Prince schools fans with 'Musicology'
Professor of Funk gives students eclectic mix of pop, rock, blues
By GEMMA TARLACH
Journal Sentinel pop music critic
Posted: April 20, 2004

Musicology 101 is in session.

Take a seat, students . . . no, wait. On second thought, stay on your feet, as you will most definitely be shakin' it during today's lesson.

With his first major label-distributed release in half a decade, Prince confirms what many of us suspected watching his show-stealing performance at the Grammys in February: His Purple Majesty is ready to return to his throne.

"Musicology," released Tuesday on Prince's own NPG Records label but distributed through Columbia, is the icon's most calculatedly accessible album since "Purple Rain." It's quintessential Prince at his poppiest, packaged for a short-attention-span audience.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Prince spent much of the '90s releasing increasingly obscure recordings with little attempt to woo the mainstream. But on "Musicology" he displays laudable focus: a dozen tracks clocking in at 47 minutes. Only one song checks in over the five-minute mark, and none registers dangerous levels of self-indulgence.

Instead, we get Prince's best creative quirks and trademark meld of rock and funk, all tightly arranged and easily digestible without caving to formula.

This is a Prince album that doesn't sound like anyone else - and one that anyone can appreciate.

The 45-year-old singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist - liner notes on "Musicology" say "all instruments and voices by PRINCE" - makes his direction clear in the opening moments of the first cut and title track. Declaring his mission to "kick the old school joint 4 the true funk soldiers," Prince channels James Brown as never before over a spare, irresistible beat.

"Life 'O' the Party" kicks off like a minimalist revision of the Prince classic "1999" before breaking down into a Timbaland-esque beat and taking on current chart-toppers with a wink - "Everybody can smell this funk, y'all/even down in Atlanta, GA/Everybody - even Dre 'n' them."

Flavors from back-in-the-day are strongest on the playful falsetto blues of "On the Couch" and "A Million Days," with its classic '80s crescendo of swirling synths and squealing guitar.

"Cinnamon Girl" juxtaposes upbeat, tambourine-shaking '60s pop-rock with lyrics searching for hope in a war-torn, post-Sept. 11 world.

There's a token narrative sexcapade, "Illusion, Coma, Pimp and Circumstance," pairing a wealthy older woman with a younger stud, but it's comparatively tame considering previous Princely odes to carnality - not surprising, given that his faith has moved front and center in the musician's life in recent years.

But leaving the darling Nikkis and much too fast red Corvettes in his past also suggests a mellow maturity.

In the closing track, "Reflection" - after wondering if he's remembered to water the plants and thinking about his mother - Prince admits, "Sometimes I just wanna go sit out on the stoop and play my guitar and just watch all, all the cars go by."

Prince will school us all when he headlines the Marcus Amphitheater June 24, the opening night of Summerfest 2004.

E-mail Gemma Tarlach at gtarlach@journalsentinel.com.