Back on his throne

By ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN
Thursday, April 15, 2004 - Page R5

Musicology

Prince

NPG Records (Columbia)

Rating: ***½

An Afro'd preteen pushes his crumpled dollar across a record counter and gets a 45 single and concert ticket in return. At the show, he sees the star wailing praise for long-ago hits by Sly Stone and Rick James, while a couple of very old-school dancers evoke the spirit of Harlem's Savoy Ballroom. Old times sure seem like the best times in Prince's video for Musicology, the defiant single from his best album in years. The message is simple: Toss aside those turntables and those "minor keys" (take that, Alicia) -- Funkasaurus Rex is back on the prowl.

His timing couldn't be better. An incendiary star turn at the Grammys last month made Prince the biggest winner to go home without a trophy. An all-star funk-fest the same night connected the dots between recent enthusiasts such as OutKast and bespangled veterans like Prince and George Clinton. Suddenly, Prince's concerts are a big draw, after years of prophetic concept albums, disc-length jams and other projects too hermetic to reach beyond the hard-core following.

Musicology shows Prince at his most sociable, even though he recorded most of the tracks by himself. It's a virtual dance party, and the host is far too cunning to rely simply on tricks that moved the floor "back in the day."

Some of the best numbers have absorbed hip-hop production techniques into Prince's funky renaissance. The percussive groove of What Do U Want Me 2 Do?, in which our hero plays at being a demure married guy, would not have been thinkable in the days before scratching became a term of art. Ditto the brutally dry rhythm track for Illusion, Coma, Pimp and Circumstance, a terrific narrative song about ugly co-dependency between the rich and the beautiful.

Life o' the Party combines the heaviest beats since Gett Off with a minimal instrumentation that leaves ample room to admire Prince's skill at conjuring a sense of rhythmic social space from a crowd of discrete voices. At the other extreme, Reflection settles down in the heart of domestic pop, musing on the passing of time and the fantasy (for a famous recluse) of sitting on the stoop, strumming a guitar and watching the cars go by.

Much has been made of Prince's renewed acquaintance with the mainstream record industry, via a distribution and manufacturing deal for this album with Sony's Columbia Records. But he has gone that route before, when he made Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic for Arista in 1999. Sony is not preventing him from selling Musicology by download from his NPG Records website and yes, you will receive a plain-wrapped copy if you buy a ticket to one of his concerts.

On the Couch simmers out from the gospel end of R&B, though the point of this sexy-comic number is to get off the couch of exile and back into the marital bed. Call My Name is the affecting soul ballad that the over-produced A Million Days tries and fails to be, though even when he's nuzzling a favourite neck, Prince can spare a thought for the absurdity of the Gulf War and the intrusions of the Patriot Act. Cinnamon Girl posits a link between 9/11 and heightened racism in the U.S., and Dear Mr. Man insists there's no real change available at the ballot box.

But Prince may only be sounding out the political mood of the moment, just as the retro sentiment of the title single may be more mirror than window. Part of his appeal is that he's so changeable, while remaining so much himself. Musicology is less a comeback album (though it may become one commercially) than a glimpse of who Prince can be right now.

rick james? lol

what do u want me to do has nothing to do with hip hop - this guys got too many facts mixed up, like a lot of the nonmusic critics writing about the album.

griddus said:

This guy's obviously never listened to 'The Ballad of Dorothy Parker' which as many people have noted has a very similar drum sound and pattern.

Also, another reviewer calling Prince 'a recluse'. If you're not in the papers everyday for making a fool of yourself over something, they call you 'a recluse'. I don't think 'reluses' go on worldwide tours entertaining thousands of people.

Other than that, an okay review. I'm really looking forward to seeing whether this album really will sell a lot of units to the public or not.

metalorange said:

case in point: how many times a month does someone start a thread asking if Prince still lives in MPLS or if he's moved to Canada?

it's unusual for the hardcore fanbase to not be sure where a superstar actually calls home unless he's being purposely recluse.

Frankly, I'm just happy to see Prince getting this much positive press. Even with the perceived mistakes in categorizing or explaining his music (which fanatics like us can obviously point out), the focus is once again on the MUSIC. I'm sure you've all read that review in Rolling Stone???

It's time for Prince to make the cover of Rolling Stone again...who's with me on that one?

What else in the music world is so worthy of discussion right now. Prince is history and skill and relevant, current ability all at the same time.

Keith/Kacey

Funkasaurus Rex

griddus said:

Out of how many?

It's time for Prince to make the cover of Rolling Stone again...who's with me on that one?

Co-sign. The time is now.

We want cover! I'd so love to see him staring back at me from Magazine Alley. I might just cry then.