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Once again, it’s time for another entry from yours truly in the #PrinceTwitterThread series. Previously I covered “Computer Blue” and “Pheromone”. Today, we’re looking at “Love” from the 3121 album. It’s going down y’all…. Like the Wall of Berlin!
Shoutout to @deejayumb, @EdgarKruize and all previous thread participants!
Before anything else, go listen to the song!
I have a special relationship with the 3121 album. Here’s a photo of me at Tower Records in LA shortly after the album came out.
And as some folks know, I’m currently moving apartments! Why’s that relevant? Well, I got a 3121 shelf! Here it is. I’m waiting on a Black Sweat picture disc, that for some reason I never picked up at the time.
Most of what’s on this shelf I copped in real time, including one of the perfume bottles and the incense.
So why do I feel so close to the 3121 era?
You should read this article to find out the full story. https://thevioletreality.com/prince-how-i-wrote-the-worlds-first-review-of-his-album-3121-a146ae43481a
The short version: I got invited to Universal Records listening party for the album in London on the 17th Feb 2006. Over a month before the album came out! Shoutout to @bobbyfriction who snagged the two invites, and was thoughtful enough to invite me to go with him!
I ended up writing the world’s first review of the album, anywhere! I guess the “real” journalists were slow. After leaving that event I hit the laptop and wrote down everything I remembered about all the songs on http://prince.org .
The month that followed was extremely long. I often think that anticipation is missing from the music industry these days. Can you imagine hearing an incredible new Prince album JUST ONCE? And then having no way to hear those songs again for a month?
Trust me when I say, I was chomping at the bit for the album to finally land. I needed to hear this music again.
I have a LOT of memories from that listening party. But one that will always stick out for me is the extremely, guttural, body-filling joy at hearing the song “Love” for the first time. In my initial review, I noted it was my favorite song on the album. It still is.
I love the vast majority of what Prince recorded in his life. But I’m a Minneapolis Sound head at my core.
Shuffling, robotic, drum machine beats, spacey synths, & Prince’s superhuman ability to move in, out & on top of the music with his vocals. Like a tryst between man and machine. That's what gets me.
That’s why I picked “Computer Blue”, “Pheromone”, and now “Love”. for these series we've been doing. There’s common ground here. “Love” isn’t necessarily a Minneapolis Sound song, but it wouldn’t exist without it.
Much like “Black Sweat”, I’d pretty much categorise it as among Prince’s responses to the sounds that were inspired by him, coming from the likes of The Neptunes and Timbaland around that time.
I remember upon hearing it, for the first time, thinking that it’d be a perfect song for a roller disco. Do those things still exist? Maybe it’s because of when Prince says “Let’s skate”.
It doesn’t sound like Zapp, but it reminds me of them. Another of my favorite acts of all time.
Unfortunately, not much is known about the recording of the song. We basically know that it was recorded in 2005, and that’s about it. Either at Paisley Park or the 3121 LA house.
What’s interesting about this is that the tonal sound of it isn’t similar to anything we’d heard from the hit record “Musicology” just two years prior, which, like much of Prince’s early 2000’s work, was focused around organic soul, funk and jazz.
Aside from a handful of independently released tracks on The Chocolate Invasion and Slaughterhouse albums and the NPGMC we hadn’t heard Prince making something truly contemporary and electronic since 1999’s ill-fated “Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic” album.
I love Rave despite it's flaws, but that's for another day.
Post changing his name back to Prince, we’d mostly had the more organic stylings of “The Rainbow Children”, “N E.W.S”, “One Night Alone” and “Musicology” eras. Which are all fantastic in their own way, but had led to some fears that the “Old Prince” was dead.
The one who wasn’t afraid to freak and twist drum machines, stack up synths, and get real dirty. Y’all remember that Prince… the one who made “Controversy” and “1999”?
The one that had DJ’s in Detroit and LA among others inspired to rock into a whole new electro funk (and later) hip-hop sound?
With 3121 Prince brought this sound back in a new contemporary way. The gambit worked. The album hit the top spot on the Billboard, in fact his first album ever to debut in the top spot.
At that listening party, as we went through the album top to bottom, hints that the very specific version of Prince that appeals the most to me would be back started to become clear.
The effected vocals on the title track, the throwback to The Time on “Lolita”, and the very of it’s time “Incense & Candles”, which maybe (for me) went just a bit too far on the use of autotune and of course, “Black Sweat” which had already been publicly heard by that point.
