murph said:

That's pretty stupid.

2020 said:

Aww, I offended the Purple Kool-Aid people...

I bet you thought Musicology would be a big hit as well.

TimeKeeper said:

Nah...quite the opposite...I can tell when someone is giving a well-meaning critical analysis of an album and someone just trying to be a wise ass...So I played wise-ass "ball" with you, that's all...no harm, no foul...

Fair review from "The Onion - AV Club" (http://www.avclub.com/con...node/46786)


Prince
3121
(Universal)


Reviewed by Keith Phipps
March 29th, 2006

In 2004, Prince released Musicology and embarked on a tour with one goal in mind: to make people love him again. After spending most of the '90s in the Artist-Formerly-Known-As-Prince wilderness, Prince clearly wanted it back: The name, the fame, the screaming crowds, and the platinum sales. And he got it, mostly. Lost in the comeback frenzy was the fact that Musicology was nothing special, and a big chunk of its sales came from fans "buying" the album when it came bundled with their concert tickets. But never mind all that: For the most part, Prince had a comeback because we wanted him to have a comeback. Others may come and go, but the universe just isn't right without Prince in it.

So 3121 marks album two for Prince Version 3.0: The Comeback Kid. And while it's not 1999, or even Around The World In A Day, it's a step up from Musicology. Prince sounds genuinely reinvigorated, not just like he's playing at sounding vital again. The title track kicks off the album by joining some old-school Prince weirdness to some unmistakably 21st-century production. "Lolita" keeps the momentum going with, you guessed it, a tale of an underage temptress (who sounds disappointed when all Prince wants to do is dance). "Te Amo Corazon" finds Prince in full loverman ballad mode, and "Black Sweat" brings the funk à la "Kiss."

Those first four tracks make for a pretty satisfying Prince album in miniature. Maybe that's why the rest of 3121 sounds so directionless, bogging down in repeated gestures and endless ballads. It's as if Prince did what he knew he had to do, then decided to let the rest of the album take care of itself. Oh well, a third of a terrific Prince album is better than no terrific Prince album at all. But if he wants the comeback to stick, he might want to try a little harder next time.

A.V. Club Rating: B-

I understand the NME gave the album a really bad review. Any info on this anyone?

I've been waiting to see the review from this website for a while now. This is a very good site for music reviews, but they don't seem too fond of the new album. I find critics don't seem to appreciate the second half of the album, which is admittedely perhaps a bit more subtle. But to miss the power of the Word and the Dance is to miss the best parts of the album in my opinion. Anyhow, here's what Popmatters had to say:

Prince
3121
(Universal)
Rating: 5 (out of 10)
US release date: 21 March 2006
UK release date: 20 March 2006
by Scott Hreha

If you believe the official critical record, somewhere in the mid-’90s Prince fell off the pop culture radar, with only die-hard fans left paying attention as he released a string of increasingly difficult records. As a longtime resident of the Twin Cities, what’s difficult for me is to not take issue with such a dismissive assessment for an Emancipation‘s worth of reasons; but, put simply, when your local celebrities are fewer and further between, you tend to pay closer attention to what they’re doing even when all you can do is shake your head in disbelief. Which is not to say that Prince’s local hero status acquits him of harsh scrutiny; quite the opposite, in fact—and anyone who needs proof need only go back to 1999 and “All the Critics Love U in New York”.

Provincialism aside, it’s still distressing to see this depreciated view of one of the most prodigiously talented and prolific artists in popular music, especially now that it’s come back around to the—perhaps inevitable—comeback lovefest. In 2004, Prince released Musicology, a listener-friendly collection of new songs, decked out with all the toppings: a U.S. Tour, press events, no deliberate obscuring of his personality or name, no record label drama. For Prince fans, die-hard or no, it was nearly 1984 all over again. But there was one small, nagging feeling left in the wake of it all—beyond a solid first single (the disc’s title track), it was almost as devoid of Prince’s musical personality as if he’d hired a cadre of purple-clad, pencil-mustached imitators to execute his calculated return to the mainstream.

Two years later, 3121 presumably looks to seal the deal—cementing Prince’s “comeback” to the soundtrack of gushing prose written by critics from New York to New Mexico. And it’s not a bad record, per se; in fact, it’s better as a whole than Musicology, while suffering from a similar loss of momentum toward the end. It’s actually a difficult dynamic to explain: many of the classic elements of a Prince record are there, but it also feels considerably safer, more calculated—like a poorly concealed attempt to recapture past glories at the expense of his wilder creative muse. That probably makes 3121 sound more dismal than it really is, and in reality, its three or four great songs surrounded by mediocrity is more entertaining than you’d think.

After Musicology‘s heady tribute to one-man/one-woman relationships, Prince has resorted to a simpler theme for 3121, one that served some of his most classic recordings—but also fully plays into the sense of nostalgia that permeates the disc. Here, the main preoccupation is with igniting the dancefloor (a.k.a. “dance, already; damn!"); and to be fair, a couple of these tracks are incredibly successful at achieving that goal. Even from the leadoff title cut, the notion rears its head with a midtempo funk couched in a series of unlikely references, from the chorus’ flipping of “Hotel California“‘s creepy captivity into PG-13 innuendo to declaiming that the entire proceedings are “going down like the wall of Berlin”.

In a similar vein, the record’s first single “Black Sweat”, while not a wholly original entry in the Prince oeuvre, is freaky brilliant nonetheless—all minimalist beats and slinky keyboards, it’s like the single that never was from The Black Album. He even makes another attempt at lewdness—remember, this is the kinder, gentler, religious convert Prince we’re talking about here—with lines like “you’ll be screaming like a white lady when I count to three”. As loathe as it may be to suggest it, if that’s as raw as he can get these days it might be best if he put it behind him, especially when South Park beat him to that one by almost 10 years.

Which brings us to the fact that he hasn’t gotten the Prince-as-monogamy-spokesperson bug out of his system, even after the multiple-song cycle on Musicology‘s second half. Don’t misunderstand—I’m with him 100 percent, but there’s something about it that just seems a bit, I don’t know, unnatural coming from the same guy who wrote “Erotic City”, “Lady Cab Driver”, and “P Control”. On 3121, the theme persists mostly in a handful of tepid neo-soul slow jams, except for “Lolita”, where Prince reveals a sense of humor about the whole situation, as he admonishes his underage temptress that she’ll “never make a cheater out of” him. Even after she professes that she’ll do whatever he wants, all he’ll concede is a dance; the female chorus response is as incredulous as that of anyone with a shred of familiarity with who they’re listening to would be—“Dance?!?”

