Okay, now that we've all had time to ingest and process "3121"... how many of you were as underwhelmed as I was?

"Lolita" was fun, "Black Sweat" was dark and cool, "3121" sort of had a "Calhoun Square"-ish vibe... but the rest of it was incredibly derivative.

I miss the Prince that did his own thing, not this current Prince that's still trying to play catch-up with trends. For instance, all the Latin-influenced rhythms and dialogue/lyrics. Or the Madonna/Cher vocal processing. THAT'S NOT PRINCE.

Look, I'm not here trying to rain on anyone's parade. I love Prince. I've been a fan for two decades plus. The Lovesexy '88 tour was the best show I've ever seen, hands down. But in my opinion, "3121" was just a notch above "Musicology", which was another disappointment. And when it came out, so many people were RAVING about this album. Five stars, 9 out of 10, etc. And I just honestly don't hear it.

GiggityGoo said:

A lot of us never did either. I agree, the album sucks.

It's a fun album. I don't thinmk it's earth shattering, but I'm just grateful it's not boring or TOO out there. I mean I like Prince's OUT THERE stuff as much as the next guy, just not the HORN CRAZY bull.

It's a fun album, that's catchy and I can pop in for years too come and it''l still put a smile on my face.

3121
Black Sweat
Love
Satisfied



Te Amo Corazón
Fury
The Dance
Get On The Boat



Lolita
Incense & Candles
The Word
Beautiful, Loved & Blessed

I like all the songs except for Incense And Candles

I like 'em all except the Dance, but it's growin' on me. And 3121 (the song) is forgetable.

Other than that it's divine!

I found it a yawn from day one.

The title track and The Word are the only remotely interesting songs on it.

There's no passion and not even particularly great musicianship (which I usually take for granted on a Prince album)...

I had the album on random a few weeks back when my brother came to stay... Incense & Candles was the first song selected. After the first few bars of the songs my brother said "is this Victoria Beckham?"

I'm not even joking. And the worse thing is, I could hear what he meant.
[Edited 5/17/06 8:27am]

I like Candles but can't stand Incense

MattyJam said:

Why can't we just be happy that Prince is making music. I dig 3121 for what "it" is.....a new release by Prince. All of the comparison's and such is getting really old. If you guys like Prince from another time and space feel free to listen to those cd's.....

I'm just glad we have so MUCH material that we can pick and choose which are our favorites. Keep 'em coming Prince.

GiggityGoo said:

i agree! 3121 absolutely rocks!

Graycap23 said:

I'd rather Prince not release anything at all than taint his mostly glorious back-catalogue with a dud like this.

Just my opinion....

It's about as tired as 3121 review threads

As I mentioned before. In this album, I hear more similarities that any album before...

3121 = A poor Days of wild
Lolita = A fun copy of The Bird
Te Amo = Hmm. Money Don't Matter 2 nite
Black Sweat = The Work Part 1
I & C = R & B mainstream
Love = An improved I dig U better dead vibe
Satisfied - On the couch part 2
Fury - A love child of 1999 and Endorphine Machine. 11 years too late.
The Word - Michael Jacksons "Ghosts"
BL&B - Middle of the road filler
The dance - Copy of his own track "So Strong"
Get On the boat - Prettyman!

A fun album, but not one that will get a lot of spins!

MattyJam said:

It's a good. I'll take what I can get from Prince or any other artist that I dig.

skywalker said:

Co-sign.

skywalker said:

cosign too. U are always on point skywalker. I usually agree with everything u say. We are all prince addicts. Some of us are content to get our maintenance, others are still looking to duplicate that first high. I feel sorry for them because it can't happen.

i agree with skywalker the deck is stacked against him no matter what, because dude can play so many styles, someone will always be unhappy..unlike a babyface or jhon cougar album where the artist style never changes.prince just maybe wanted to do a fun cd guys, and not try to reinvent the wheel on this one, give the guy a break u know he will be back with the music that will lose u, so just enjoy what he is serving right now, which just a fun filled party cd.not a concept cd.

I don't listen to it that much anymore, but I think the biggest weak spot is Beautiful Loved & Blessed. I don't think it's a bad song, but it ruins the flow of the album at a critical time. Lolita & Te Amo are worse songs, but they fit the flow much better.

I still like it much better than Musicology, and think it could've hung around Prince himself had hung around to promote it.

3121, Black Sweat, Incense & Candles, Love, Fury, The Word, The Dance are all very strong songs.

And this album's fun & sounds like Prince, most importantly.
[Edited 5/17/06 12:03pm]

NDRU said:

beautiful loved and blessed is smooth as a babies butt, and the lyrics so inspiring unlike lyrics u hear on todays radio non positve promoting violence,my what a change of pace it is.like songs back in the day that actually touched u,and to think music still can make u feel good i've almost 4got that was possible listening to urban radio today,bling bling and booty. with so much going on how can the[rappers]not have something to rap about.

It is filled with ALL strong tracks except for the duet RnB ballad.... What is like that? Parade? no. SOTT? no... Rave? no... I look at all the albums as if they came out right now, and I judge all the tracks equally and currently, without associations of my life in past times (nostalgia).

Now it's not as original and cohesive as The Black Album, but.... what is?

it's a good album, and the title track is one of my favorite things he's ever done... should be incredible live.

joelmarable said:

Like I said, I like the song (& find myself singing it often) but I son't think it works within the context of the album. After Fury, The Word, and before the climax of the Dance, I think another hot song would have worked much better.

3 rd freakin thread about the same topic --wheres the sticky wickeds when u need em?

I just don't even listen 2 it anymore.

Don't get me wrong: it's a nice album & i like it, but compared 2 the GREAT stuff i've been listening 2 lately it's just, well...

I'll like the next "New Directions In Music" album better...

It's a very good Prince album but not a great one. I still like it as much as when it came out 2 months ago.

Will someone please define that shit???!!! Personally, I think yall use these clichéd ass terms just because you think it's been in fashion to do so. (i.e. Peter Griffin describing something as 'shallow and pedantic'.) And bonus points to anyone who can name another artist who has continually released music with this so-called "absolute urgency and unrelenting passion".

Graycap23 said:

This is probably the smartest thing I've read about "3121" since it's release. Good job Gray...