http://www.chron.com/cs/C...nt/2539803

His Royal Badness is back
Prince has earned 'Musicology' degree
By KEVIN O'HARE
Newhouse News Service

Musicology
Prince
NPG/Columbia HEAR IT NOW
Audio: Clips from Musicology by Prince:


• A Million Days
• Life 'O' The Party
• Cinnamon Girl
Requires the free RealPlayer

The big comeback is in full swing.

Prince, aka His Royal Badness, the guy who changed his name to an unpronounceable glyph for several years, is back in a big way.

His staggering performance with Beyoncé at the Grammy Awards earlier this year was the wake-up call. His show-stopping blast through his own past when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month was the second fusillade, one that peaked when he paid tribute to the late George Harrison with a devastating guitar solo during While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Now Step 3 arrives in this exceptional new album, Prince's best and most consistent in ages. Prince has always been a prodigious artist; he supposedly had as many as 450 songs backlogged when he battled his label Warner Bros. in the early 1990s over its reluctance to release all that product. Even when his albums weren't tearing up the hit parade, Prince was still recording almost constantly -- though a lot of that work was uneven.

There's nothing uneven about Musicology. A funky, soul-shaking blast of deep grooves, cool pop and scorching rock, it starts with the old-school title track, which name-drops Earth, Wind & Fire, Sly Stone and others.

At 45, Prince finally seems comfortable with his present and his past, and they collide brilliantly here. A Million Days is one of the best, most passionate songs he's penned since his Purple Rain prime time. Life o' the Party is classic Prince, raw and sweaty, pumped up by some crisp sax work. And Cinnamon Girl may borrow a title from Neil Young, but this is a distinctly Prince-penned track, featuring a strong pop hook and some impressive guitar work.

There are smooth songs of lust and temptation (What Do U Want Me 2 Do?) and a slow, soulful and amusing track in which Prince slips into the falsetto end of his voice while begging, "Come on, babe, don't make me sleep on the couch." That humorous side of the singer, which nearly got lost during his years of acrimonious bickering with big labels and the music industry, is back in force here.

For the first time in a long time, Prince is once again working with a big label: Musicology is being distributed through Columbia Records. That will help the songwriter reach a wider audience with one of the most important recordings of his career.

One of the most intriguing songs on the album is Dear Mr. Man, which finds Prince venturing into politics. He spices the song of social consciousness with biblical references:

"What's wrong with the world today?/Things just got to get better/Show me what the leaders say/Maybe we should write a letter/Said Dear Mr. Man, we don't understand/Why poor people keep struggling but you don't lend a helping hand/Matthew 5:5 say `The meek shall inherit the earth'/We wanna be down that way/but you been trippin' since the day of your birth."

Ultimately, he takes a controversial stand, deciding that there's no help to be found through the democratic process:

"Listen, ain't no sense in voting -- same song with a different name/Might not be in the back of the bus, but it sure feel just the same."

So with a little controversy and a whole lot of rock 'n' soul splendor, one of the most important artistic voices of his generation has signaled his return. It's just about the best news of the year, and it's getting better every day as Prince carries his Musicology tour throughout the nation throughout the summer. Call it the comeback of the year.

Grade: B+
[This message was edited Sun May 2 15:17:07 2004 by MrScarface]
[This message was edited Sun May 2 15:18:00 2004 by MrScarface]