PurpleCharm said:

OK.... Fury's as weak as Angel's piss.

Is that better for ya?

Maybe this has also to with the meaning of 'R&B', i mean: in america black music is called / labelled R&B since the 1950's, over here in Europe R&B is a term used in general since the early nineties used for the kind of slick, polished music by the likes of Usher, R. Kelly, Ashanti, Beyonce etc.
When i say 'bland R&B' i refer to that type of music.

...With that i try to say, some songs on the album are more surprising, less generic then i thought on first listens. I must say i was probably a bit dissapointed by the high expectations i had about this record, but listening to the cd for a week now i think it when it works bast to NOT think about Parade or Sign of the Times, but let the music speak for itselve. My thoughts about this cd now: 8/10, instead of 7/10 i first gave to it.

I mean, is there really any discerable difference between "International Lover", "Do Me Baby", "Scandalous", "On the Couch", "Insatiable", "When 2 r in Love", "Adore" , "Slow Love", "Call My Name", "White Mansion", "Man O War", "The Beautiful Ones", "Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother, Wife" or "Dark"?

Herb4,

I think you over-generalising things. I mean: you did just name some of Princes best ballads in my opinion.

Slow Love might sound syrupy at first, but it has a warm, organic sounding instrumentation and a sentimental melody to die for in my opinion. Dark is one of his best ballads, very underrated, a 'dark' song about sorrow and regret, Man of war is underrated also, when it comes to the melody / vocal harmonies thats one of his best 'soul'-songs in the nineties.

I assume you are the person thinking all his 'soul'-like songs are shit. But that makes no sense. I mean my toes curl when Prince tries plastic, generistic modern R&B on tracks like 'The greatest romance ever told', 'Hot with You' and 'White mansion', but some of the tracks you refer too rank among his best.

NouveauDance said:

From someone who thinks "The Dance" offers anything other than immediate trip to the skip button....

purplecam said:

I think the reason there is more R&B into 3121 is because of what he started in Musicology...wanted to show this generation how music should be done. R&B is an almost dead art form. While 3121 starts off with the electrco-funk that makes you think of 1999 and jump excitedly, I think he's also using the R&B sound of the album to continue what he was doing on Musicology--showing that R&B is still a viable sound today on its own.

While Prince's music in the 80s topped most of the market of R&b at the time, there was a hell of a lot more competition putting their music on the table--Earth Wind & Fire had something out on a regular basis, as did Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, The Isley Brothers and others. Those people set the bar for what R&B should sound like, so the up-and-coming singers of that time, as well as the funk bands (Midnight Star, The Bar-Kays, Luther Vandross, etc), had their A-game going. Now, you have to hunt down and google and search for that kind of quality in R&B. To me, that's why he's still using more horns instead of lettin the guitar fly on 10 out of 12 tracks. He feels like he has to show the way on how to do it. Stevie Wonder just put out his first release in 10 years. Diana Ross hasn't put out anything of late. The majority of the people that Prince competed with and respected aren't out there so much.

I have listened to 3121 for the last couple of weeks and i did buy the 'real' record at the store yesterday. And from the start i am skipping two tracks:
- Incense and candles
- Beautifull, Love, Blessed

I have listened halfway trough them, at least i did try to, but i am really thinking: Man, why youre putting tracks like that on a record? They both are resembling those kind of bland R&B music released during the nineties: slicky produced music, not bad in terms of songwriting, but fake / plastic sounding in any way... I mean, a 14 yo might fall in love on this kind of music, but its a true shame that a creative, (musically) intelligent artist like Prince is putting tracks like this on his cd's... Its this soulless, visionless kind of music that made parts of Emancipation so dissapointing... I really have no idea why is putting effort in tracks like these.

I mean, Te Amo Corazon, is mediocre when it comes the songwriting, but at least it has a nice, layered arrangement (cuban elements in a Prince song...hey, something new).

The Dance is not The Beautifull Ones, but the songwriting is good (a kind of latin shuffle-melody i have never heard before from Prince) and the instrumentation / arrangement, alltough sounding a bit forced at first, is intricate and fresh after a few listens: I mean, its more subtle then in the past, but this track is the proof that Prince is able to combine music styles like not many other artists. A song also that creates 'hope' / a possible blueprint for future releases.

To get back to my point, two good ballads (Te amo Corazon, The dance), two very annoying ones (Incense and candles, Beautifull, Love and Blessed). Replaced by a 'good' ballad (see my thoughts on 'the dance') and one rock-orientated song (Fury is the only rocksong on this cd, and maybe its just a new-wave song in disguise) would probably make this cd a 8 out of 10 me for instead of a 7/10.