These felt like steps in the right direction, but hadn’t quite cracked the exact sound of what I wanted from Prince. And then “Love” hit!
That vinyl crackling combined with that kick drum and swirly synth enticed me on the intro. And then that distorted electronic drum fill on the drop hits with that “Aowww, ooh, uh-huh” with the dirty thick synth bass! I knew this was the song for me.
I maintain that Prince made a very wise choice in this song by doubling his vocal with the always-incredible Tamar. It’s a perfect synthesis. Important to note, those aren’t backing vocals. Those are two combined leads flowing perfectly with each other.
Prince and Tamar were a truly magical combo, and I hope more people listen to the “Milk & Honey” album they did together.
Speaking of "Milk & Honey", there's some similar drum programming to "Love" and at least one identical fill heard in the song "Holla & Shout" on that record. Check it out!
Tamar also told me privately that "Love" remains her favorite song on the whole 3121 album.
That breakdown! “Bounce, ahhh shake that thing come on, GOOD GOD!” - I also noted in my original review that I felt a Bootsy influence. I think this is where that comes into play for me.
I always felt this song would be primed for a full on 12” extended mix. Unfortunately, I don’t think such a thing exists.
Prince actually went in the other direction, and some 18 months later, on his 3121 website, we were treated to the minimal acoustic version as a “Jam Of The Week”.
Talk about a completely different vibe! The acoustic version breathes a different kind of life into the song. It most closely resembles the acoustic guitar live portions often seen on the Musicology Tour, but with some layered synth pad overdubs.
Put it this way - the acoustic version is for the day and the album version is for the night when you’re ready to get your dance on.
There’s also some melodic differences in the acoustic version in places that are filled with drum machines in the album version.
One point rarely mentioned is that the acoustic version bears a melodic and somewhat lyrical similarity to the 1968 song “Spooky” by the group Classics IV. Do you hear it? Eye Wonder…..
If that indeed was the inspiration, only Prince could turn this melodic structure into the space-funk of the album version. Pure genius!
It’s pretty trite to comment on who any given Prince song is about. But, what we can say is that Prince is addressing issues that are pretty common in relationships.
All I can say is that I definitely related to that part of the song at that time of my life. Ultimatums aren’t a sign of a healthy relationship, and the one that I was in at that time of my life was extremely unhealthy. Well, you live and learn.
The key point of the song is that love is more powerful than petty squabbles, but that self-love is just as important. Know your boundaries, know your red flags, and know when to draw the line.
Sadly, aside from a few welcome brief inclusions in his later-years sampler sets, the song never got to have a live workout. With that being said, the breakdown found it’s way into the cover of “Love Rollercoaster” by Ohio Players on the Tamar featuring Prince tour in 2006.
One other fun thing to note - In late 2006, Prince recorded a new medley of songs for a Versace Fashion Show, much like he’d done in the 90s with “The Versace Experience” (which saw a wide release on multiple formats last year!) Of course, Prince was in attendance with the Twinz.
This medley is unofficially named amongst fans as “The Versace Experience Part 2” or sometimes “The Versace Experience 2006”.
A new mix/edit of “Love” found its way in, sandwiched between “Lolita” and “Black Sweat”
A new mix/edit of “Love” found its way in, sandwiched between “Lolita” and “Black Sweat”
Fun fact, there's only one song that appears on both "The Versace Experience" and "The Versace Experience 2006". Do U know what it is? Here's a hint....
The songs selected and the order showcased Prince's new contemporary, electronic pop funk sound. That's what we were hearing on "Black Sweat", "Lolita", and others. But for me, "Love" is the best out of all of them!
I could talk for hours about the 3121 album and era but let's leave it there.
If U dig the 3121 era, I'd highly recommend you watch our "Uncovering Prince" interview with the wonderful Tamar - @theashleytamar - you can watch it here:
Also worth watching, our interview with @AfshinShahidi which we did when co-producing his London gallery show last year!
PT 1:
PT 1:
and PT 2:
Once again, thanks to @deejayumb, @EdgarKruize and all the contributors to these amazing #PrinceTwitterThread series. There's been a lot of amazing threads, and more to come!
Thank you all for reading, and if you enjoyed this, please consider subscribing to The Violet Reality on YouTube! We have tons of purple content for you to enjoy, including our current series digging deep into the rare facts about each one of Prince's albums.
Peace, and be wild! 