Aside from “Love”, which finds Prince at his catchiest funky pop star mode and sounding even a little bitter about life in relationship land, the rest of 3121 is comparatively lackluster. At worst, he proves—intentionally or not is anyone’s guess—that he’s not exactly cut out for cruise ship entertainment with “Te Amo Corazón”; otherwise, he’s breaking out the dreaded vocoder for “Incense and Candles” (because nothing says “monogamous sex” like a vocoder) or wasting time with tracks like “Fury”—a passable enough pop-rock tune, but there are least a dozen like it in Prince’s back catalog, all of which are catchier and don’t have the hot guitar leads buried in the mix beneath huge ‘80s-style synth chords. By the time the disc ends with the James Brown-inspired tight funk workout “Get on the Boat”, complete with guest saxophone solo by Maceo Parker, you’d be excused for having so muddled a perspective as to not remember the few truly standout tracks.

The upside to all of this recent “comeback” activity is that Prince honestly appears to be reemerging from his introverted shell, which is good news for anyone who appreciates his music at any level of scrutiny. Before 3121‘s release, he’s already played a handful of concerts to “introduce” his latest protégé Támar, made a recent episode of Saturday Night Live interesting (which is no minor accomplishment these days), and still found time to get news headlines with his recent squabble over adding a few “personal” touches to the Los Angeles house he’s been renting from NBA player Carlos Boozer for $70,000 a month. In that sense, 3121 is an appropriate verification of Prince’s return to the mainstream; and while I, for one, would like to dance and be awed by all the crazy shit he came up with, I’m willing to suffer a few slick records in the hope that his unpredictability is merely on hiatus and not permanently tempered with age.

http://www.popmatters.com...ince_3121/

http://www.mndaily.com/ar...3/29/67764

Minnesota Daily

You’re invited to the purple palace
Religious themes on Prince’s new CD keep him from fully disrobing

By Keri Carlson


rince invites us all to a party at 3121 — his rented Los Angeles mansion decked out in a Playboy-approved decor of plush, suede couches, scented candles and hot tubs strewn with rose petals.
If 2004’s “Musicology” was a return to form for Prince, his new album, “3121,” returns to the sextastic, down ’n’ dirty Prince. “3121” has funked-up dance songs to hook us at the club and seductive slow jams to seal the deal in the bedroom.

The Pied Piper of sexiness has returned to lead us all back to “Erotic City.”

But while Prince howls and moans in his signature sexy falsetto, don’t get your hopes up. After all, Prince is a reformed man, or at least a Jehovah’s Witness. Prince still is a sexpert, but now it’s just a tease. Often it seems as if he uses his seductive powers for religious conversion.

“Get on the Boat” is the most up-front song in this gospel. Although he never directly mentions Christianity, the song sends the message that once onboard, darkness will turn to light and we’ll all love one another. (Wait, Prince, are you a Jehovah’s Witness or a Scientologist?)

On the title track, a relaxed groove that begins the album, Prince tells you to leave your clothes at the door, slip into a Japanese robe and drink champagne from a glass with chocolate handles. Maybe it’s not your average gathering, but considering it’s Prince, it sounds relatively tame. But then he slyly mentions that once at the party, you never can leave. (Will you be serving Kool-Aid as well, Prince?)

The most bizarre and freaky song on album, “The Word,” has Prince singing “Don’t U wanna know The Word? Who’s gonna save us when them spiders get next 2 U?”


Prince
ALBUM: “3121”
LABEL: Universal Records



But if you can get past the boat, the cult party and the spiders, “3121” contains plenty of classic Prince moments. Songs such as “Lolita” and “Incense and Candles” aren’t exactly revolutionary, but they recall Prince in his ’80s heyday. And no one does Prince better than Prince.

The highlight of the album clearly is the single “Black Sweat.” The song has a similar stripped-down, dancy feel as a song like “Kiss.” But the grimy beats and electronic hums give the song an updated Neptunes-like spin. Unfortunately, “Black Sweat” is one-of-a-kind on the record, and although the classic purpleness is good, it leaves us wanting more 2000-sex-era Prince.

This is the problem with “3121”; it gets us all worked up with no climax. Prince’s religious conversion hasn’t turned him into a eunuch, and “3121” is plenty hot and kinky, but come on, Prince, there’s only so much foreplay a girl can take.

http://www.cavalierdaily....9&pid=1423

Prince leaves musical imprints
Musical chameleon continues his success with '3121,' his first studio effort since 2004's critical and commercial success 'Musicology'

by Meta Pettus

Since it's been on heavy rotation on MTV and the radio lately, Prince's song "Black Sweat" has been a constant earworm for me. Considering how infectious this song is, I decided it might be worth checking out his latest studio endeavor, 3121.

In his follow-up to 2004's Musicology, Prince released this pleasurably, neo-funk album. I say neo-funk because 3121 channels the best of 70s funk, pours in the hair-teasing attitude of the 80s, mixes in the sensuality and theatricality of Purple Rain but with the dash of instrumentation that only the new millennium can offer. It's the logical continuation of his musical legacy.

A musician less skilled than Prince wouldn't have been able to pull off this eclectic mix quite as well. Perhaps it's because Prince has a solid grasp on old and new music, knowing the balance between acoustic and electronic, the psychedelic and the mellow.

The album begins with the weirdest, most psychedelic track "3121," where he invites you to his L.A. pad of purple-splendor because "That's where the party b / 3121." With the promise of the chance to "drink champagne from a glass with chocolate handles" while listening to a computerized Prince voice, how could I refuse? Just ignore the unexpected and slightly cheesy last line "It's goin' down, people / Like the wall of Berlin" and everything is off to a good start.

Another point of strangeness is his slow love songs. Some of these songs are more successful than others. "Te Amo Corazón," already released as a single, has a subdued jazz and tango style that is admirable but gets old easily. Listen to the first minute of it and you've pretty much heard all the song has to offer. On other songs, the lyrics leave you puzzled. In "Incense and Candles" Prince tries to seduce you into his room for something you can't handle but then tells you "I know u want 2 take off all Ur clothes / But please don't do it." Which is it, Prince? Why the flip-flopping? Does it have something to do with your promise to tone down the hyper-sexuality from several years back?

Whatever it is, he makes up for this hang-up with the unexpected jewel of a slow-jam "Satisfied." The song reminds me of an old Teddy Pendergrass or Al Green song where all he wants to do is "get you satisfied." Instead he demands first that "It's time 2 send Ur company home and turn off Ur cellphone" a lá Pendergrass' demands to "turn off the lights." The song is elegantly crafted into that subtle richness of golden R&B.

