This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Personnel: Prince (vocals, various instruments); Candy Dulfer (saxophone, horns, background vocals); Maceo, Greg (horns); Renato Neto (Fender Rhodes piano); Rhonda Smith (bass, background vocals); John Blackwell (drums); Sheila E. (shaker); Claire Fischer (samples); Chance, Stokeley, Kip (background vocals); Ornella Bonaccorsi.
Recorded at Paisely Park Studios, Chanhassen, Minnesota; Metal Works Studio, Canada; The Hit Factory, New York, New York.
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
In 1996, Prince parted ways with his longtime label Warner Brothers, inaugurating his own label and proceeding to do whatever he pleased for several years--three-disc sets, all-instrumental mood-music albums, declarations of his Jehovah's Witnesses creed, and more. While there was plenty of fine music made along that journey, much of it tended to slip through the cracks. In 2004, newly inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and signed to Columbia, Prince stood ready for a comeback with MUSICOLOGY.
Accordingly, the album is his most concise since the early '90s, a punchy, funky return to form. On the title track, he pledges allegiance to old-school funk, both lyrically and musically, with propulsive results. From there, he ventures into slow jams, pop-rock, jazzy R&B, even political commentary. Whether he's turning out complex, Zappa-like harmonies or sweet soul music, Prince sounds fully committed on MUSICOLOGY, providing most of the vocals and instruments himself and displaying a clarity of purpose that should rekindle a fire in the hearts of wayward fans.
What the critics say...
Rolling Stone (p.150) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[A] royal return to form, a fresh, focused hybrid of DIRTY MIND's hard-rubber bounce and the encyclopedic moods of SIGN 'O' THE TIMES."
Spin (p.66) - Ranked #18 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "[T]he do-it-all-night ballads are both introspective and unfailingly elegant."
Q (p.105) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Prince himself has created his best work in many a long year....The greatest artist of the 1980s can still turn it on."
Uncut (p.92) - 3 stars out of 5 - "MUSICOLOGY's solid work ethic gradually reveals moments of bewitching subtlety."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.111) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[B]rilliantly produced and performed....The man's still a magician..."
