Tag: 3121

3121 (2006)
In 2004 Prince brought Michael B and Sonny T back into the studio for the first time since the Chaos and Disorder sessions. In a single, short creative burst they recorded the bulk of the Lotusflower album, some of Planet Earth and Prince’s last great title track: 3121. Within seconds of 3121′s opening bars you know the track’s in safe hands. The power duo forge a solid funk base that allows Prince freedom to really embrace his freak side and indulge in a level of goofing around not seen since the Emancipation album. Effects pedals are in full force. Horn synths bang out a big band solo. And most importantly, Michael B and Sonny T aren’t the only ones brought out of storage: Camille’s back baby! Other than a small cameo on 1+1+1 is 3 (and arguably a couple of tracks on the Slaughterhouse album) we hadn’t heard any new material from the pitch-shifted hermaphrodite since the 80s, a hibernation verging on the criminal. Camille’s vocals are sadly missing from live recordings and without them the beat, previously futuristic funk from an undersea city, gets reduced to the steady workhorse backing for a collection of ragtime numbers or a talkbox effect that fails to ignite the same flames as Prince singing through an effects pedal. On Indigo Nights Prince has to throw DMSR over the top to maintain the crowd’s interest. It’s fine for a stadium opener, but it’s no aftershow in Atlantis.

3121 (2006)
In the beginning was The Word and The Word was good. Not great – the beat seemed basic and the acoustic riff forgettable – but the melody was a hummer. Above-average filler. Not the first name on the teamsheet but a dependable squad player. Then The Word was heard through headphones and hordes of musical elements came scuttling from the shadows, like woodland sprites out of the presence of humans. The elves brought their turntable tricks while the faeries cast spells of ethereal ambiance. Dryads provided Latin percussion, the goblins wreaked havoc on the panning and a leprechaun upturned a whole Pro Tools folder labelled Numinal Shenanigans. In any other song, Prince’s Santana-style solo would have been the highlight, but here it turns in circles like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, overawed by the entire field of sound it walks through. Or maybe the wee folk were always there and I just need to get better speakers.

3121 (2006)
Originally a sweet little acoustic, airy number, Prince decided to armour up the amour for Love’s eventual release, putting his full force behind a loving but scolding message to his fanbase. You’re cordially invited to stop giving him your wishlists and sass and please find enclosed a top-drawer dance beat to show there’s no hard feelings. This series of admonishments is what Michael and Janet’s Scream would sound like if their tabloid-bashing tirade was toned down and interrupted with choruses of inspirational poetry that you normally find overlaying sunsets and waterfalls on Instagram. Shots fired with a loving kiss.

3121 (2006)
Prince’s Humbert Humbert dutifully knocks back his underage admirer’s advances in this personal-space-invading atmosphere of tight, staccato synths. Vladimir Nabokov’s novel may now have its own dictionary definition but I find the name Lolita so inseparable from his glissading writing style that it sits uncomfortably on this claustrophobic machine funk. But that may just be the raving Nabokov fanatic in me. Literary references aside, Lolita is a fun romp from an older, responsible Prince. A funky click track clipping the wings of ripening desire. It’s cut from the same paño as 2009’s Valentina and I’ve heard it compared to the jerky, more lubricated Soft and Wet, but when held in the same light as his debut single Lolita becomes, to quote Nabokov, just “rust and stardust”.