I think prince did alot of experimenting with this album n frankly, it doesnt cut it with me ....
of course prince is prince n he can make watever kinda music he wants but this album im am only gonna keep 2 complete my prince album collection

every song on the album fits a different genre n only a few mayb 3 songs i really like n 2 ok's

i guess i will wait for princes next album cuz i dnt think this one was as good as 3121 or musicology

The prodisn't great, but it sounds more smooth than 3121 & Musicology. Particularly the piercing aspects of 3121.

I'm actualy liking this. I'm not surprised, I like all his stuff. But I'm liking it more even than I imagined. Nothing has particularly stuck out as cringe inducing or needing of explanation. It's simply a smooth album that flows nice & easy.

3121 flowed better than Musicology, and this flows even better.

Am I the only one singing "Go baby....go baby."(Endorphin Machine) when listening to THE ONE YOU WANNA C?

I also want to start singing "Oooh baby baby..."(Smokey Robinson) in the beginning of SOMEWHERE HERE ON EARTH.


I'm sorry, I'll stop.


The cd has grown on me a little.

the cd is alright,but does anyone know if the cd was supposed to come with a little booklet.it was just a cd,seemed weird cuz 3121 did?????

internationallover747 said:

You didn't get the full color book & bonus DVD?!!

Honestly, not quite my genre, so it didn't quite catch me at first. Then I listened a couple of more times as I worked, relaxing into what I've come to realize about most of Prince's music, it's that whole box of chocolate kind of a thing to me. It's a different path as usual, I think I get it, and I'm comfortable with it. It's very soothing, and I like it for what it is, so I'll be listning to it often. I even bought a box of raisinette's just to complete the experience.

I just bought it on my lunch break, so I haven't heard the whole thing yet.

At first glance, it was slightly jarring to see a giant symbol on the cover! I haven't seen that in years. I listened to some song samples, and I can already tell that I will enjoy this album's rock heavier sound. The guest line up is a dream come true! My big disappointement is the packaging. Nice hologram, but I want a booklet.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Oh my God, I thought of Smokey Robinson too with Somewhere Here... too! I thought I was the only one.

I was not expecting much from this album. Like the last two albums I figured it would be simply "pleasant." And although, true, that unlike past efforts, there is nothing "sonicly arresting" to be found-- there are, still, plenty of things to like about this album and take notice of. That said, for casual listeners of Prince you can most likely skip this one over, unless you favor his dreamy balladry, of which you may want to check out this album's "Somewhere Here On Earth." But for those that are a little more than your average casual pop fan (and I'm guessing most of you are, seeing as that you took the time to read/join/investigate a Prince fan site) you should be digging his constant song, and, somewhat reveling in his usual care for the sneaky periphery.

Still, there are many fans that dig on Prince less than the "disciple" but more than the casual and go deeper still and have even heard, say, a track like (personal favorite-- and beyond the scope of radio-- meaning, you'd have to have listened to some of his less popular material, though albeit, still moderately successful) "Joy In Repetition" from the largely ignored "Graffiti Bridge" album. (I say all this because most people HAVEN'T HEARD that whole album but still more than have heard, say, "Xpectation" and less, than say, "SOTT.") For those fans, that care enough to hear the man out, who buy his album and give it a try, and have been, at least post-Love Symbol-- when his "sales" really started to diminish, I can see your beef with this album. Fans, such as you, are still wanting to hear something tweaked. You crave the "sonicly arresting" bit I mentioned earlier in this "review"-turned tome. Well, none of that here on "PE." You won't hear... maybe a slide guitar element (such as on the "NPS" album) or that glorious and unstoppable "Wall Of Princevoice" (heard ever so effectively and always undeniably flexibly fresh, from the opening minute of "For You" on through to "WDC" to "Electric Chair" to "7" and as recently as "Rave-- although recorded prior to eventual release) or even the serious throb of electric piano (saturating "Xpectation" and "TRC" with genuine emotional warble). You just won't hear the man do anything audibly fresh or cross-textural the way he seemed to either emphasize or be as interested in in the distant past, or as increasingly less-inclined in the more recent past (not to say that he has "production-wise" gone all soft or hasn't been sonicly exploring-- just not in his "song" work). And that's really what he's been presenting more recently, songs.