Most of his ballads are bland/repetitive. I mean, is there really any discerable difference between "International Lover", "Do Me Baby", "Scandalous", "On the Couch", "Insatiable", "When 2 r in Love", "Adore" , "Slow Love", "Call My Name", "White Mansion", "Man O War", "The Beautiful Ones", "Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother, Wife" or "Dark"?

It's pretty much the same song over and over again with different lyrics.

I have listened to 3121 for the last couple of weeks and i did buy the 'real' record at the store yesterday. And from the start i am skipping two tracks:
- Incense and candles
- Beautifull, Love, Blessed

I have listened halfway trough them, at least i did try to, but i am really thinking: Man, why youre putting tracks like that on a record? They both are resembling those kind of bland R&B music released during the nineties: slicky produced music, not bad in terms of songwriting, but fake / plastic sounding in any way... I mean, a 14 yo might fall in love on this kind of music, but its a true shame that a creative, (musically) intelligent artist like Prince is putting tracks like this on his cd's... Its this soulless, visionless kind of music that made parts of Emancipation so dissapointing... I really have no idea why is putting effort in tracks like these.

i found your twaddle boring. the hatred in the title made me read more to address it. You actually brought up truth, shame, and the word BLAND. Take a look in the mirror you boob.
I mean, Te Amo Corazon, is mediocre when it comes the songwriting, but at least it has a nice, layered arrangement (cuban elements in a Prince song...hey, something new).

The Dance is not The Beautifull Ones, but the songwriting is good (a kind of latin shuffle-melody i have never heard before from Prince) and the instrumentation / arrangement, alltough sounding a bit forced at first, is intricate and fresh after a few listens: I mean, its more subtle then in the past, but this track is the proof that Prince is able to combine music styles like not many other artists. A song also that creates 'hope' / a possible blueprint for future releases.

To get back to my point, two good ballads (Te amo Corazon, The dance), two very annoying ones (Incense and candles, Beautifull, Love and Blessed). Replaced by a 'good' ballad (see my thoughts on 'the dance') and one rock-orientated song (Fury is the only rocksong on this cd, and maybe its just a new-wave song in disguise) would probably make this cd a 8 out of 10 me for instead of a 7/10.

clarityman said:

Can you give the names of some commercial modern rockers?
[Edited 3/23/06 8:24am]

PurpleCharm said:

If you mean modern rockers as in bands then look no further than Arctic Monkeys - intelligent observational lyrics with really catchy melodies - in a similar vein to the way a certain someone writes pop songs.

Anx said:

"Incense & Candles" and the word "inspired" should NEVER be used in the same sentence.

The Sun The Moon & Stars is much, much better than that piece of piss.

PurpleCharm said:

because nobody feels a need to?

i like some of p's bedroom ballads, but some of them i think just follow the same ol' recipe with different words. i think a lot of 'em are boring, but i know the bedroom ballads are one of his trademarks, so i've made peace with the fact that they aren't ever going anywhere.

I personally can't get enough of Incense & Candles, Beautiful Loved & Blessed and Love w the Dance getting nearly as much play time. People here are going crazy over a couple other tracks which to me... just aren't that..... enjoyable.

But thats my opinion... does my opinion make those automatically 'bad' tracks...NO... I just don't like them as much... but I know someone else will.

Beautiful loved and blessed reminds me of mariahs we belong together, its a great song for the moment and i love the bass guitar part at the end. No other artist could do this with a pop track.

So much going on in this thread... but let me just lend my support to Incense and Candles. For me, this song immediately followed by "Love" is the highlight of a very strong album.

Let me also say something that's been on my mind for some time. To my ears, "Satisfied" and "On The Couch" represent a completely new type of Prince of ballad. I see a direct relationship between these ballads (I may skip a couple since I'm going from memory here...)

International Lover -> Scandalous -> Insatiable -> Damn U -> Eye Hate U

That's a chain of songs... some done better than others, but that are essentially interchangable. I would describe it as overt bedroom seduction pop.

Then there's this line:

Adore -> Pink Cashmere -> Dark -> FLSMW

These are all mid-tempo, love and fidelity type ballads.

Musicology introduced something new (for Prince): a blues-based seduction song.

On The Couch -> Satisfied

Personally I love both of these tracks... it may be because I'm a southerner and grew up around the blues. I'm not musically literate but I can hear the difference, and it is very clear to me, between these two tracks and the other ones I've listed. My only complaint is that they are both too short. The only other blues-based ballad I can think of is "The Question of U", but that instrumentation is so different that it doesn't really fit into this line of progression.

Other slow songs, like "The Beautiful Ones", "Dreamin' About U", "The One", etc. I do not see an immediate relationship between these songs and others that he has done. I'm sure I could construct one, but it doesn't jump out at me when I listen to them.

Just my opinion, but OTC and Satisfied really do sound like a new direction, and not the "same old stuff he's done a thousand times before."