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Rating: I approached this album with a certain skepticism, because I feared it would renounce Prince's previous work.
In fact, it seems that our artist has decided, after recently converting to the Jehovah's Witnesses faith, to eliminate explicit sexual references from his lyrics.
After T.A.F.K.A.P., Symbol, and all that jazz, we hoped his eccentricities were over. Instead, it seems he won't even perform the old songs containing such references live anymore: which means eliminating a good half of his previous production.
Such a decision is disconcerting, especially if it comes from a character who has made sexual ambiguity, theatrical intercourse staged on stage during his live performances, and all-too-explicit sexual allusions his banner, almost his hallmark. Hence the skepticism (“Prince the prude” is a contradiction in terms, a paradox): I feared a certain boredom.
The listening experience, however, turns out to be a pleasant surprise. Prince has returned to the old funk sound of his musical roots, responding (in these times bloated with easy melodies and brainless lyrics from illiterate rapper-pimps surrounded by big-booty women, jewels, and money showers) to the need for real black music, with content and feelings, beyond just the healthy desire for fun.
"Don’t U miss the feeling music gave ya back in the days?” asks Prince in the track that gives the album its title.
Musicology is an album designed to satisfy this need, and it certainly succeeds! Prince completely recaptures the taste of good old funky, obviously not accepting it passively, but reworking it with his own genius and mixing it with his personal taste for rhythms and arrangements (personally playing all the instruments, just as he did for his debut album).
The CD could be called “Anthology,” as it represents the ultimate synthesis of the best that the Genius of Minneapolis has produced throughout his career. There are party tracks, truly danceable, that genuinely induce autonomous and unconscious body movements to the beat, then slower tracks but with that minimal funk sound, just a bassline, the strangled guitar sneaking in off-beat... then there are melodic ballads, the more “panty-dropping” tracks (read: “ideal for a romantic tête-à-tête”) where the sprite shows he's the prince of syrup, with more-than-sweet lyrics, unique in creating romantic musical atmospheres.
Only party and love, then? No, the little guy also finds the opportunity to raise a series of fundamental and unavoidable questions about the state of things and the senselessness of war, even addressing President Bush directly (“Dear Mr. Man”).
But... what about the prude issue? Is it true or not?
Unfortunately, essentially yes.
Aside from some pale flashes of pride (“What's it gonna take 2 get Ur booty soakin' wet? U and me closer baby, that's a bet”) the good Prince seems to have really changed, if today he responds to an attractive woman making advances with “Shame on U, baby, can't U see this ring? What do U want me 2 do, girl?”.
What, is he out of ideas when faced with a pretty girl proposing? Once he even accepted the explicit proposals of brides-to-be who addressed him in less than common terms (“But you're such a hunk so full of spunk”) persuading them to unorthodox practices (in “Head” from “Dirty Mind”), and he proudly recounted even the inevitable conclusion to us (“I came on your wedding gown”).
Today, his cries of desire are only for his lawful wife, when she gets mad at him and leaves him to sleep alone on the couch (“On The Couch”). The lyrics are still valid (little conjugal joys, politics, "feel good") although far from past excesses. What to say? Time passes for everyone...
Flawless music and voice. An balanced and engaging album that really makes you feel good. There's not much else to say, except “Kick the old school joint 4 the true funk soldiers!!!!!”
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Musicology (04:27)
Heard about the party now
Just east o' Harlem
Dougie's gonna b there
But u got 2 call him
Even the soldiers
Need a break sometimes
Listen 2 the groove ya'll
Let it unwind ur mind
No intoxication
Unless u see what I see
Dancin hot n' sweaty
Right in font of me
Call it what u like
I'm gonna call it how it be
This is just another one
Of God's gifts
Musicology
Keep that party movin
Just like I told you
Kick the old school joint
4 the true funk soldiers
Musicology
Wish Ihad a dollar
4 everytime u say
Don't u miss the feeling
Music gave ya
Back in the day?
Let's Groove
September
Earth, Wind and Fire
Hot Pants by James
Sly's gonna take u higher
Minor keys and drugs
Don't make a rollerskate jam
Take ur pick - turntable or a band?
If it ain't Chuck D
or Jam Master Jay
Know what?
They're losin'
'Cause we got a PhD in
Advanced Body Movin'
Keep the party movin'
Just like eye told u
Kick the old school joint
4 the true funk soldiers
Musicology
02 Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance (04:48)
Chorus:
She knew which fork 2 use
But she couldn't dance
So he hipped her 2 the funk
In exchange 4 the finance
Who's pimpin who when
Nobody gets a second chance
This is the story of illusion
coma, pimp and circumstance
She was older
But rich beyond compare.
She'd drop a thousand dollars
At the salon
Just to get her hair did
He was good at compliments
Better in the bunk
She laced him with a crib in Paris.
