Prince, Musicology (Columbia)

Posted July 9th, 2004 by admin

Prince
Musicology
Columbia
By: Eric Greenwood

Despite all the recent press and hype, Musiclogy is not a return to form for Prince. It's simply a case of the public being nostalgic for his former greatness, as he blatantly coasts on his own legend. Granted, it's about time people started noticing him again (and how could they not after those performances on the Grammy's and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?). I think the man deserves a second run but not just on the strength (or lack thereof) of Musicology. Prince has made a curious debacle of his career for the past fifteen years. He's been foolishly stubborn (suing his own fanzines) and eccentric beyond belief (changing his name back and forth, releasing an instrumental album of new age jazz, rebuffing commercial distribution), never once choosing the easy way out. While I respect his ethics, I question his motives. His fans are rarely his priority. But now that he has a major record deal with Columbia, he suddenly decides to release a commercially viable album of Prince-lite. His flag is clearly at half mast as he sleepwalks through a batch of songs he could have written in his sleep. There are a few exceptions like the hard funk of "Illusion, Coma, Pimp and Circumstance" and the unabashedly catchy "Cinnamon Girl", but, while the masses won't know the difference or even notice the slackness, his true fans will only get semi-erect at the commercial rebirth.

Tags: review