Prince 3121 Las Vegas Volume 2(ER003-004)

Eye Records
2 CD
Label : “Eye” Records
Catalogue : #03-04
2Disc Length : 79:18 / 79:00
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX
Year Of Release : 2007
Rating 4.75/5.0

Track Listing
Club 3121 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas 19th November 2006 (am)

Disc 1
1. UK Music Hall Of Fame Video Intro 2. Thunderstorm Intro 3. 3121 4. Get On The Boat 5. Love Rollercoaster 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. Purple Rain 17. Let’s Go Crazy 18. If I Was Your Girlfriend

Disc 2
1. Pink Cashmere 2. One Kiss At A Time 3. Forever In My Life 4. Everyday People 5. Adore 6. Anotherloverholenyohead 7. Rock Lobster 8. All The Critics Love U In Las Vegas (including More Bounce To The Ounce – One Nation Under A Groove)

Club 3121 – 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 18th November 2006 (am)
9. Musicology 10. Tighten Up 11. Sexy Dancer 12. Las Vegas G-Groove 13. Pink Cashmere 14. One Kiss At A Time 15. Hope That We Can Be Together Soon 16. Heaven Must Be Like This 17. 7 18. Speech 19. Shadows And Chains (including The Chain) 20. Come Together 21. 3121 (including California Love) 22. 3121 (including More Bounce To The Ounce)


Comments
Fink's Comments  (rates this release 4.75/5.0)
One look at the set-list may suggest yet another run-of-the-mill Las Vegas routine, however don’t be fooled – this is one of the better performances from any of the 2006 shows. The performance is matched by the quality of the recording and it contains far more depth than NPG’s ‘3121 Las Vegas Vol. 1’ release. The audience are more vocal and audible on this recording than the previous weekend which is no bad thing as they do not detract from the recording in any way. This is only the second weekend of Club 3121 Las Vegas and it’s obvious Prince is still experimenting with the set-list as he makes numerous changes from the previous weekend. The show begins with the “tribute” recorded for Prince and the acceptance speech made by Prince at the UK Music Hall Of Fame the Tuesday previous to this concert (14th November) followed by a lengthy (too lengthy) “thunderstorm” intro before the show begins with ‘3121’ followed (unusually) by ‘Get On The Boat’ which flows into a jam containing the usual portion of ‘Love Rollercoaster’ (and a tiny vocal snippet of ‘Fire’ – 2 Ohio Players tracks back-to-back). The Las Vegas boredom sets in with the deadly trio of ‘Lolita / Black Sweat / Kiss’. ‘Black Sweat’ begins with a funky, lengthy keyboard intro and has Prince adding a line from ‘The Message’ by Grandmaster Flash, “Don’t push me cuz I’m close to the edge” has become, “Don’t push me cuz I’m close to yo’ mom” – cute. Unfortunately the remainder of the shows mid-section has pretty much Prince on autopilot.

The show really gets going once again when the loop for ‘Forever In My Life’ begins and Prince sets himself down at the keyboard for a fantastic version, along with ‘Everyday People’ and ‘Adore’ in quick succession. ‘Anotherloverholenyohead’ picks up the pace of the show once again (after the slightly subdued ‘Adore’) and closes with a stunning, extended, ferocious guitar climax. The show is brought to an end with ‘All The Critics Love U In Las Vegas’ which is approx 7:30(ish) and has Mike Phillips and his vocoder adding various vocals snippets from ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ amongst others – considering the excellent show which proceeded it, it comes as something of an anti-climax (for me). Disc 2 also includes around 50 minutes from the previous nights concert which again is a very similar recording to the 19th November (am) audience recording – in fact it benefits from having slightly more “bite” to it. One downside to this is the slightly increased audience level, and during the extended ‘One Kiss At A Time / Heaven Must Be Like This’ an obnoxious (and I presume drunk) bitch screams obscenities such as “Play Little Red Cor-fucking-vette”, “I think he should play it” and “I’m from the 80’s – he has to do it” – I’m amazed the person recording (who sounds close) didn’t ram his recorder up her fishbox to shut her up. Moving on. ‘Sexy Dancer’ is nothing more than a brief instrumental portion with Prince repeating “Sexy Dancer” over guitar flourishes from the song – can hardly be classed as a performance of the track.

This show also includes a great version of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ which evolves into The Beatles ‘Come Together’ before ‘3121’ (strangely the first time the track was played at Club 3121) closes the show on a real high. My complaint about this (and the other volumes) is that the tracks are indexed separately when they really don’t need to be – having “Musicology (Including Tighten Up)” would have been far more appropriate, and why ‘3121’ has been split into two tracks on the 18th November (am) show is beyond comprehension. The packaging differs slightly to the other two volumes as it is a quad fold-out “poster” (their term, not mine) as opposed to a booklet. Overall an impressive document of the second weekend of Club 3121 with a number of rare inclusions sitting alongside the regular tracks, all presented in excellent quality.

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