From the forthcoming album 3121
(NPG Music Club)
In the summer of 2004, I saw Prince on two of his stops at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He was touring in support of his much-vaunted comeback album, Musicology, and the set list was tooled to match that record's mood: heavy on hits, often in medley form, with few idiosyncrasies and a "family-friendly" veneer on even the notorious '80s material. Hence when performing "I Feel For You," Prince changed the words "it's mainly a physical thing" to "it's mainly a spiritual thing;" while "D.M.S.R."'s 1982 instruction to "work your body like a whore" was replaced with the more modest "work it like you want some more." And it was good, for what it was; the man is pushing 50, after all, and with all those rumors about door-to-door Witnessing, it's a wonder we got to hear nuggets like "Automatic" and "Let's Work" in the first place. I mean, what were you expecting? Assless pants?
But on the second night, something strange happened. Prince was midway through "The Question of U"'s ripping blues guitar solo when he threw his axe to the ground. Then, suddenly, he was on the ground too, crawling slowly toward the fallen guitar like he'd just stepped out of the video for "When Doves Cry." Time seemed to stop. Would he stand up? Or would he start humping things? In short, were we about to witness the return of the "old" Prince, the sexy Prince, the Prince all of us in the audience really wished was in Auburn Hills that evening? I had a mental image of the Kid's impish grin as he performed the hell out of "Darling Nikki" in Purple Rain, stripped to the waist and dripping with sweat; I saw Jehovah himself, the lips beneath his gray beard curled with shock, his eyes covered piously against the sacrilege to come. It was a surreal, intense, thrilling moment...and then, it was over. Prince stood back up. He finished his show with consummately performed, if safe, renditions of hits like "Kiss" and oldies like Sam & Dave's "Soul Man." He came back with an encore of Musicology's sweet, gorgeous - but hardly Dirty Mind-ed - "Call My Name." And he left, his last show in metro Detroit concluded and not another flash of the Prince we once loved. It was good...for what it was.
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Article comments
1 - Judge Jonathan
«"Black Sweat" succeeds simply because it contains the crux of Prince's entire songwriting career in its first line alone: "I don't wanna take my clothes off," he coos in that unmistakable falsetto, his voice sounding not a day older than it was in 1981 - "but I do."»
-That just about sums up what I thought when I first heard that line. True, the song is far from Prince's best - but take the opening line and add to it that mix of falsetto and whispering - it's more than enough to make a Prince fan excited.
2 - Sterfish
I saw the video for this song on VH1 the other night and I enjoyed it a lot. I like Prince but I was a bit disappointed by the Musicology album. Like you, I don't want to get my hopes up too much but I am definitely liking what I have heard from 3121 so far.
3 - Danny Haszard
Thanks for the review,as a life-long Jehovah's Witness myself i wish Prince all the best and sweet success.-Danny Haszard Bangor Maine
4 - zingzing
every time... every goddamn time.... i think, 'well, that's the last prince album i buy...' but, then, i can't fucking resist. there's always something that reminds you of how good the man can be. and he's at his best when he does his worst.
5 - Andrew
Very nice review - very well said
From a fan thats been around a long time I am very excited about 3121 - Black Sweat is a return to form and a very cool track that will be bumpin' in da clubs this summer
After seeing Prince perform "Fury" (another new track from 3121) on SNL it is clear that his music rarely disappoints and live there is no equal in todays music
Prince has never let me down and 3121 is stacking up to be a great CD!
6 - Connie Phillips
Great review, Zach, one can only hope you're right. I haven't heard the single yet, but heading over to the website to check it out is definitely on my to do list.
7 - skillet
greta stuff from PRINCE, but don't get too excited.he does this all the time. puts out a slammin track and give you a lot of stuff that will make you say "WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT"
8 - maria
I like the song , black sweat because it's giving you energy. I don't know how i have to explain but it's really giving me a good feeling when I listen to that song!
and someone sad, that he/she doesn't know where he sings about but, if you are a singer than you sing about what you feel!