Prince 3121 Las Vegas Volume 1(ER001-002)

Eye Records
2 CD
Label : “Eye” Records
Catalogue : #01-02
2Disc Length : 73:02 / 79:40
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX
Year Of Release : 2007
Rating 4.25/5.0

Track Listing
Club 3121 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas 12th November 2006 (am)

Disc 1
1. Intro 2. Spirituality 3. Johnny B. Goode  4. Over The Rainbow (instrumental) 5. Around The World In A Day  6. Lolita  7. Black Sweat  8. Kiss 9. Shhh 10. Musicology 11. Tighten Up  12. Cream  13. U Got The Look 14. Joy In Repetition 15. 17 Days 16. 7 17. Never Going Back Again  18. Song Of The Heart  19. Anotherloverholenyohead 20. Rock Lobster  21. If I Was Your Girlfriend

Disc 2
1. Pink Cashmere 2. One Kiss At A Time 3. Heaven Must Be Like This 4. Get On The Boat  5. Get On The Boat 6. Love Rollercoaster
Club 3121 – 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 11th November 2006 (am)
7. Musicology 8. Tighten Up 9. 7  10. Never Going Back Again 11. Song Of The Heart  12. Anotherloverholenyohead  13. Rock Lobster 14. Fury 15. Purple Rain 16. Let’s Go Crazy
Chaka Khan (“Prince presents”) – Club 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 15th November 2006
17. I Feel For You 18. You Got The Love 19. I’m Every Woman
Comments
Fink's Comments  (rates this release 4.25/5.0)A very impressive audience recording of the 2nd night at Club 3121 with the show itself being a major improvement over the previous night (on ‘The Holy Casino’ in it’s complete form). Prince is far more prone to improvisation and the show benefits greatly from this along with a number of set-list additions which have only made rare (if ever again) appearances since. The recording is surprisingly excellent and is sharper, clearer and cleaner than the previous best of ‘The Holy Casino’ release. The only slight downside to the excellence of the recording is that the sound is lacking any real depth and the bass in particular is practically non-existent and lacking any kick. That said, simply due to the clarity of the recording it’s easily overlooked.
As mentioned previously, the show is far superior to the previous night with Prince is a far more relaxed, playful, interactive mood which reflects in both the performance and the set-list. ‘Spirituality’ is proceeded by an extended “thunderstorm” intro (which perhaps may have been better left off simply due to it’s length) and as with the previous night segues into ‘Johnny B. Goode’. This is followed by 1 minute of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ played by Prince on guitar which serves as an interlude for a very rare performance of ‘Around The World In A Day’. On the one hand it is a joy to hear this played live after almost 19 years, however this version unfortunately morphs into a showcase for various band members (including The Twinz). Back to Las Vegas normality for the trio of ‘Lolita / Black Sweat / Kiss’ followed by a forgettable mid-section up until ‘Joy In Repetition’ – not as impressive as the 2002 version, but still a killer track live. ’17 Days’ (sung by The Twinz with correct lyrics this time) is followed by ‘7’ which once again contains a repeated vocal of “This song, this song of the heart” and a small portion of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Never Going Back Again’.

Disc 2 begins with a fairly pedestrian version of ‘Pink Cashmere’ which segues into an extended solo portion by Mike Phillips and includes a few lines from ‘One Kiss At A Time’ along with part of the Ohio Players ‘Heaven Must Be Like This’. The closing encore jam of ‘Get On The Boat’ has Prince proclaiming, “We gonna play this for 2 hours” – he doesn’t. He does however turn the performance into three different jams each one as excellent as the last. It begins with a pretty straightforward version of the track before changing into a slowed-down, lazy groove played at half-speed, before finally coming to a halt after a funked-up jam which incorporates the horn line from ‘Get On The Boat’ (which Morris Hayes appears to be playing, as opposed to the horn section) alongside ‘Love Rollercoaster’. The show ends with Prince leading the crowd through the Wizard Of Oz chant from ‘It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night’. Excellent show considering it follows the very stale performance from 11th November (am), some rare choices, and an excellent recording. Disc 2 also includes part of the 11th November (am) show from the previous night and it should be noted this is not the same recording as ‘The Holy Casino’. It’s of similar excellence to the main show featured here (12th November am).
The release closes out with part of Chaka Khan’s set from one of the ill-fated “Prince presents…” Wednesday night’s which started well, then fizzled out. Ironically this recording is the best of the 3 on here in terms of depth and all-round quality. The accompanying packaging is decent, and whilst it is lacking any real info (opening weekend review, perhaps?) it would be cruel to criticise too much as it serves it’s purpose well. Be under no illusion this release comes from the people responsible for releasing under the name of Premium/Ladybird/New Purple Groovez, however to their credit this is one of the best releases in their entire catalogue(s) simply due to the enjoyable content and the excellence of their recordings.

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