to market the Musicology project simply highlight his acumen. A person that can gross millions from selling out stadiums is not a has-been/out-of-touch maniac -- but the people who market his material would have you believe those negative things about him.

i don't think musicology is an amazing, brilliant, intense album - but i don't think it was intended to be. in fact, prince has even gone on record saying the same thing about the album...dig through some of the interviews he did throughout the summer, he said several times he just wanted to put out something light and fun, and make the tour the focus.

that said, i like musicology because, while i don't think anything on there is mindblowing, there's not a single song on there i DISlike. i never hit the skip button when i listen to this album. the last prince album to have zero songs that make me cringe would be lovesexy.

i think the man has some work to do in terms of making a new record that pushes things forward, but i welcome more relaxed, fun pop albums like musicology. he didn't sound like he was trying so hard on this album, and it makes a difference.

What's Musiclogy?

Good pop album. Nothing wrong with that.

I seem to be one of the few people here who loves Musicology. I wasn't expecting to love it, I just wanted a new album that I would really like and with all of what's been happening with the R&RHOF and the Grammy's, my thing was he better come correct with some good music and IMO he has. Like what's been said, it's not a mindblowing album, just some great pop songs as Prince said that they were. And I think the simpleness of the album is what makes me really enjoy it. I've enjoyed almost all the albums since the post-WB days but this is the first one since The Gold Experience where I'm still listening to it constantly 6 months after it's release. I'm all smiles with it !
[Edited 10/21/04 8:19am]

NWF said:

Its a virus that causes warts, itching, redness, and a light green pus

POOK said:

Maybe Pook try using ears next instead of eyes.

It's like sugarfree jazz...

It's Prince but I agree it's Prince Lite. The album didn't stay long in the player. When I listen it its cool but it won't stick.

paisley4me said:

and here it is. p was basically goin commercial in order for everyone to hop on board, it wasn't an album "for the fans/friends/freex/geex/fams/whoever". seems to me that you're wishin for an album that's more for those of us in the concrete fanbase than for everyone else and us.

dualboot said:

sugarfree jazz...isn't that a soul coughing song?

dualboot said:

Well since HE said "it ain't over" i believe the musicology album is just the start..of this "new" prince....maybe he'll return to something funkier on the next

Anxiety said:

I once wrote a song called Reduced Fat BeBop.

Anxiety said:

Listening to it now

FunkMistress said:

I think i dated someone called that when I lived in New York. True story!

dualboot said:

not to threadjack or anything, but i listened to soul coughing's "ruby vroom" for the first time in YEARS a coupla weeks ago, and "bus to beelzebub" freaked me out. that's not a song to listen to when surfing through downtown traffic. awesome album and awesome band, though.

ok, sorry, back to musicology stuff...

paisley4me said:

Sounds like that's what he did.

OdysseyMiles said:

thekidsgirl said:

paisley4me said:

Mission accomplished! Musicology gave that feeling I had back in the day. A strong album from beginning to end. It's a top 5 Prince album IMO. No clothes? Wrong! It's just wearing 80's fashion. That's fine with me. I think things have reached a point where the most innovative thing a musician can do is take us back to the basics.

has any artist been able to remain as enthralling and as intense as when they first made an impact on their audiences? i think it's really, really difficult - perhaps impossible - for prince to exude the same energy that he did on the purple rain tour. that is something that belongs to its own time and space, and i really wouldn't want that kind of excitement to be "recreated" - that would be cheapening it. this is why i really am not excited about the idea of a revolution reunion, other than perhaps in the studio. everyone in the band has moved on. look at bobby z and matt fink. they look like middle aged dads - and good for them! - but the thought of them trying to cop the old former glory with the frills and the scrubs and the sunglasses and all that would be a little sad, even if they still have the chops (which i'm sure they do). i'm more interested in the stuff they're doing now, post-revolution. i loved it that wendy played w/ prince on "reflection", and i'd love to see other little collaborations like that in the future...but i dunno. i think there are creative ways of calling on the past for maximum impact, and i think 'musicology' was a fine (although flawed) attempt to do just that.

I think that the title track, illusioncoma, and ... well let me think... oh yeah... whatdoyouwantmetodo are classic level trax off of this album.

I come from a perspective of always being dissapointed (at first) by most of what is on a new prince album, ever since Parade.

Yes Parade and SOTT were also considered mixed bags of simplistic throwaway stuff.. and now, years later, people say they are classic... so just wait about 10-15 years...

ps.

NewPowerSoul has MadSex, The One, and Come On which are top notch prince songs!

"Come On" is really great to my ears.

musicology did two things that prince albums haven't done to me for a long, long time:

1) as i pointed out earlier in this thread, i enjoy every song on this album and nothing on the disc makes me cringe - it keeps me listening from beginning to end.

2) it got me hooked on the first listen. i remember hearing this CD for the first time with TOFKA as we were driving home from the simulcast, and while there were moments that mighta elicited a moan or an eyeroll here or there, i remember digging on every single tune that came through the speakers.

it's not in my short-list of favorite prince albums, but i do have a lot of respect for this record, and i think it's gonna grow on folks over the years.

The excellent reviews for Musicology continue to puzzle me, its a weak album,
probably one of the 3 weakest non-instrumental albums he's made , and this is from someone whose a big fan of his 80s AND 90s work . Theres not 1 standout
track on there still , the best track on Musicology is good and nothing better ,
certain tracks like A Million Days , On The Couch and Life Of The Party are just depressingly uneventful .Must do better next time Prince.

moonshine said:

I'm sure you will.

Anxiety said:

Yeah!