Prince: The 3121 Listening Session

The Prince 3121 listening session held on Wednesday March 1st was anything but the star studded event one would expect. The guest of honor himself didn’t even show. As a consolation we were fed $16 sandwiches, and given press kits in cute vinyl attaché cases, courtesy of The Container store.

The 12 track disc features songs like, “Te Amo Corazon” (I love you Sweetheart), evocative of hot nights in Havana and smoky saloons, “Beautiful, Loved & Blessed”, featuring rising R&B ingénue Tamar, and Prince’s newly released single, “Black Sweat”, which showcases the familiar blatent sexuality we’ve come to expect. Prince uses urban colloquialisms such as “What’s really good”, and “Break U off”, and if that wasn’t enough, his high-heeled-ness even spits a Rap-esque flow on one of the tracks.

The bluesy “Satisfied” is sexy and SOHH soulful with an old school sound, and boasts live instrumentation. The perfect for radio, “All Night Long”, with its R&B-Pop feel, falls neatly in with today’s hook-driven tracks. You won’t need to know the verse, just hum the hook. We get vintage Prince in tracks like, “Whateva U want it 2 B” and “Fury”, with intricate guitar solo’s and familiar story telling, displaying the legends true musicianship. Think “Nikki” or “Cream”

Fans, new and old will get just what they want. Even though the Divo wasn’t present, the art still speaks for itself.<