Don't get me wrong, i aint someone who thinks Prince 'owes' it all to Wendy and Lisa, or so. But i notice that the songs of Planet Earth on which the ladies are involved sure sound 'fresh'.

For the one who havent heard the album, those songs are: The title track, The One U wanna C, All the Midnights in the world, Lion of Judah and Resolution.

The title track and The One U wanna C (and maybe Lion of Judah) sound to me like songs Prince has written and recorded earlier with his Vegas-line up, with later added parts (background vocals, piano, guitar) by Wendy Lisa. I think their additions work very well, giving the arrangements of these songs more colour and also offering compensation for some lesser songwriting.

Examples? The melody of the title track isnt very strong, it drones a bit along. But he wonderfull bridge, which owes obviously a lot to Wendy and Lisa (IMO the best part of the song) compensates for that.
The One U wanna C gets more 'color' by the background vocals of Wendy and Lisa, the same goes for Lion of Judah, which would utterwise be bit of plotless "Million Days, part 2".

The 2 other songs sound like they are co-written by Wendy and Lisa: i have read some very mixed reviews in here about these songs, but personally they sound 'fresh' for a Prince album. Maybe because they are in terrority that Prince hasnt explored intensively in the past: melodic, guitar or pianodriven pop.

IMO Prince has shown in the past he can be on top when it comes to deep, hard funky jams (listen to 1999 or The Black album), he can rock out as the best whenever he wants (both Live as on albums like Purple Rain, Gold and C&D) and troughout his entire career he has delivered some great ballads in all styles of music.
But when it comes to pop-music in the sense of catchy melodies, intelligently instrumentated and thoughtfully composed he could have done better, I mean: i wish he would have done more of that type of music. When you were mine, Raspberry Beret, Pop Life, Starfish and Coffee, 7 and Dolphin are examples for me that he is capable of writing almost perfect popsongs.

Listening to Planet Earth i realise the input of Wendy and Lisa seems to make him more aware of his 'pop'-capabilities, it sounds like a fresh wind after him spending years and years playing funk and jazz-rock jams.
They also seem to make him aware that a good song needs a strong melody. I am not saying that All the Midnights and Resolution are masterpieces in that sense, but at least they are well rounded melodies, with recognisable verses and reffrains.

Judging on the 'colour' Wendy and Lisa bring to Princes arrangements on Planet Earth, as well as bringing out his pop-sensibilities, i would love to hear them create a new album together.
Being a lover of good, intelligent pop-music i would like to hear how Prince would develop himself in that direction.

Anyone feels the same?

YES YES YES.

its a no brainer. The last minute of Resolution really leaves you wanting more.
[Edited 7/11/07 12:02pm]

defo , he should name it Parade , and it should have really cool songs on it like Kiss , Girls & Boys etc etc , I'd buy it for sure

Of course, i know they did wrote a lot of songs on Parade together with Prince.
Maybe that is why that is such a great album

But serious now, over the last 15 years or so Princes music is detoriating when it comes to the aspect of songwriting and delivering good melodies.

We all know he can let the "Housequake" with his funk, we all know he can "Rock, therefore i am". But in a sense he merely touched the "Pop life": Around the world in a day, the pop-sensibilities of Parade, some Revolution-leftovers on Sign of the Times and an occasional try in the nineties. Thats about it.

There is territory for him to explore there. When i listen to the quite çatchy, but very formulaic 'Guitar' and yet another generic R&B song called called "Future Baby Mama" there isnt much growth or excitement to be expected in those fields.

The charm of All the Midnights and Resolution make me want to hear more from Prince in this vein.

moonshine said:

yeah and he should use their music on tracks like mountains, SISIA, and christopher tracy's parade.

Judging by what i heard on the newer cuts, I'd like to see that happen. I love the vocal harmonization, even though I am sure W&L were WTF to some of those lyrics.

I dunno, I still think it'd be an iffy affair, like all of most of what he's put out in the past decade.

Riverpoet31 said:

I think they just sang and maybe played the parts for him. I have a hard time thinking that they had much more input than that. Maybe a little say so on a vocal harmony or something. But I thionk he basically brought them in a session players more than anything. I thinkthe freshness you are hearing is simply their nice vocal harmonies mixed with the music.
[Edited 7/11/07 12:33pm]

Hell's yeah, I'd be down for a whole Prince album with his old team. But realistically P & the GirlBros. are in 2 different universes now, so the prospect of that seems unlikely.

I have not heard Planet Earth yet and I'm glad to hear that Wendy and Lisa are a part of the CD. But does anyone know if Sheila E. is on any of the cuts? I thought I read a press thing from Sony that said Sheila was on there as well.

Dont pinpoint me on this, but the drumming on "Somewhere on Earth" sounds like Sheila to me.

Okay, thanks Riverpoet31, I guess no one knows for sure yet since there isn't a booklet.