Page 18. "Oscars get rocked." Red carpet photo of Prince with the caption: "Prince flashed gold at one post-Oscar bash." The "flashed gold" bit seems to be a reference to the color of his shirt in the pic.

Page 24. "Hot List: Rolling Stone editors' favorite albums, singles and videos." "Number one [of five]: Prince "Black Sweat" video. Princes' new video has lots of loving close-ups of his sweaty little moustache. That's where you come in. Grow that exact moustache and send a pic to princestache@gmail.com The prize? A single vial of purple rain. Plus, your girlfriend will totally dump you.

Page 60. [Reviews section; boxed review on second page; thumbnail of the album cover and larger photo from the TAC cover] "Prince's New Sensation: The Purple One makes religion sound supersexy" by Robert Christgau. **** ["excellent"] "The raddest song on the second consecutive album to reassert Prince's funk bona fides is arresting in part because it's so unassuming. Spare bass and drums, then an acoustic-sounding guitar, catchier synth and a conversational vocal with a devilishly hooky street-chant shape -- not futuristic, but definitely not trad. The rad part is a lyric that explicitly invites us to "get saved." Christ is never mentioned, but Prince's talk of "new exaltation" and "streets of gold" can't be rationalized away as sex talk. More than any Kirk Franklin or Stevie Wonder number, "The Word" makes religiosity sound hip.

Doing his best to reassure fans who think their souls are fine, thank you, Prince doesn't abjure sex talk on 3121. But the famed Lothario turns down the ID-needing "Lolita": "What do you want?" "Whatever you want," she saucily replies. "Then come on, let's dance." She's shocked: "Dance???" The greasy organ R&B of "Satisfied" "ain't talking about nothing physical." And "Incense and Candles" turns on an unusual entreaty: "I know you want to take off all your clothes/But please don't do it."

As Prince well knows, however, these songs are erotic regardless -- more recognizably than those on 2004's Musicology, where he turned down yet another hottie in "What Do U Want Me 2 Do?" That's because lyrics always come second for the most gifted popular musician of our era -- amid the keepers are bad poetry you ignore on tracks you can't get enough of. As on Musicology, the beats get pretty wicked here -- wildly canted, eccentric, exciting. But while 3121 is no funkier than Musicology, it does emphasize speedier tempos and, two nods to Zapp aside, more conventional sonics. Guitars and synths tend toward the middle registers: "Fury" is a slightly grander rewrite of the indelible "U Got the Look." This is all reassuringly normal for fans put off by the artist's recent forays into jazz and such. Anyway, Prince leaves no doubt that he's still interested in sex. He can resist temptation, if that's what gets him through the night. We don't have to. And we can still dance together. Right?"

Page 62. "Keytracks: The best of this issue's record reviews section." [Among a list of 10 entries] "Prince 'Fury': The closest we're going to get to classic Prince in 2006; we'll take it. Great guitar part, too."

Page 65. Full page ad for "3121"; just like the one that previously appeared in "USA Today."