Prince 3121 Las Vegas Volume 3(ER005-006)

Eye Records
2 CD
Label : “Eye” Records
Catalogue : #05-06
2Disc Length : 74:49 / 78:19
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX
Year Of Release : 2007
Rating 4.5/5.0

Track Listing
3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, 26th November 2006 (am)

Disc 1
1. Spirituality 2. Johnny B. Goode 3. Over The Rainbow (instrumental) 4. Around The World In A Day 5. Lolita 6. Black Sweat 7. Kiss 8. Shhh 9. Musicology 10. Tighten Up 11. Ain't It Funky Now 12. Pass The Peas 13. Cream 14. U Got The Look 15. Joy In Repetition 16. Forever In My Life 17. Dance To The Music 18. Everyday People

Disc 2
1. 7 2. Song Of The Heart (including Elephants And Flowers) 3. 7 4. Elephants And Flowers 5. Anotherloverholenyohead 6. Rock Lobster 7. If I Was Your Girlfriend 8. Pink Cashmere 9. Do Me, Baby 10. One Kiss At A Time 11. Crazy (including One Nation Under A Groove) 12. Nothing Compares 2 U 13. 3121 (instrumental intro) 14. 3121 (instrumental) (including More Bounce To The Ounce - No Diggity) 15. Tell Me What It Is 16. 3121 (including Miss You) 17. Get On The Boat 18. Love Rollercoaster (including It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing - Sax A Go-Go) - Get On The Boat

Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 25th November 2006 (am)
19. Crazy 20. What Have You Done For Me Lately 21. Partyman 22. It's Alright - Outro

Comments
Fink's Comments  (rates this release 4.5/5.0)
Volume 3 of the April 2007 "3121 Las Vegas" releases and again this is another excellent recording. It's of a similar quality to the previous '3121 Las Vegas Vol. 2' release in terms of audience level, but once again (as with '3121 Las Vegas Vol. 1') the bass is extremely lacking and when Prince calls for a bass line, it is practically non-existent. I guess this all comes down to personal taste - you either like something with a kick, or you don't. That's no slight on the actual quality of the recording - which I really cannot fault, but for me, I prefer a fuller recording. where the bass is evident. As for the show, this one is easily split into two separate parts.

The majority of Disc 1 features Prince (on the whole) doing what he does best with very little improvisation or interaction - 'Kiss' for example lasts a mere 2:30 and is as basic a version as you will hear. That said, the first half of the show does contain the rare inclusion of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow / Around The World In A Day' which is the only real standout moment. Prince appears to spring to life as Larry Graham hits the stage for 'Dance To The Music' and from here onwards it's a completely different, vastly improved performance. Larry Graham is onstage long enough to (unfortunately) grab some mic action and as a perfect example of the complete lack of bass in the recording when he solo's it is nothing more than a tinny twang lacking any power - a real disappointment. '7' once again includes a small portion of 'Song Of The Heart' and Prince also recites 4 lines from 'Elephants And Flowers' before the remainder of '7' is performed. This is followed by Prince accompanying himself on guitar sings the chorus of 'Elephants And Flowers' before launching into 'Anotherloverholenyohead'. 'Pink Cashmere' (with a slight lyric change to "white cashmere") unusually includes a few lines from 'Do Me, Baby' alongside the more usual inclusion from 'One Kiss At A Time' and the main show is brought to a close. Prince was evidently in the mood to jam however, and the encore section begins with 'Crazy' which has Mike Phillips on vocoder before Prince closes the first encore section with 'Nothing Compares 2 U' - featuring the piano far more to the fore than most other versions.

The 2nd encore section contains a phenomenal 15 minute lengthy jam of '3121' with Mike Phillips once again adding various lyrical snippets with his vocoder and the jam includes a surprise duet performance of 'Tell Me What It Is' with Prince and Larry Graham. The show is brought to a close with Sheila E also guesting onstage for 'Get On The Boat' which flows into another lengthy (mainly instrumental) jam featuring a fair amount of horn embellishments and lines from various (non-Prince) tracks before returning to 'Get On The Boat' to finish. The show clocks in at around 138 minutes which also makes it one of the lengthiest of the entire 3121 Las Vegas stint. The release also includes highlights from the proceeding nights show (25th November am) which again are of a very, very high quality. Turning my attention towards the packaging and the indexing of the tracks, I have to complain yet again that the majority of tracks on here are needlessly tracked individually and the closing jam of '3121' really did not need to be split into 4 different parts - ridiculously fussy. The packaging once again serves it's purpose well with an 8 page booklet and the subtitle "Desert Groovez". Overall, this is another excellent release in this series, and a great document of the 3rd weekend.

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