Prince 3121 London Week #7 21(ER052-057)

Eye Records/Purple Underground
Catalog # 52/53/54/55/56/57
Release Year 2008
5CD Length 90:38 | 90:38 | 84:10 | 86:51 | 85:22
Date/Venue O2 Earth Tour Various Dates 2007
Source Audience Recordings
Quality EX- / EX
Rating 4.5/5.0

Track Listing
Earth Tour O2 Arena, London 21st September 2007
Disc 1
1. Thunderstorm Intro 2. I Feel For You 3. Controversy (including Housequake) 4. Somewhere Here On Earth 5. Cream 6. U Got The Look 7. Musicology 8. Chelsea Rodgers 9. Sexy Dance v's Le Freak 10. A Love Bizarre 11. Pass The Peas 12. Interlude 13. Diamonds And Pearls 14. The Beautiful Ones 15. Little Red Corvette 16. I Would Die 4 U 17. Under The Cherry Moon (instrumental) 18. Sometimes It Snows In April 19. Purple Rain 20. Take Me With U 21. Guitar 22. Kiss 23. Let's Go Crazy 24. 1999 25. Nothing Compares 2 U

Disc 2
1. Sampler Intro 2. Sign O' The Times 3. When Doves Cry 4. Darling Nikki (intro) 5. I Wanna Be Your Lover 6. Erotic City (intro) 7. Alphabet St. 8. D.M.S.R. 9. Delirious 10. Gett Off (Houstyle) - The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (intro) 11. Irresistible Bitch 12. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World 13. Raspberry Beret 14. When You Were Mine 15. Girls And Boys (including Cutie Pie)

Earth Tour - O2 Arena, London : 16th September 2007 (NPG Opening Act)
16. Chelsea Rodgers 17. Misty Blue 18. Baby Love

Earth Tour - O2 Arena, London : 16th September 2007
19. Piano Intro 20. Little Red Corvette (spoken) 21. Adore 22. Insatiable 23. Money Don't Matter 2Night 24. Dear Mr. Man 25. I Would Die 4 U 26. Little Red Corvette 27. Under The Cherry Moon (instrumental) 28. Love Is A Losing Game 29. Whole Lotta Love

Earth Tour - O2 Arena, London : 20th September 2007
30. Shadows And Chains 31. People Get Ready - When Will We Be Paid 32. Money Don't Matter 2Night 33. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore 34. Condition Of The Heart 35. Little Red Corvette 36. Raspberry Beret 37. Sometimes It Snows In April

3121 Aftershow - IndigO2, The O2, London : 21st September 2007 (am) (NPG / Raiyne)
38. So What? 39. More Bounce To The Ounce 40. Get Up, Get Down, Get Loose

Disc 3
Studio Tracks Played Over PA (IndigO2 : 4th August 2007)
1. Prince And The Band 2. Sexy MF 2007

3121 Aftershow - IndigO2, The O2, London : 17th September 2007 (am)
3. Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa 4. 3121 (including Alexander's Ragtime Band - Music! Music! Music! - The Entertainer) - D.M.S.R. 5. Girls And Boys 6. What Have You Done For Me Lately (instrumental) 7. Song Of The Heart - Just Like U 8. Delirious - Just Like U 9. Satisfied 10. Beggin' Woman Blues 11. Lolita 12. Black Sweat 13. It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me - You Bring Me Joy - Be Happy (including Tom's Diner) 14. It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me 15. Over The Rainbow (instrumental) - Nine Million Bicycles 16. Gotta Broken Heart Again

Disc 4
1. Sing A Simple Song 2. Everyday People

3121 Aftershow - IndigO2, The O2, London : 22nd September 2007 (am)
3. Instrumental Intro 4. Love Is A Losing Game (w/ Amy Winehouse) 5. 7 6. Come Together 7. Honky Tonk Women 8. Rock Steady (w/ Beverley Knight) 9. Whole Lotta Love (instrumental) 10. Shhh 11. All The Critics Love U In London

Disc 5
1. Sexy Dancer v's Le Freak 2. Chelsea Rodgers 3. Misty Blue 4. Baby Love 5. Love Changes (intro) 6. Kiss (snippet) 7. Alphabet St. 8. (Eye Like) Funky Music [chant] 9. Get On The Boat 10. Love Rollercoaster 11. Play That Funky Music 12. Anotherloverholenyohead 13. Rock Lobster (instrumental) 14. Villanova Junction 15. Peach 16. Rock Me, Baby 17. Stratus 18. The Question Of U (instrumental) (including The One) 19. What Have You Done For Me Lately 20. Partyman 21. It's Alright

