Just recently, a good friend passed through town, as part of Prince’s current tour driving one of the buses (he carried the crew) and gave me Prince’s new cd, ‘Musicology.’ I flipped it on, prepared not to be particularly impressed but curious to see what he was up to musically these days. The first tune, ‘Musicology,’ began - a little yelp from Prince, the drums and horns kicking it - I knew he definitely had something going, at least on the funk level.

The first song lays out the concept. The theme is a kind of trip through the various styles of R & B/Funk of the 70s and early 80s. As if the instrumental music didn’t make it clear enough, citing James Brown style horn charts, Bootsy Collins’ (of Parliament/Funkadelic) popping bass, and Sly Stone’s sassy keyboards, Prince names various musicians in the lyric, just to indicate where this is going. Usually, this type of bit is beyond gimmicky but for some reason in Prince’s hands, it works. The tune itself is a kind of funk retrospective wherein Prince faithfully evokes the sound of those great bands and musicians like Earth, Wind & Fire and George Clinton but with his own signature and a groove that’s so furious, if you don’t feel it, you’re most likely flat-lining.

The second song seems a nod to Sly & the Family Stone – ‘Family Affair’ and ‘If You Want Me to Stay’ come to mind, with that sort of minor key compressed sound and with a priceless title that was like something Sly might have come up with. ‘Illusion, Coma, Pimp and Circumstance,’ with lyrics that could’ve been on a soundtrack to a ‘Blaxploitation’ film of the 70s, is just a little story on who is actually playing whom, or as Aretha so eloquently put it, “who’s zoomin’ who?”

As the cd continues, tracks 5,6, and 7 – ‘Call My Name,’ ‘Cinnamon Girl,’ and ‘What Do You Want Me 2 Do?’ respectively, especially stand out. The first few bars of ‘Call My Name’ could’ve been a ballad from Earth, Wind, & Fire, but a few more seconds into it and I knew it had Prince’s DNA all over it. Done in that late 70s classic R&B ballad style, it begged to be compared to some of the greats by E,W,& F, LTD, and Teddy Pendergrass, but with a totally modern sound and up-to-the-minute production. The lyrics for tunes in this sub-genre are usually, by their nature, banal but in this song they’re emotional without being trite. ‘Cinnamon Girl,’ not to be confused with the song of the same name by Neil Young, is actually a rocker – Prince’s paean to 9/11. Rhythmically and melodically, it’s similar to ‘Raspberry Beret’ and ‘When Doves Cry,’ two of Prince’s earlier tunes, but the similarity ends there. Prince is not what I would call politically heavy but he does address post-9/11 ethnic prejudices here:

”Cinnamon Girl of mixed heritage
Never knew the meaning of color lines
911 turned that all around
When she got accused of this crime.”

All the while, holding the attention with a danceable rock groove and tasteful guitar solo. In the last song of this triad, ‘What Do You Want Me 2 Do?’ Prince drifts into a cool, jazzy up-tempo R&B ballad about a potential illicit love affair, singing to an admirer who appears to be hitting on him. In a nod to these times, Prince sings in one of the lines, “You’d get beheaded in other lands, if I were in your arms tonigh.” In any other hands, that line might come off strange but Prince’s sassy delivery ensures its cool factor.

The other tracks on here fit the general retro concept, some lighter than the others, but not what could be called filler. I have to say that I always thought that Prince was cool musically with an ironic sensibility but seemed to go astray there for a few years. Maybe he was too caught up in his own hype, maybe temporarily low on inspiration – who can say? This is certainly the best I’ve heard in a long time. Where Prince had become a sort of self-parody, he was now playing music that was cool and sophisticated, love tunes that were soulful and lyrical. He faithfully captures each of these older styles but with his own signature and his particular production technique. He uses some sampling and dj scratching but the musicianship is first-rate and doesn’t require any effects.

While Prince completely holds his own in hardcore soul and funk genres, the whole cd seems to be a look backwards, with track 12, the last one, as a personal memory. It’s called ‘Reflection’ and it’s a beautiful groove tune – steady rhythm and a classic 70s synth ambience. In the lyrics, we hear Prince reminiscing about his earlier days, evoking a more innocent time and in particular, singing a poignant line,

"Sometimes I just wanna go sit out on the stoop and play my guitar – just watch all the cars go by"

Marc Goldin currently lives in Chicago, with three cats, each one more long-haired than the last. Interests have ranged from medieval monasticism to discontinued stations on the London Underground – literary likes too diverse (some would say schizo) to list here although the last several years have been witness to an intimacy with Scottish and Irish literature. American Southern and Beat era lit also account for some of the ‘missing years’. Music tastes run the gamut from Cuban Danzon to Ska (all three waves but having a specific attachment to the second, two-tone period) to the Tuvan throat singers. Has written book reviews for a now defunct Irish literature site and has several short stories in various stages of development. Mad for black and white photography and aspires to someday have a complete collection of photos documenting every close in Edinburgh's Royal Mile. Works in the IT dept. of a French company in the current political climate. In football, supports Chelsea, Hibs, and for the sake of employment security, Marseille. To read Marc's short story, 'Plastic Paddy' on the Showcase section of this site, click here

© 2004 Laura Hird All rights reserved.