Prince 3121 Review

[ghosty]

There's something heartwarming nowadays about picking up a CD that has "produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince" on the cover. You get the feeling he just stopped short of chopping down the trees himself and setting up a paper processing plant at his house. Prince albums have been real hit-or-miss affairs since the Batman SDTK and in this department, 3121 does not dissapoint. A few hits and plenty of misses, all of it the brainchild of pop music's most talented nutjob.

Track-By-Track

1. 3121 - Some ominous and bizarre nonsense about coming down to 3121 for the party (I guess 3121 is an address?). Prince returns to his "Camille" voice on what sounds like The Beta Band backed by the JB horns.

2. LOLITA - WTF? This IS'NT the single??? The vintage 1999-era synth stabs are back and this track is catchy as hell. Not much of a chorus though. The only song I'm aware of to reference the stormy romance of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner.

3. TE AMO CORAZON - The first single. Sounds a bit like "The Look Of Love" by Dusty Springfield. Not a fan of this one but the video is on VH1 constantly and the housewives are loving it.

4. BLACK SEWAT - The second single. Sounds like Prince's own "Feel U Up". Just a groove here. Barely a song at that. Funny video though.

5. INCENSE AND CANDLES - Very contemporary sound. Grows on you. Actually it sounds a bit like Mariah Carey's recent stuff (shudder). The first track on the album to feature Prince's newest protogee Tamar. God help us all! Another protogee! At least she can actually sing and is'nt just arm-candy.

6. LOVE - The first minute of this song is completely respectable. Sounds like something off "Controversy". Great chorus too! Sadly, it degenerates into just a repetetive jam.

7. SATISFIED - Prince is incapable of writing a bad "...baby let's get in bed" song. This one is very bluesy. Sticks out like a sore thumb on this album but probably the most accessible track. Reminds me a bit of "Damn U". It's a wonder some head honcho at Warner Bros. has'nt compiled all of Prince's signature make-out tunes onto a CD and called it "Songs For Lovers" or something. I bet there'd be a mini-population explosion.

8. FURY - Prince and his guitar attack are back. Not nearly as exciting "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" (which seems to be the template here) and a bit workman-like. He did an incendiary version of this on SNL and I wish he'd used THAT take.

9. THE WORD - Prince preaches (as he does on every record going as far back as "Purple Rain"). A groove does not a song make however.

10. BEAUTIFUL LOVED AND DAMNED - This has "hit" written all over it. Too bad it's basically a track from protogee Tamar's forthcoming album. If Prince had been the principle vocalist on this, the press would be heralding the return of Prince the hitmaker.

11. THE DANCE - For whatever reason this reminds me of some horrid latter day Duran Duran ballad.

12. GET ON THE BOAT - Prince preaches again, only this time he's posessed by the holy spirit of Sly Stone. Not to my liking but it'll probably be great in concert.

Yeah, so it's "just another Prince album" and I'll probably forget everything on it except "Satisfied" and "Lolita". On the whole the level of musicianship simply can't be matched and maybe for Prince that's enough but I keep waiting for the song that transcends the execution and it's not on this album. I would'nt recommend this for the casual fan (maybe slick R-n-B fans who think Destiny's Child are geniuses will be blown away by it, who knows?). If you're a Prince fan....you're gonna get it anyway so enjoy.....you'll find a one or two more reasons to keep the faith.

[Bitter Almonds]

Cool. This past Friday I finished making a little Prince compilation of mostly his 80s hits (pre-[i]Batman[/i]) for my little brother. I know he's not gonna pay heed at this time, but I hope one day he'll give a song or two a spin and realise I was god damn right about The Purple One[^]

[hutter]

All I needed to become a Prince fan was "Dirty Mind". And I agree with ghosty (as most do) about most of his post Batman soundtrack work being spotty.

http://electricdreams71.blogspot.com/

[red x red]

I take it you did not win one of the "wonkanesque" purple tickets to a private concert at his house? [;)]

edit:
"when" I meant "win" of course!

[toe_jam_on_toast]

prince is fantastic and i love his purpleness...

i've not heard or got 3121 yet, so i'll reserve my judgement of it for then! [:D]


anyone seen 'under the cherry moon'?

i love the soundtrack to that film!




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[ghosty]

[quote][i]Originally posted by red x red[/i]
<br>I take it you did not when one of the "wonkanesque" purple tickets to a private concert at his house? [;)]


[/quote]

Nope. Did'nt win a ticket. LOL The CD booklet is packed with photos of Prince's home though. The man certainly spent his earnings over the years...[:D]

[Quite Life]

Prince sucks he's not even NW!!!