Disc 6
Click here for DVD Details

Comments
Fink's Comments(rates this release 4.5/5.0)
The 7th and final set in this "7 Weeks In London" collection documenting the London residency of summer 2007. As with the last few releases by "Eye" Records, this is a combination CD/DVD release, and the DVD is listed HERE. I keep repeating myself, but I'll say it once more - the CD's + DVD come packaged together and are part of the same release - not different, not separate, THE SAME RELEASE all housed together in one pretty package. The Earth tour shows on this release come from the final 3 of the stint - 16th, 20th and 21st September with the 21st September being complete, and the 16th and 20th September being highlights. The 21st September recording is superb, and I think it marginally beats the previous best on the FreddyG release 'London 21st September 2007'. FreddyG's was excellent, but the show sounded a little distant, however this "Eye" recording is really in-your-face powerful, loud and clear, albeit a little heavy.

There is a certain female (why is it always females??) who has a tendency to scream in places, but for the most part she is rather unobtrusive. The final show was always going to be a little more special, and whilst the majority of the set-list is fairly straightforward, the performance is sublime. So straightforward a set-list that the only real points worthy of note are the back-to-back duo of 'A Love Bizarre / Pass The Peas' in the opening half of the show. The sampler segment hold a few surprises, not least the intro to 'The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker' making it's only appearance in the main show, followed by 'Irresistible Bitch' with the first verse sung as opposed to the normal instrumental intro only. The encore is really the high point of the concert with 'When You Were Mine' performed for the one and only time of the entire 21 main shows. The remainder of Disc 2 contains 37 minutes from the 16th September show including the NPG's 3 song opening act, and 16 minutes of the piano set from the 20th September show with both recordings being of equal excellence. The disc then ends with 14 minutes from the NPG/Raiyn aftershow from 21st September (am), again in pretty stellar quality with zero complaints from me regarding the recording itself.

Disc 3 opens with the two unreleased studio tracks played by DJ Rashida on 4th August, both recorded over the PA. The remainder of Disc 3 contains the 17th September (am) aftershow and it rivals the Sabotage release in terms of excellence. Sabotage's has a more audible audience, however as good as this Eye recording is, they have substituted part of Prince's 'Just Like U' monologue with part from the official release, and the effect isn't great as it returns to/from the audience recording to the soundboard recording, then back again - rather wavy and uneven. That being said, it's only a small fraction of the show, and the rest is free of any problems.

Most people will now be aware that Prince chose to release a large chunk of this show on the official "21 Nights" book, so it's fairly familiar by now. Leaving aside the parts he decided to include, it's a shame the performance of 'Nine Million Bicycles' wasn't chosen as it's a stunner, as is the closing Sly Stone duo of 'Sing A Simple Song / Everyday People' which is a whole lot of fun. The release then ends with the final aftershow in the wee small hours of 22nd September featuring Amy Winehouse and Beverley Knight. Again, the recording is of a very high quality, but doesn't quite reach the stellar quality of Sabotage's version on 'The Indigo Chronicles Chapter 6'. It's loud, the show is clear and very much to the fore, however the audience are more audible on this release than the Sabotage recording, and the taper themselves appears to talk and sing during the show - who could blame him?. 'Baby Love' suffers from some audio problems where the levels used to record appear to max out leading to a little roughness. These are minor points, and had the Sabotage recording not been so good, I really wouldn't be too critical as the simple fact remains that this IS an excellent recording, and is a credit to "Eye" - however for comparison sake, the Sabotage version is better. Great show to end the London residency with, and a great recording to bring to an end this release, and the entire "7 Weeks In London" collection.

The accompanying 15 page booklet is again a very high quality product packed with detailed set-lists, pictures, 3121.com spy reports and various snippets of information regarding the shows included. Take everything I've been critical about above with a pinch of salt as it all comes down to personal taste, and whether you were in attendance at the shows or not. Personally, even though some of these recordings may not match the excellence of some others circulating, I really enjoy this release. It would be a nearly impossible task to have a release as large as this (and the others in this set) and have the best, most pristine recordings throughout, and what is here is not below the EX- mark.


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