Musicology came out 7 years ago? Could that possibly be right? I am getting so frikkin old.

The album struck me as a drastic step backward compared to The Rainbow Children, which was my favorite album of his in ten years. But the lack of BS, the short length, and the attention which he was generating was nice after the greatest musician of the past 25 years living in relative obscurity for way too long.

Initially generating a lot of excitement that this could possibly be the rebirth of Prince in mainstream media beginning with his appearance on the Grammys, Jay Leno, and The rock & Roll Hall of fame. Purple Rain was turning 20. It seemed the right time. And in some ways it was, but in classic Prince fashion it did not quite come to full flower in the way most of us knew it could potentially be.

The tour was incredibly exciting, I got amazing seats at a discount thanks to his website (!).

But ultimately I did not like the album very much. Like Emanciation and Rave, it was not what I might have hoped it would be.

Recently I was thinking about If I was the Man in Your Life, and decided to give the album another spin. I have not listened to it in years. With the hindsight provided by 3121, Planet Earth, etc. my view on this album as really changed. It is not a masterpiece by any means, but it is actually quite a strong album, showcasing Prince's musicianship, diversity, personality in a way that is sugarcoated for mass consumption, but not insulting to my intelligence.

The album will, I believe hold some importance in Prince's history, as a representative of his 00's work at it's "best" (whether we agree about that or not), so I felt it warranted some discussion.

So what's your opinion after all these years?

The only song that I just don't like is A Million Days. There is not anything particular that I can point to that makes this song bad. It just has an aesthetic quality that rubs me the wrong way.

Compared to Dear Mr. Man, which could come across as preachy, or dull, A Million Days is perhaps a better composition, but Dear Mr Man just flows more naturally and musically.

A lot of the songs might not be my favorites of Prince, but they are easy and flow well, such as Call My Name, Reflection, and the aforementioned Dear Mr Man.

Call My Name in particular was one that felt incredibly lazy and pointless, and now sounds quite beautiful and brilliantly executed. Listening to the easy musicianship of the bass, drums, and piano just shows what a master of arrangement Prince is. Takes me back to Do Me Baby, minus the shivering at the end. Not as good a hook as Do Me Baby, but, again, seen through the lens of 20Ten, it sounds pretty damn good.

I respect the fact that the tour was a big success and the albums musicianship and all, but time has still not helped me like the songs any more than I did when it appeared.

Musicology shows that while Prince does not always know exactly what his fans want, he does seem to hear their complaints.

This album is so clearly a contrast to The Rainbow Children...for better and for worse. Where the Rainbow Children presents an artist scattered all over the place with crazy ideas and concepts, both lyrical & musical, Musicology is just as diverse but concise and clear, trimmed of all the annoying conceptual elements that might distract us on more creative albums like or Gold or TRC.

There is a reason Musicology coincided with his [relative] pop resurgance. Well, there were a lot of reasons. But one of them was almost certainly the album itself. Yes, maybe he cheated Billboard by giving it away at concerts. But it was nice to see his videos on VH1, for a little while. Prince even had "The Best Week Ever!" (That was the last time I had cable, my TV references are a little dated)

TheDigitalGardener said:

I respect the fact that the tour was a big success and the albums musicianship and all, but time has still not helped me like the songs any more than I did when it appeared.

Are there any songs that you like/dislike more than others?

I could contrast revisiting Emancipation and cringing upon hearing the intro to Damned if I Do, which could have been the intro to Beverly Hills 90210. There are a dozen other songs on Emancipation that are embarrassing to me, even if I can respect some element of their musicianship.

Emancipation has some great stuff, but nothing on Musicology actually makes me cringe in embarrassment. Not even Life o the Party.

The album doesn't do anything for me. Although I'd say that "The marrying kind"/"If eye was the man in your life" and "Reflection" are a little bit better than the mediocre rest of recycled ideas on this album.

