for me this album is so so, i prefer Musicology,

Great - 3121, Fury, Satisfied, Black Sweat,

Good - Get On The Boat, Lolita, Te Amo Corazon, Beautiful Loved And Blessed

Meh - Incense And Candles, Love, The Word, The Dance

I'd only skip Pimp and Life O The Party from Musicology.

What strikes me about the Prince-albums past 2004, including 3121, is that they are all so MOR-sounding: nice sounding in the background, decent music to put on while you are doing some other things, like listening to Sky Radio (an 'easy listening' channel over here in Europe).

That doesnt mean that many of the songs on these albums are necessarily 'bad', in terms of songwriting and production: Prince shows he is a 'craftsman' in that sense, to a certain degree.

But while many of his albums released during the nineties (even the ill-fated, or clumsy sounding efforts) made me stop with what i was doing, and made me pay attention to what he was trying to achieve, his material since 2004, has been so 'safe' and unassuming that the moment i buy a new album from him i listen to it for 2 or 3 weeks in the background, while doing other things indeed, and then shelve it, while i think: okay, that was that...lets listen to some other music that really challenges me, makes me think, or feel.

In short: Princes output in the last 7 years or so mostly leaves me cold, while in the nineties i was still reacting emotionally on his output (wether in a positive or negative way..). That makes me wonder: have i outgrown his effect on me? or is he simply underachieving?

Husky said:

What strikes me about the Prince-albums past 2004, including 3121, is that they are all so MOR-sounding: nice sounding in the background, decent music to put on while you are doing some other things, like listening to Sky Radio (an 'easy listening' channel over here in Europe).

That doesnt mean that many of the songs on these albums are necessarily 'bad', in terms of songwriting and production: Prince shows he is a 'craftsman' in that sense, to a certain degree.

But while many of his albums released during the nineties (even the ill-fated, or clumsy sounding efforts) made me stop with what i was doing, and made me pay attention to what he was trying to achieve, his material since 2004, has been so 'safe' and unassuming that the moment i buy a new album from him i listen to it for 2 or 3 weeks in the background, while doing other things indeed, and then shelve it, while i think: okay, that was that...lets listen to some other music that really challenges me, makes me think, or feel.

In short: Princes output in the last 7 years or so mostly leaves me cold, while in the nineties i was still reacting emotionally on his output (wether in a positive or negative way..). That makes me wonder: have i outgrown his effect on me? or is he simply underachieving?

or maybe you're just older and that it's harder to muster up the focus and attention to Prince or music in general that you did 15-20 years ago.

or a little bit of both.

that's probably how I feel about it. I can get into a new album hardcore for a few weeks, maybe even a month or two. but my time and attention are focused on other things in life, out of necessity. there's less disposable time to allow myself to be bowled over by and become obsessed with an album. plus the law of diminishing returns sets in. it's hard to get excited about something year-in, year-out for a feeling you've been having for 20 to 30 years.

Dewrede said:

Apart from Incense And Candles i think it's great

two things that don't go good:

Prince

Autotune