Musicology

OK, this may be a bit pretentious - well, it is Prince - but I think Prince is a bit like Mozart. They are both obviously musical geniuses.Musicology has more expression in the first note than I've heard from some artists in their entire careers. Both are incredibly prolific. Both had large egos and disputes with patrons who didn't understand them -Emperor Joseph II and Warner Bros respectively. But whereas Mozart died and was buried in an unmarked public grave, Prince set up a website and started releasing albums on the internet.

Musicology is Prince's first album back with a major and as the title suggests it's a bit of a stylistic retrospective. There's the James Brown influenced funk of the title track and"Life of the Party"Towards the middle of the album there's a nod to his literally purple patch of the mid 80s with"Call My Name","Cinnamon Girl"and"What Do You Want Me 2 Do".

He takes a stand against our society's current paranoia in a way only Prince could."They can bug my phone, people round my home, they'll only see you and me making love inside."

Sadly, Prince's tendency towards pretentious overly heavy rock opera also surfaces on a few tracks. If you want good opera stick with Mozart.

As a comeback of sorts Musicology may not set the world on fire but there's more than enough good music to download to your iPod. Also, it has made me realise a couple of things.

1. His name is Prince and he is still funky.
2. Can you imagine what Mozart might have achieved with a good ISP?