How much of an honor it must be for Prince. Imagine, the only measuring stick that we have to measure his “pop” genius by is his past work. Have you ever noticed in recent years that when critics review the diminutive rocker they seem to no longer bombard us with references to James Brown, Hendrix, or Sly Stone, but with allusions to ground breaking material such as “1999”, “Dirty Mind”, “Purple Rain”, and the masterpiece “Sign ‘o’ the Times”. The funny thing is that this is all Prince’s work. Wow. Prince has come into his own all by himself .

This brings me to his latest effort “Musicology.” Now this is bliss. Many on the Prince Org. will probably hunt me down and do “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” like atrocities to me, but here goes… I do believe that Prince has created an LP that blows 1988’s “LoveSexy” away. In almost every way I can think of Prince has created an album in the Millennium that with proper promotion will and should rank with much of his 1980’s work. My proper order being “SOTT”, “1999”, “Parade”, “Purple Rain”, “Musicology”, and the “TRC” for an abnormal “TOP 6”.

To the point though “Musicology” is magnificent even after first, second, seventh listen. I am convinced that artistically and commercially this was a proper path for the Artist to take. Oh and did I mention no Rap/Hip-Hop insinuations, Ok maybe one. Prince does walk down a short alleyway in the extreme jam “Life of the Party” where he seemingly dances into a vocal riff that reminisces Missy Elliott & Nelly Furtadoes’ version of “Get Your Freak On”. This jam is cool as hell causing a euphoric journey back to “Lovesexy’s” “Alphabet Street.”, just without the playful almost juvenile (in a good way) air that the only true hit off of the aforementioned album. The instrumentation is as funky as Prince has been in years. Another stand out track is the extremely cool and “Under the Cherry Moonish” “Illusion, Coma, Pimp…” This funk proves that the man is definitely a funkmeister on level with anyone that ever walked through the doors of Parliament Funk. Oh yes and then there is Prince’s trademark social commentary song (two this time) that as of recently has been a little off topic in my opinion, normally just coming off as mere complaints and rants at whoever from Abraham Lincoln to the KKK. In “Dear Mr. Man” it starts off as a letter, a wonderfully written letter that truly comments on the state of the union in many ways that his greatest social comment “SOTT” did almost 17 years ago. Call it an updated, better, less depressing “Money Don’t Matter…”Once again the music is exceptional. Has this guy been practicing or what? He was great before, but now WOW. This is seen even more so when u get to track #6 “Cinnamon Girl”. This could become my favorite Prince song of all time, well just behind “Little Red Corvette” the grandfather of all Prince’s big hits. It has everything a song should have; good guitar solos, good drums and beat, social commentary, and a girl…might be a pretty girl. The acoustic sound of “Reflection” does remind me of another song. Is it “Baby” or “Crazy You” from 1978’s For You LP. Oh Hell what ever it was back then it is even better today, while still emanating a sense of innocence that once defined that debut effort. How ironic that the title and lead off song “Musicology”, a homage to yesterday’s music citing several giant acts from yesteryear is the tune I skip the most. Although the video is extremely alluring and could probably change my mind and many of the mainstream listeners. I tell you this LP is the most accessible of Prince’s in years to the general listener as well as the devout fan who critiques as much as praises the man on a daily basis. Powerful are the tunes that come from this LP and classics in the making they maybe. Slow jams like “Call My Name” may not pull this off, but mellow ones like the “What Do you Want Me 2 Do?” could catapult Prince into the stratosphere that he once song about in 1994 with “Space”. Somebody on the Org used the word “overproduced” in reference to this LP. That was not a true statement at all. Perhaps the problem is simply speakers. By that I mean, on some stereos of lesser quality certain songs are “jumbled” and “thunderous”, and on a nice say BOSE system it comes off just f-cking great. My only gripe with the LP is that for some reason it seems as if it needs a cohesive bridge song like “Starfish and Coffee” or “Shy”. A Short song that captures the imagination like “Starfish” did way back in my younger years. Thank GOD for “What Do U Want Me 2 Do....” and finally I heard this song after not being able to download it or hear it on the NPGMC. This is one cool, mellow, summer breeze of a song. Deserves to be a second release (round MAY) and would be a hit in a "perfect radio world".
One more thing is that I would like to thank Prince for putting his promotion into the hands of a professional. This mix of appearances and PR opportunities has allowed the world to see the pure genius that we have known all along.
[This message was edited Wed Mar 31 14:27:58 2004 by lmas]
[This message was edited Thu Apr 1 20:47:08 2004 by lmas]

Man, April 20th seems so far away. I want this album NOW. I can't wait till I get it.

Man u should have gone 2 the concert

I tried to get tickets but they sold out fast. It worked out cause my job sent me to Yuma, Arizona so I wouldn't have been able to go, but I'm going to the MAy 28th show with one of my best friends so it's going be all the way live that night.

Wow, I don't really want an epileptic fit, so I won't read that huge block of non paragraphed text, but Musicology better than Lovesexy?

Hey, whatever floats your boat, you know?!

But - Musicology better than Lovesexy - If that's an opinion you serious hold, then I'd like to take a toke of whatever you're smoking.


-
[This message was edited Wed Mar 31 15:54:18 2004 by Romance1600]

lmas said:

Whoa! Easy, there, cowboy. I like Musicology, but comparing it to Lovesexy? I dunno. You're stepping on some sacred toes there.

