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   Wednesday, March 29, 2006

   ANOTHER COURSE IN MUSICOLOGY

It's been a good week for 80's icons -- with their careers all-but-dead in the late 90's, it's been great to have Morrissey and Prince back in their prime. Like Morrissey, Prince had a hit comeback record two years ago and has now released '3121' -- a record that both reminds us of his brilliant albums two decades back and succeeds on its own terms as a terrific new disc.

While I freely admit that there's one too many dull slow-jam numbers here, the title track and "Lolita" are gorgeously strange and funky. "The Word" combines Christian preaching with a synthesizer beat, lots of sax and irresistible country guitar (now that's how you convert!) while "Black Sweat," like the best Prince songs, makes this white boy just wanna throw down right now!

And the closing track is my favourite: "Get On The Boat" is a plea for racial unity set to a salsa beat, bongo drums, killer piano riffs and then, with an announcement in the middle of the song -- the sweet, sweet saxophone of Maceo "Brand New Bag" Parker. "Every colour, every creed," Prince sings, "Get on the boat! We got room for a hundred more!" It's loose, a bit slight, but six minutes of infectious joy.

There's really nothing new on this album -- Prince may never surprise us the way he did two decades back -- but, like he said back then, "My name is Prince! And I am funky!"

Labels: religion