Prince Las Vegas Vol. 1 to Vol. 7 - Guitars101

Mr. Man · 10-05-2011, 07:33 AM

Prince - 3121 Las Vegas Collection - Eye Records Volume 1 To 7.
12gb all Flac with covers.
3121 Las Vegas Volume 1 - Let The Games Begin
Label : "Eye" Records
Catalogue : 01-02
Disc Length : 73:02 / 79:40
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX
Year Of Release : 2007

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

COMMENT

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. The 2nd weekend is available on '3121 Las Vegas Vol. 2' and the 3rd on '3121 Las Vegas Vol. 3'.

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Mr. Man · 10-05-2011, 07:34 AM

3121 Las Vegas Volume 2 - All The Critics Love U In Las Vegas
Label : "Eye" Records
Catalogue : 03-04
Disc Length : 79:18 / 79:00
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX
Year Of Release : 2007

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)

COMMENT

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 bitch 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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Mr. Man · 10-05-2011, 07:35 AM

3121 Las Vegas Volume 3 - Desert Groove
Label : "Eye" Records
Catalogue : 05-06
Disc Length : 74:49 / 78:19
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX
Year Of Release : 2007

Club 3121
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

COMMENT

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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Mr. Man · 10-05-2011, 07:35 AM

3121 Las Vegas Volume 4 - Jazz Cuisine... Till 5 In Da Morn
Label : "Eye" Records
Catalogue : 07-08-09-10
Disc Length : 73:07 / 79:49 / 79:17 / 73:21
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX
Year Of Release : 2007

Club 3121
3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

3rd December 2006 (am)

Disc 1
1. Intro 2. Spirituality 3. Johnny B. Goode 4. Girls And Boys 5. There Was A Time (instrumental) 6. The Sun's Gonna Shine Again 7. Lolita 8. Black Sweat 9. Kiss 10. Shhh 11. Musicology 12. Tighten Up 13. Pass The Peas 14. Shake Everything You've Got 15. Joy In Repetition 16. Anotherloverholenyohead 17. Rock Lobster (instrumental) 18. If I Was Your Girlfriend

Disc 2
1. Pink Cashmere 2. Do Me, Baby - Interlude 3. 3121 4. Partyman 5. Play That Funky Music 6. Start Me Up 7. What Have You Done For Me Lately 8. (I Like) Funky Music (chant) 9. Sexy Dancer (instrumental) (including 777-9311) 10. Give It To Me Baby 11. Brick House (instrumental) 12. (I Like) Funky Music (chant) 13. It's Alright 14. What A Wonderful World (instrumental) 15. A Case Of U 16. Purple Rain

Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 2nd December 2006 (am) (Part 1)

17. 3121 18. Get On The Boat 19. Love Rollercoaster - Las Vegas Jam - Get On The Boat

Disc 3
Club 3121 Aftershow - 3121 Jazz Cuisine : Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 3rd December 2006 (am)

1. Straight, No Chaser (including The Flintstones Theme) 2. Gotta Broken Heart Again (instrumental) 3. So What 4. The Chicken 5. The Munsters Theme 6. Who Is He (And What Is He To You) (including One Nation Under A Groove) 7. More Bounce To The Ounce (including Atomic Dog) 8. Sing A Simple Song (instrumental) 9. Gotta Broken Heart Again (instrumental)

Disc 4
1. When You Were Mine (snippet) - Heaven (snippet) 2. Brick House 3. Skin Tight 4. Love Rollercoaster 5. What Is Hip

Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 2nd December 2006 (am) (Part 2)

6. Musicology 7. Tighten Up 8. Play That Funky Music 9. Pass The Peas 10. Shake Everything You've Got 11. Forever In My Life (instrumental) 12. 777-9311 (instrumental) 13. Everyday People (instrumental) (including Forever In My life) 14. 7 15. Anotherloverholenyohead 16. Rock Lobster (instrumental) 17. If I Was Your Girlfriend 18. If I Was Your Girlfriend 19. Let's Go Crazy

