Returns to Funk Pleasure Palace in `3121': CD Review

(The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Bloomberg.)

By Mark Beech

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Prince is back, and madder than ever. He wants to be spoken about in the present tense again. Having sold more than 60 million albums, he's betting that the commercial rock of his 25th, ``3121,'' will help him move a few more. The CD is both a return to form and to the mainstream.

The Minneapolis maestro won Grammy awards and many fans with his fusion of rock, pop, funk, jazz, Latin soul, R&B and anything else catchy. He forged exceptional albums such as ``Purple Rain'' and ``Sign `O' the Times.'' Trouble was, that purple period was in the 1980s.

Prince spent the 1990s frittering away his talent, becoming a joke. There was the bizarre name change to a symbol, the dispute with Warner Brothers, the scrawling of ``Slave'' across his face and some lackluster contractual-obligation CDs.

The three-disc ``Emancipation'' was badly titled: rather than a release, it showed how Prince was trapped in a creative prison of his own making. After that, and with hundreds of tracks unreleased, he was reduced to selling albums over the Internet. Quality control, never his strongest suit, had been replaced by eccentricity and eclecticism.

The polymath who had told us to party like it was 1999 seemed to have passed his expiration date as the Millennium turned. He was not just yesterday's man, he was last century's man. Some long-term fans were alienated by the Jehovah's Witness sentiments of ``Rainbow Children''; others were unimpressed by ``N.E.W.S'', an instrumental.

Royal Grab

With the Prince story on course to run to an inevitable sad conclusion, two years ago he announced his Sony debut ``Musicology''. This marked a return to basics and a reversal of commercial decline. His Universal debut, ``3121,'' takes up where that album left off. As a bid to recapture his crown from the likes of OutKast, it's neither a dud nor a classic.

This time, Prince has a concept about a pleasure palace, which on the inlay pictures looks more like a poodle parlor. In this bilious boudoir, one ``drinks champagne from a glass with chocolate handles,'' according to the title track. Leaving aside practicalities, this opening song sums up all that's good and bad about ``3121''.

On the plus side, Prince has few peers when he winds up a dance groove. On the flip side, he has done all this before, and better: many will recognize the line ``we're gonna party like there ain't gonna be another one,'' while the high-pitch vocals recall ``If I Was Your Girlfriend''. The listener might do better to stop on track one and put on the Prince classics, or cut out the middleman and try James Brown or Sly Stone.

Lustful Devotion

The echoes of the past are underlined by an excessive use of 1980s synthesizer and even recycled riffs -- ``Fury'' reprises ``Boys and Girls''. The single ``Black Sweat'' has the same driving drums that powered ``The Black Album''. Prince still believes that ``God Is Love,'' with a more lustful definition than many people might give to that phrase. Though ``Lolita'' shows he has learned to say no at age 47.

Ever the perfectionist -- or control freak -- Prince plays just about everything. He condescends to accord Maceo Parker a sax break in ``Get on the Boat'' and give vocals to protege Tamar on the bland duet ``Beautiful, Loved and Blessed''.

While the techno funk and industrial beats work best, there are some falsetto ballads, too. ``The Dance'' adds piano, and the Latin ``Te Amo Corazon'' has Santana-style guitar.

The nostalgic retread of past glories may be the only way for Prince to get back into the spotlight and avoid becoming a frustrated live act forever screaming out ``When Doves Cry''. Still, he can claim to have made his best album in 15 years.

The CD is priced at $13.98 in the U.S., and 8.99 pounds in the U.K.



To contact the writer of this review:
Mark Beech in London at mbeech@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 20, 2006 21:43 EST