Come on everyone, it's time to realise 3121 is Prince's greatest record of the '00's, and probably more... Looking back at the album, it plays like a greatest hits record: basically all the songs are classic!

I know people bitch about this album a lot, and sometimes an album just needs a little time before the genius of it becomes apparent. But to me, 3121 was always a great album, and now, more than a year after its release, I think it's one of Prince's very best.

Hearing songs like Lolita, Love, Black Sweat, The Word, Fury, Beautiful Loved & Blessed, I can only think: WOW... That Prince was able to produce such a record after a 30yr. career is confirmation that he truly is the greatest artist dead or alive...

Whilst I personally feel that the Rainbow Children is better, I never fully appreciated 3121 until the release of Planet Earth.

3121 is as ive always said a prince minor classic!

theres not a duff song on there..ok mebbes get on the boat!

well, a masterpiece...
i see what you mean, and although i think it is overproduced and that a raw version of it may have been a classic, it really contains some good stuff (3121 the song is for me his best song of the '00's)
but there's something there that doesn't fit... i don't know...

Well I think the track 3121 is a masterpiece and is a brilliant live song but the album still doesn't do it for me, I actually prefer Planet Earth! In my mind the best Prince album of the '00's is definately The Rainbow Children... The production and playing on that album is beautiful

I disgaree that it's overproduced - it just sounds modern. Musicology completed passed me by but it was hearing Black Sweat on Annie Mac's cooler-than-thou Radio 1 show (which has since been sadly cancelled) that got me truly excited about Prince. Were it not for him getting some radio play - and sounding relevant - I doubt I would have given going to probably the three most amazing concerts I've ever seen (all part of The Earth Tour) a second thought. I really though Black Sweat had the chance to be a proper hit. With the same token, I think Mr Goodnight is the best song on Planet Earth.

There's loads of good stuff on 3121 - The Word and Lolita are among his best song's for me (well, y'know top 50 at least!). It's just a shame BL+B and Fury are on there - real weak links.

Don't know about a masterpiece but the best of the 00s certainly. The only track I skip is Get On The Boat.

Like someone said above, since he has released PE, I've realized how solid this cd was. Not a masterpiece to me but a very solid effort with some very good choices in terms of production. It is so much more coherent than PE.
[Edited 10/5/07 6:23am]

united1878 said:

So right!

hahah...

well I gottsta admit,
After I got PE, I've listened to 3121 (well, 1213, tracks 12 to 1) a couple of times and I actually enjoy it a lot more than I did.
Not to say that PE isn't great. Love the album.
But I guess I recognized some of the minor elements in 3121 that made it unique and kinda special.
He had never made record scratching sound as groovy as in "Love"
And "Fury" kinda reminds me of "Guitar"... the same pattern, sing a verse then play guitar... so I've gotten to like Fury more.

3121 unites all kinds of genres. But PE more or less continues the same vibe throughout (except for curveball Chelsea Rodgers)... and I say that vibe is magic. And it certainly has a lot of heart. And I love albums with heart.

I loved 3121 from day 1.Great album indeed.

3121 is definately a classic, filled with great tracks and great production! Along with Planet Earth, I listen to it all the time. In my opinion, he's returned to form!

3121 is a fantastic album, TRC was probably the most difficult prince album to get into, it took hearing the ONA album before I truly appreciated how good it is, and likewise the 3121/Earth Tour is making many realise just how brilliant 3121 actually is. However, Planet earth has not fully convinced me yet, it is abit of a rollercoaster album, similiar in that respect to Musicology, but i like it when an album takes a while to sink in, and not an instant love, which gets played to death for a month and then gathers dust.

nice album but a masterpiece?i don't know about that

I know everyone here has their expert opinions, but 3121 has been one of my favorite Prince CD's since the first time I heard it. In many ways it was the CD from him that I had been long waiting for. My favorite tune on it is still "Love", and I can't help but comply when they get to that part... "Awww, Shake That Thing, C'mon!". Very groovy.

It was ok, no masterpiece though. Had a few gems and a few clangers. The main disappointment was the poor production which let the whole cd down. The version of Fury sounded bad after hearing it live first- it was no way as good as the live version. BS was also overrated, again this sounds much better live.
PE is much much better in production terms and slightly beats it in terms of album.
[Edited 10/5/07 11:06am]

TheFreakerFantastic said:

Have to agree. A masterpiece? It's an overused term these days, but if we're talking about Prince, then we have real masterpieces to love.