COMMENT

The main show featured here is the 3rd December 2006 (am) and it's one of the most schizophrenic shows I have heard in a long time. The recording is very impressive with barely an audible whisper from the audience. Sure, some cock shouting "Play Let's Go Crazy" towards the end is unavoidable, but excusable. It's certainly (currently) the best quality audience recording circulating in terms of depth and clarity, and free of any problems. The opening half of the show is mundane, lifeless and bland in the extreme. Prince adds the "Happiness in a sunken form.." lazy rap to 'Girls And Boys' which is something of a rarity, however the remainder of the 73 minutes isn't worthy of mention. Disc 2 however, is almost like a completely different performer and Prince manages to really impress with a mid-section which is extraordinarily funky. The second half of the show begins with a routine performance of 'Pink Cashmere' which segues into 'Do Me, Baby', although admittedly it is a mere few lines and not an actual "performance" of the track. Rhonda joins the band for '3121' and it's from this moment the show takes on a new lease of life. 'Partyman' is played in a slightly different arrangement and is followed by the usual 'Play That Funky Music'. This in turn is followed by a cover of the Rolling Stone's 'Start Me Up' with an audience member taking over the vocals. The Twinz grab some mic action for a cover of 'What Have You Done For Me Lately' which is pretty horrific in terms of vocal delivery. Prince picks up the bass for the remaining few songs and it's a whirlwind of funk as he instructs the band through 'Sexy Dancer' (including a portion of '777-9311'), Rick James 'Give It To Me Baby' (including a few vocals), and 'Brick House' before closing the main set with a storming 'It's Alright'. Maceo launches the encore section with 'What A Wonderful World' before Prince delivers an (admittedly impressive) 'A Case Of U' with the show closing with 'Purple Rain'. I have to say, if it hadn't been for the funky bass section on Disc 2, this show would be amongst the worst from the currently circulating Las Vegas shows - as it is, it makes it far better, but overall the show is still not worthy of great praise. Disc 2 also includes 16 minutes from the previous nights show with the remainder being on Disc 4. Disc 3 and the opening half of Disc 4 contain the 93 (ish) minute Jazz Cuisine aftershow which took place in the early hours of Sunday 3rd December morning. The show is very enjoyable, and has a number of nice performances, but overall (especially Disc 3) it lacks the "punch" of many other Jazz Cuisine aftershows and I find my mind wandering. The instrumental performances of 'Gotta Broken Heart Again' are nice, unusual choices, but they are prone to one too many horn solo's which detract from the song itself. The only real highlight of the aftershow for me is the closing jam on 'What Is Hip?' where the band really come to a climatic ending. The aftershow recording is sublime and when one considers the circumstances it was recorded in, it's really very impressive that there is so little audience noise. The band are clear and upfront, but what I like best is that you can hear the horn volume increase/decrease as they wander around the intimate room. Disc 4 ends with an hour from the 2nd December main show, and whilst the recording is again of excellent quality, the content is very similar to countless other 3121 Las Vegas shows and not really worth any great mention. The packaging for this release is rather impressive with a 16 page booklet containing detailed tracklisting and an in-depth review spanning 4 pages. The quality of the recordings on here really cannot be faulted, however the only thing that lets down this release slightly is the fact the main show and the aftershow are rather tame in comparison to many others. That said, this is still an extremely good release, but by no means an essential releaseing.
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Mr. Man · 10-05-2011, 07:36 AM

3121 Las Vegas Volume 5 : Riot At The Rio
Label : "Eye" Records
Catalogue : 11-12-13
Disc Length : 79:46 / 72:37 / 79:17
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX- / EX
Year Of Release : 2007

Club 3121
3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

9th December 2006 (am)

Disc 1
1. 3121 2. Girls And Boys 3. The Sun's Gonna Shine Again 4. Down By The Riverside (instrumental) 5. Lolita 6. Black Sweat 7. Kiss 8. Shhh 9. Musicology 10. Tighten Up 11. Pass The Peas 12. Shake Everything You've Got 13. Play That Funky Music 14. Partyman 15. Love Rollercoaster (intro) 16. Controversy 17. Joy In Repetition

