If ya care...(and apparently not all that Prince-savvy...didn't realize "7" was from the Diamonds & Pearls CD..heh...and it's the 3rd album to "reclaim Prince's name", not the second):

http://earhole.blogspot.com/


Advance Review: Prince's "3121"
"3121", the second album to reclaim Prince's name, is a fun natural step up from "Musicology". The album doesn't attempt to build any mystery around Prince. Many of the songs are easy to take at face value. Like many of the songs in Prince's catalogue, the tracks on 3121 are growers.

Prince kept a lot of fans throughout the 80's by reinventing his persona. Each evolution brought a new layer of strange mystique. He spent the 90's angry at the record companies and taking it out on his fans through his music. I haven't enjoyed Prince's music since 1988's "Lovesexy". But 3121 is an album where Prince seems to be exploring (yet focused), genuinely happy, and... at times... enjoying his own history!

Here's my take on some of the tracks, in no particular order:

"3121"
This is a fun, midtempo funk track that reminds us Prince is wildly imaginitve. Prince combines an updated "Camille" voice with an "In All My Dreams" megaphone effect and invites everyone to the party. Not as mysterious as 1999, another numerical party anthem. The synth reminds me of "Days of Wild".

Trivia: Prince has spent the last couple of years building a reputation for his ultra-chic, late night performance parties located at his residence in L.A. (a house reportedly with a street address of "3121").

"Lolita"
The groove on this song is addicting. It has fat stabs of synth, Prince's signature "chicken grease" guitar riffs, and hand claps. Somewhere towards the middle I'm reminded of Morris Day's pimped out gigolo player routine, and it becomes easy to see this song as a track that might have been lurking in the vault.

"Satisfied"
The love child of a three way between "International Lover", "Scandalous", and "Adore". Those tracks stuck around long enough for you to get it on...and off. But "Satisfied" is concise fun repeated listening even when you aren't in the mood.

"The Dance"
A midtempo sultry latin flavored track from the lyrical perspective of a cautious lover. Nicely separated arrangements... Prince's in-perfect-shape falsetto harmonizes with a complex piano melody while synth strings ebb and flow.

"Black Sweat"
A stripped down, bump and grind funk jam. "You'll be screaming like a white lady when I count to three...".

"Get On The Boat"
I miss a lot of Prince's cryptically apocalyptic mystique. The first track on his albums used to be political tracks disguised as ominous premonitions. This socially concious track urges unity and ends the album on a high note with its band jam. Features nicely arranged horns and sax solo by Maceo Parker.


*****


Given it more listening, on the laptop, headphones/iPod, Jeep stereo... here's the details...

Nice. Very. Nice. Given Universal/Vivendi's promotion... I'll be surprised if this album doesn't do well (within context).

It's easy to want Prince to be frozen in his 80's glory. He's an important part of what made the 80's so iconic as a decade. I've listened to 3121 with a skeptical (old) ear. But some tracks (not all) on 3121 find Prince effortlessly adapting to the standards of the day...

"Incense and Candles"
A lot of the Prince message boards are blowing up with comments saying this track is too "urban contemporary" (pandering). Yeah, sure there's the Cher vocoder effect... but songs like "I Wanna Be Your Lover" were so-called sell outs back in the day, and today they're staple. So why not let history decide if this track is classic or not?

"The Word"
Borrows heavily from "I Belong To You" - Lenny Kravitz. What's up with the new voice?! It's like a whole new style of singing for Prince. Kind of country. I'm pretty open minded about music until certain genres rear their ugly heads... ghetto-rap... "christian" rock. I hate it when Prince does "Snoop Dog", but Prince has been the only artist I've ever been able to take seriously when he tries to talk about "God"... only because he's talked about the flipside (unflinchingly) with such detail. Did you know Prince is a Jehova's Witness (and said to have done the door-to-door thing)?

Focus: "The Word" is one of Prince's obliquely religious tracks. The hooks are there, I kept repeating it while lifting at the gym. It's a rustic Lovesexy track. A sequel to Diamonds and Pearls' "Seven". Check out the (brief) blistering guitar solo!

"Fury"
Not as good as the Saturday Night Live performance. But that's to be expected... Prince is a phenomenal live performer who seems to be more interested in touring. This track's pop-tastic, bright shiny synth obfuscates far more interesting guitar work. Lyrically, at times sounds like he's addressing skeptical fans (like me). What IS this song about, really? It's pop candy in the vein of "Take Me With U" meets "Lovesexy".

"You want me to swivel in your love seat... DON'T YOU... BA-BEE?"...

Sorry... went all Lovesexy there...

"Beautiful Loved and Blessed"
Prince is kind of known for handicapping his protegees. Previous protegees sounded like bad Prince karaoke. But "BL&B'd" (ft. Tamar), is a track that appears to find Prince content to foster the limelight. Altogether a nice smooth R&B track, but not something that immediately screams "Prince wrote this". Maybe that was the point?

"Te Amo Corazon"
Might be well known by now (I don't have cable TV, or listen to radio). But this track sounds great blasted in the Jeep. The George Benson style guitar solo is engaging, and the clearly separated arrangements emphasize the melody's cadence.

"Love"
Hmmm. Hard to describe this one. Not that there's anything wrong with it. It's slick, synth-heavy production (like many of the tracks on 3121). Just kind of "there" for me... filler? Moving on I had to bring this up...

Song Busted! (songs that appear to borrow heavily from other songs...but a sign of good taste):

"Lolita"
aka "Brick House" - Commodores

"The Word"
aka "I Belong To You" - Lenny Kravtiz
[Edited 3/14/06 12:21pm]

Of course, you meant 'didn't realise "7" wasn't from Diamonds & Pearls'. Actually, I make it the 4th CD released album to reclaim Prince's name - The Rainbow Children, NEWS, Musicology and then this.

I agree with his point about being able to deal with Prince's religious lecturing because he balances it out with songs about sex, lust and obsession. Never really thought about it before, but if all he did was 'christian' rock then I would probably have gone off him long ago...

metalorange said:

No, I meant it how I said it...I was being sarcastic...lol...("You mean '7' is from the D&P album??...I dint know that!!" )