I've been thinking about this for a while and I wanted to see what everybody else thought about it...

Does anyone find 3121 to be less...I dunno...musically adventurous when compared to Musicology? The more I listened to 3121, the more I realized that, while it is nonetheless a great album, it just doesn't venture into uncharted musical territory the way Musicology did. I've always known Prince to be somewhat outside of the conventional, even on albums generally panned by fans and critics, like New Power Soul and Come. Now, for some reason, it seems as if he's abandoned his willingness to explore in favor of more orthodox pop and R&B songwriting.

Anybody agree?

Ice9sFine said:

3121 is diverse, maybe more so than Musicology but lacks conviction. like he glossed over his career one day and decided he'll have a bit of this and that and we would all be impressed with the outcome. It seems a bit contrived (horrible word to associate with Prince).

spoida said:

Agreed. Sleepwalking comes to mind.I think he's mistaken that stuff he just throws together is considered great by the masses. Just not true anymore, we've all gotten sophisticated about his music and we require more.

I say it this way because Prince often talks about the relationship he has with our fans and actually mentions how we challenge him and that we are, in fact, sophisticated.

I think Musicology had far better musicianship but suffered from poor concepts.

I think the reverse is true about 3121. I like the ideas that power it, but am usually less than overwhelmed by the playing on it.

"Fury," for example, is a neat update of "Dolly Dagger," groove-wise. But, the playing is tired.

Had Prince taken a bit more time with 3121 and fleshed out the instrumentation (not necessarily the production, mind you), I think 3121 would have been a FAR better album.

Nope,don't agree...

altavista said:

There is plenty of diversity in 3121, no doubt, but I just find the music a bit too staid and it does seem as if Prince only half-heartedly compiled bits and pieces and called it an album. Musicology is, by comparison, much more contiguous than 3121, in my opinion. The second half especially seems to me more like a suite with several movements than distinct, disjointed tracks.

The first thing I noticed upon listening to 3121 was the lack of harmonic inventiveness I've come to love in Prince's music. Tracks on Musicology like "A Million Days" and "What Do U Want Me 2 Do?" contain some brilliant passages reminiscent of that harmonic palette Prince had in the mid- to late 80s.

That's not to say 3121 doesn't have its own fair share of creativity ("The Word" and parts of "The Dance" come to mind readily). I just don't find it in abundance like I did in Musicology.

Funny how changes the wind...

Some weeks ago if U came here saying I like Musicology, U'd been immediatly laughed at... or almost.

I agree... about musicianship that's obviously superior on musicology and even more on TRC. What embarasses me is the lack of "liveliness", U feel the guy is alone sometimes controling everything... I'd rather him playing with big bands, with a body mind and soul behind each note, each sound, each noise even !

Does not mean at all that 3121 is bad to me. Just it could have been better with a real band on each song... It lacks a kind of "human" energy sometimes. But still I'm so happy 2 hear new songs from Prince even "less" inspired...