Disc 2
1. 17 Days (instrumental interlude - intro) 2. Purple Rain 3. What A Wonderful World (instrumental) 4. A Case Of U 5. Forever In My Life 6. Elephants And Flowers 7. Anotherloverholenyohead 8. Rock Lobster (instrumental) 9. I Like It There 10. Crazy 11. Nothing Compares 2 U

Riot At The Rio - Larry Graham - Club 3121, Las Vegas : 13th December 2006 (EX-)

12. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) (ft. Prince)

Riot At The Rio - Larry Graham - Club 3121, Las Vegas : 20th December 2006 (EX-)

13. The Jam (ft. Prince)

Riot At The Rio - Maceo Parker - Club 3121, Las Vegas : 21st December 2006 (am) (EX-)

14. Uptown Up (ft. Prince)

Disc 3
Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 25th November 2006 (am)

1. Speech 2. Get On The Boat 3. Love Rollercoaster 4. The Payback 5. Pass The Peas 6. More Bounce To The Ounce (including Miss You)

Club 3121 Aftershow - 3121 Jazz Cuisine : Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 9th December 2006 (am)

7. Mike Phillips Intro 8. Footprints 9. Stratus 10. All Blues 11. Get On The Boat (instrumental) 12. Love Rollercoaster (including Give It Up Or Turn It Loose) 13. Outa-Space (including Ain't It Funky Now)

COMMENT

Released early June 2007, this is the 5th volume of "Eye" Records Las Vegas releases, and is another mightily impressive release in terms of recording quality. The majority of the main show recording on Disc 1 and Disc 2 is probably worthy of an EX- rating, however it does improve vastly for the closing encores. The 9th December (am) main show has an audible audience level throughout, and whilst it does not interfere with the show for the most part (95% of the recording is above any criticism), there are moments where people in close proximity to the recorder shout out various comments to Prince, "Bring it on home baby", "Play the blues", etc, etc which is a little obtrusive during the more sedate moments of the show. That said, I was at this show and from the encore section onwards, the room cleared as fast as I have ever seen a room clear (not enough hits?) - and this is presumably the reason why from 'Crazy' onwards, the recording is of truly excellent quality with no interference and very minimal audience noise. The show itself is something of a hit or miss affair, and suffers from the same problem which plagues many Las Vegas shows ; Prince walks offstage leaving the band to fill in time. No slight on the band, but 20 minutes of this show do not feature Prince. That complaint aside, the show does have a number of very rare tracks performed (for Vegas) which make it very worthwhile. A cover of 'The Sun's Gonna Shine Again' (remarkably similar backing to Satisfied) is a nice break from the usual Las Vegas set-list, as is the closing few tracks on Disc 1. 'Partyman' is nothing more than Prince reciting the opening verse followed by a small portion of 'Love Rollercoaster' before Prince finally settles on a loose jam based around the "People call me rude, I wish we all were nude" lyric of 'Controversy'. These can hardly be classed as performances of said tracks, so the tracklisting on the packaging appears a little misleading. As with many 2006 Vegas shows, the Arabic interlude normally accompanying The Twins performance of '17 Days' begins, however it is cut short and the band launch into 'Purple Rain'. The show really takes on a life of it's own from 'A Case Of U' onwards and is, quite simply, stunning for the following 6 songs. Not least for the inclusion of 'Elephants And Flowers' and the breathtaking (yeah, I said it) version of 'I Like It There' - the performance of this song, and this particular version alone makes the release all on it's own. As mentioned before, the quality improves vastly for 'Crazy' and 'Nothing Compares 2 U' due to the room being less than half full - a sad sight, but beneficial to the recording. Disc 2 features tracks from the Larry Graham / Maceo Parker shows on 13th and 20th December at Club 3121 with Prince featuring at both shows. The quality of these is great, but the audience noise is rather distracting and can overpower the recording - not bad, but perhaps sounds worse following on from the main 9th December recording. Disc 3 begins with 5 tracks from the 25th November (am) show which was also partially featured on their '3121 Las Vegas Vol. 3' release. Beginning with a short speech by Prince, it's followed by 'Get On The Boat' and a number of (mainly) instrumental horn-led cover versions. Quality-wise, it's impressive. Content-wise, less so. The release closes out with the 3121 aftershow at the Jazz Cuisine in the early morning of Saturday 9th December 2006. It begins with Mike Phillips spoken intro with the mantra of "real music by real musicians" and as if to prove the point, Renato's solo during the 16 minute 'Footprints' is stunning. The aftershows of 2006 were more lazy, improvised affairs than the later, more focused 2007 Jazz Cuisine shows, and the following 'Stratus' and 'All Blues' - whilst being impressive, are fairly pedestrian to listen to. The slight problems with the recording also begin at this point, and rear their head (albeit briefly at this point) during 'Stratus' where the volume fluctuates minimally and there is a little occasional distortion. This is followed by an instrumental version of 'Get On The Boat'. The closing two instrumentals 'Lover Rollercoaster' and 'Outa Space' unfortunately suffer from some piercing, shrill distortion in places. It is intermittent on 'Love Rollercoaster', but affects 'Outa Space' a little more frequently. Hardly horrendous, and it's to New Power Groove / Eye's credit that they left it intact for people who prefer their recordings complete. The aftershow recording (out with the closing 2 songs) is again impressive considering the small space it was recorded in, and putting aside the odd clanking of cutlery and crockery, there is very little to be critical about overall - a very decent effort. The accompanying packaging is impressive including a 12 page booklet. The release also includes a cute addition in the form of a menu copied from the 3121 Jazz Cuisine printed on heavy card - it may not be highly important, but is a very cute idea and something I give them (again) credit for. A nice touch. Overall, this is an extremely impressive 3cd set and one of the best pressed releases for a few years. Interesting set lists, very impressive quality and a diverse selection of bonus material all wrapped up in attractive packaging. It suffers from some flaws towards the end, but those are easily overlooked.
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Mr. Man · 10-05-2011, 07:36 AM