Prince really shines on songs that allow for flexibility in instrumentation, intensity and yelling. "Fury" is a fiery number that leaves room for killer guitar solos -- recently shown when he played it on Saturday Night Live. The album version is more restrained than the scorching hot version he played on SNL, but it's exciting to think what else he could do with the number during live performances.

Despite his experimentation, Prince manages to still be Prince. "Black Sweat" recalls the heavenly falsetto and flirty vocal delivery of "Kiss." "Lolita" is a sure pleaser that invites the audience participation of "1999" with a hint of that Morris Day-vibe from the movie Purple Rain.

Essentially, 3121 showcases the most infamous incarnation of Prince on steroids. If I hadn't bought a Prince album since Purple Rain and then bought 3121, I wouldn't have missed out on a thing -- it seems like a logical progression.

In the end, Prince has me sold. He ends the album with another banging track worthy of live performance called "Get On the Boat" that evokes James Brown soul, recruiting Sheila E. on drums and Maceo on the horn. With an album like this, when Prince asks, "Don't U wanna come? 3121." I answer with an emphatic yes.

http://www.journalnow.com...7835043456


Prince

3121

Label: Universal

If you like: The Artist Formerly Known As Adventurous

Song to download: “Get On The Boat”
½ (out of four)

Remember Prince? Short fellow, ridiculously talented, obsessed with purple, so stylistically promiscuous that he was always one step ahead of critics, fans and trendmongers.

In the 1980s, Prince made groundbreaking music, and he seemingly did it effortlessly. But for the better part of the past 20 years, he has been maddeningly inconsistent - a clearinghouse for unfocused, generally lackluster material that was often audacious and hard to get a good foot around.

Life briefly perked up in 2004 with the release of Musicology, a disc of high-minded funk. Now comes 3121, a solo album in which Prince plays and sings most of the parts - a practice he has returned to often through the years. Accordingly, the sound will be familiar to longtime fans, as it’s a throwback to the era in which Prince combined “real” instruments with synthesizers and beat boxes.

There’s plenty of funky business afoot; “Black Sweat,” the Latino-tinged “Get On The Boat” and “3121” are contemporary takes on old-school funk that kick with conviction. The problem - these “songs” are little more than barely fleshed grooves, indicative of the compositional malaise that dominates the disc. Few tunes reflect the depth, ambition and eccentricity once crucial to all things Prince. With few exceptions, these tunes are hollow pleasures.

There’s much to like about 3121 on a superficial level. It grooves, it holds together and it sounds great, if familiar. For some fans, that will be enough. But once the groove grows old, once the party’s over, there’s little tangible invention to offset the musical fatigue.

Prince is capable of more.

- Ed Bumgardner

http://www.diamondbackonl...928cd7d5a0


REVIEW - Prince still rules the world of velvet and groove
By Roxana Hadadi

March 28, 2006

There’s a reason Prince is musical royalty.

Put aside the purple velvet suits, the phallus-shaped guitar, the stint as a symbol and the newly found religious faith. Instead, focus on Prince’s genius in funk, jazz and rock, captured perfectly on early singles “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious” and the revolutionary 1984 album Purple Rain.

Now, with 3121, his latest release, Prince continues where he left off on 2001’s Musicology: stripped-down beats, sensual ballads and playful lyrics wrapped up in one focused album.

Back in the day — I Love the 80s, anyone? — Prince was the king of synthesizers and eclectic arrangements. He was a weirder, hornier Michael Jackson who wasn’t worried about the father of Billie Jean’s baby but was instead amazed at darling Nikki’s skills in the sack.

With 3121, Prince is back in the groove, and the majority of the album’s 12 tracks prove it. “Lolita” is a slice of Prince past, chock full of sexual imagery: “I know you’re fine, from head to pumps/If you were mine, we’d bump, bump, bump,” he croons to the lady in question. Don’t worry fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses, Prince keeps it in his pants: “Lolita, you’re sweeta’, but you’ll never make a cheater out of me.”

“Black Sweat,” the other stellar track, is so full of delicious deviousness that Prince’s obsession with colored liquids — Purple Rain, etc. — can be forgiven. The hand claps, drum machine and falsetto yelps are intoxicatingly old school. And Prince commands attention when he says, “I’m hot and I don’t care who knows it/ I got a job to do.”

The album isn’t all bump and grind, though. 3121 has its share of disappointments. “Te Amo Corazon,” Prince’s ill attempt at some Spanish-language loving, is slow and boring — a ballad of the worst caliber. “Beautiful, Loved and Blessed” is just as bad. It’s a poor introduction to Prince’s newest protege, Tamar, who lends her vocals to what sounds like a song from Beyonce’s reject pile.

Prince has done his best work on 3121. He delivers engaging songs in the style that made the former symbol famous and spawned the likes of Pharrell and Andre 3000. Let’s hope he stays that way.

Contact reporter Roxana Hadadi at roxanadbk@gmail.com.

http://www.projo.com/musi...46388.html

Prince is back, but he fails to be king again

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 26, 2006
BY RICK MASSIMO
Journal Pop Music Writer



Prince

3121 (Universal)

Prince is one of those artists, like the Rolling Stones or Lou Reed or a bunch of others, whose every new record is greeted with at least a few critical hosannas, claiming that the master is back to his old form. And 3121 is no exception.

So is the master, in fact, back? Eh.

It's debatable whether Prince can ever again have the kind of impact he had as a teenage wunderkind in 1981 -- wearing lingerie and licking his guitar onstage; putting out albums such as his self-titled second record, Dirty Mind, Controversy and 1999; and bringing rock, funk and soul together in a way that a lot of people got a lot of credit for a lot later.

One of the things that's missing here is the sense of transgression -- from the composer of such filthy masterpieces as "Head," "Darling Nikki" and "Tamborine," it's amazing how many songs on this record are explicitly about not having sex. He alludes to what he used to come out and say. Personal growth? The natural maturation process? Maybe, but what's lost is the sense, when putting on a new Prince album, of entering a world somewhat different from the one the rest of us walk around in.

That's true musically, too.

Prince, perhaps in response to hip-hop as others have asserted, has spent the past 15 years or so firming up his reputation as an R&B/funk/soul master who can stand right next to James Brown, Sly Stone and George Clinton without blinking. (Prince remains a must-see in live performance, and some of the new material will fit in nicely.)

