IstenSzek said:

What's giving me hope here is that although Musicology was a CD clearly aimed at the masses with its commercial sounding songs, it was the first time in a while he'd released such an album; the first time since Rave, I suppose. So as a fan, I accepted that it was an album designed to get him back in the public eye and perhaps make a few dollars - and there's nothing wrong with that.
3121 seemed to have the same idea, and the two worked as book-ends. 3121 seemed almost like it was introducing those who'd discovered his work via Musicology into his world of 'concepts'. But instead of trying to scare those new fans off, he gave them more of the same, but with hints of the more obscure elements of his previous work. The title track for example, along with The Word (very uniquely Prince) and even Love shows Prince doing his 80s synth thing (to great effect) which I'd guess a lot of new fans would have found very distinctive of Prince.
So with Planet Earth, I'm hoping that he's doing that thing he often does by taking his current vibe through a couple of releases, and then introducing a wonderfully perverse version of it.

But I'm probably going to be wrong and as IstenSzek says, it'll be part three of the Musicology, 3121, Planet Earth suite that in future years we'll all be trying to pick the best tracks out of to create the perfect album from.

theodore said:

Ever seen one of these?

Well, looking on the bright side (as I'm trying to do), this must be some pretty hot album if Prince and Columbia are willing to release something this high profile with a running time of what was, ten years ago, considered contractual obligation length in Prince terms.
I mean, I know the 80s albums were all pretty much about 40-45mins with a couple of exceptions, but that was mainly because the main-selling mediums of the time restricted the length of selling anything longer without going down the double album route.
But what with the potential length a CD can handle, mixed with Prince's usual enthusiasm for releasing lots of music, there must be a damn good reason why both parties are happy to create something this short and hopefully sweet.

Here's hoping for the Lovesexy of the 00s. Or failing that, just something worth listening to over and over again.