3121 Las Vegas Volume 6 - Party Like It's 3121
Label : "Eye" Records
Catalogue : 14-15-16-17-18-19
Disc Length : 79:43 / 78:32 / 74:58 / 70:55 / 73:36 / 79:38
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : EX- / EX
Year Of Release : 2007

Club 3121
3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

31st December 2006

Disc 1
1. 3121 2. Girls And Boys 3. Satisfied 4. Down By The Riverside (instrumental) 5. Purple Rain 6. Lolita 7. Black Sweat 8. Kiss 9. Shhh 10. Musicology 11. Prince And The Band 12. Pass The Peas 13. Joy In Repetition 14. Gotta Broken Heart Again 15. If I Was Your Girlfriend

Disc 2
1. Cream 2. U Got The Look 3. I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) 4. Love Changes 5. Play That Funky Music 6. Love Rollercoaster 7. What Have You Done For Me Lately 8. Partyman 9. It's Alright

Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 30th December 2006 (am)

10. Spirituality 11. Johnny B. Goode 12. Girls And Boys 13. There Was A Time 14. Musicology 15. Tighten Up 16. Prince And The Band 17. Play That Funky Music 18. 7 19. Come Together 20. Love Changes 21. What Have You Done For Me Lately (including 100 MPH) 22. Partyman 23. It's Alright

Disc 3
Club 3121 Aftershow - 3121 Jazz Cuisine @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 30th December 2006 (am)

1. Mike Phillips Intro 2. Sugar 3. All The Things You Are 4. Band Introductions 5. Footprints 6. Shake Everything You've Got (instrumental) 7. What Is Hip (including Psychoticbumpschool) (instrumental)

Disc 4
Club 3121 Aftershow - 3121 Jazz Cuisine @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 31st December 2006 (am)