But that's not what made Prince great in the first place; it was his slightly twisted vision, made real by a weird, compelling sonic signature. While he mostly works alone on 3121 (playing virtually all the instruments on virtually all the songs), it's the work of someone who's spending a lot of time listening to the radio.

And sometimes incorporating it brilliantly. There are more than a few dance-floor bangers, such as the title song with its subterranean bass and electronically altered vocals; the single "Black Sweat," reminiscent of the nasty jams on The Black Album; "Lolita," with its icy "1999"-style keyboards; and the Brown-style "Get On the Boat," the album closer that includes Maceo Parker, the master himself. But these songs'll take over your Friday night, not your life.

The ballads, usually a Prince strength, are mostly a disappointment. The single "Te Amo Corazon" is pleasant enough, but it's the highlight. The rest are fairly generic and/or straightforward proselytizing from this Jehovah's Witness.

At the end of the title song, Prince predicts, "It's going down, like the wall of Berlin." Twenty years ago, that would've been one of the bold, kooky lyrics that set Prince apart. Now? Um, Prince? They already did that.

Is it slightly pathetic to admit your adolescent hero doesn't write 'em like that anymore? Maybe. But is that Prince's albatross as much as mine? Maybe.

It's clear from 3121 that he'll always be very good, but maybe never great again

http://www.battlecreekenq...30323/1044


Prince makes '3121' count
Gannett News Service





Associated Press


Rascal Flatts´ Jay DeMarcus teams up with Chicago on new album "XXX."

Reviews from USA staffers.

R&B

Prince, "3121" (3 1/2 stars out of four): Most artists who have been around nearly 30 years have long since settled into the safe and predictable. Prince has never been either, and he still produces the kind of artistry few peers can touch. From the guitar-fueled rocker "Fury" to the horn-kissed ballad "Te Amo Corazon," he never falls into a rut on this follow-up to 2004's award-winning, double-platinum "Musicology." The minimalist funk of "Black Sweat" is followed by the steamy seduction of "Incense and Candles." "Lolita" finds him trying to resist temptation, while "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed," with protegee Tamar, explores the depths of commitment. His real commitment, though, is to letting his creativity run free and not worrying about what everybody else thinks is hot

The album isn't perfect. Though the reviewers seem to be taking little potshots at Musicology, I think it was a more complete album in general - some of those are truly great Prince tunes.

But, 3121 is good stuff, if Prince does mis-step a few times into weird beats, misplaced raps (like the one in "Love" specifically, with it's 'shake that thing come on' weirdness), or odd calls for people to 'Dance' all the time.

But, some of the songs really bring something new and exciting, and gives me hope for future tunes - like Black Sweat, Love, and Incense and candles specifically. I'm not saying these are the only 'good' tracks on the album. Far from it. But these specifically feel like they're showing you a newer side of Prince that maybe we've seen before.

The reviewers who mention things like 'Te Amo Corazon' isn't a Prince song...well, THEY just don't know Prince, do they? The fans who suck up everything The Man has to offer know they fit into his canon as well as the other songs on the disc. But they aren't the more commercial tunes.

All in all, reviewers seem to be lost in the 80s - they want Prince to sound like he did when he screamed 'Let's go crazy!', but that's not really the kind of music Prince makes anymore. He's far more varied now, touching on dozens of different genres on a regular basis. The critics (in most of these reviews even) panned Emancipation, but while it has its misses (and because of its size, there are more of them), it shows the direction that Prince would be taking in the future.

A good album. Some things feel dated - and that does bother me. Fury is okay, but the main guitar/horn hook is tired. Lolita is strange, and the lyrics are rather puerile - all in all, this album does sport some of the worst Prince lyrics i've heard in years.

Not the triumph I wanted, but not a disappointment either. Prince does his own thing, and that's why I love him and his music. I can skip the tracks I don't like (to this day, I've only heard Cinnamon Girl ONE time...thank God for that).

Musicology in order to reset Oji to comeback, the spot light and the diagram whose our consciousness is strong, was the record which is designed and it worked: That did not bear big hit and the て, LP 2004 on 10 the bulletin board ever since 1995's the fair quantity of the play of the experience dividing and the radio of the gold with profit and well-received travelling became that first album which obtains the bundle of the affirmative publication. As for Oji like the eccentric who entrusts to the fringe already the way, there is no く: He way you are well versed professional, with the way, develops the point and the reputation which he loses. He was in order to be done by new generation of electricity, on side of the thing point which does that of the album which sound does strangely like the prudent return to conventional Oji almost: He engaging, you sounded, he that to try is concentrated, it was sufficient, the intend album. That Musicology was not the liver 蛭, 2006 follow-up which that directly is conveyed, it proves 3121. Like the predecessor, 3121 is hard, song brevity of 12 of 53 parts, and that emphasizes the feeling of transfer between song and quality offering is formed to classic. Those how absorbed that music, as Oji inquires about the sufficient production of Neptunes in order to understand, that is album song and is not the collection, it is possible to call that old style, but you feel more newly than Musicology. Approval not coming frequently - that the black which "sweats" is cunning, the sexy groove and the key key "of Lolita" what is said clear with synths, but but - putting emphasis on condition and retreat of dance from the fact that it is pleasant, it is combined, because the infinity which was made NPG style that characterized the part whose vamping Musicology is good, as for 3121, you sound actively, being best and being changed, you wind stimulus. And in beginning the album, as for to 3121 the diving makes revive the head "of Lolita" first "" the sweat, kiss "or sign ' O ' there are no times when it is being when," the book you correct, "the song which the masterpiece of intermediate the way" period the recall is done electro- to fear, Oji to be that Koudaka, because make the offshoot Camille of the title track/truck black, it is rather exciting. The fact that struggles today music and or, in spite even to that in the acoustic music where here is newest, still 20 years the direct telephone back section is before in record Oji who is made, the album the Oji his himself way as a result of the hip hop comparatively, a little emphasizes the change both fear of Clinton's ジェームスブラウン and George of the night late of maintenance good sign, being crowded, conventional dance, and the mind which can be delayed, is. As for that while perhaps, you are disappointed the listening person ' no person who the ride in advance Oji's of 80s yearns return of, when he reforms him himself of each record, it expands thing that the 47 years old musician refines that pallet not to be unexpected almost and uses at times many times. A certain something as for the surprise is that Oji in form above the writer and as the record manufacturer both, is; Perhaps 1 human band character of sound recording the album like the sand or the efficiency where unprocessed and that impression have lived securely, does not mean the fact that it is the sound which 3121 of the excitation which is full with sound and the style which but differ sounds snappily. Appreciating in the problem which torments that album after the concept, the diamond and the pearl where best all, this reaches, monopolized ones are kept as an individual condition being full, however bets on arch condition the song which in record of the cohesion which has been lacking becomes jelly condition. Rather than as for 3121 from the fact that it is complete - the being lacking momentum which is the song which is bad there so barely is late at the latter half and however - is and being classic limited to of one time valuable what?: Oji his himself word being serious, the fact that you reset completely as a serious sound recording artist is evidence. Perhaps, he already does not break the new frontier, but as now it was not abusive language and that extravagant characteristic spread attribute long method ' 80s that, been creative peak, being to increase glaringly, it goes, is, fear and explosion sound, almost making the blend of that trade mark of sound of mind, and the stone.

