I just don't understand the whole idea behind "fake" instrumentation...


?? why use fake strings when you can afford the real deal?

not tryin to hate.. but the title track is the only one i am hip to at first glance...





will listen to this album extensively.. gotta feeling it'll sink in.


i am undecided as of right now.

Sdldawn said:

Wow. You have to be a real Prince fan to dislike this album...

Papaj said:

I'm not quite sure what that means.. but..

My first impression of it honestly reminds me of something i would hear when I turn on the radio.. i'm not sayin its bad, or its terrible.. I haven't heard it or digested it enough to say either or... but its running the same patterns as his last album.. thats just me tho

and as far as experimental goes.. I would just say the title track is experimentalish...


I mean come on peeps.. Crystal Ball (the song) was experimental.. some of these are common now a days.. not sayin its something to criticize.. but I did read a lot about how a lot of this stuff was on the experimental tip...

Sdldawn said:

Good news. If you don't like it, I know I'm gonna LOVE it !

BeautifulFrance said:

that says more about you than it does me..


hahaha
[Edited 3/6/06 1:18am]

so far i enjoy the older version of The Dance...



not sure where this one wants to go....

Crap, all I can find on the p2p network that I use are just goddamn .m3u -playlists so far. I want my "3121", and I want it now.

Novabreaker said:

look on bit torrents... thats where they are stemming from anyway...

3121 - Will make you think you've stumbled on a lost bootleg track ala Rebirth of the Flesh. Camille battles low octave Prince. Who wins? We do! Strongest Prince lead-off track since Sign O' The Times. Yeah, I said it. 5/5

Lolita - SynthPop bliss. If you thought "Cinnamon Girl" was a great pop song, meet a far better one. Some fun and halfway-naughty lyrics (monogamy is still the goal) make this one a winner. With some cool rhythm guitar thrown in for good measure, and a non-cheesy (read non-Game Boyz) call-and-answer at the end that instead reminds me of the Prince-Morris-Jerome heyday. 4.5/5

Te Amo Corazon - 4/5 Strong tune, just happens to be surrounded by better ones.

Black Sweat - 5/5 Love this song. Nuff said.

Incence and Candles - Starts off as kind of too typically modern mid-tempo R&B for me, but with closer inspection there's more going on here. And then at about 2 minutes in, we're treated to the rapping Prince. The good one. It works here, and it makes the song work for me. There's still too much Tamar IMHO, so that keeps this one at a still strong 4/5

Love - One of my favorite tracks on this (or any Prince album in the last 15 years).Sounds like a modern Revolution track. Very musically inventive. GREAT bridge & chorus. A 12" of this would kill in clubs. 5/5

Satisfied - Somehow, I've missed hearing this until now. It's probably my 2nd least favorite tune of the 12 at this point.That said, I like it, but it really picks up for me with only a minute left to go in the song. So I kind of want it to keep going to see where he could take it. 4/5

Fury - Yes, this kind of gets the "Endorphine Machine" treatment, but it's unfair to compare studio Prince to his live self. For me, this is easily the best rock song he's done since "Electric Chair". 5/5

The Word - Spiritual, but not at all preachy. He's figured out how to convey this message again without coming off so heavy-handed. It sounds so fresh and completely new. Again, one of the best tunes on the album. Puts all of Musicology to shame. Great guitar and steel drums at the end. 5/5

B,L,& B - This is a good track, but it's sandwiched between 2 stellar ones. I feel like it doesn't really fit this album, and maybe he could have included it on Tamar's CD and left it at that. On the plus side, it's another well-delivered spiritual message. He seems to be able to convey these things again in a much more effective way than the rigid dogma of "Rainbow Children". 3.5/5

The Dance - Very surprising to me. Like "3 Chains of Gold", in the sense that it incorporates so many musical ideas that it's busting at the seams. Prince's vocal delivery on this is very special. This is the type of track that you will discover new things even on the 1000th listen. I was thinking 4.5/5, but there are some stretches of this that are so perfect, that they force me to give this a 5/5

Get On The Boat - "Every Single Color, Every Race and Every Creed" Uptown is invited onto the boat. Very cool. I know I hear Sheila E. here? The Revolution?
This song could easily be interchanged with "...Beautiful Night" from Sign O' The Times. 4.5/5

To sum up, I've given 6 of the 12 songs a 5/5 on my 2nd listen, 2 a 4.5/5, and 3 of them a 4/5.

