Both albums represent somewhat of a "comeback" in terms of commercial releases, as Musicology thrust P back into the national spotlight (with album sales, awards, & a major tour - allthough he never went anywhere 2 me). AOA was P's first mainstream commercial release since 2009. (LotusFlower/MPLSOUND) Both of these albums in my humble opinion are some of Prince's finest post 2000's commercial mainstream releases. They are both 2 albums I can always go back to and enjoy pretty much from start to finish. It's going 2 B tough, but I am going to give you my favorites comparing track by track.....

1. Musicology vs. Art Official Cage

This is a tough one, as I LOVE both tracks. I'll give a slight edge to AOA, just love the energy & fusion of the funk & uptempo electro feel to it. The Retro JamesBrown funk of musicology jams, but im going cage.

2. Illusion Coma Pimp & Circumstance vs. Clouds

Clouds is the clear winner here for me, one of P's funkiest most polished grooves of the 2000's. The song I heard that let me know Prince was coming back with a full solo album in 2014...I FLIPPED when I heard it 4 the first time.

3. A Million Days vs. Breakdown

Again, this is like Godzilla vs Mothra - 2 monster cuts! I'll go A Million Days.

4. Life O The Party vs The Gold Standard

life O the party I feels was one of the weaker cuts from Musicology, I'll go Gold Standard, solid solid piece of funk, the final minute is pure genius!

5. Call My Name vs U Know

1 is a ballad with live instruments, the other a modern, urban, hip hop inspired mid tempo groove..which works very well. Tough choice but Ill take call my name.

6. Cinnamon Girl vs Breakfast Can Wait

I love both tracks, tough choice - tie!

7. What Do You Want Me 2 Do? vs. This Could Be Us

Im going this could be us on this one, wdywm2d? is a nice track, but this could be us is a stronger piece I feel.

8. The Marrying Kind/IIWTMIYL vs. Affirmation I & II + Way Back Home

These tracks that seemlessly flow into the others are so well done on both records, again, I have a hard time choosing. It would depend on what mood I was in. TIE.

9. On The Couch vs. What it Feels like

both are 2 tracks I enjoy the least from each album. I'll choose What It Feels Like.

10. Dear Mr. Man vs. FUNKnROLL

dear mr man in a slam dunk!

11. Reflection vs Time & Affirmation III

both are INCREDIBLE ways to end an album, & some of my favorite album ending cuts/sequences he has put together. LOVE all 3 songs, since I had to add time & Affirmation 2 together, I'll take those 2 by a slight slight edge beacuse truly, Affirmation III could bring tears to your eyes when you think of how things transpired...

Looks LIKE "AOA" Wins...

what Do U think?

[Edited 5/30/16 17:44pm]

AOA all the way, except:

Cinnamon Girl beats Breakfast Can Wait

On the Couch and What if Feels Like (tie cuz the latter is the weakest song on AOA, yet On the Couch is not grand either).

ArtOfficialAge is the better constructed album, but I think the amount of peaks and valleys are just about equal.

What do you mean 'somewhat' of a comeback........... he never left! He was putting out stuff. There was never any comeback.

I like both albums.

I think Musicology is more consistant, but AOA has more highlights.

Musicology is more of a slow burner, there's nothing epic on there, it's just a cool, chilled out record, a bit of funk, a bit of soul, some nice grooves and a couple of solid slow jams. I feel it's quite unique in that respect in his canon of work... it's a very classy record and I like that about it.

AOA is a bit try-hard in places and some of the tracks are a bit lacking (songs like U Know or What It Feels Like really don't have much to them), but on a positive note, it's definately a fun record and songs like AOC, The Gold Standard, FunkNRoll and Clouds really make you wanna move.

I really don't know which one I'd pick, as I rate them both quite highly as two of his strongest post-00's releases.

Musicology is one of his worst albums for me, so this is AOA by a landslide. Oh, except Breakfast Can Wait. Everything on Musicology beats that.

Musicology is a strange one for me. There's nothing on there which I really hate and even some which I really like, but as an album I just never want to play it. I listen to it enough as my wife likes it but it just never really hits me.

I like the title track to Musicology a lot but the album is a bit too safe overall for me, like a comeback album constructed in a boardroom.

While imho he overstretches himself on AOA a bit (the concept fairly falls apart for the middle section of the album for example) I prefer to hear that over the Classic Rock baiting nostalgia pop of Musicology.

So AOA wins it for me!

[Edited 5/31/16 1:28am]

jaawwnn said:

KingSausage said:

jaawwnn said:

I like the title track to Musicology a lot but the album is a bit too safe overall for me, like a comeback album constructed in a boardroom.

While imho he overstretches himself on AOA a bit (the concept fairly falls apart for the middle section of the album for example) I prefer to hear that over the Classic Rock baiting nostalgia pop of Musicology.

So AOA wins it for me!

[Edited 5/31/16 1:28am]

I'll save time and just concur with all of this

me 2

lostangel078 said:

Art Official Age 100%. Love that album.

Adore both records, but...

.

Best of the 2, for me, = Musicology... A Million days, C-girl, Marrying Kind, Man In Ure Life, Mr Man... stop stop!! Too good!!

.

AOA, I love Art Official Cage, Breakdown (one of all time faves), Clouds, Way Back Home.. great stuff. but overall the rest is a bit slow for me, tempo wise.

.