If you like: The Artist Formerly Known As Adventurous

Song to download: “Get On The Boat”
½ (out of four)

Review

- Ed Bumgardner[/quote]

How can I take someone seriously when their name is Ed BUMGARDNER??

Prince

3121

Label: Universal

If you like: The Artist Formerly Known As Adventurous

Song to download: “Get On The Boat”
½ (out of four)

Review was here

- Ed Bumgardner[/quote]

How can I take someone seriously when their name is Ed BUMGARDNER??

sorry about the double post, but still, of all the people to poke fun at princes name, a guy called Ed BUMGARDNER!!!

Ed. BUMGARDNER

just say it out loud, BUM.GARDNER.

I can't stop laughing!

The Washington Post
Prince's '3121': Some Funky Little Numbers
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 22, 2006; C01

You remember Prince, right?

Not the Artist Formerly Known as Brilliant, that defiant glyph who stumbled into an abyss of self-absorbed musical mediocrity in the 1990s and became more interesting for his eccentricities than for his unfocused and largely forgettable albums ("Come," "Emancipation," "The Rainbow Children"). But the undisputed pop genius and funk-rock master -- the virtuosic innovator behind "Dirty Mind," "1999" and "Sign 'O' the Times." His Royal Badness.

That Prince is basically back: Let the house-quaking commence.

After not embarrassing himself for the first time in a long time with 2004's "Musicology," which coincided with a wildly successful greatest-hits tour, Prince has emerged from the studio with the cryptically titled "3121," the purple rainmaker's best new release since "The Love Symbol Album" in 1992.

It's hardly perfect: "3121" is ill-sequenced, for one thing, wedging a dud of a bossa nova ballad, "Te Amo Corazon," between the superlative funk of "Lolita" and "Black Sweat," almost as if Prince tripped over a cord in the studio and accidentally unplugged the groove machine. And there are other songs that don't quite rise to the high standards set by "Lolita" et al., including "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed," which sounds like a Soul II Soul leftover.

Still, "3121" is largely irresistible, harking back to Prince's heyday without sounding stale. If there's supposed to be stasis on the funk continuum, then nobody seems to have told Prince: Several of "3121's" dozen songs suggest that the notoriously insular artist has been absorbing contemporary music again -- in particular, tracks by producers on whom he's had a profound impact.

"Black Sweat" is a delicious slice of stripped-down electro-funk that sounds like Prince doing his best Pharrell doing his best "Black Album"- or "Kiss"-era Prince, which is so meta it hurts. The song is all stuttering drum machines, hand claps and buzzing, burbling synths, with grunting vocals and falsetto shrieks: "I'm hot and I don't care who knows it, I got a job to do," Prince yelps. The layered "Love" also features a Pharrell/Neptunes-style drum pattern, along with some zhigga-zhigga turntable scratches, space-gun sound effects and an industrial-strength melody.

On the steamy, slinky slow jam "Incense and Candles," Prince borrows a page from Timbaland, adding a double-time rap over a drum-and-bass breakdown. And there are echoes of OutKast's Andre 3000 throughout the album, as well -- no shock, given that the rapper-producer is pretty much the new Prince.

But "3121" is no hip-hop album. Rather, it's basically a party-ready funk record, albeit one that also features bluesy Southern soul ("Satisfied"), sophisticated, symphonic tango ("The Dance") and hard-driving, "1999"-style rock ("Fury").

"Lock the door till you see the sun, we gonna party like there ain't gonna be another one," Prince sings on the title track, accompanying himself with the pitch-shifted vocals of his longtime alter ego, Camille, who sounds like a drunken alien. "Futuristic fantasy, this is where the purple party people be." Riding a steady mid-tempo groove, he embellishes the psychedelic song with wormy synth vamps and a fuzzed-out guitar solo.

"Get On the Boat" is a James Brown-style workout that even features a shout of "Good God!" plus a saxophone solo by the onetime Brown sideman Maceo Parker. (Parker is one of "3121's" only interlopers, as Prince plays almost all the instruments on the self-produced recording; he does the majority of the singing, too, though his newest protege, soul songstress Tamar, lends her voice in spots.)

Prince also gets down on "Lolita," though he doesn't actually, you know . . . The formerly freak-nasty singer is still sorta salacious, but he's apparently adopted a look-but-don't-touch lyric policy, now that he's a Jehovah's Witness: "I know you're fine, from head to pumps/If you were mine, we'd bump, bump, bump." But, he adds of the song's young subject, "Lolita, you're sweeta', but you'll never make a cheater out of me."

I promise not to stray, either -- as long as Prince is back to sounding like Prince for good.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Brisbane, Australia

Rave Magazine – 28 March 2006

Album of the Week

Prince – 3121

Vibrant return from His (former) Royal Badness

Prince’s 2004 Musicology album represented a concerted attempt on the Purple One’s part to come to grips with his storied past and create a more commercial record, following years of jazzy experimentation that unfortunately yielded little in the way of truly memorable songs. But it never really seemed like his heart was in it – even the album’s best tracks sound strangely listless and workmanlike with two years hindsight. Happily, on 3121 Prince achieves his goal and delivers a strong, memorable, accessible record that easily outshines any album he’s released in the past 10 years. As usual, it’s allover the shop stylistically, veering from barmy psych-funk to breezy pop to cocktail-hour balladry in a heartbeat – and that’s just the first three songs. What’s different this time around is the renewed commitment and rigour Prince has brought to his are; everything from production and arrangements to songwriting has been meticulously planned and flawlessly executed. The end result is an album that bristles with energy and offers something for every Prince fan. The opening title track is worth the price of admission alone, a murky, bonkers funk jam on which a pitch-changed Prince sounds refreshingly like the same unhinged genius that create the Black Album nearly 20 years ago. Other highlights include the sonically startling Love, with its tough techno-funk groove that magically morphs into a glorious, multitracked melodic chorus just when things are about to become monotonous; the sparse and cold synthetic textures of Black Sweat, in which the avowed Jehovah’s Witness finally gives in to the dark side and gets (a little) sexy once more; and the spooky, lushly arranged ballad The Dance. Of course, there’s some lesser lights as well – Te Amo Corazon is a decorative but slight Latin-tinged ballad, while Satisfied is by-numbers old-school soul – but unlike other Prince albums, even those form his ‘80s peak, there are no outright stinkers here. 3121 breaks absolutely no new ground for the pocket-sized polymath, but then few albums by 47-year-old pop musicians do. For the first time in a long time, Prince seems to be enjoying simply sounding like himself.