[Edited 6/5/11 13:10pm]

NDRU said:

NDRU said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

I respect the fact that the tour was a big success and the albums musicianship and all, but time has still not helped me like the songs any more than I did when it appeared.

Are there any songs that you like/dislike more than others?

I really like the title track, and I also like A Million Days and Cinnamon Girl.

You made me wanna listen to Musicology now. I never thought it was a weak album, i find 3121 very dulll.

TheDigitalGardener said:

NDRU said:

Are there any songs that you like/dislike more than others?

I really like the title track, and I also like A Million Days and Cinnamon Girl.

Yeah the title track was the one that grew on me the quickest.

OzlemUcucu said:

You made me wanna listen to Musicology now. I never thought it was a weak album, i find 3121 very dulll.

I never disliked Musicology, I just want Prince to be weird, and Musicology is not very weird. It's like Prince is working well within his boundaries rather than extending them.

funkomatic said:

The album doesn't do anything for me. Although I'd say that "The marrying kind"/"If eye was the man in your life" and "Reflection" are a little bit better than the mediocre rest of recycled ideas on this album.

[Edited 6/5/11 13:10pm]

Yes, I think those of us who had been listening to Prince for the past 15 years previous were not surprised by anything we heard.

It's like Musicology was not for us, but for the rest of the world.

Why does he have to be weird all the time? Why does he have to sing about sex all the time? I don't care what he sings about, as long as the music is funky.

Also, had no idea you are so obsessed

There was a certain hype surrounding Musicology, even here in Europe. Lots of friends of mine, not known for their Prince-Fanaticism, bought the album only to be disappointed by the actual music on it.

[Edited 6/5/11 14:33pm]

OzlemUcucu said:

Why does he have to be weird all the time? Why does he have to sing about sex all the time? I don't care what he sings about, as long as the music is funky.

Also, had no idea you are so obsessed

I don't care what he sings about either. I want the music to be weird, not his deviant sexual behavior.

Deviation

Edit; Why aren't those bananas purple?

[Edited 6/5/11 14:25pm]

NDRU said:

OzlemUcucu said:

Why does he have to be weird all the time? Why does he have to sing about sex all the time? I don't care what he sings about, as long as the music is funky.

Also, had no idea you are so obsessed

I don't care what he sings about either. I want the music to be weird, not his deviant sexual behavior.

I don't want the music to be weird, just a bit more experimental than of late would be cool.....or not. Instead of chasing trends, it would be nice to hear Prince taking a chance (in the studio) every now and again.

I think we need another couple of instrumental albums, and if they are shit then so be it, at least we can say that he tried.

TheDigitalGardener said:

NDRU said:

I don't care what he sings about either. I want the music to be weird, not his deviant sexual behavior.

I don't want the music to be weird, just a bit more experimental than of late would be cool.....or not. Instead of chasing trends, it would be nice to hear Prince taking a chance (in the studio) every now and again.

I think we need another couple of instrumental albums, and if they are shit then so be it, at least we can say that he tried.

Hearing some of his lyrics, sometimes I wish he did instrumental music. But I like his singing. Maybe he needs a lyricist

Do you like NEWS, or would you like to hear him do instrumentals more in his own traditional style?

NDRU said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

I don't want the music to be weird, just a bit more experimental than of late would be cool.....or not. Instead of chasing trends, it would be nice to hear Prince taking a chance (in the studio) every now and again.

I think we need another couple of instrumental albums, and if they are shit then so be it, at least we can say that he tried.

Hearing some of his lyrics, sometimes I wish he did instrumental music. But I like his singing. Maybe he needs a lyricist

Do you like NEWS, or would you like to hear him do instrumentals more in his own traditional style?

I love NEWS, and an album of jazzy funk instrumentals would be welcome from me.

However, it would be cool if he were to maybe try something a bit more electronic, or perhaps an album of rock instrumentals might be interesting.