Is'nt he in some religious cult????


Buy something worthwile like G of 4 or Delta 5

[Bitter Almonds]

Jehova's Witness, you mean? Like a Christian sect?

[ghosty]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Quite Life[/i]
<br>Prince sucks he's not even NW!!!


Is'nt he in some religious cult????


Buy something worthwile like G of 4 or Delta 5
[/quote]

Ah, you make the assumption that I don't have ny Gang Of Four or that new Delta 5 compilation? Well, you'd be wrong. Nice try though.


..but since this forum is for "General New Wave & 80's Discussion", I'd say Prince fits into the latter category.

I don't know enough about Jehovahs Witnesses to comment on them. If I go by Prince's example...well, I'm guessing they really like to screw a lot?[;)]

[Bitter Almonds]

Those Christian sects...[:D]

[Quite Life]

[quote][i]Originally posted by ghosty[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by Quite Life[/i]
<br>Prince sucks he's not even NW!!!


Is'nt he in some religious cult????


Buy something worthwile like G of 4 or Delta 5
[/quote]

Ah, you make the assumption that I don't have ny Gang Of Four or that new Delta 5 compilation? Well, you'd be wrong. Nice try though.


..but since this forum is for "General New Wave & 80's Discussion", I'd say Prince fits into the latter category.

I don't know enough about Jehovahs Witnesses to comment on them. If I go by Prince's example...well, I'm guessing they really like to screw a lot?[;)]


[/quote]

Well if you got cool music like G4 or D5 then what are you doing getting Prince music? That shit is for muffy cheerleader chicks and gay preppies. Or at least it was back in my day 83-84. If you have to listen to something that says "Prince" then get Prince Buster.

So Prince is a Jehovah's Witness? Well sucks for him. And yes they are a cult they are listed in Walter Martin's Kingdome of the Cults


About Jehovah's Witness screwing alot? Well you got that on the money they do. Before I became a Christian and gave my life to Christ I was going out with a Jehovah's Witness chick unfortunatly back in the day we were living in sexualy inmorality, by God's grace I left that way of living once I got saved. But she even though being a JW still slept around and that sinful pattern of living cost her 2 marrages so far.

[Bitter Almonds]

If you wanna score, then Protestant is the way to go[8D]

[ghosty]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Quite Life[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by ghosty[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by Quite Life[/i]
<br>Prince sucks he's not even NW!!!


Is'nt he in some religious cult????


Buy something worthwile like G of 4 or Delta 5
[/quote]

Ah, you make the assumption that I don't have ny Gang Of Four or that new Delta 5 compilation? Well, you'd be wrong. Nice try though.


..but since this forum is for "General New Wave & 80's Discussion", I'd say Prince fits into the latter category.

I don't know enough about Jehovahs Witnesses to comment on them. If I go by Prince's example...well, I'm guessing they really like to screw a lot?[;)]


[/quote]

Well if you got cool music like G4 or D5 then what are you doing getting Prince music? That shit is for muffy cheerleader chicks and gay preppies. Or at least it was back in my day 83-84. If you have to listen to something that says "Prince" then get Prince Buster.

So Prince is a Jehovah's Witness? Well sucks for him. And yes they are a cult they are listed in Walter Martin's Kingdome of the Cults


About Jehovah's Witness screwing alot? Well you got that on the money they do. Before I became a Christian and gave my life to Christ I was going out with a Jehovah's Witness chick unfortunatly back in the day we were living in sexualy inmorality, by God's grace I left that way of living once I got saved. But she even though being a JW still slept around and that sinful pattern of living cost her 2 marrages so far.
[/quote]

It's called not being one dimensional, listening to music outside of what some unseen hipster judge thinks is "cool". I have no interest in being percieved as "cool". That's juvenile nonsense. Preppies and cheerleaders from 1984?? 22 years ago?? Talk about irrelevant!

[elektrikblu]

C O N T R O V E R S Y !!!

elektrikblu
"Don't look at the carpet. I drew something awful on it!"

[Quite Life]

Ghosty states: [snip]
[quote]It's called not being one dimensional, listening to music outside of what some unseen hipster judge thinks is "cool". I have no interest in being percieved as "cool". That's juvenile nonsense. Preppies and cheerleaders from 1984?? 22 years ago?? Talk about irrelevant! [/quote]


Well be one dementional with someone who is cooler[;)] Prince is a Jehovahs Witness just like that child raping Micheal Jackson who sings the same type of crap. Look if you want to be multidimentional as you put it get some Stanly Clarke or Jaco Pastorius. I might buy the CD just to take it to the gun range. What's next Ghosty are you gonna get the new Hilery Duff Album