My favorite song on Musicology. I wish it were a little longer, with a blazing quitar solo.

One of my favorites too. However, I cannot think of it independently from The Marrying Kind, which leads into IIWTMIYL nicely.

This was one of the songs that jumped out at me right away off of Musicology. I just finally put it in with one of my playlists on my media player for the 1st time, and holy shamolly does this little gem stand out from the rest of the mix! After hearing the song in this context, I have no doubt that this song would have been huge on the radio if P was given any airtime, or if it was recorded 'as is' by any of the flavor of the month artists that are jamming the chart these days.

A lot of the tracks on Musicology sound like demos IMO.

My favorite song on Musicology. I wish it were a little longer, with a blazing quitar solo.

Xagain said:

TOTALLY agree!

MattyJam said:

No. They don't sound like "demos". They are deliberately stripped-down productions. There's a very big difference. And that has nothing to do with sounding "dated" either - the snare drum used on "Purple Rain" sounds "dated", Tony M's raps sound dated, a lot of the production of "Graffiti Bridge" sound dated. In fact, whenever you try to reach for some type of commerciality or polishment, as so to speak, the music usually ends up sounding dated after a said number of years. This has more to do with the recording industry in general than the actual pieces of music themselves.

Having said that "If I Was The Man In U'R Life" would have been a hit only with more polishing and more up-to-date production. The vocals would need more editing as well, no radio programmer today would play Prince's yelps and uncontrolled peaks. Thank God he left them in the mix though.

Novabreaker said:

Firstly, quit presenting your opinion as fact. It's incredibly annoying and arrogant.

Secondly, I stand by my statement that "Musicology" sounds dated. Not in the same way Tony M's raps sound dated though. A track like "I,C,P&C" for example, could've been his biggest hit in years - if only the production was bought into the twenty-first century. The pizzicato-style bass line which runs throughout the chorus makes it extremely dated sounding. And I think the chorus would have a lot more oomph if he added some layered vocals. I would love to see a Timbaland remix of that track. I'm sure Tim could've fulfilled the potential that it did actually have.

Some of them are obviously stipped-down productions as you said, which is often a safe (and sometimes boring in the case of "Musicology") way of ensuring that your songs aren't shrouded in tacky over-production in years to come ("Thunder" anybody?). But IMO, although the drum machines and synths used on the "1999" album may sound dated in 2005, it remains a far more interesting and innovative record for having used them - two words that could never be ascribed to "Musicology."
[Edited 2/7/05 11:53am]

This was one of the songs that jumped out at me right away off of Musicology. I just finally put it in with one of my playlists on my media player for the 1st time, and holy shamolly does this little gem stand out from the rest of the mix! After hearing the song in this context, I have no doubt that this song would have been huge on the radio if P was given any airtime, or if it was recorded 'as is' by any of the flavor of the month artists that are jamming the chart these days.

My favorite song on Musicology. I wish it were a little longer, with a blazing quitar solo.

I had given Musicology a couple of listens and that was it,
I saw this post yesterday and thought "What the heck, let me give it one more listen",
And lo and behold, I really like "If I was the Man in Your Life" and "The Marrying Kind"! Now I cant stop listening to these 2 songs, as well as
"A Million Day". What happened??? Hmmm, Who knows, but I am actually beginning to really enjoy this album Thanks WDREW

PurpleKnight said:

So, "Call my Name" didn't chart?