People

March 27, 2006
SECTION: PICKS & PANS/MUSIC; Pg. 45 Vol. 65 No. 12
LENGTH: 1253 words
HEADLINE: Music
BYLINE: CHUCK ARNOLD; Liz Corcoran
BODY:
PRINCE 3121 REVIEWED BY CHUCK ARNOLD
CRITIC'S CHOICE
FUNK-ROCK

"I 'm hot and I don't care who knows it/ I got a job to do." So declares Prince, working himself up into a funky lather on "Black Sweat," the hip-gyrating highlight of his new CD. Recapturing his old "Kiss"-style swagger and irreverence ("You'll be screamin' like a white lady when I count to three: 1-2-3") over a ferocious groove, it's quite simply the baddest thing he's done in years. Of course, it's not totally unexpected. You could feel this coming after Prince's 2004 comeback album Musicology and hits-heavy tour of the same name restored him to his rightful throne.

And 3121 shows that His Purple Highness has no intention of stepping down any time soon. Even better than its double-platinum predecessor, it boasts higher highs: The utterly irresistible "Lolita," along with "Black Sweat," gives this disc the best one-two punch he's had since "Gett Off" and "Cream." With its bright synth lines and tight rhythm guitar, "Lolita" is classic '80s Prince, though now that he's a Jehovah's Witness, he won't surrender to the nubile temptress who's "fine from head to pumps."

Elsewhere, the scorching, electric-guitar-charged "Fury" takes him back to the funk-rock glory of the Revolution era, while the spiritually glowing "Beautiful, Loved & Blessed" pairs Prince with new protégée Tamar, a much better duet partner than Apollonia ever made. A couple of lesser slow jams, including the Latin-flavored "Te Amo Corazón," make 3121 fall short of the slam dunk it could have been. Still, there's plenty here to make you go crazy all over again. [31⁄2 stars]
[Edited 3/17/06 2:31am]

Another review...from the U.K.'s Daily Star

Daily Star

March 16, 2006 Thursday
U.K. 1st Edition
SECTION: COLUMNS; 23
LENGTH: 140 words
HEADLINE: REVIEW: 3121;
hot
BYLINE: JOE MOTT
BODY:

LET'S be honest. It's been well over a decade since Prince released anything of note.

Not that he's been silent.

There's been a steady stream of indulgent, unfocused and increasingly unsuccessful LPs. Until now, that is. I'm pleased to report the Purple One has finally, after all these years, made a Prince record to end all Prince records.

3121 is a triumphant collision of everything that makes him great - that unique funk, those screaming guitar licks, the knicker-wetting falsetto, the thundering keyboards. They're all present and resplendent.

There are woozy, acoustic, hip-hopflavoured jams like The Word; gut-busting mega-soul ballads that bring to mind Percy Sledge like Satisfied; devotional, epic funk workouts like Get On The Boat among many, many gems.
Prince is back to his very best then.

And, for that, we should all be grateful.
[Edited 3/17/06 2:10am]

These reviews are positive and I disagree with these too!

Lawd.

I like TRC. Every review of this album, good or bad, will dog TRC, if not by name but by lines like 'steady stream of indulgent, unfocused and increasingly unsuccessful LPs'. I know they may be speaking more of NEWS, which I quite like (though it is a long, over indulgence), but I know they mean TRC too.

TRC is his best album not made in the 80s, in my HO. (just about shading TGE)

...
[Edited 3/17/06 2:37am]

Fauxie said:

Yeah...I guess it was the Darth Vader voice...

murph said:

TRC and NEWS were undeniably 'indulgent' but they certainly weren't 'unfocused' being very consistent in their approach, and as for 'unsuccessful', that all depends how you measure success. If it is purely down to chart success and visibly selling millions, then no. But these albums never got a massive release, they were never intended to be much more than something for the hard-core fans, and not knowing how many were bought via the npgmc it is impossible to tell how much money they made - but probably a lot more than most journalists could imagine. Within their own context, they were successful.

metalorange said:

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"It's been well over a decade since Prince released anything of note. "

Damm that decade keeps getting longer and longer (LOL). However, these are Great Reviews and all of the ones I have read have been good.

I enjoy 3121 completely. It's a gorgeous, sexy, lively album packed with groovy songs!!

metalorange said:

I'll give you the TRC...But I can't co-sign News...

The bottom line is that anything Prince has done in the past decade has been boring and unfocused. He has a had a couple nuggets buried in the the mess of a string of unfinished-type records. Hopefully the critcs are right and he is indeed back on his throne. I need the proof and won't have that until the 21st.