1. Tutu 2. I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) 3. Love Changes 4. Shake Everything You've Got (including Rapture) 5. Te Amo Corazon (instrumental) 6. Crazy 7. Get On The Boat (including Give It Up Or Turn It Loose) (instrumental)

Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 11th March 2007 (am) (Audience VG)

8. Somewhere Here On Earth

Disc 5
Club 3121 Aftershow - 3121 Jazz Cuisine @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 1st January 2007 (am)

1. Mike Phillips Intro 2. A Night In Tunisia 3. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy 4. Crazy (including One Nation Under A Groove) 5. Footprints 6. Sweet Thing

Disc 6

1. Who Is He (And What Is He To You) 2. More Bounce To The Ounce 3. California Love 4. No Diggity (including There Was A Time - Chocolate City) 5. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) (including Rhythm Nation - Carol's Theme - I Love Lucy Theme)

Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 31st December 2006 (am)

6. 3121 7. Girls And Boys (including Miss You) 8. If You Want Me To Stay (instrumental) - Dear Mr. Man 9. Forever In My Life 10. Everyday People 11. Musicology (including Prince And The Band) 12. Play That Funky Music

Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 30th December 2006 (am)

13. Black Sweat 14. What A Wonderful World[Listed on packaging as Over The Rainbow] 15. Over The Rainbow (instrumental) - Nine Million Bicycles

