Planet Earth (2007)


  
1. Planet Earth 2. Guitar 3. Somewhere Here on Earth 4. The One U Wanna C 5. Future Baby Mama 6. Mr. Goodnight 7. All the Midnights in the World 8. Chelsea Rogers 9. Lion of Judah 10.Resolution

 

Although he would never be as popular nor sell as much product as he did back in the 1980s, it was generally the consensus that Prince was back on the right track starting with 2004’s Musicology. This album continues, fortunately, in the same direction in terms of accessibility.

Nothing on here is breathtakingly amazing, but he’s remarkably consistent while being diverse overall. The title track, the leadoff song, has a bit of a spacey, new-age like feel with Prince singing about our planet that we inhabit and all we must do to preserve its ecology etc. Not typical for this artist, but it’s a very pleasant tune that’s immediately catchy. He then goes into a completely different direction with the second track Guitar. If you’ve never heard this one before, you can probably guess the direction where the track goes since the man himself is such an incredible guitar player. Yes, it rocks. It’s not the best thing he’s ever done guitar-wise, but he shows off his chops quite well.

The middle of this CD is the best for me. He goes into light-soul-groove on the songs Future Baby Mama, Mr. Goodnight, and the way too short All The Midnights In the World (only 2:22 minutes. Why?). These three are the least jarring, most predictable, yet at the same time strongest cuts on the record. He hasn’t lost his ability to write killer slowed-down groovy ditties.

He also picks up the pace nicely on the songs The One U Wanna C and Chelsea Rogers. For latter day Prince, these two tracks belong in the favorable department in terms of upbeat and/or danceable. Just don’t expect anything remotely close to 1999.

The last two tracks, Lion of Judah and Resolution are, sadly, basically forgettable. It almost seems as though he gave up and threw a couple of inconsequential pieces on the album to round it out with an even 10 songs. Overall, the album is a strong listen, however.

Even though musically he was becoming more “normal” (or as normal as a guy like Prince could be), he was still intent on taking stabs at the norms of the music industry wherever he could. Supposedly, he somehow gave this album away free in parts of Europe. A treat for fans, but a nightmare for accountants at the label.

Worth checking out.

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