**** Brett Collingwood

Brisbane, Australia

Time Off Magazine, 29 March 2006

Feature Album of the Week

Prince – 3121

Don’t call it a comeback… Prince never really went anywhere! He cleverly brings the groove back on his new album, reminding the forgetful mainstream how brilliant his blend of funk, soul, rock and pop can be.
Successfully harking back to his 80s hey-day without sounding stale, the insular artist delivers a dozen tracks which suggest he’s been absorbing sounds of those producers on who he’s had a profound influence.
First single, ‘Black Sweat’, is a delicious slab of electro-funk that sounds like Prince doing his best Pharrell doing his best ‘Kiss’-era Prince. Elsewhere the songs run the gamut form a hard-driving, ‘1999’-style rock number (‘Fury’), a lush bossa nova ballad (‘Te Amo Corazon’) to steamy R’n’B (‘Incense & Candles’).
The potential sugary-pop hit ‘Lolita’ and the bluesy bedroom ballad ‘Satisfied’ both revisit racier themes of old, but now adopt a teasing look-but-don’t-touch lyric policy now that he’s a Jehovah’s Witness. Although Prince plays most of the instruments, 3121 features guest appearances from new Prince protégé Tamar (‘Beautiful, Loved & Blessed’) as well as saxophonist Maceo Parker, Candy Dulfer and Sheila E who preserve the artist’s hybrid style, savvy instrumentation and flair for up-tempo jams.
Whereas Musicology made you long for the Prince of old, 3121 is a party-ready funk album that leaves you excited about where Prince is today and looking forward to where he might be going. Let the housequaking begin once again!

**** Ben Preece

This is from this week's edition of Flagpole, a free weekly paper in the music/college town of Athens, GA. They update the site with the newest issue every Wednesday, so if someone is still sending these things to Metacritic you'll have to do so before next week or it'll be offline.

http://flagpole.com/artic...2006-03-29 (scroll down to the last review)


Prince
3121
NPG / Universal

It’s been a long time since I could whole-heartedly recommend a Prince album. And its a good feeling. Unlike his nearly desperate and wholly overrated “comeback album” Musicology, the new disc 3121 is truly a return to form. No, its not in the league of Purple Rain or Sign O’ The Times, but its strong. If I had to make a direct comparison, Id say this one has the feel of Diamonds & Pearls. To that end, 3121 is clearly meant to be a commercial return, and it succeeds on all fronts.

“Lolita” combines the beat of his first ever regional hit “Soft & Wet” and adds in an updated version of the call and response from The Time’s “C-O-O-L” (which Prince wrote). The melody and groove combine to form an easy going, breezy tune that could be one of the hits of the summer and Prince’s return to the upper echelon of the top 40. Current single “Black Sweat,” while not as obvious as “Lolita,” brings back the Prince of “Kiss.” Sure, his sexual overtones are more muted than the old days, but his falsetto is just as clear and sensual as ever. This is the Prince with an attitude, the one with a hint of danger, the one we’ve been missing for the last decade or so. And while his Jehovahs Witness status prevents him from using the language of back when, he makes up for it with subtext, deep beats and propulsive guitar work. His religion does creep up on you during the double shot of “The Word” and “Beautiful, Loved & Blessed,” but that’s just it. It creeps up on you. And thats a good thing. Hes not banging the listener over the head, trying to force beliefs down throats (“Rainbow Children,” anyone?). This is simply a man sharing his passion and love, not trying to prove how everyone else is wrong. And that makes for a much more inspiring sermon, if truth be told.

The sleeper of 3121 is a cut called “The Dance.” It’s a slow-burn, Latin-tinged ballad that unravels rather emotionally. Hearing Prince shriek out at the end, it’s hard not to get carried away to the same place that “The Beautiful Ones” took us. And with a handful of hits-in-waiting here (boy, its good to say that), Prince may be about to carry pop radio to a place where musicianship and songwriting can have a place - just like he did the first time 'round.

By: Chris McKay
[Edited 3/31/06 8:26am]
[Edited 3/31/06 19:53pm]

CD Review: Prince: 3121

Prince's number comes up

By DARRYL STERDAN -- Winnipeg Sun
-----
Prince
3121
(NPG/Universal)
3.5 stars (out of 5)
-----

After years of wandering the musical wilderness, His Purple Majesty got his head back in the game with 2004's Musicology.

3121 is his next step on the comeback trail, with another dozen funky rumpshakers and slow jams that boast some pointed songcraft to go with all those retro-funky rhythms.

Purple Rain 2 it ain't, but it is one of his more accessible and less annoying discs in years.

Looks like 3121 is Prince's lucky number. And ours.

http://www.2tPrince loads 3121 with variety

By JOHN WIRT
Music critic
Published: Mar 31, 2006


Photo by AFSHIN SHAHIDI
Prince

Prince
3121
Prince’s latest musical excursion mixes funk-driven rock of the kind that made him a crossover superstar in the 1980s with songs that easily fit today’s urban-radio format.

As inimitable as Prince’s wispy falsetto is in “Black Sweat,” the track’s bass-bumping rhythm screams “hip-hop market.” “Incense and Candles,” with electronically processed vocals, rap and mainstream-R&B style, is even more tailored for urban radio.

The latter songs are more derivative than we expect from the enormously creative Purple One. Fortunately, 3121 turns out to be a satisfying variety show. The title track throws down a classic Prince groove straight from the Purple Rain era. Ditto “Love” and its chicken-scratch guitar and slapping beat. Prince expertly re-creates old-school soul in “Satisfied,” adding a heavy blues feeling. “Te Amo Corazón” is a Spanish-tinged love song, flavored with timbales and congas.