He hipped her 2 the funk
Way 2 fine he was 4 her,
A dirty dog in expensive fur
As long as she's providing chips
And whips
We can do this funky thang
As long as she was playing host
He figured he would make the most
Of those hips and lips
He hooked her up rocked her coast to coast funky thang
She was so ugly
But rich beyond compare
Dropped a couple hundred thousand
Dollars on a silver whip
Just 2 match the color of her hair
She said, "I got plenty of what U need
Put the spoon down honey
come on let mama feed ya."
Chorus
Where was I oh yeah
A gentleman he was
He never spoke about her nose
So prominent because
In the dark it glowed
If she was only tan
Instead of so Lily White
Her name was Doris
But he called her Flo
As in 'rescent
that ain't right
Florescent
Every night
A situation bound to fail
As sure as Doris' skin was pale
Money might talk
But what does it say
"Boy I used to be fine back in the day"
Chorus
Now Dance
Dance
He spent her money oh so well
Takin baths in cold cristal
He took a trip 2 burn an old flame in 'Frisco like Wow!
When Doris caught him in her arms she shrugged her shoulders and said,"No harm...Just put your name on this pre-nup and we can all hit the disco!"
Chorus
Now Dance!
03 A Million Days (03:52)
It's only been a hour since you left me
But it feels like a million days
If I had a magic wand I could turn back time
I'd never let you go away
I didn't have the heart to say I'm sorry
Now I haven't got a heart at all
I could tolerate the pain if I could talk to my best friend
But you won't even call
(you wont even call, oh yeah, didn't call me baby)
I'm contemplating pulling out my suitcase
And packing everything I own
I didn't back then but I do know now
Wherever you are is home
I'll crawl on my belly and beg you
But your so far away
you've only been gone for an hour
But it seems like a million days (a million days, a million days)
It's only been a hour since you left me
I wish I had somebody to blame
But your the perfect picture of what love should look like
And I wanna be your frame
It's only been a hour but it feels like a million days
A million days
One hundred thousand million days
Come home, come home baby
I can't take this no more
Well, come home baby oh yeah
Baby, I know I shouldn't put my faith in heroes
But I can't see you any other way
It's only been a hour since you left me girl
Feels like a million, feels like a million days
Come on home baby.
08 The Marrying Kind (02:52)
If you leave her now
Your never goin to see her again-never
Now shes gonna need a shoulder to cry on
Shes gonna need a friend
Shes gonna need a pillowcase-something to put those tears on
And I've got some purple satin lacies
1 seond later than the second your gone
Shes gonna miss you at first
But then shes gonna buy me things
Thats when Im gonna lay her
'Cross my piano stool and sing to her
Chorus
Honey I tried to tell him
That you were the marrying kind
A faithful one man woman
The best he would ever find
I guess he wasnt trying to hear that
So there aint nothing left to say
I tried to tell him if you run to me
I wont run away
If you leave her now
You'll never get another glimpse
Im goin to lace her with enough ice to recap the poles
There might be another solar eclipse
Shes gonna find........
bath water hot enough to be touched(oh man,porkchop is hurtin)
Im gonna put her on the same diet Missy went on
You know she eat too much
Tonight,shes gonna miss you at first
But then she'll get used to me
All of the tricks I would try
To make her take this ring and make love to me
Chorus
Run away
Dont run away
10 On the Couch (03:36)
Come on, baby
Don't make me sleep on the couch
Love Jones is on the TV again, baby
eye wanna go down south, yeah
Oh come on, baby
its undignified 2 sleep alone
That's what all the people that
Ain't got nobody do-
Talkin' on the telephone
Don't make me crash
Without Ur kiss
Tossin' and a turnin'
With every inch of me yearnin'
Don't make me, don't make me
Don't cha make me, don't cha make me
Don't cha make me suffer this
Eye know we agreed...
Eye know we agreed 2 b married
But it's hard, girl
So hard, girl
Eye can feel the blood racin with the thought of u tastin' me
4 that eye beg Ur pardon
U should'nt of let me un zip Ur dress
Confess u tease
Confess u please
Don't make me sleep out on the couch
12 Reflection (03:03)
2 sevens together
Like time, indefinite
Trying 2 catch the glass
b4 it falls
Without a frown
Can U turn up the stereo?
Eye wanna play U this old song about love (is it about love?)
Can Eye do that?
Did we remember 2 water the plants today?
Eye 4got 2 look up at the moon because
Eye was 2 busy, said Eye was 2 busy
Eye was 2 busy
Looking at you babe
Still it's nice 2 know
That, uh when bodies wear out
We can get another
What does that 1 thing have 2 do with the other 1?
Eye don't know
Eye was just thinking about my mother
U know what
Turn the stereo back down
Ain't nothing worse than an old worn out love song
Tell me do you like my hair this way
Remember all the way back in the day
When we would compare who's afro was the roundest
Mirrored tiles above the bed
Fishing nets and posters all over the wall
Oh yes, sometimes
Sometimes Eye just wanna go sit out on the stool
And uh... play my guitar
Just watch all... all the cars go by...
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