Sidenote - AOA has one of, if not the, worst prince song for a very long time, and that's "Time" - yuk.

.

jodznsez said:

Adore both records, but...

.

Best of the 2, for me, = Musicology... A Million days, C-girl, Marrying Kind, Man In Ure Life, Mr Man... stop stop!! Too good!!

.

AOA, I love Art Official Cage, Breakdown (one of all time faves), Clouds, Way Back Home.. great stuff. but overall the rest is a bit slow for me, tempo wise.

.

Sidenote - AOA has one of, if not the, worst prince song for a very long time, and that's "Time" - yuk.

.

Agree about Musicology. Dr. Mr. Man and Reflection are, in my opinion, two of the best Prince songs of all time.

jodznsez said:

Adore both records, but...

.

Best of the 2, for me, = Musicology... A Million days, C-girl, Marrying Kind, Man In Ure Life, Mr Man... stop stop!! Too good!!

.

AOA, I love Art Official Cage, Breakdown (one of all time faves), Clouds, Way Back Home.. great stuff. but overall the rest is a bit slow for me, tempo wise.

.

Sidenote - AOA has one of, if not the, worst prince song for a very long time, and that's "Time" - yuk.

.

The Org's planets just will not align will they. That is probably my favourite song on AOA.

Rebeljuice said:

jodznsez said:

Adore both records, but...

.

Best of the 2, for me, = Musicology... A Million days, C-girl, Marrying Kind, Man In Ure Life, Mr Man... stop stop!! Too good!!

.

AOA, I love Art Official Cage, Breakdown (one of all time faves), Clouds, Way Back Home.. great stuff. but overall the rest is a bit slow for me, tempo wise.

.

Sidenote - AOA has one of, if not the, worst prince song for a very long time, and that's "Time" - yuk.

.

The Org's planets just will not align will they. That is probably my favourite song on AOA.

.

.

haha each to their own !! that's the beauty of music!!

.

For me, it just plods along and is very linear and emotion-less....

Musicology - Art Official Cage (Musicology is a bit safe, but AOC is completely amateurish, possibly the worst Prince album opener ever)

Illusion Coma Pimp & Circumstance - Clouds (A close one, but the guitar and vocals in the former are incredibly funky)

A Million Days - The Breakdown (A Million Days at least sounds complete. The production on The Breakdown is horrible, which is a shame, becaue the live 3rdeyegirl version is a highlight of many bootlegs)

Life O the Party - The Gold Standard (These songs are both equal in how much I don't like them)

Call My Name - U Know (Both songs are decent. The former is a little bland but excellently made, while Prince's vocals in U Know 'U Know how much...' are brilliant)

Cinannamon Girl - Breakfast Can Wait (Breakfast Can Wait is kinda fun, but also kinda annoying. I think Cinannamon Girl is extremely underrated. Love it lyrically and musically)

What Do You Want Me 2 Do? - This Could Be Us (I love the guitar at the end of This Could Be Us, like the guitar at the end of Clouds, it's beautiful, melodic and a little bittersweet all at once. But What Do You Want Me 2 Do? is great all the way through. A nice quirky track)

The Marrying Kind/IIWTMIYL - What it Feels Like (I like Andy Allo and Prince's voices together, but the track is boring)

On the Couch - Affirmation I & II / Way Back Home (Prince has been on the couch, so to speak, a million times. The Affirmations and Way Back Home are unique in Prince's catalogue, and actually pretty damn good)

Dear Mr Man - Funknroll (This version of Funknroll is like a kick in the teeth after Way Back Home. The opposite of 'Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in')

Reflection - Time & Affirmation III (Further evidence that there will never be a Prince album with a song I don't absolutely love, is Time. It's fucking perfect.)

While Time is the best song of the lot, I would much rather listen to Musicology.

[Edited 5/31/16 8:42am]

KingSausage said:

Give me Musicology. Solid across the board. AOA was all over the place for me. The last minute of ICP&C are the highlight of the album as far as im concerned. Funkyness. Blows away clouds.

They are both amazing, I coudln't even start to compare them against each other as they are two different beasts, two amazing albums showcasing where Prince was musically at that time.

'Musicology' is an album that never really stuck with me - I can't really say why. Some of it sounds by the numbers to me, I guess. I even have a hard time remembering what some of the tracks sound like on the second half of the release. I'll give the whole album another spin as soon as I finish listening to Delilah's 2012 solo debut (on my very first listen of that album, arrived in the mail today). So right now 'AOA' is the clear winner to me. I see no weak tracks on 'AOA', I also like the spoken interludes a lot. But I might be back in this thread with a more specific update

.

btw I like the concept of this thread, good idea to compare these 2 albums, kudos to lostangel078.

[Edited 5/31/16 9:50am]

Musicology wins because it is PRINCE; not Prince contaminated with some unqualified, undeserving youngsters

FUNKYNESS said:

Musicology wins because it is PRINCE; not Prince contaminated with some unqualified, undeserving youngsters

I laughed hard when I read this, because this is how I felt for 85% of Hit N Run Phase 1. But I enjoyed what they did together on AOA.

Just a quick thought/opinion on this comparison - since Musicology is my least favorite of all Prince albums, I would have to give the nod to AOA.

AOA by a country mile.

i just came here to see if violet had posted about her hate for coulds yet.



oh, and "AOA" hands down. although "reflection" is a killer tune.

Since I despise AOA, Musicology takes it in damn near every potential way.