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CD REVIEW

'Musicology' by Prince
The Hope Of Prince Returns

April 22, 2004
By DAN LEROY, The Hartford Courant

Once the (literal) symbol for an artist who'd completely lost the plot, Prince has, of late, become a beacon of hope - music's last, best chance at reconnecting its hostile, fractured genres and sub-genres the way he effortlessly entwined rock and R&B during his do-no-wrong '80s run.

Even doubters watching Prince's recent show-stealing cameo at the Grammys admitted that another shower of "Purple Rain" - the very forecast fans have been praying for since he began his long, strange trip out of the mainstream - would be welcome in this parched pop landscape.

The bad news first: Despite the encouraging signs - from his return to a major label and (mostly) one-man band status, to the montage of old singles that teasingly closes the title track - this is not another collection of chartbusting crossover brilliance. Yet Prince's refusal to reclaim his commercial throne shouldn't obscure the joyful reality of "Musicology." It really is his best work in at least a decade and a half, revisiting the organic, old-school funk he began embracing post-"Sign O' the Times," with none of the excesses of his subsequent years in the wilderness.

Also absent is the battle between raunch and religion that animated much of his greatest material. But as the gorgeous paean to love's simple pleasures, "Call My Name," makes clear, Prince has resolved that angst. These are the reflections of a sharp and stable fortysomething who can still be the "Life O' the Party" on a song by that name, but who's just as apt to wonder if he watered the plants and sigh wistfully about playing his guitar on the stoop. Luckily for all of us, after spending ages out there playing for himself, Prince has decided to come back inside.

I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE DO THIS!

This is not a retread, and since when are musical excesses a bad thing?

poetbear68 said:

when they get in the way, and the music is tripping over the excess. see also: The Rainbow Children and Emancipation

GrayKing said:

I'm new to this site. Just wanted to say that it is the first album in ten years that I have not been able to take out of the player! It's great from start to finish. I think "Man in ur life" could make a great single as well.

We r digging it in burbs of Detroit.