I still say this should be the official cover:

Waaaay better then Musicology.
3121, Lolita, Black Sweat, Incense and Candles, Love and Fury are all hot grooves.
The rest he can give to the Time, if they hadn't broken up, damn.

[Edited 4/16/06 22:54pm]

rudeboynpg said:

PANNY CHECK!!!

I think 3121 is his best work in years. I have bought just about every CD that Prince has released, but this by far is one of my favorites.

HE’S BACK!!!

PurpleKnight said:

Strange but that's almost what I think about the album,except
I'll give the score from Get On The boat 2 Lolita.

i think that 3121 is great because it feels like it has a stream lined musical feel and concept. but, it does not ever get boring/ i don't associate and one song with another/ they all stand on their own! epsecially lolita! that's my shit.

www.myspace.com/carla4improv

I've heard the whole thing since my last post of course And I LOOOOVE it my favs would have 2 b BS Incense and Candels The Word so how many copies y'all have?

CalhounSq said:[quote]

rudeboynpg said:

oooo. . .that's a nice one!

PurpleKnight said:

I agree that those things are annoying but I think a truly great album would be great despite those faults. If you look at some of the great albums in music history (including much of Prince's earlier stuff) very few of them couldn't be improved in one or more of the areas you've mentioned. If the songs are good you don't tend to notice (or at least don't tend to mind) those kinds of faults. If the songs ain't so good.....

I getya....I'm just suggesting that they might be more glaring because the songs aren't that great. It may be just a personal thing but when I listen to some of the old Hendrix stuff, or Sly Stone, or the Beatles, I really don't notice the production much, though its often pretty crappy because of the technology, I'm too busy getting off on the music. Just my spin...but then I think the songs on 3121 are generally pretty average ( with one or two exceptions) so my theory makes sense to me. If you think the songs are great then I can see that as far as you're concerned I'm talking complete shyte.

PurpleKnight said:

I'll concede that a song lacking all three of those elements is unlikely to be sound great but I think a good song can cut through mediocre production. Also, if the music itself (i.e. the melody, harmony, groove and playing) is good then second rate lyrics don't matter so much. As for vocal delivery, well, it depends on the song as to how important that is but I like alot of Bob Dylan's stuff and his vocal delivery is...well lets not go there.

I just don't think that any degree of improved production, vocal performance or lyrics could have made 3121 a great album, a better album, yes, but not great. To me the potential just isn't there.

I'm sorry, but is it only me who thinks that some Prince fans are in danger of disappearing up their own anuses? (Or is the plural of anus 'ani' ??? )

Anyway, I've waited till now to post my views on the cd....

Who gives a flying one about the packaging???? Certainly not me but for what it's worth I thought it was totally COOL!

But more importantly...the music is FECKING EXCELLENT!!!

For me, there's only 'Te Amo Corazon' that I can happily skip on each play. And I seem to be in the minority here but 'The Dance' can actually move me to tears. Then again, I am feeling a bit hormonal at the moment so dont read too much into that. I ADORE 'Love' and this is the Prince that I LOVE.....I cant keep my arse in my seat when I play this cd and thats good enough for me.

JMHO

PaulsBass said:

We disappear up them....you talk out of it...each to his own.

After living with the CD for almost a month, here're my new scores after having some time to reflect. Songs rated out of 5.

3121: 4/5
Lolita: 4/5
Te Amo Corazon: 2/5
Black Sweat: 3.5/5
Incense and Candles: 3.5/5
Love: 4/5
Satisfied: 2/5
Fury: 3/5
The Word: 5/5
BL&B: 4/5
The Dance: 4/5
Get On The Boat: 3.5/5

Overall, I'd give the album a B. It's still by far his best work since Chaos and Disorder, in my eyes. Te Amo Corazon, despite a brief spell of enthusiasm for the track, is the weakest link on the record.
[Edited 4/22/06 15:00pm]

SDNafka said:

Ya think?
Well just be careful not to have that mouth too wide open when I decide to take a crap, ok?

sthoudek said:

That's the best song on a mediocre album.

sthoudek said:

completely agree...its deffinitely not my cup of tea

Today is April 20, 2006.
I'm still playing 3121 twice a day.

3121 IS THE best song on there ,,followed by lolita,,black sweat and the end of b,l,b plus satisfied ...those songs are a return to the old style he had pre BATMAN ,cd ...


the rest of the album is good but ruined by some corny arrangemnts ,,but then again ,,thats prince ///



i give it 11 outta 10 ,,u kno how many times ive made love to that album???!!!hahahahahaha

PurpleKnight said:

No problem with this criticism, but my main complaints are the ballads.

Te Amo musically works okay in the flow of the album, but it should have either been MUCH stronger (particularly lyric-wise) or the uptemo flow should have continued. As is, the weakness of the song is more painfully obvious than Lolita, which is fun at least.

Beautiful Loved & Blessed isn't a bad song by itself, but it ruins the momentum that Fury & the Word built and should have continued building with another hot song until the Dance.

NDRU said:

Precisely, I couldn't said it better - I like the song, but it's poorly placed toward the end of the album. If I were to revise the album, I'd replace Satisfied with BL&B, and place a new, more uptempo track between The Word and The Dance.

One of his worsts albums.

PurpleKnight said:

To Prince's credit, I find myself humming this song. I actually like it. But at absolutely hurts the album. Too bad.

B,L&B Is a nice song 2 listen 2... I like it.

I'm tryin out for dance team at my school and you have to make a 45 second dance routine and perform it solo in front of the judges as one of the requirments for tryin out and I'm giving Prince's Black Sweat the privilege of being my audition song lol....i figured it had a great beat to dance to...and to show Prince a lil support never hurts...i'll make sure to do the song justice

BabyImaStar1 said:

I wish you great success with your tryout. Show them folk what time it is and work up a Black Sweat while you're at it!