On his fourth death anniversary 21^st April 2016, we pay tribute to Prince, a title that few men get to possess. It is a title that his father insisted. In the beginning many thought it to be a bit pompous, but years later, the title fits just perfect. Prince’s music career has been the cynosure of ups and downs, for his Royal Purpleness was also associated with a symbol and also came to be known as ‘The Artist Formerly Known As Prince’. His music has earned him a legion of loyal subjects who love his sound, an amalgamation of unorthodox fusion of pop, rhythm and rock. While some try to label it, Prince Rogers Nelson just calls it music, aka ‘Musicology’.

The 12 songs on ‘Musicology’ have tremendous depth, power and range, though certainly not all would get compliments from Prince fans. The whole album has a very Prince sound nevertheless, reminiscent of his earlier days, and is a blend of pop mixed well with funk, jazz and soul.

The opening title track Musicology is neat, has a funky groove and is probably one of the standouts joining hands with Illusion, Coma, Pimp and Circumstance that has a hip – hop touch to it. A Million Days, Life O’ the Party supposed to be party stuff and Reflection are set in the balladic vein, while Call my Name is more lazy with a soulful touch.

One of the really attractive pieces is the peppy twister, Cinnamon Girl that’s packaged with good keyboards and backup chorus. Another hit runner would be the jazzed up What do you want me 2 Do? that squares up the better part of the album.

You could give a miss to The Marrying Kind, if Eye was the man in UR Life and On the Couch. As usual, the casanova in Prince sets out with songs about love and relationships, though on this album he’s much less foul mouthed than his earlier work. He has shifted and spoken about social issues in Dear Mr. Man that speaks about the world today and the situation we live in. There’s no maturing for Prince, his music is the same, inventive at times and you can be sure there’s always something new coming from him.

Born with a ‘dirty mind’, Prince has learned the music au naturel, playing 26 instruments on his debut album ‘For You’in 1980 when his was just 18 years, becoming the youngest musician to produce, arrange, compose and perform his own material.

While his falsetto vocal delivery leaves much to be desired, Prince’s originality, gifted prowess, professionalism, suggest a tremendous amount of potential for endless success.

The album also comes along with a booklet that features lyrics to all songs. 

Rating: ***1/2 

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­