DEEP DIVES – Album Reviews: Musicology, The Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse, and C-Note by Prince

I am doing a deep dive into the work of the musical artist Prince.  Each week until December I will post my thoughts on albums released by Prince (and his bands and side projects) focusing on one year of his career. 

Today I’m visiting 2004 when Prince released four albums simultaneously!

Album: Musicology
Artist: Prince
Release Date: March 29, 2004
Label: NPG, Columbia
Favorite Tracks:

• Musicology
• A Million Days
• Call My Name

Thoughts: I’ve been looking forward to Musicology since it is considered a comeback album for Prince, at least among critics and on the charts.  Musically, Prince is paying tribute to music history, including his own.  This may be Prince’s best major release album since Love Symbol, but that probably says more about how hit and miss he’d been over the previous decade than a true return to form.
Rating: ***

---

Album: The Chocolate Invasion (Trax from the NPG Music Club Volume One)
Artist: Prince
Release Date: March 29, 2004
Label: NPG
Favorite Tracks:

• Judas Smile
• Supercute
• My Medallion
• Vavoom
• Sexmesexmenot
• U Make My Sun Shine (feat. Angie Stone)

Thoughts: Prince pioneered using the internet to distribute music, and this compilation collects downloads that had been previously made available on his NPG Music Club website.  As a compilation, it shouldn’t work as an album, but I like it more than Musicology which is weighed down by slow jams and ballads that don’t work for me.  The Chocolate Invasion is much funkier and sexier and Prince at his most danceable. The album ends with a terrific gospel-style romantic duet with Angie Stone.
Rating: ***1/2

---

Album: The Slaughterhouse (Trax from the NPG Music Club Volume 2)
Artist: Prince
Release Date: March 29, 2004
Label: NPG
Favorite Tracks:

• S&M Groove
• Y Should Eye Do That When Eye Can Do This?
• Hypnoparadise
• Northside
• The Daisy Chain

Thoughts: Very much a partner with The Chocolate Invasion, this compilation is possibly an even more danceable compilation of grooves.  “Hypnoparadise” even flirts with house music beats.
Rating: ***1/2

---

Album: C-Note
Artist: Prince
Release Date: March 29, 2004
Label: NPG
Favorite Tracks:

• Nagoya
• Empty Room

Thoughts: The fun couldn’t last.  C-Note is a live album primarily of instrumental jazz and jazz-fusion tracks and thus more in line with Prince’s releases from 2003 (and indeed the individual tracks were available for download in 2003).  The title is an acronym based on the first letter of the albums five song titles.
Rating: **1/2

For You	1978		***
Prince	1979		***1/2
Dirty Mind	1980		****
Controversy	1981		****
1999	1982	Prince and the Revolution	*****
Purple Rain	1984	Prince and the Revolution	*****
Around the World in a Day	1985	Prince and the Revolution	****
Parade	1986	Prince and the Revolution	****
Sign “☮︎” the Times	1987		****1/2
8	1987	Madhouse	***
16	1987	Madhouse	***1/2
Lovesexy	1988		***1/2
Batman	1989		***
Graffiti  Bridge	1990		***1/2
Diamonds and Pearls	1991	Prince and the New Power Generation	***1/2
[Love Symbol]	1992	Prince and the New Power Generation	***1/2
Goldnigga	1993	The New Power Generation	**1/2
Come	1994		**1/2
The Black Album	1994		***1/2
The Gold Experience	1995		**1/2
Exodus	1995	The New Power Generation	***
Chaos and Disorder	1996		**1/2
Emancipation	1996		***
Kamasutra	1997	The NPG Orchestra	***
Crystal Ball	1998		***1/2
The Truth	1998		***
Newpower Soul	1998	The New Power Generation	**
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale	1999		**
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic	1999		***
The Rainbow Children	2001		**1/2
One Nite Alone…	2002		**
One Nite Alone… Live!	2002	Prince and the New Power Generation	***1/2
Xpectation	2003		***1/2
N-E-W-S	2003		**1/2
Musicology	2004		***
The Chocolate Invasion	2004		***1/2
The Slaughterhouse	2004		***1/2
C-Note	2004		**1/2
3121	2006
Planet Earth	2007
Indigo Nights	2008
Lotusflow3r/MPLSound	2009
20Ten	2010
Plectrumelectrum	2014	with 3rdeyegirl
Art Official Age	2014	with 3rdeyegirl
HITnRun Phase One	2015
HITnRun Phase Two	2015