3121 [Digipak] - Prince (CD 2006)

I wonder what it must be like, sometimes, to be y know Prince. What must it be like to suffer from his unique artistic affliction, a thirty-year case of musical effusiveness (some might call it dysentery) that has made him one of the most celebrated and simultaneously ridiculed artists of our time. He hasn t had a bona-fide radio hit since Clinton s first term in office, and yet he remains far more prolific than most artists half his age. One of the things I ve always admired about Prince was the apparent effortlessness of his creation the fact that the guy could snore the grooviest groove on.

Five years ago, I didn t think I d ever see the day when I d be interested in a new Prince album, much less reviewing one. Five years before THAT, I would have smacked you if you d even suggested that Prince would have done anything less than interesting. The Minneapolis native is arguably the most influential solo musician of the past twenty-five years. He s proficient on just about every instrument there is. He ranks with the best of soul vocalists. He s equally capable of producing a blistering arena rock anthem as he is of making a smooth ballad that would make Marvin Gaye and Al Green...

One of the telling indices of greatness in the Prince catalog is the sidemen laying down the grooves. Often as not it is side-women who tell the tale, as Prince loves surrounding himself with the hottest chic and chick players in the biz. On his newest joint 3121, Prince surrounds himself with the requisite sexy side-girls, as well as some stalwart old timers and a team that almost couldn t miss with this record. During the wine and roses eighties, he had Wendy and Lisa backing his play, and truly guiding his art. Wendy and Lisa are children of L.A. recording studio players Mike Melvoin ...

I recently had a conversation with a friend about Prince s new album, 3121, and he told me that while he liked it, he was disappointed because the album sounded repressed. A statement which got me to thinking. Since his conversion and baptism as one of Jehovah s Witnesses, Prince s music has calmed down considerably, and expectedly so, but many are quick to cite that as the main reason for his material of late being so tame. But it seems that it has slipped from the memory of many that Prince was born in 1958. And though he sounds and looks nowhere near it, the man is almost 50 years old. A...