CD review: Prince's 'Musicology' is a potent (but PG) sign of the times
April 18, 2004
Prince, "Musicology" (NPG/Columbia)

There should be a parental-warning sticker on this new CD: "Suitable for all adults -- for a change."

After all these years, Prince has gone from a no-rules rude boy to an old-fashioned adult who acts his age. At 45, he isn't making albums for horny teenagers anymore. "Musicology" (in stores Tuesday) finds the former licentious libertine singing about marriage and monogamy, and dissing liquor and cigarettes.

Not that he's boring. Rather, he's exciting and excited. This is Prince's most focused and consistent album since "Lovesexy" in 1988. "Musicology" is a highly commendable comeback.

The music isn't groundbreaking; many selections sound like outtakes from such 1980s albums as "Controversy" and "Around the World in a Day." What compels is the songwriting. "Musicology" has some of Prince's most consistently developed ideas in years -- and he has something to say.

If there's an overriding theme, it would be respect for marriage. Now a practicing Jehovah's Witness, Prince sings about a faithful one-man woman ("The Marrying Kind") and the mundane joys of married life ("Did we remember to water the plants today?" he asks in "Reflection"). His love ballads are dreamy ("A Million Days"), lovey-dovey ("Reflection") and unabashed ("Call My Name"). They're seductive, too -- but without being overtly erotic.

Prince acknowledges that this hasn't always been his style. He disses the darkness of gigolo ways in "Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance," and he dismisses the temptation of cheating on a spouse in "What Do U Want Me 2 Do?" In "On the Couch," a slow, sexy blues, he scolds: "We need to be married/ Shouldn't let me unzip your dress/ Why'd you do it, baby?"

Throughout these songs, his guitar is as expressive as his voice as he glides through a variety of styles, from George Benson-like jazz to sad blues to roaring rock power chords. And he occasionally inserts humor, at one point poking fun at Michael Jackson by declaring, "My voice is getting higher/ I ain't never had my nose done."

Like all Prince albums, this one has its party numbers. "Life o' the Party" is minimalist tribal funk that is more lively in live performance, judging by a recent concert in Ames, Iowa. More infectious on disc is "Musicology," which is to '70s soul what Twista's recent "Slow Jamz" is to quiet-storm R&B. Prince salutes the old-school joints of Sly Stone, Earth, Wind & Fire and James Brown with a deliciously deliberate medium-tempo funk lesson.

The spirits of two other masters from the 1970s also are summoned here, but in a surprising way. "Dear Mr. Man," a jazz-soul stroll with wah-wah accents, sounds like Stevie Wonder meeting Marvin Gaye in 1972 at Paisley Park, but its message is current. In the tradition of Gaye's "What's Goin' On," Prince points out society's ills -- from holes in the ozone to the struggles of the disenfranchised. "Ain't no sense in voting," he rails. "We want to end this letter with three words -- we tired of y'all." Grammar and fuzzy math notwithstanding, Prince has produced a potent protest song, his most topical tune since 1987's "Sign o' the Times" and a perfect piece for this election year.

In fact, in many ways -- from its family values to its anti-war references -- "Musicology" is a sign of the times.

Jon Bream