I've been listening to 3121 a lot lately.

Since it came out I had one long period of time where I did NOT listen to it, but since seeing Prince in Vegas last month I've been spinning it quite a bit.

It holds up and almost sounds better.

It's been a long time since I listened to a Prince album a year or so after it came out; certainly not "Musicology," "Rainbow Children," "Rave," etc.

Maybe not since "Come" and "Gold Experience."

It's funny how the songs on 3121 work best in the context of the disc. For example, I never cared for "Te Amo Corzon" when it first came out. But, now it reamains one of his most haunting ballads.

i think i can relate. whenever i get a new album- i play it constantly- and after a while, it dies down. then after a year or 2, i play it again and I find myself listening to the words and beats more and really appreciating the music. It not only applies to Prince's music, butall the albums I have of my favorite artists.

i think it's his best album since the gold experience, and before that lovesexy, but i don't think i've listened to it in its entirety for about six months.

Darn... I really need to get back to it... I keep saying that, but I never do.

I wanted to get away from Prince in the past to him in the present...

I picked up Musicology.

Not that I regret that choice, he's teaching me so many valuable lessons thru its music.

But I guess I'm holding back cuz of fear. I did the same 4 TGE. I was afraid that if I listened to it again, my head would start spinning again if I tried to listen to anything else afterwards... It was so diff. from everything else that I felt like I was living in chaos 4 a week afterwards.
I went back to TGE and found a lot about it that I like a lot... the problem was getting away from it... so darn addictive.

In the case of 3121, I feel like I'm making 2 big a deal out of the fact that some of the tracks make it sound like he's "selling out" to what mainstream radio sounds like these days (in the case "3121", "Lolita" & "Black Sweat"). But I gotta get back to it cuz I got the best 1st impression from it of all the albums I own. I connected 2 Prince thru the album when I couldnt do the same with the others I listened 2 b4 it... I shouldn't let something like ridiculous "fears" hold me back... I just gotta find some way to get into the mood, cuz with Prince these days, I go to an album based on spontaneoity, just becuz I feel that I have to listen to it. That way my mind won't fall back into chaos.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I need to get back to that album too! I played that album heavily last year and I kinda left it alone for a while. I actually like 3121 better than Musicology because Musicology sounded like he was really playing it safe, doing one of those albums that could appeal to everyone and put him back on the top of his pop royalness. 3121 sounds kinda complex when you listen to it in parts because it doesn't really sound too much like a pop-rock album, it sounds more R&B-ish and indeed mainstream. This one has more personality than Musicology ever will and more cohesive too.

3121 always sounded gr8

I still LOVE it!!! It's a fantastic album.

silverchild said:

Well, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one in this boat.

You're the 2nd or 3rd person I've talked 2 who's said that Prince was "playing it safe" with Musicology. I can understand where you're coming from... still doesn't mean that it's not as equally great. I like all of my albums 4 different reasons cuz they're all so far away from each other in the timestream.
[Purple Rain, TGE, Musicology & 3121 is all I have right now].

3121 definitely has more personality, which is why I connected with it on the first time as well as I did. Musicology was just there in a time when I felt that I needed it. [Check out my thread Prince's Music= escape from a grim reality for the details]. To sum it up, I remembered that college kids on my campus sometimes like to blast their radios and I was in dire need of some "real music".
Musicology gave that to me... this sounds really cliché, but Prince performed another miracle 4 me thru that album. It feels great to know his music is there 4 me when I need it. The message I get from it is "raw, real instruments & wholesome lyrics= the way music should be". I find it a very valuable learning experience that I can't help going back to learn more about his definition of "real music".
I connect with Prince in a diff. way in Musicology than I did with 3121. 3121 is on a more personal level, like our minds became one and he showed me a good time with variety and loads more.

its non-existent to me *now*. his music just doesnt hold up upon repeat listening. its all surface.

Great album.Love it!

This album definetly still holds up and it's refreshing to say that. This CD will get loads of praise in 5 years time. You watch.

It's a solid album.

I consider 'The Word' and 'The Dance' to be new Prince classics.

'The Word' could have sat quite nicely on 'Sign 'O' Times'.

sosgemini said:

'The Word' is all 'surface'?