COMMENT

Apologies for the length of this, but it is a 6CD set. Disc 1 features the New Years Eve 3121 show which Prince begins with '3121'. Whilst there is no outright "Happy New Year!", he does make a couple of dubious Prince-esque statements, such as "There's no such thing as time - we count down nothing, except the funk", and to close the song, "It's going down y'all..2007, 2008, 2009, whatever" - other than that, this is a pretty basic show with it's ups and downs. In terms of the recording, this doesn't quite match the stunning clarity of a couple of other "Eye" Records Las Vegas volumes, but it's mighty fine. Throughout the audience are fairly minimal, and it's only during the slower moments of the show where they are audible - the constant chattering throughout 'Gotta Broken Heart Again' being a perfect example. On top of this there are a few slight fluctuations in a number of places, but this accounts for a fraction of the recording and is hardly worthy of pointing out. The show is decent, but certainly not particularly memorable. 'Gotta Broken Heart Again' makes an unusual appearance in the Las Vegas setlist, but there really is very little worth noting on the first half of the show that doesn't appear on multiple other shows. Towards the second half of the show (Disc 2) it takes a funky tangent and the closing 15 minutes features Prince on guitar playing snippets from various tracks before Shelby rejoins to close with 'It's Alright'. Certainly not a classic show, and it pales in comparison to many other Las Vegas shows. Disc 2 also features highlights from the Friday night/Saturday morning main show, and whilst the opening 'Spirituality / Johnny B. Goode' is always a pleasure to hear, the remainder is far too similar to the 31st December show and just sounds repetitive. Prince adds a short portion of the James Brown track 'There Was A Time' along with a shout-out to the recently deceased James Brown, which is a nice touch. Disc 3 features the 30th December (am) aftershow (first of the 3 consecutive aftershows played over New Year). The quality of this aftershow recording is very schizophrenic as it changes suddenly from being phenomenally clear and crisp to being badly distorted, very thin and very murky. The opening 50 minutes is worthy of great praise and the very minimal clink of cutlery/crockery and minor background chatter is all I can say to be detrimental. Suddenly around 50 minutes the bass level increases, then around 55 minutes the recording takes a turn for the worse and it's slightly painful to listen to. It's thin, it's distorted and probably sounds worse than it is following on from the near-perfection of the opening 50 minutes, but it ain't good and the closing portion of Disc 3 would warrant a VG- grading (at best). The real pity is that the show only really gets going as the recording turns bad - all very frustrating. The opening 2 tracks (consisting of around 32 minutes) feature guest players on piano, drums and bass before the regular 3121 band (Cora, Josh, Mr. Hayes, etc) take to the stage for 'Footprints'. It isn't until around 45 minutes into the recording (during 'Footprints') that Prince makes his first appearance onstage with a fierce guitar solo and momentarily manages to turn round what was becoming a very dull jazz workout. Prince hops off again while the band stretch out the track to 20 minutes long (give me strength!) and follow it by an instrumental 'Shake Everything You've Got', again with Prince popping back up towards the end. The show is dull as dishwater (Prince's guitar flourishes aside) until the closing 5 minute 'What Is Hip?' where Prince single-handedly manages to save the day and put a smile on your face after sitting through 70 minutes of tedious muzak. Disc 4 contains the second of the 3 consecutive New Years aftershows and is far superior to the previous morning's show both in terms of content and overall sound quality. The quality of the recording is once again superb with a slightly intrusive bass level being the only real sticking point. It slightly crackles due to this for the opening 'Tutu', but subsides somewhat and the remainder is certainly worthy of an EX-, if not slightly better. The smooth opening 18 minute Miles Davis 'Tutu' has Prince onstage throughout before making way for Shelby to sing her duo of 'I Never Loved A Man' and 'Love Changes' (this song alone makes 3 appearances on this set). Maceo Parker takes control for an excellent 'Shake Everything You've Got' which has the chant, along with a small portion of the Blondie track 'Rapture'. The highlight of the show however is towards the end of this song where Prince and Cora trade in a guitar/drum duel, and anyone doubting Cora's prowess on the drums would do well to check this out. An instrumental 'Te Amo Corazón' follows before Shelby once again takes to the mic for a fairly straightforward 'Crazy'. The show is brought to a climax with an instrumental 'Get On The Boat' which sounds great and must have been phenomenal in such an intimate setting. Overall a funk-tastic aftershow, but be warned the Tambourine Lady is in attendance. Disc 4 also has a hidden live version of 'Somewhere Here On Earth' not on the accompanying artwork - taken from the 11th March 2007 (am) show already circulating on the 'Las Vegas 10/03/2007' release, although this is a different source recording. Unfortunately it is merely a 2 minute snippet of a slightly dubious recording, so it's inclusion here as a "teaser" is slightly baffling. The aftershow on the morning of 1st January 2007 lasts around 104 minutes and spans Discs 5 and 6. Unfortunately it's a hit or miss affair, and whilst there are moments of brilliance, the lengthy instrumental versions just drag on too long at times. The recording itself is of similar excellence to the opening half of the 30th December 2006 (am) recording and there is really little to fault. The band are upfront, clear and the slight background chatter (en Français ?) is probably only audible at high volume. Out with the lengthy, extended jazz numbers, props go to Shelby for an inspired 'Crazy' and 'Sweet Thing' and the closing jam based around 'Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again)' is performed by Mosaic and cleverly includes the "We are a part of a Rhythm Nation" vocal from the Janet Jackson track. Disc 6 closes out with 34 minutes from the 31st December (am) show and 15 minutes from the 30th December (am) show with the obvious attraction being the unique performance of Katie Melua's 'Nine Million Bicycles' which on it's own is one of the most beautiful vocal deliveries I've heard from Prince in a LONG time - a simply stunning version, and something he should play far more often. The accompanying packaging is nice, but short of the spectacular. It includes a gigantic 24 page booklet with more detailed tracklists and a number of decent pictures, but it's hardly exciting. Overall this is a great release in terms of sound quality. Sure there are a number of low points - the second half of Disc 3 especially - but on the whole, this is excellent and worthy of praise. Content-wise it can be a little repetitive and at 6CD's worth, it's a mammoth set, but I feel a very worthwhile document of the New Years Eve weekend in Las Vegas and a fitting end to 2006.
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Mr. Man · 10-05-2011, 07:37 AM

3121 Las Vegas Volume 7 - Don't U Wanna Hear The Word ?
Label : "Eye" Records
Catalogue : 58-59-60-61-62-63
Disc Length : 77:00 / 71:53 / 75:53 / 61:29 / 61:23 / 75:45
Source : Audience Recordings
Sound Quality : VG+
Year Of Release : 2007

