What u dig more right now?

Still TRC baby!!

Musicology, hands down.

Its a tie so far...

TRC!

Much better songs, would be even better without 'the voice'. Still a clasic

Sdldawn said:

C'mon...the TRC title track alone blows Musicology title track to pieces!!

Sdldawn said:

C'mon...the TRC title track alone blows Musicology title track to pieces!!

rainbowchild said:

Hey! were talking about albums as a whole.. not paticular song..

Sdldawn said:

I'm saying for starters, TRCs title track's much better...and the rest of the album even gets better!! Musicology's poorly produced IMO!!

No doubt, for me it is TRC

Understandably, I'm listening to the 'Musicology' material at the moment.

To date, there are some tracks I like more on 'Musicology' than some on TRC, and vice versa.

And as complete albums, both have things for and against them.

One of the factors that currently counts in TRC's favour for me is that it seems less derivative of Prince's previous work than 'Musicology'.

.

rainbowchild said:

I would agree that TRC has better production... sadly, it's a great production of a big mess, imo!
There's some great stuff there but it's lost in a mess of voice-overs and weak lyrics. Last December is beautiful but the rest is average music at it's core, no matter how well played. Again, just my opinion.

TRC got fewer spins here than any Prince album but The Vault.

Musicology hasn't really grabbed me yet, whereas TRC blew me away from the first listen and continued to get better and still gets played nearly all the way through today. Musicology is certainly growing but there are 2 or three tracks that let it down for me. With TRC the only part that I have always hated is that computer voiced first part to family name, the black/white, this/that section, which I have edited out.

...and there are songs in Musicology that's cringe-inducing for me...it's sooo lame for a Prince album...not even a contender for album of the year at next year's Grammys..

langebleu said:

This is one of the things that keeps me playing TRC on occasion. Although you know, I sat down one weekend after I got it and took a digital axe to all the odd sections and voice-overs to get down to the songs themselves and was left with a fairly conventional Prince album for the most part. other than two or so songs, there's nothing incredibly new for P on TRC, either - it's just the complete, intact presentation that makes it so otherworldly in the Prince discography.

rainbowchild said:

See, I'm the exact opposite - as I feel that way about TRC. There's nothing on Musicology that makes me cringe (but there's no classic tracks there, either - nor on TRC).

Well i'm generalising here, but for me the funk of Musicology isn't of the same calibre as that on The Rainbow Children. And i much prefer the "ballads" of Musicology.

I dunno, give me time to decide.

TheFrog said:

LOL I'm beginning to think maybe I'm just the odd one out here because I find the ballads as being the real letdown on Musicology.

rainbowchild said:

After all, the Grammys are always a great barometer...

no disresepect to "musicology", but it is a good album... TRC is a classic album...

i think TRC is an overall better album... the production, the sound, the musicianship, the lyrics, the whole deal... he sounds more passionate about and attatched to the songs on the TRC... and it was nice to hear him branch out and add new sounds to his style... we've heard everything on "musicology" before, which isn't a bad thing, it just holds it back from attaining the same status as TRC...

TRC schools us Religion !
Musicology schools us Music !

Hmmmm ??

I like The Rainbow Children, but I love Musicology

TRC every time...its just miles better in every possible respect

Hmm, preachy, no-fun, non-sexy, slightly misogynistic TRC or funky, sexy, politically fired up, Musicology. No question here.
TRC: B
Musicology: A-

MendesCity said:

TRC misogynistic????Where?

My vote TRC for all the previous stated reasons.

I'd love to be corrected on this, seriously, but there seems to a yucky "she must obey him, or at least share all his beliefs" theme running through this album. I mean beyond just the tired old Eve story in the beginning, there's this stuff:

The one who commands ur momma
With the simple phrase "I am"
And every time that she obeys
She gives birth 2 the Son of Man

If she could be Muse and let him decide
Perhaps she'll let him decide

This one I can take over my momma's house
And I don't have 2 worry what goes in and out her mouth

How am I supposed to read all that?