Maybe you are sleeping on this one?

OperatingThetan said:

not in subject but in arrangment and vocal execution. those two songs are exceptions but the whole of the album leaves me uninterested in repeat listening...

and no, im not sleeping...its. my. personal. opinion.

I'm waiting for live versions of 3121, Get on the Boat and Black Sweat. Then I will love the album.

3121, Lolita, Black Sweat, Love and The Word are songs that I find magnificently enjoyable. Perhaps because they hark back to eras of Prince's work that I found enjoyable too. That said, I can take or leave the rest. Fury sounds weaker with every play and the less said about Incense and Candle the better... again, my opinion.

Yes, it does I hhave to buy a new one mine is severly scratched!

sexxydancer said:

so much u bought it 800 times....

Listening to it now after like 5 months or so of not listening to it. it sounds awesome!

My copy is all worn out from when it first came out. the disc is scratched and the sleeve is kinda destroyed. lol

Now that I've listened to it again (finally), I can finally comment.

A word of advice: This is not a good album to listen to when you're busy fuming about what sad shape radio music is in, because as special as some of the tracks are, they still remind me of that... convincing me that Prince is selling out to technology and what people my age (college-age) want to listen to.

I'll rank the tracks 1-12 and I'll show you where I draw the line

1. The Word
2. Te Amo Corazon
3. Love (this one is on the borderline, but I love the style in it)
4. Incense & Candles (sounds a little like today's hip-hop... but with this song, Prince casts a spell on me, so I love it too much to be cruel)
5. Beautiful Loved & Blessed (could fit in well with the radio crowd, but then again, this song holds meaning 4 me 2)
6 The Dance (one of the more unique tracks here and tells a sweet/sad story)
7 Get on the Boat (I'm actually unsure where to put this one)
-----
8 Fury
9 Lolita (unique, but still gives me the vibe of technology)
10 Black Sweat (unique for a Prince song, but sounds a little like radio... of course it's the only one here that's been on the radio waves)
11 3121 (this is the guiltiest one)
12. Satisfied (not exactly mainstream-sounding, but it just bores me)

I watched a few performances after listening to it through and it took a little while to reconnect with Prince @ present the way I had at the start of my journey thru the albums (that was a couple of weeks ago).
I then looked for the spark in his eyes-- the Brit Awards performance gave me that. He looks so innocent and almost sweet while singing "Te Amo Corazon". Not only can I relate to him thru it, but that performance along makes it one of my favorites.

But next time, I should probably wait until I'm not "fuming" at mainstream radio b4 listening to it... it's kind distracting. Of my 4 albums, it currently ranks last... but I'm not sure where to rank the others either.

pkidwell said:

I know what you mean. Black Sweat is hot live!

this album makes my ears bleed. I think Black Sweat alone has caused some permanent damage

emesem said:

Here's another way I can rate 3121

3121
Lolita
Te Amo Corazon
Black Sweat
Incense & Candles
Love
Satisfied [this is Prince's doing trying to make me like this song]
Fury [ this is what the song's about basically]
The Word
Beautiful Loved & Blessed [this is Prince's doing ]
The Dance [this is Prince's progressino throughout the song = "it's just not fair!" ]
Get on the Boat:

Note: I added this next to the songs I feel sound like Prince selling out to what mainstream radio sounds like today.

3121 is a bits and pieces album for me now....meaning that I like bits and pieces of every song instead of the song in its entirety. I think I played it out. I actually need a new copy, because I would fast forward to the pissed off part of "The Dance" and now the CD skips there and won't play it.

Musically (arrangements, that is) I'm not that into the album. But in terms of songwriting, it seems more inspired, and it seems he may have spent more time working on melody & hooks than he has in a long time.

It's simple and concise, like Musicology, but hooky, unlike Musicology.

But I'm not crazy about the production either, esp Black Sweat

He did set it up pretty nicely. In the case of 3121, Black Sweat, and Satisfied, those songs I'm not completely crazy about (but still kinda like them), but he followed each of them with a song that I liked more. It was like he tried to bring my spirits back up and make me like him more/again. And he mixed and matched slow songs with songs, not putting two of the same kinds of slow songs back to back. That kind of thing.