Club 3121
3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

13th January 2007 (am)

Disc 1
1. 3121 2. Girls And Boys 3. Satisfied 4. Down By The Riverside (instrumental) 5. Purple Rain 6. Lolita 7. Black Sweat 8. Kiss 9. Shhh 10. Musicology 11. Prince And The Band 12. Play That Funky Music 13. Pass The Peas 14. Gotta Broken Heart Again 15. If I Was Your Girlfriend

Disc 2
1. Pink Cashmere 2. Future Baby Mama 3. Cream 4. U Got The Look 5. Get On The Boat 6. Love Rollercoaster (instrumental) 7. I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) 8. Love Changes 9. What A Wonderful World (instrumental) 10. Over The Rainbow (instrumental) (including Nine Million Bicycles) 11. Crazy

Club 3121 - 3121 @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 14th January 2007 (am)

12. 3121 (including Erotic City) 13. Girls And Boys 14. Spirituality 15. Johnny B. Goode 16. 7 17. The Word

Disc 3
Club 3121 Aftershow - 3121 Jazz Cuisine @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 13th January 2007 (am)

1. Mike Phillips Intro 2. Cantaloupe Island 3. A Night In Tunisia 4. Footprints 5. Band Introductions 6. Can I Kick It 7. Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids 8. Just Friends (including Gett Off) 9. Stratus

Disc 4
1. It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me (instrumental) 2. Be Happy 3. It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me 4. You Bring Me Joy 5. All Night Long 6. Girls And Boys (including Tom's Diner) 7. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) (instrumental) 8. Sing A Simple Song (including One Nation Under A Groove) 9. Sexy Dancer (including No Diggity) 10. Come And Dance With Me (including Hot Pants - Tom's Diner - It's Time For The Perculator) 11. Superstition 12. The Sun's Gonna Shine Again (instrumental) (including The Muppets Theme) 13. Down By The Riverside 14. What Is Hip (instrumental) 15. Renato Outro

Disc 5
Club 3121 Aftershow - 3121 Jazz Cuisine @ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas : 14th January 2007 (am)

1. Footprints 2. Chameleon - Footprints 3. The World Is A Ghetto (instrumental) (including Pink Panther Theme) 4. Stratus (including One Nation Under A Groove) 5. Te Amo Corazon (instrumental)

Disc 6
1. Pass The Peas 2. Hot Pants Road 3. Superstition 4. I Wish 5. Outa Space 6. It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me (including You Bring Me Joy - Be Happy) 7. Sing A Simple Song (instrumental) 8. 3121 (including More Bounce To The Ounce - Days Of Wild - California Love - We Need Some Money) 9. The Jam (including Funky Stuff) 10. Super Mario Bros. Theme 11. Love Changes 12. Crazy 13. Prince Keyboard Outro

Tracks Played Over PA - Club 3121 : November 2006 (Audience VG)

