Prince has already performed 5(!) 3121 songs on different shows.
I'm just curious wich performance U like the most and if U think the
live version is better or worse than the album track.

I know Fury(SNL) is a fav ouround here but I'm curious what U think about the other songs performed on the Brits,AI and SNL.

1.Fury (3121) - Fury (SNL) The SNL performance is one of his best,the album track misses the power and urge in his vocal performance,weak production!
2.Lolita (3121) - Lolita (AI) I love the additional synths.
3.Satisfied (3121) - Satisfied (AI) The album version is just a good P-ballad,
but his voice on AI was great!
4.Te Amo Corazone (3121) - Te Amo Corazone (Brits) The song just doesn't work live,IMO.Love the album version.
5.Beautiful,love & Blessed (3121) - BLB (SNL) Hard one,don't care 2 much 4 this one,but I'll go with the SNL performance.
[Edited 5/27/06 2:30am]
[Edited 5/27/06 2:30am]
[Edited 5/27/06 2:31am]

andykeen said:

I'm not saying it was a bad performance,no way!
But the album version has a special atmosphere,wich is difficult 2 reproduce live.

I generally think songs of ANY album sound better live:
I love hearing the extra horn lines that Prince added to Musicology.
Mellow was much better on the ONA Live CD.
Baby Knows was better on the Rave DVD.
And I think all the 5 songs (including TAC) from 3121 sounded better in their live performances.

There's also the version of Satisfied from the NAACP Vanguard Awards jam, I think I prefer that to the AI version maybe...

I do think he's managed to take all the live versions of the songs to another level. Which makes you think he should record an album, get them honed down live before releasing it, then just release the album with the live versions instead!
[Edited 5/27/06 4:39am]

Prince is my new Patti Labelle... I'll be first in line for concert tickets but I'll probably pass on future albums.

My favorite was "Fury" on SNL! Way more energy.

The NAACP award version of Satisfied was 1000x better than AI.
He also sounded out of tune and out of breath on Lolita (AI) which is a shame as it is a great song.
His live version are usually MUCH better than album - look at Fury at the Brits, the album version was a let down in comparison!

Musicology also sounds 1000x better live as there is a funky bassline at the end, missing from the album version.
[Edited 5/27/06 12:45pm]

Ummm...there hasn't been any live performance of Black Sweat. Which SNL were you watching?

united1878 said:

I don't know about the extra horns. On the one hand, they seem almost essential, but on the other hand, since Prince is the inventor of the MPLS sound, which is known for synth horns, it seems almost like overkill. But the Tonight Show performance in March 2004 of Musicology is DA BOMB, esp. when he dances over to the interview stage!

1999n3121 said:

Point taken. The performance I had in mind was the one that's available on his website, the show he does with Kiss and another song which escapes my memory. I prefer that show because of the better harmonic horn arrangement. It does, however sound like a total rip off of James Brown-style horns but hey, it works for me!

Lolita - AI
TAC - tie. better guitar solo on the brits, but everything else: studio.
Black Sweat - liked the acoustic versions!
Satisfied - NAACP
Fury - SNL
BLB - SNL by far, I don't like the studio version.

metalorange said:

good idea!
I got 2 check out the NAACP performance,a lot of people seem to like it.