At the time it was released I really loved Musicology. But it wore on me over time; there's something about the production that made it feel plastic after a few hundred spins. For me only the title track has realy lasting value. But given how many times I listened to that album before I got tired of it I would say it was a good album for the time, it just isn't a classic.

The tour was killer. I loved those horns and the acoustic set.

Poor, poor Musicology. I wanted to like this album, but couldn't. The writing is just all over the place. I don't even REMEMBER songs like "If I Was The Man In Your Life" and that other one its tacked onto.

The album, in my opinion, has an EP or maxi single's worth of good songs. Shame because it DOES follow the eclectic style of a lot of his older albums. The music is just boring.

The first time I heard Musicology, there was so much on it I didn't like. In fact, the only songs I heard and liked immediately were A Million Days, Cinnamon Girl, and ICP&C. After a month or so, I came to appreciate most of the songs on the album with the exception of Life O The Party, which I despise.

This collection of songs were more radio-friendly, and in 2004 during his "comeback" I think that was a good route to take. When he had been releasing songs to the general public every year, it was easier to release a more radical album in between 2 that were more mainstream, but to do that in 2004 would've made him seem like a crazy old man. Musicology is safe, to say the least, but safe was the way to go at the time, as opposed to introducing us to chemtrails and such.

Regardless, this isn't my favorite album (I prefer when he's more daring), but none of the songs are bad (except Life O The Party, did I mention I hate that song?). I think Musicology proved that Prince doesn't ALWAYS have to be cutting edge to have a great record...

(........Minus Life O The Party )

funkomatic said:

The album doesn't do anything for me. Although I'd say that "The marrying kind"/"If eye was the man in your life" and "Reflection" are a little bit better than the mediocre rest of recycled ideas on this album.

[Edited 6/5/11 13:10pm]

Those first two were always my favorite songs on there, along with "What Do U Want Me 2 Do" - "The Marrying Kind", in particular, is the one I was still playing ALOT even years after Musicology's release.

A recent thread on here got me thinking about this era. It's the album that got me into Prince, but for all the exposure he was getting, the album lacked a sure fire radio hit to put him over the top. I always thought Black Sweat was two years too late; it might have hit #1 had it been on an album in 2004. As for musicology itself, I always loved Call My Name, the title track and the "marrying kind-man in ur life" 1-2 punch I always found cool, but outside of that I just find it very middle of the road.

MajesticOne89 said:

A recent thread on here got me thinking about this era. It's the album that got me into Prince, but for all the exposure he was getting, the album lacked a sure fire radio hit to put him over the top. I always thought Black Sweat was two years too late; it might have hit #1 had it been on an album in 2004. As for musicology itself, I always loved Call My Name, the title track and the "marrying kind-man in ur life" 1-2 punch I always found cool, but outside of that I just find it very middle of the road.

Yes I think that is a great point. Musicology was clearly intended as a pop comeback, but it really did not have a classic pop Prince song on it.

Perhaps what is most notable about the album is not what is good about it, but rather that nothing stands out as awful.

I think 3121 is stronger in many ways, but it also has moments that are huge misfires. Not on Musicology IMO. It's all decent, if slightly bland (for Prince)

NDRU said:

Perhaps what is most notable about the album is not what is good about it, but rather that nothing stands out as awful.

I think 3121 is stronger in many ways, but it also has moments that are huge misfires. Not on Musicology IMO. It's all decent, if slightly bland (for Prince)

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Life O the Party begs to differ.

Spinlight said:

NDRU said:

Perhaps what is most notable about the album is not what is good about it, but rather that nothing stands out as awful.

I think 3121 is stronger in many ways, but it also has moments that are huge misfires. Not on Musicology IMO. It's all decent, if slightly bland (for Prince)

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Life O the Party begs to differ.

so they say, but that song has never particularly bothered me

Don't care much at all for this album, but "Reflection" does do it for me--and I feel it's one of his most sincere songs lyrically within the decade.