14. Beautiful, Loved And Blessed (Houstyle) 15. The Word (Houstyle)

COMMENT

Disc 1 and the majority of Disc contain the 13th January (am) Club 3121 Las Vegas show, and it's safe to say that this particular recording isn't "Eye"'s finest hour - in fact it may very well be the least impressive recording they have released on any of the previous '3121 Las Vegas' volumes up to this point. The sound is very, very muddy and it's almost impossible to hear Prince's comments when he is addressing the crowd. Hollow, heavy, muddy and lifeless this really only scrapes by as a VG+ purely because a rating of VG would just be too cruel. The lacklustre recording is matched slightly by the show which, whilst being enjoyable, really isn't too memorable outside of a few interesting occurrences. The first half is pretty straightforward fare for a Las Vegas 3121 show with the exception of perhaps 'Gotta Broken Heart Again', and the fact Prince appears to play bass throughout 'Lolita' - unusual, but hardly earth-shattering. Slightly more interesting is the first live performance of a portion of 'Future Baby Mama' towards the end of 'Pink Cashmere' which has him reciting a number of lines from the track. The only other point worth picking up on is the inclusion of 'Nine Million Bicycles' sandwiched into an instrumental version of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' - done before in the Las Vegas residency, but always a pleasure to listen to. Disc 2 ends with 25 minutes from the following night/morning Club 3121 show, but again the recording leaves a lot to be desired. As with the 13th January (am) recording it is muddy, heavy and unclear - admittedly marginally better than the 13th January recording, but only fractionally so and certainly no better than VG+ at best. The opening '3121' includes the first 4 lines of 'Erotic City' before the song begins proper, however the undoubted highlight is the exceptionally rare performance of 'The Word' which, whilst being an unimpressive version (very bland in comparison to the studio version), is worth it for the rarity value alone. Discs 3 & 4 contain the 13th January (am) Jazz Cuisine aftershow and whilst the recording is impressive enough to warrant a solid VG+ rating, it sounds like it was recorded in the larger dining room outside the room the band were performing in. I may be completely incorrect saying that, but when Mike Phillips is introducing the band, or giving his usual "Real music by real musicians" speech, there is certainly a distance between the person recording and the person on the mic - the Jazz Cuisine band room was very intimate and this does not sound like it was recorded in it. Add to this a certain female who's incessant and inane background chatter is audible throughout 'Can I Kick It' and 'Just Friends', various whoops, shouts and crowd noise and you have a very good, but not excellent recording. The recording quality is unimportant for nearly all of Disc 3 as the content is dire with the band stretching the life out of the instrumental jams one too many times - the opening 3 tracks last approx 50 minutes combined and as much as I enjoy 'Footprints', dragging it to 17 minutes long is tiresome. Prince doesn't appear to be present until around 65 minutes into the show as 'Just Friends' ends and he manages to bring some much needed life back into the show on 'Stratus'. The second half of the show on Disc 4 is much more focused, tighter and vastly more enjoyable with Prince grabbing the mic on a number of occasions and sharing lead vocal with both Shelby and Kip Blackshire. Without detailing the show too much, special mention must go to the latter part of the aftershow, namely 'Superstition' with Kip Blackshire on vocal, and an excellent instrumental 'What Is Hip' to close. By no means a classic Jazz Cuisine aftershow (due in part to the wank on Disc 3), but at almost 140 minutes it's one of the longest circulating aftershow recordings. Discs 5 & 6 contain the 14th January (am) Jazz Cuisine aftershow and it's a real step-up from the previous morning's aftershow, helped by the fact Prince is present from the start. The recording is slightly better than the 13th January aftershow, but has a few minor niggles which are worth commenting on. It's rather subdued and hollow until around 15 minutes into 'The World Is A Ghetto', when it changes to a more respectable, more enjoyable, but still VG+ recording with the band far more audible than the opening few songs. Unfortunately the female who was audible on the 13th January aftershow is also audible on here, but thankfully outside of her toilet break during 'Footprints' and occasional chatter, she's far less intrusive. A much more cohesive show than the previous one with Prince popping up on each and every track - the opening 'Footprints' aside - and showcasing his guitar throughout. This is more of a mini-show than a laid-back Jazz Cuisine show and it's all the more enjoyable for it. Again, Kip Blackshire and Shelby trade lead vocals on a number of tracks, but even their input is advantageous to the show for once. The release ends with 2 tracks played over the PA at 3121 Las Vegas, but the quality of the recording is pretty woeful with constant crowd noise and chatter. Zone out the audience, and you have two fairly typical, thumping club remixes - a 5:27 'Beautiful, Loved And Blessed' and a 4:15 'The Word'. Packaging-wise this is another nice attempt with a chocolate theme (brown/cream/orange) going on from the discs to the 14 page booklet. By no means an essential release, and certainly not one of Eye Records best from their extensive "3121 Las Vegas" volumes due to the quality of the recordings and the show content - but it's a nice document of the first weekend shows of 2007.
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