..."A BAND."

There is some really good stuff on this CD; Dear Mr. Man, Illusion..., If I Were The Man In Ur Life, Cinnamon Girl, A Million Days, and Reflection are, for me, highlights of a great collection of songs.

They one thing that holds them back from really flying is the lack of a real band, strangely enough, the one he has been playing with for three years now...

John Blackwell and Rhonda alone would have propelled this album to near classic status. Prince is a genuis as a musician, but he simply needs other players to breath different life into his work. Where he once could make recordings by himself that would sound like a whole band, now it sounds like one man trying to sound like a whole band.

I think regardless of how one views the theology, many can agree that TRC has a real organic feel, and the sound of a band laying it down, and that it was one of his most excitingly musical albums, ever.

On the above tracks, especially the drums, things are kept tame and rigid, something that the songs themselves are not. It's as if Prince is using a "Prince-sampler", and hitting a button to supply "Princely" drum fills, bass lines, rythmn guitar flourishes. They are tasteful and melodic, but it's as if we've heard them before.

Coupled with one true classic track, the inclusion of his touring band would make this an album that ranks well above the middle of the man's work. As it is, Musicology is a great "rough draft" of a great paper.

My 2 cents...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. A couple of my own came to mind in response to your post.

I haven't seen any indication of who is playing what on this album. My promo copy just says "produced, arranged, composed and performed** by prince", but the ** indicates "xcept where indicated". Without the full liner notes, I reserve judgement on how much of this album is purely Prince's performance.

And, if memory serves, TRC was mainly a Prince performance with some flute by Najee (?), a couple bass tracks by Larry Graham, some guest vocals and John Blackwell on the drums throughout. In fact, I remember being rather surprised when I got the packaged version (as opposed to my download) and found out it wasn't a live band. Sounded like he had a full compliment of musicians with him, but it was mainly him.

I agree that the drums are not as bombasitc as you'd hear with Blackwell or Michael Bland, and if Prince did do the drumming himself, while I love him to death, drums are not his strongest suite. Regardless, I've been shakin' what my momma gave me all day!

I tend to listen to each album in as much of a vacuum as I can, giving each one a chance to stand on its own in terms of approach and production, rather than try to compare them against the ones before. Otherwise, you only end up comparing apples to kumquats anyway.

This makes almost no sense to me. So the premise is that Prince used to sound like a band and now he doesnt? Or simply have someone else playing certain parts, it would automatically be better? Rhonda and John are good but come now. I have the CD from the screening and it indicates that there are other performers on the album. HOw can you assume what Prince is playing and what others are doing without seeing who played or sang what? OK, I understand that a real aficianado will know Prince's playing from anyone else but there is still some contributions from someone else on this thing.

HalluRain,I agree with you totally. I also have the same approach to listening to a Prince album as you do. I approach the album as if its the first album that he has ever made, I don't even look at the song titles, I just start it from track one and let the CD take me wherever its going to take me. I don't compare songs to other songs or cd's to other cd's. I received the cd last night but I haven't listened to it yet, so I can't comment on weather it's a good cd or not. But judging from the 3 songs that he sang last night, How can it be bad.

Two words: CONTROL FREAK
I love ya Prince but man, let it go.

I agree 100% with this post.
[This message was edited Tue Mar 30 12:36:55 2004 by marcdeondotcom]

I'm still absorbing it. It will take me a few days to really assess how I feel about the disc. Its a very different album overall than previous efforts.

marcdeondotcom said:

Yep.

I have to listen a few more times, but the first few tracks did sound a little thin... Maybe it was because the base-boost button wasn't in, and we had just gotten out of the screening. Gotta let it sink in more. This morning I skipped over the first half of the cd and listened to the last 5 songs, and I heard some good things happening.

Bull said:

live version of 'life o the party' was dope. completely different music from the album version which is lackluster.

jpav said:

I hear what you're saying... but I actually think what you're suggesting is true and consistant throughout Prince's entire career, not just on the Musicology album. I can think of no better example of this than the famous "Sign O' The Times" album. A lot of fans who weren't around at the time don't realize that Sign o The Times really only came to life after the release of the concert movie. Prince is one of the few artists alive who knows how to take his music to the next level in a live setting. So I don't think it's so much the band or lack of a band. Instead, I think it's Prince's approach to studio music versus live music that makes the difference.

dealodelandron said:

That was over James Brown's "Hot Pants"
Love that song!
[This message was edited Tue Mar 30 15:31:33 2004 by yamomma]

There really ARE some great songs on this CD. Listened to once, the CD doesn't strike my fancy yet, though. I KNOW it will grow on me like all his others. Some (Lovesexy, The Rainbow Children) take longer than others. Perhaps it is the song order... I am now listening to it a second time in random order. I think the 2nd song "Illusion, Coma,..." is so bad that it scared me into thinking the whole CD was that bad and I didn't recover immediately.

==> OK since I wrote this yesterday, already "Illusion, Coma..." is growing on me. It's kinda funky.
[This message was edited Wed Mar 31 16:05:13 2004 by DavidBlue]

I haven't heard the whole album yet - maybe 3 or 4 songs. but from what I can hear from the title song musicology it sounds like live instruments that have been "sampled" and then sequenced. Shame because I think just recording it live in the studio a la TRC would of sounded much better, but like someone said above Prince is a control freak and wanted to control the sound of the album - I'd prefer a band recording like Shhh, Eye Hate U, TMBGITW from GoldExP. or most of TRC.

R. Kelly's Doo Doo Butter