“Lolita,” featuring a shout-out call and response with his New Power Generation, is genuine Prince, too, but with a difference. The song’s all about avoiding temptation. The famously sexual Prince is married now and, according to his Jehovah’s Witness faith, infidelity is forbidden. He finally tells the beguiling Lolita, “better get out of here, ’less U wanna dance.” A joyful Prince addresses his faith more overtly in “The Word.” “Get up, come on, let’s do something. Don’t U wanna get saved?”

Multi-instrumentalist Prince plays and sings much of the album himself, but he also enlists sax players Maceo Parker and Candy Dulfer, R&B singer Tamár, longtime percussionist Shelia E. and others. It’s a treat to hear a real four-piece horn section on a modern R&B record. But then 3121 is no ordinary record. It’s the new album from Prince and it earns a place alongside his classics.
headvocate.com/entertainment/music/2552686.html

Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentine...almusictop


Prince: 3121 (4 stars out of 5)
Depth but no surprises in Prince's '3121'

Jim Abbott | Sentinel Pop Music Critic Jabbott@Orlandosentinel.Com
Posted March 31, 2006


The Artist Currently Known as Prince made a triumphant comeback a couple years ago not by blazing new territory but by reclaiming familiar turf.

Since Prince hadn't been "Classic Prince'' in a while, Musicology was heralded as a success as much for its intentions as its flawless execution.

By comparison, the 12 songs of 3121 take more time to love.

Compared with Prince's fiery performance recently on Saturday Night Live, 3121 unfolds with a more subtle, simmering power. Somewhere around the midpoint, the pace almost starts to drag, especially in the trapped-in-the-'80s-in-a-bad-way groove of "Fury'' and the swirling midtempo ballad "The Word.''

Even if 3121 doesn't offer the wall-to-wall funk of Musicology, it is ultimately an album that yields considerable depth and sonic pleasures. Not that there's anything that would qualify as off-the-wall, in the way that a Prince album once used to surprise. The biggest mystery about 3121 seems to revolve around the title itself, not the sounds.

Instead, Prince approaches the mainly one-man operation with the touch of a craftsman, refining his signature sound by tossing in a few well-placed wrinkles.

At first, it's all about the funk, whether it's cartoonish party exhortations on the robotic, slow-building title track, the staggered syncopation of "Lolita,'' with its vague echo of the playful "Raspberry Beret'' or the teasing falsetto of "Black Sweat.''

The vocals on that song recall "Kiss,'' which again suggests that Prince is starting to repeat himself. In a way, he is, but with style.

There's a sultry mambo beat on the gorgeous "Te Amo Corazon,'' which mixes woodwinds, trumpets, strings and lounge percussion into a captivating romantic ballad.

That intoxicating Latin feel returns again for the inspired pair of songs that close the album: Over more than five minutes, "The Dance'' unfolds as an atmospheric mix of pensive chords and undulating rhythms that is grave, majestic and exhilarating.

It is followed by the old-school James Brown-style funk of "Get on the Boat,'' with its percolating horns and guitars augmented by timbales and room for Maceo Parker's sax.

Like the rest of the album, it's not experimental, just good.

Reviewing key:

***** excellent, **** good, *** average, ** poor, * awful

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music...6-sun.html


Prince
3121
(NPG/Universal)
-----

After years of wandering the musical wilderness, His Purple Majesty got his head back in the game with 2004's Musicology.

3121 is his next step on the comeback trail, with another dozen funky rumpshakers and slow jams that boast some pointed songcraft to go with all those retro-funky rhythms.

Purple Rain 2 it ain't, but it is one of his more accessible and less annoying discs in years.

Looks like 3121 is Prince's lucky number. And ours.

Track Listing:


1. 3121
2. Lolita
3. Te Amo Corazon
4. Black Sweat
5. Incense and Candles
6. Love
7. Satisfied
8. Fury
9. The Word
10. Beautiful, Loved & Blessed
11. The Dance
12. Get On The Boat

Dear Mr Cohen,

Why are so many critics who are clearly unfamiliar with Prince's work getting their shorts all tied in knots now over the Prince's post JW conversion remarks on spiritual/religous themes. 1999 was about the biblical apocalypse (and the party before). The song Uptown is about Heaven (cast as an MN suburb). "I Wish You Heaven" couldn't be more explicit, pre-Jehovah Witness..... Purple Rain opened with a sick/slick church organ and P speaking directly from the pulpit like he has since never done with more gusto:

"We are gathered here today
2 get through this thing called life...
But I'm here 2 tell u
There's something else
The afterworld ...."

... And silly Tipper hated that album. Where is she now? She certainly doesn't have a number one hit or any other reason for people to pay attention to her.

In fact, nearly every P album had deeply religious/spiritual/psuedo- if not explicit-christian themes. Even the current Pope spent a lot of time in his last encyclical letter praising sex as a gift from God for two people to share. It's hard to find a Prince song that is out of step with that or which praises unchristian behavior, he might talk about it, as with Sister (from Dirty Mind) but only to identify and contrast his spirituality with base human behavior and highlight the tension between carnal and spiritual natures. He is vehemently anti-war. The old message was never R, it just advised a little parental guidance when depicting the rougher aspects of life. Maybe critics with should stop imposing their Dirty Minds on his work.
[Edited 3/31/06 14:04pm]

In a message dated 3/31/06 5:06:38 PM, HCohen@miamiherald.com writes:

I am very familiar with Prince's work, past and present. You are correct, there has always been a strong spiritual river running through all of his work. There also was blatant sex songs on Dirty Mind and Controversy, the types of which he won't touch here. He flirts with it but gets preachy and prudish on this new CD tho.
[Edited 3/31/06 14:08pm]

Prince back with new funky album
Prince

"3121"; Universal

Three stars out of four

Unless you were the kind of Prince fanatic who subscribed to his Web site for musical downloads or stood in line for hours after hearing whispers of his low-key club performances, the only Prince music you probably heard during his self-imposed exile were golden oldies.

Maybe that's why his much-hyped return to the spotlight with 2004's "Musicology" -- his first album on a major record label in years -- was so disappointing.

Compared to the classic Prince we'd been listening to, it was hard to deny that "Musicology" lacked the fire, passion and innovation that made him such a groundbreaking '80s force.

One had to wonder whether his time away from the spotlight or his conversion to the Jehovah's Witness faith had tamed his Royal Badness for good.

Such concerns evaporate upon listening to his latest CD, "3121." Tantalizing, sexy, even uplifting, this Prince sounds like the vintage Purple One.

