I mean I guess they won't put any harsh reviews of the new album on his website but this one I found odd. Like, in other words, they can't stand the bad reviews of this new album? And not everyone that hates the new album is comparing it to his old stuff either. What a bunch of crap. Read below or go to the website if you woud rather.

By Jeff Miers, via Associated Press

Prince is pop music’s tabula rasa. You can interpret him however you like. Want him to be the funky sex god and logical precursor to hip-hop? He is that. Want him to be the suave American idol pouting all over the teen-dream screen in “Purple Rain”? Been there, done that — and can still be that, if he feels like it.

Want him to represent how far R&B has fallen, and how little genuine musicianship and musicality has been involved in the production of that idiom for the past two decades? He has done that, unquestionably.

With all these choices, it is both frustrating and odd that so many opt to cast upon Prince’s blank slate the role of fallen giant, failed genius, and betrayer of his own talent. Yet even a casual glance at the veritable flood of press that greeted the Purple One’s new album, “Planet Earth” — out now in the States, following an earlier release in Europe — reveals a community of pop scribes almost unanimously befuddled by Prince’s inability to be what they want him to be — which is essentially the Prince they knew when they were younger, thinner and had more hair.

“Planet Earth” is a great album. In fact, like almost every album Prince has released since “1999,” it’s far better than it needs to be. The problem — which doesn’t apply to Prince fans who’ve been paying close attention over the past 10 years, or to Prince himself — is that he is much more concerned with matters of the spirit than he was back when he rode a purple motorcycle and groped a scantily clad Vanity all over the silver screen in the ’80s.

Oh, and he has also had the audacity to include some ecological and political commentary this time around, something that has earned him the scorn of the majority of the critics.

There are two tunes on “Planet Earth” that have been deemed offensive, and they book-end the album. First is the disc-opening title tune, a poignant minor-key soul ballad that, though its lyrics merely point out the obvious rather than bringing anything truly new to the ecological discourse, is both heartfelt and stunningly performed.

The second, the anti-war meditation “Resolution,” ends the record. This song has been interpreted as self-righteous and preachy, which it is. Prince, remember, is an awful lot like Bob Dylan, if not in the abstract-poetic lyrics department, at least in his ability to lean on scriptural references to support a righteous indignation.

That righteous indignation must be what’s upsetting folks who seem to want Prince to stick with “Let’s get it on”- styled “club jams.” I may be wrong, but it sure seems like part of the reason for this is self-serving; if Prince is suddenly dealing with more than sex-and-beats, then maybe so much of the cynical hip-hop and shallow-is-better stuff these critics have been giving high marks to for so long will be revealed as an emperor sans clothes.

Pop critics more often than not need a context to criticize something within. If they can’t deduce an overarching ethos, they’ll create one out of thin air. With Prince, this has largely meant employing him as a justification for hip-hop, which is only part of the real story.

Tellingly, “Planet Earth” is all over the place, musically, and espouses just as many rock music tropes as it does R&B ones. There’s jazz, funk, pop, rock ’n’ roll, some screaming blues-based guitar solos, nods to U2 and power-pop, and lyrics that have no problem celebrating pleasures of the flesh and matters of the spirit, often within the same tune. This is too confusing for folks who don’t like their musical chocolate mixed with peanut butter.

But the ability to follow wherever the muse leads — and make no mistake, this ability comes from studying, knowing, feeling and being able to play music — is what makes Prince brilliant, and always has. This is a guy who made great records before Pro Tools, cut-and-paste and pitch correction made “artists” out of folks who’d have a tough time explaining to you the difference between a major chord and a minor one.

Happily, Prince gives no inclination of caring what anyone thinks of him. “Planet Earth” proves his internal barometer is still dead-on.

Nope, not strange at all. I think it's a great article and had posted it here:

http://prince.org/msg/7/236602

Planet Earth” is all over the place.....TO QUOTE!

yes, it's seems strange. It reads like the writer doesn't really know anything about Prince or his music. For example, what movie was he referring to when he wrote this quote, "back when he rode a purple motorcycle and groped a scantily clad Vanity all over the silver screen in the ’80s."? Also, this quote, "That righteous indignation must be what’s upsetting folks who seem to want Prince to stick with "Let’s get it on" - styled "club jams".". When has Prince ever played that song? Did he mean "Let's go crazy"? And they wonder why Prince doesn't care about what the critics say!!