Prince is set to return to the big screen with a new concert film that was recorded in 2007. Filmed in Las Vegas, this captures him during a residency that was staged in support of his 3121 album, which was released in 2006. It will be shown in US and Canadian theatres for a limited time from 3 December.
Alongside this, 3121 itself is being reissued as an Expanded Edition that includes acoustic versions of some of the original tracks (The Word, Love and Te Amo Corazón) alongside previously unreleased songs from the period.
The first of these, Time of Ur Life, is available now. Believed to have been written for The Time, the Morris Day-fronted band that Prince established back in 1981, this is a taut funk number that pushes Prince’s bass playing to the fore as he slaps his way through it. There are references to two of The Time’s biggest hits – The Bird and Jungle Love – and an interpolation of Sexy Dancer, a song from Prince’s eponymous 1979 album, towards the end.
In fact, Prince’s bass playing seems to be getting a welcome moment in the spotlight. A teaser video for the 3121 concert – which will also be included as a Blu-Ray with the physical versions of the album reissue – has him adding some serious slap to 2006 single Black Sweat.
Though we doubt that it would make many people’s ‘Greatest Prince albums’ list, 3121 is widely considered to be the best of his ‘00s major label ‘comeback’ records. Beginning with 2004’s Musicology, these came after a period during which most of his new music was being self-released.
The 3121 Expanded Edition will be released on 11 December, but prior to that there will be a special Record Store Day Black Friday release for 3121 Las Vegas Live, an audio recording of the Vegas residency that will be available on triple crystal blue vinyl and double CD on 27 November.