Well, almost. Though Prince ramps up the sex appeal on "3121" with the throbbing club track "Black Sweat," it's generally a pretty tame affair, unlike the salacious content of his prime. On "Lolita," he declares to a temptress, "You'll never make a cheater out of me," while on sensual, pillow-soft ballads like "Incense & Candles," it's true love, and not lust, being celebrated.

In fact, some of the most passionate songs have nothing to do with romantic love, but a spiritual one, like the lovely "Beautiful, Loved & Blessed," a duet with his protege, Tamar. There's also an inspirational uptempo track, "The Word."

And unlike the Prince of old, he doesn't mine any new musical ground here.

You'll still hear the dance grooves that are heavily reliant on synthesized funk or those that sound like you've dropped in on a free-for-all jam session.

But with killer jams like the horn-and-drum centered "Get On the Boat," that's hardly a bad thing.

Whereas "Musicology" made you long for the Prince of old, "3121" leaves you excited about where Prince is today -- and looking forward to where he might be going.

Recommended if you like: George Clinton; Living Color; Lenny Kravitz

-- Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Associated Press

http://edit.rgj.gannetton...4/1056/ENT

From the Northwest Herald (Chicago area newspaper)

"3121" too easy a take for music master

by Bryan Wawzenek

Rating: ***

If you're anticipating a Prince album to get really excited about, you might be waiting a while.

In the meantime, "3121" is good enough to hold you over.

The record - named for his rented Los Angeles party pad - is better than the too-slick, too-dull "Musicology," and there's nothing here as embarassing as the 14-minute jams on "N.E.W.S.," the Jehovah's Witness song cycle of "The Rainbow Children" or the manufactured duets on "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic."

But Prince can sizzle and sparkle like no one else (as anyone who has ever caught him in concert can attest), and "3121" finds him mostly faking the easy route through R&B workouts, sincere balladry and some fine funk rock. It mostly sounds pretty good, but these are Princely paths well-beaten by now.

I mean, the guy can assemble funked-up jams like "Love" in his sleep, by throwing together fluttering keyboards with a rocksteady dance track and frosting the top with attitude. Ditto for the album closer "Get On the Boat," which gets lost in its repetition.

On the other hand, "Satisfied" takes Prince further into the blues than I thought His Purpleness was comfortable with. In a spine-tingling falsetto, he tells his prospective lover to turn off her cell phone, relax and get ready for a long night. His new protegee songstress contributes sweet, if inconsequential backing vocals. The track's perfectly restrained horns (played by Maceo Parker and others, in one of the few instances where Prince isn't playing every instrument) only add to the anticipation.

The Minnesota native handles all instrumental duties on the driving "Fury," and really gets to show off his guitar skills. The squeals and rumbles Prince chokes from his ax provide good enough reason for the throwaway rock track to exist, even if its walls of synthesizers are straight out of 1986.

But Prince seems a little stuck in the '80s throughout "3121" (and, for that matter, in any of his recent work). It's a lot of super-clean production, nasal guitar lines and big, big synths. It makes you wonder if the man listens to anything besides his own work.

That is, until you hear the clicking and popping "Black Sweat" - the song that finally brings his brand of funkiness into the 21st century. It's a sparse and sexy little masterpiece painted in strained falsetto, stutter beats and Neptunes-ish modulated electronics - sort of "Drop It Like It's Hot" done one better.

But if Prince is doing the Neptunes and the Neptunes are doing Prince, I guess Prince is still doing Prince. Somehow, it all comes back to "When Doves Cry."

The lord of Paisley Park has found a way to sound contemporary without venturing out of his comfort zone, making "3121" an accessible and enjoyable - if not golden - experience.

Duluth News-Tribune (Minnesota)

March 30, 2006 Thursday
SECTION: ENT
LENGTH: 244 words
HEADLINE: Prince's '3121': Some funky numbers
BYLINE: J. FREEDOM DU LAC, THE WASHINGTON POST


CD REVIEW

You remember Prince, right?

Not the Artist Formerly Known as Brilliant, that defiant glyph who stumbled into an abyss of self-absorbed musical mediocrity in the 1990s and became more interesting for his eccentricities than for his unfocused and largely forgettable albums ("Come," "Emancipation," "The Rainbow Children"). But the undisputed pop genius and funk-rock master -- the virtuosic innovator behind "Dirty Mind," "1999" and "Sign 'O' the Times." His Royal Badness.
That Prince is basically back: Let the house-quaking commence.

After not embarrassing himself for the first time in a long time with 2004's "Musicology," which coincided with a wildly successful greatest-hits tour, Prince has emerged from the studio with the cryptically titled "3121," the purple rainmaker's best new release since "The Love Symbol Album" in 1992.
It's hardly perfect: "3121" is ill-sequenced, for one thing. And there are other songs that don't quite rise to the high standards set by "Lolita" et al., including "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed," which sounds like a Soul II Soul leftover.

Still, "3121" is largely irresistible, harking back to Prince's heyday without sounding stale. If there's supposed to be stasis on the funk continuum, then nobody seems to have told Prince: Several of "3121's" dozen songs suggest that the notoriously insular artist has been absorbing contemporary music again -- in particular, tracks by producers on whom he's had a profound impact.

http://www.courier-journa...1011/SCENE


Saturday, April 1, 2006

Album Review
Party like it's '3121'
Prince echoes, doesn't match, his best
By Jeffrey Lee Puckett
jpuckett@courier-journal.com
Courier-Journal Critic



While Prince's "3121" isn't quite the return to his fire-breathing peak of the 1980s that we were promised — and did anyone seriously expect that to happen? — it's a potent reminder that the little genius still carries the funk torch higher than anyone else.

Better make that the funk/pop/rock/soul torch, as "3121" is in the spirit of such groundbreaking and eclectic albums as "1999," "Purple Rain" and, to a lesser extent, "Dirty Mind." Much of the record is a one-man show built on vintage synthesizer sounds and deep, minimalist grooves with occasional splashes of guitar.

The biggest difference between "3121" and the classic Velvet Period is in the songwriting, which simply isn't as bold, varied or commanding. Again, that ain't gonna happen. The highlights, however, are nearly as fun.

The title track is a call to party arms, much like "1999," while the spare "Black Sweat," "Fury" and "Love" are the closest Prince gets to "Dirty Mind." "Lolita" is a playful jam about a young temptress, but the 2006 Prince only dances with her; in '82, she would have been tied to the bed. Prince is clearly still having sex, based on "Satisfied" and "Incense and Candles," but it seems he's only getting busy with the wife.

A handful of songs toward the end never go anywhere, effectively dragging the album down to a forgettable climax — something rarely said about Prince. Maybe he's just getting tired.