I enjoyed 3121 quite a lot and Black Sweat is the best single he's done in a long time, but for me Rainbow Children is better than anything since, and I don't think that's a masterpiece either, but hey, floats and boats...

3121 is going to follow in the footsteps of SOTT. I've always felt that this will be a classic Prince album that will stand tall among all of his great work from the 80's.

joyinrepetition said:

I was gonna say that about Planet Earth, not 3121.

But I'll know for sure after I do listen to SOTT... but its on my 2-do list, guys. When I come back after listening to it, I'm gonna be chock full of stories to tell.
Then I'll know for sure which albums I could compare it with.

I've heard that SOTT is where Prince reached him peak musically and hasn't gotten back there since.
PE feels like he's peaking again, but not quite sure if the end is enough to keep it there. I'm still contemplating this...

Gomp said:

Crazy -- I was just thinking about how good 3121 is now; I still think Lolita is one of the crappiest, cheesiest, unimaginative prince songs ever -- but the rest of the album is GREAT!! The thing I can't figure out is if I just feel that way because (1) it needes some time to marinate with me listening to other stuff and putting it down a while, (2) it really is a classic album and the songs needed to rest with all the other classics to truly be appreciated, or (3) -- most likely - that Planet Earth sucked so bad it'd make any prior ablum sound ingenious. I remember I thought chaos and disorder sucked until I heard new power soul - then thought it was brilliant. I thought New power soul sucked until I heard Rave. Lets hope I don't one day think Planet Earth is a work of brilliance -- then we'll really be in trouble.

Gomp said:

3121 truly is an excellent album. I still remember when I played it for the first time it felt so easy to get into. I kind of knew where Prince was coming from musically.

The title track is such a wicked club sound I especially love the part near the beginning when he says something like "Pretty mummy, this loco right ?"

Man ! when that gets played - I get up to get down !!

Yay! 3121 is a masterpiece!

3121, Lolita, Black Sweat, Satsified, Fury and The Word are all solid gold!

olskooljamz said:

I'd say 3121, The Word, Love and The Dance are gold...
but The Word and The Dance are Solid gold in my book...

joyinrepetition said:

That was a joke, right?

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I just had to add
YES YES YES
Love this album and PE

Ive had this album for a while but never really liked it much, then when I heard him do - Black Sweat and Lolita live WOW they are on repeat daily now! I think Princes stuff live always always always sounds better than the album?

Thanks

Shane.

3121 is still an excellent album. With the exception of BLB, the album kicks ass, though Prince should have revamped Fury. It was the first Prince CD that I loved on the first listen since The Gold Experience. When I hear a song from 3121, I have to let it play through. I thought Prince was done making dance songs till I heard Black Sweat and Love. They still slay my ass. It's one of my favorite CD's of his and it's a damn shame that this CD wasn't the smash hit that it should have been. Universal and Prince dropped the ball BIG TIME with this album.

I firmly believe that this album will be looked at much more favorably in a few years. That's how every Prince album is. It takes a few years for it to sink in for the most part. Look at albums like Parade and The Rainbow Children. So if you aren't feeling it now, come back to us about it in say, 2010
[Edited 10/5/07 17:19pm]

purplecam said:

I loved this album from first listen as well... one of the few I have that I automatically hit it off with. (Others were Dirty Mind, ATWIAD, Purple Rain, Parade, TBA, and Planet Earth).
But it fell out of favor when I started collecting the albums... and I've said some pretty nasty things about it. I apologize to you, Prince 4 that the cruel words I used towards the album.

I recently got to see the bright side to it and enjoy it a lot more these days than I had in a long time. It's stepped up for me after getting PE and even outshines Musicology... but I wouldn't go so far as to say "masterpiece".

Black Sweat is probably the only song on there I really can't get into anymore and Satisfied, I've never been really into.
But I will say that The Dance & The Word are masterpieces in themselves.

purplecam said:

I don't see 3121 as a dropped ball. Prince made it, you enjoyed it, I enjoyed it: ball was caught. Personally, I don't require that a song or a CD be labeled "a hit" in order for me to dig it. If I like it, then it's a hit (to me), just like if I don't like it; it doesn't matter how many times it gets played on a radio or how many copies are sold, it's NOT a hit (to me).