Wow Mendes...could not say it better. the thing that cracks me up are those standing up for TRC as this monumentally superior album and then they talk about how they had to chop it up so they can stand to listen to it. lol What great album needs to be edited just so you can listen to it all the way through.
I agree it needs to be edited...i couldn't get past the voice and still struggle with the feeling i'm being beat over the head with a WatchTower...but because of that i can't rate it higher than a B. And that's only because the musicianship and the innovativeness of the sound is so daring and fresh.
Frankly i think TRC is the instrumental that NEWS should have been. Rid of all the preachy lyrics and voiceovers this music could stand on it's own as a classic.
So i'm going to go with A- Musicology (first album since D/P that i want to listen to over and over) over the B rated TRC.

I posted this on another thread but I think it helps in answer this question. How many of you who like TRC better than Musicology like the pre-purple rain albums better than SOTT and/or Lovesexy? My bet would be not many.


Most Prince fans fall into 4 camps.

#1 Those that have been with him since "For You" and think his best work is pre-Purple Rain. Their favorite songs are stuff like "Let's Work", "Head" and "DMSR" Those fans tend to be more into R&B, Funk and Soul. We (I am in this group) aren't fans of C&D, we enjoyed Emancipation more than the Gold Experience and are digging Musicology more than TRC. I think this new album is more to our taste than those in group #2.

#2 Those who's cd collection at home is more than half non-soul, funk or r&b. They are fans of people like Bowie, Beck and U2. They think the Gold Experience is a good if not a great album, and dug cuts from C&D. Most of these fans enjoy the song cinnamon girl and a million days from the new album.

#3 The 'fam" who thinks Prince can do no wrong. Not much else needs to be said about this camp other than you can't trust any review from them.

#4 The pure music lover. This fan's cd collection has as much soul as rock and maybe even a little country and hip hop mixed in there. A lot of these fans enjoy Prince albums for all phases of his career. While this group may make up the biggest part of those here on the org or over an npgmc, they aren't the majority in the real world. Most people who own more than one Prince album, fall into camp #1 or #2.

So really what camp you fall into decides what albums you enjoy more than others. I just think it's important to understand what camp someone comes to better understand where they are coming from. No right or wrong here just different points of view from people of different backgrounds. It's speaks volumes about Prince's talent that he can call such a diverse group of people fans.

intha916 said:

That's interesting. I think i prefer TRC to Musicology, but on balance i prefer pre-Purple Rain to post. Not that i don't dig later stuff, but exactly the tracks you mention (i'd take Dirty Mind, Controversy or 1999 over Lovesexy any day of the week, tho i dig the latter) are my kinda thing.

But i thought Chaos & Disorder was a great album. And I certainly didn't prefer emancipation to the gold experience. Some wonderful stuff on Emancipation (Style, somebody's somebody, we get's up, curious child) but a lot of filler too, IMO.

I guess if i had to be in one of those categories it'd be 4. Cos right now i'm as much about folk and so-called 'world music' as i am about soul and funk.

[This message was edited Fri Apr 2 9:27:23 2004 by TheFrog]

If people could understand what blessing is art they wouldn't waste their time criticizing real musicans like Prince, they would try to paint a picture, write a book or write a song even if the song sounds like jughead. Some people act like an album like NPS and rave are CRAP real shit. But it's not. It's not a SOTT but what is SOOT? it's one of the best albums of all times from anyone. Just enjoy music. I like all Prince songs. And I love some, i don't care much for others, but all of them are from ok to good, and from good to excelent. If i could write a song like reflection i could die today and i would be a happy man.

By the way i am #4

I love andre3000, stevie wonder, guns n roses, pantera, pet metheny, miles davis, jimi hendrix, mr bungle and so on. from thrash metal to pure jazz, you see?

I love to love so many bands, and i love to love musicology, i feel sorry for the people who say that they don't dig nothing since lovesexy from prince, what does these people hear? I am a musican and i can hear good things even in songs from 50 cents. And it is cool to be like this. I know lots of cats that i hear are not musical genious, but they still can be fun, they still can rock, and they still can write beautiful songs sometimes. sorry if does not have nothing to do with the topic. I am just tired of so much negativity here.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 2 8:55:47 2004 by 7salles]
[This message was edited Fri Apr 2 8:56:30 2004 by 7salles]