First off, I love TRC, in some ways enjoy it (and listen ot it) more than some of the vintage Prince stuff (which of course I love too) as it's more recent and blew me away (this being a surprise) when I heard it.

In the weeks leading up to Musicology "coming out" I started to get the impression that it would be a pop affair aimed at commercial success, and as such knew it would never be the progression and continuation of the style on TRC, ONA, XPECTATION and NEWS that I hoped for. Can't always get what u want after all.

Anyway, I'm not sure whether to regard this new album as better or worse than I expected. Considering the Prince music I love, I immediately went for...

Call My Name
On The Couch
Dear Mr. Man
Reflection

I really like these tracks and can't help thinking that this album should have been a soul/RnB affair, to go along with whole Musicology message. We could've had these four tracks, plus the jazzy "U Want Me" and with a version of the title tracks sans the awful synth horns and gratuitous overdubs. This would've made the basis for a bloody good RnB album.

Think Al Green, Sly (the slow & mid-tempo soul), Stevie etc. and u'd be close to where I would've loved Prince to take this album.

Some tracks I can't make my mind up about...

Cinnamon Girl
The Marrying Kind
If Eye Was The Man In Ur Life

These are kinda interesting but in some way unsatisfying as they don't fit with the ones I like listed above.

The vintage Prince-sounding "What Do U Want Me 2 Do?" I like quite a lot. Very cute track with beautiful guitar. The guitar towards the end of "Illusion, Pimp..." is also very funky, although this track suffers from the early 90s Prince mack-daddy style I so hate.

I won't even dignify "Life O' The Party" with anything more than a

So, in summary, not bad, some very good moments and lots of mediocrity. Overall, a wasted opportunity to make a rootsy, soulful RnB album with beautiful vocals and lovingly meticulous production.

It's no TRC, no sir. Never mind. At least there's "Dear Mr Man" huh. Very nice horns.

Sir, I am a lover of TRC, and I think your thoughts on Musciology are on the whole spot on , although I rate Illusion...which I think works where Life o the Party falls flat on its face on a really hard slab of metal.

Cinnamon Girl has also grown on me. The album is a lot better than I expected. I'm also not sure about The Marrying Kind and If i was the man in your life. They're both okay (and they do work together well), but they already feel a bit stale to me.

So i agree with most of your comments but am more optimistic in conclusion.

what i do like about prince is diversity, i dont want a r&b album from prince, I love how he can jump from call my name to cinnamon girl then to what you want me to do then to the marrying kind. If he isn't gonna experiment he better not do a straight adult r&b album, or i'll kick him hard

I love musicology because it's uptempo and mid tempo for the most part of it, i don't wanna a album full of ballads even tought i love call my name and on the couch, we already have too much of this soup. Remember Emancipation? Emacipation have 300 R&b ballads on there.

Maybe what happened here is the oppo-same as on Rave.

Rave was originally mooted to be a more pop/rock affair, but turned out to have quite a bit of R&B material on it.

Now we get an album that sounds as if it was to be an R&B album (going back to roots yadda, yadda) that had some pop/rock material added.

TheFrog said:

There's definitely something about those two tracks that leaves me unsure how I feel about them.

I mean The Marrying Kind and IEWTMIYL

On the whole the album is just a little bit too much of a mish-mash to me. Not in the sense that I don't like different styles of music, but albums just sound better when the instrumentation and feel is coherent and consistent throughout the whole album.

The funny thing about this album is how it contains songs that are reminiscent of Prince songs from the 80s, 90s and 00s, as has been said on several threads. It's very easy to make easy to see comparisons to past songs. Part linn, D&P, symbol, C&D, Emancipation, Jughead, TRC, year 1 and Dear Mr. Man, all in one album. Works for some people, but I want a coherent album. This ain't one.

Welcome to The Mish-Mash Experience.

Really do like 4 tracks a lot though. Pimp has funky guitar at its conclusion too.

In some of his most recent interviews, it becomes clear that Prince sees his records as a way to stretch his audience's taste.

I imagine that he might want to retain as much creative freedom as he can, but still keep in touch with us.

I feel that the old-and-new eclecticism is the result of some kind of negotiation for freedom Prince is having with us.

The exception is TRC. I think he made that for God, and maybe for himself. It's the best he produced in ages.

I haven't heard Musicology yet, but reading the comments in this thread, I expect it to be intended a little too much for the audience and too little for Prince's spirituality.

I'm an atheist myself, but I somehow believe in the way Prince is believing. It's the way to go for him. Someone else should do the marketing, and sell what there is to sell without putting pressure on his art. He should trust that there will always be people who love his music, whatever it is.