But then again, that's what its all about, n'est ce pas?

lmas said:

Oh lordy. Now we're gonna have to fight. C'mon - you honestly are telling me that you put Cinnabon Girl above all other songs save LRC? Romance 1600 is right, give me some of what you're smokin'.

lmas said:

Blasphemy! You know where naughty kids go for telling lies don't you?

Just kidding... if you think that, it's cool. Your opinion.

In my opinion, no one... not even Prince can top Lovesexy. Not the album, not the tour, not the videos, etc., etc., etc.

Although Lovesexy is, imo, overated, it does have an all-time Prince classic on it, AnnaStesia. While Musicology has some very good songs on it, it doesn't have anything at the level of that one song. (Granted that is an extremely high bar to set for any artist)

Lovesexy is so over-rated around here.

How can it be a great record when it is book ended by two mediocre songs like Eye Know and especially Positivity? I like the record but i will never understand why people love it so much.

Annastesia is the fucking bomb though!

bkw said:

I have to agree... Every time I see someone mention what a masterwork Lovesexy is I have to mentally go down the track list to see what I'm missing... Annastesia is a truly soaring gem and I do like Glam Slam, LoveSexy and I Wish U Heaven but the other songs are just average. Eye No and Positivy are just 'flat'. I love the 'sound' of the whole album but I don't rank it in the top 5.

Overall, I prefer Musicology to LoveSexy, as well.

bkw said:

Eye Know and Positivity are not mediocre

I'm one to 'over-rate' Lovesexy because like Prince's classics, once I begin to play it I just can't stop because I find it that addicting to the soul and I've yet to listen to another album that has reached it's levels. I'm puzzled by the fact it isn't 'over-rated' because in my book, it certainly always will be over the top…guess I'm just one of those people where it really just struck a chord that won't ever change my mind on that, but now, I just can't wait to get MUSICOLOGY even more!!! I didn't read all paragraphs above, but I can tell I most definitely agree with most of what Imas stated…

I'll gladly overrate Lovesexy till the purple paisley cows come twirling home.

Wow ok, now I'm overrated??

Romance1600 said:

yeah sorry about the block parargraph. I wrote it in MS Word (copied and pasted) and this is how it turned out.

as for the comment, yes better than LOvesexy. I still believe that the true reason many love "Lovesexy" so much is because it came in on the heals of "SOTT".

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

see I feel the same way about "SOTT", "Parade", and "TRC". We all have something in common (a love for Prince music), but his catalogue is so diverse it's hard for us all to stay focused on just one. I played "LoveSexy" to death in 1988. It was Prince's last great LP of the 80's and possibly his (last) "artistic LP" until "TGE" and "TRC". NOw I am truly in love, just wait u'll see. If not oh well at least you still have your very own favorite

Lovesexy is very experimental.. studio,lyrically and really every way it gets.. its a peak in his career in my opinion.. probably his most interesting of them all.. it ties in with the black album.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

how cute

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I wont mess with ya cos I know how much you love it!

I really like lovesexy, dont get me wrong, I just dont rate it as high as most people here seem to.

Do I get to keep my funk badge?

bkw said:

What he said.

purplecam said:

Don't fret. It's not that good. I mean, it quite a nice album, with some cool tracks, but it isn't all this thread is making it out to be.

Don't get your hopes up too much. That way when u hear it u'll probably like it more than u thought u would.

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Lovesexy is a masterpiece and is not by any means overrated.
If U have seriously listened 2 the Lovesexy CD and experienced those concerts at that time, then U would understand what it's about and would not be posting these stupid statements.

Plus I then read that U think Cinnamon Girl is a better song than Little Red or some crap?

Please

Controversy said:

man o man.
That is not what I said. None the less after listening to the LP (Musicology) again for the 15th time. Yes it is better than Lovesexy IMO.
Let's face it Lovesexy has some nice tunes (Alphabet Street, Anna Stestia, I wish U heaven, and When 2 R inLove) but come on even the title song is just way to busy. I always compare it to a much cooler and funkier song called "We Can Funk" (1990) and I say this is what the "Lovesexy" song should have been. Instead it comes off yipping and yiping (and wooo hoooing) all over the place. IMO "Lovesexy" is one of my least favorite Prince LP's hell I listened to "Batman" with more respect. Just kidding
[This message was edited Thu Apr 1 17:57:16 2004 by lmas]

Question to all .

Would _____(fill in the blank) been a classic if it wasnt top 10 ?

or .....



If those same albums/songs were released today would you like them ?

Controversy said:

As someone who played Lovesexy to death and saw Prince in concert during the Lovesexy tour,
I'll still state Musicology is better. (Oh, and the hi-light of the Lovesexy concert wasn't even the Lovesexy material, imo - it was the tracks from The Black Album. )

Lovesexy being a masterpiece is not based on fact, it's based on opinion. One I don't hold. it has some great songs amid the filler and a beautiful sound but it always felt like a rushed project to me.

To state that someone else's opinion is stupid because it doesn't agree with yours is fairly stupid to me.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

i would like to second, third & forth the latter statement

What a hilarious thread. Track for track I think most fans will agree theres no competition.

As far as im concerned, Lovesexy was his last GREAT album.

Ive never understood how Prince went from Lovesexy to Batman!

bkw said:

Ditto. It's ok, but not my favorite by far.