So where does this rank for me in terms of all of his albums? Too soon to tell, really.

But right now, I feel like this is the best overall album he's done since Lovesexy. There are sounds on 3121 that surprised me. There were moments upon my first listen where I was smiling and yelling and laughing - not for the supposed 'return of Prince', but just at the sheer joy I was feeling knowing that this was something special.

It's name is 3121. And it is funky. No 'purple kool aid' needed on this one, folks.

Album has leaked online, usual places..... Let the fawning and damning begin!

Novabreaker said:

Where I live, we are experiencing a torrential rainstorm.

I better not go out in my car. It's a small nova.

Well, I guess i'll let my first post since I registered here 4 years ago be regarding the new disc. So far, I like what i've heard. I'm not going to bother comparing it to past stuff, but i'll definitely give it a LOT more spins before dismissing it. "Love"'s stood out so far, and so has "Fury"...mainly because it sounded a lot "harder" on SNL.

Thems the breaks I guess. It coulda been worse..he could've added some cowbell.

Incense and Candles =

I can't hate it because it's making me laugh SO hard!! My new favourite 'so bad it's good' song

Nooooo!!!!!


Why did this motherfucker get leaked! FUCKFUCKFUCKEDDIDITTYFUCK!

I was praying that this album wouldnt just be hyped and a let down like so many albums before it but damn, i am still in shock, 3121 is hot hot hot, forget comparing certain tracks to old prince. this album is smoking, some of the sounds on it are amazing and fresh and will be very appealing to the masses, he needs to release the right singles and let universal push it hard. i can see why he has been so excited about this album, he seems to be 100% behind this project, hopefully it stays that way.

Okay, I'm listening to it now. It sounds absolutely nothing like Musicology to my ears so far, rather it sounds like a bunch of bootleg outtakes from the late-80s. So in that sense I am very delighted, but alas the music on this album definitely bears an embarrassement factor on it - you know the sentiment when you are enjoying all the rare Prince outtakes in privacy but wouldn't really dare to have them playing on the hifi when your friends come over= Like you wanted to shelter your little silly perversion from the outsiders, but that's always been part of the Prince charm.

Seriously, I can't yet decide whether this album is absolute shit or just great.

Y'all are so weak. Can't you just wait?

calldapplwondery83 said:

Wait for what? I'm gonna buy the album, and it's gonna be sitting on my shelves for the rest of my life, what's the difference in hearing it now and in 2 weeks time?


Any way - I'm not gonna give a review because I know I will be kicked to death by the paisley hypno-fams if I do.

it has leaked...

NouveauDance said:

So i take it you hate it (LOL)....

I think it is an absolute shame that it has leaked.
There will be a few peoples heads on the blocks for this.

NouveauDance said:

But isn't it more fun to get the finished CD and then listen to it?


But of course that's not really what I meant - I have no way to get it where I am at the moment, that's what drives my crazy. Although of course I don't want to have it early, I also don't want to have the chance to get it early, because then I WILL get it early.

It might have been a controlled leak, don't you think?

But what for?

I guess you just cannot keep it under wraps the moment it goes into manufacturing.

Sdldawn said:

I was joking mate. I don't know you at all and I have absolutely nothing against you.

I have no idea how anyone could be disappointed with this album!

dimmy said:

im feeling kind of guilty for listening to it.
I will still buy the cd when it comes out though.