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Prince's proud return

March 21, 2006


Prince is one of those rare artists who can change the music industry climate with a wave of his well-manicured hand.

He tamed the Internet tidal wave with his online music club years before anyone else figured out that he was right. He built the price of his "Musicology" CD into the cost of his concert ticket and then handed out the album for free, creating a storm of controversy that netted him an unexpected hit along with his successful tour. And, of course, Prince made "Purple Rain."

He manages such feats because he is a risk-taker as well as a brilliant musician. When you take such chances, though, they don't always pay off. And his albums in the 19 years since his landmark "Sign O' the Times" have been remarkably hit-and-miss.

Prince has never made a bad album. But he hasn't made a great one in quite some time, either. Well, folks, that drought is over.

Prince's new album, "3121" (Universal), is his best since "Sign O' the Times," taking all the various styles he's been dabbling in for the past two decades and combining them into a unified, powerful package.

On "3121," Prince returns to his classic themes of love, religion, the future, and, you know, freaky sex. And he surrounds them with whatever funk, soul, rock, R&B, gospel and jazz sounds suit them best.

It opens with the title track, with its grinding soul groove and keyboards that recall "Controversy," setting the stage for the journey, as Prince says, "You can come if you want to, but you can never leave."

Prince unleashes his naughty side with "Lolita," a funky dance number that rhymes "Lolita" with "sweet-uh" and could have come from the "1999" album. It pairs nicely with "Black Sweat," his current single, which combines some spacey keyboards with a stuttering funky beat, some patented Prince falsettos with some James Brown angst.

On "Love," Prince is partying like it's 1985, with a big funk number that manages to sound like a throwback while still sounding fresh. It's one of his most immediate, unforgettable songs in years -- a grand contender for the single of this summer, with its squiggling synth riffs (a la "Erotic City") and its cool percussion break.

He follows that with the amazing "Satisfied," an old soul number that Otis Redding could have sung, complete with horn flourishes. It feels like an immediate classic, like an updated "Since I Fell for You," where he croons, "Turn off your cell phone, can't you see I just want to get you satisfied?"

It's a great example of Prince's softer side -- the balladeer side that dominated "Musicology" and continued on the recent single "Te Amo Corazon." "Beautiful, Loved & Blessed," which will be a single for his newest protege, Tamar, is another tender, sweet love song, showing off his love of gospel. ("The Word," on the other hand, has more of a pop sound for its gospel message.)

He still knows how to rock out, too, as he shows on "Fury," the song he unleashed on a recent "Saturday Night Live" appearance that featured the song's blistering guitar solos, which build to a "Let's Go Crazy" end. And the far-flung, Sly Stone-ish closer "Get on the Boat" shows Prince hasn't let go of the funk-jazz improvisational style he has cultivated over his past few records.

There are no gimmicks on "3121." (Though, in true Prince business style, he is offering a contest, both in the CD and online, where buyers who find the "purple ticket" win entry into a special show at his Minnesota mansion.) No failed experiments. No filler tracks.

It is lean and mean and chock-full of potential hits that should introduce him to a whole new generation of fans, while rallying his longtime fans with an album that will remind them of the good ol' days.

While "3121" is not a return to "Purple Rain" Prince -- mainly because he has continued to grow as an artist since those heady days -- it does mark the return of his interest to be a player in popular music.

It shows he once again is willing (at least for now) to save his best songs for a single, potent release rather than spreading them out over several albums.

For the past two decades, Prince has been the musical equivalent of a blogger, letting few thoughts go unexpressed and few ideas unexplored. That can be fulfilling and quite entertaining, if a little fleeting.

On "3121," however, he returns to the discipline of a great novelist -- honing and polishing a single major work so that it will stand the test of time. He strives for that something extra and reaches it, making "3121" a truly special album and one of the year's best.

("3121," in stores Tuesday; grade: A.)



Prince's lucky number

'3121' has all the earmarks of a truly classic album.BY ROSS RAIHALAPop Music CriticThroughout his nearly three-decade career, Prince has struggled to find a balance between rock and funk, between the sacred and the profane and — most important — between being a pop star and an artist.
With his new album, "3121," out today on Universal Records, the diminutive 47-year-old gets it all right in a way he hasn't in far too long. The results are every bit as startling as fellow Minnesotan Bob Dylan's 1997 comeback, "Time Out of Mind."
It's the sound of a man who has fallen in love with music once again and figured out how to incorporate his storied past into an album that still feels utterly contemporary. Easily his most consistent and radio-friendly collection in a decade, it's also weird and nervy enough to reclaim those who started to lose faith after 1988's "Lovesexy."
Of course, just this sort of talk surrounded Prince the last time we heard from him with 2004's "Musicology." And that effort remains a pleasurable spin, even if "3121" blows it away at each turn, constantly reminding us why we fell so hard for Prince in the first place.
Careful, considered and just a wee bit cautious, "Musicology" gave us Prince as elder statesman. But "3121" bubbles with the energy and swagger of a skinny kid from the wrong side of town who's got a head full of futuristic funk.
The mysterious numerals of the album-opening title track apparently refer to the address of Prince's Hollywood Hills mansion, home to his latest string of late-night, star-studded parties. Disarming electronic squiggles frame the alluring track, with Prince's often-altered vocals promising, "That's where the party be, 3121, you can come if you want to, but you can never leave." A searing guitar solo tucked into the end of the song seals the deal on the jam of the year, circa 2006.
From there, Prince revisits his various personas, from the playful flirt ("Lolita") to the bedroom-eyes balladeer ("Incense and Candles"). It's a very sexy — if not sexual — album. He fantasizes about the youthful temptress of the former but announces, "You'll never make a cheater out of me." And the latter features one of several references on the album to not removing one's garments.
Prince's lyrical chastity dates to his turn-of-the-new-century conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses. Yet he's not really preaching, even if the gently swinging "The Word" urges "come on girl, let's get saved." Instead, it's as if he has borrowed a line from that old Jermaine Stewart song as his motto: "We don't have to take our clothes off to have a good time."
There are plenty of good times on "3121." Current single "Black Sweat" is a breathtaking, stripped-down electro-funk workout that would have been the highlight of the disc if it weren't for the magnificent "Love." It employs a similarly skeletal beat — the electronic drums crackle as if they were sampled from dusty vinyl — to fashion a slinky, hip-swiveling epic that once again sounds far filthier than it actually is.
The only real disappointments on "3121" arrive in the pair of songs he premiered on his recent "Saturday Night Live" appearance (the show will be repeated at 10:30 p.m. Saturday on Channel 11). "Fury" feels fussy and overproduced compared with the fiery passion of his televised performance, where the song's lyrics and melody existed as a mere backdrop for Prince's jaw-dropping, four-minute guitar solo.
As it did on "SNL," "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed" places his latest protege Tamar up front, but it's a colorless, R&B-by-the-numbers track that barely hints at the iron lungs and outsized persona Tamar unleashed during her local live premiere last month at the Orpheum.
But it's a testament to the strength of "3121" that neither track is a deal breaker. Heck, even "Te Amo Corazon" — the sleepy Latin pop ballad Prince issued as a single in December — makes sense in the context of the full album.
Prince left us in 2004 with the claim that that year's tour would be the last time he performed his classic hits. Even though the guy is notorious for breaking such promises, "3121's" canny balance of art and commerce proves Prince has a few new classics left in him.

See sticky http://www.prince.org/msg/7/182000