"Well, he has ALWAYS presented songs," you say. He has, but if you want to think of songs as paintings his past work was a gallery of modern art and his work lately is closer to the mannered and fundamental representational past (complete with all it's occasional metaphors and hidden subtexts). He has so-contributed to how one views the song that his innovations are quite common now, as though Bougereau and Monet are one in the same on some grandparent's wall, heck, it's getting to where you could hang "Nude Descending A Staircase" on that same wall. What that means in this review is that Prince is working /within/ a Prince-framework of modern song, a framework largely used by others, and not pushing beyond that sonic frame. This is his constant song, a song he has developed and expanded upon and is now refining. Could he push further? Who knows, he is incredibly talented and surprising. He most likely has a "Vanilla Sky" in there somewhere. >>>>Anyway, point is, he's not pushing that part of him right now. He is refining his song- both in content and in sonics. His hunger is not tied-up with bold strokes or obsessive detail, it's in enjoyment and in an unusual mix of standard introspection and standard extroversion. These elements have always been there in his music, too, but have been pushed out front in his music-making lately in an effort to initially re-establish attention ("Musicology, "3121") and here with this album to plainly address or express his mind's dominant concerns: the world needs help= the world needs God Prince is secure with his understanding of his relationship with God, yet, Prince needs a good woman. Beyond business concerns, pedestrian concerns, even artistic concerns, THESE are, imo, the constant themes in Prince's mind. "/Ooooooh, what's in Prince's mind!!!/" This is the album you make when you are Prince at this point in his life. When the things that are the most important to you are shouting so loudly that the things you love have to sit and wait for you to come to them for either help or distraction. The little man is growing, slowly as all heck, but it's relative. In the areas that are becoming dominate to him are things that take serious time, and what you're seeing/hearing (sure, beyond his obvious love of appreciative audience and comfortable living) are him actually dealing with them. He's always been alone, BUT, now he has God with him, BUT the cool Earth and the warm hand still matter, as do the people he DOES care for. Lyrically this album is Prince since all the way back, could be "1999" or what have you, musically it references intentionally and naturally everything from "Purple Rain" to "Emancipation" and so on but the difference is the boy has become a man, and that's heady stuff. He's 49 freaking years old, twice divorced, without his parents, recently committed to a religious study, a living legend yadda yadda yadda. He's not going to rewrite the book, he's too busy reading one and finally visiting another. What he IS going to do is assess himself and soldier on. And this is what it sounds like. And it sounds... "pleasant."

(track by track reviews to follow later, for anyone interested-- truly the severely bored) -mikedelic

swdee said:

I think it sounds exactly like Prince.
[Edited 7/24/07 19:42pm]

I finally got mine!!!!!

I'm lovin' it! Music, lyrics, performance and all!!!

Thanks big P!!!

What the fuck am I listening to?

does he ever re listen to sign and wonder "i gotta do that again, i gotta hit that hight again"


????


when does mediocrity begin?

at

complacency?

This is a nice little album, I like every song. I dig the packaging too. Very simple, nice design. I also like holding planet Earth in the palm of my hand.
I don't miss the booklet at all. I prefer accessing the lyrics online. The music is solid to me, I can't see how anyone could bash it, it's all enjoyable to me. Prince could probably release another album tomorrow, with ten more songs. I don't think anything on this album is an indication that he's lost it... i'm sure he has dozens of songs and people would be split on what's good and what's not good. If you read the reviews to his albums, you'll see some praising this song and other calling another song "horrific." If people are truly split on what's good and what's not, how could he ever please anybody? It's not possible.
This is a nice album, just about as good as 3121 but for entirely different reasons.

Last 5 albums ranked by me:

(A) The Rainbow Children (thick music, experimental, wild stuff)
(B+) 3121 (solid and commercial, modern, great sequencing)
(B+) Planet Earth (solid and not so commercial, quirky, short, but love the rock)
(B-) Musicology (grab bag, weaker second half "Man in Ur Life, On the Couch", too much slow r&b stuff for me)
(C+) Rave un2 (all over the place, no grip)
[Edited 7/25/07 7:03am]

MendesCity said:

I don't know, I think 3121 has pretty great songs too... 3121, Black Sweat, Fury, The Word, The Dance. Those are five great songs. You could even make a case for Te Amo Corazon, Satisfied, and Get on the Boat (live). That's 8 solid tracks. I don't see how anyone can say how either PE or 3121 are so much better or worse than one another.

lets face it

hard as it might be to believe

he is just not getting enough pussy

i know its a long time ago but

remember parade?

does this even remotely have a spark of that magic?



it is to me while a pleasant album, its no better than chaos, maybe

i miss the magic

Once again, what varied opinions! Listening to Michael Dean's Prince podcast, I realize that Prince has so many fans for so many different reasons, he can't please everybody anymore. That's not a bad thing at all.

Personally, I became a Prince fan for his rock and pop music more than his r&b stuff, so an album like Planet Earth is refreshing for me after so many years of this "r&b crap." Yes, maybe I've just offended you. But that's just my personal opinion.

If Prince's r&b fans are hating this album because it's "white" (aka rock and quirky pop), I can understand that.

Playing this album for other people though, it is obvious (to me) why Prince albums aren't well received -- he mixes too many styles of music in just 10 songs. My white friends and I were driving around and loving Planet Earth, Guitar, The One You Wanna See, Lion of Judah, and Resolution. But as soon as the r&b stuff comes on, everyone got the "funky face." My friends like Prince for his rock and pop music and look down on most r&b and hip hop. Mr. Goodnight got chuckles and bewilderment from everyone... "why is he doing this kind of music? it's so far beneath him." And I can see their point of view.

I also don't want to get into racial topics here, but you might see where I am going with this. It's perfectly acceptable for other fans of Prince's music to enjoy songs like Future Baby Mama or find redeeming qualities of Mr. Goodnight... or Beautiful Loved and Blessed, Incense and Candles, On the Couch, and other R&B songs he can do.

The point is that if someone likes rock and pop they might even a handful of songs on an album, and if someone prefers r&b they might like a few others.

As a white accountant with white accountant friends, I can say we enjoy Prince's rock and pop music (LOL). Personally, I wish that after track 4, Prince would have added two more pop/rock songs instead of Future Baby Mama and Mr. Goodnight. I'd like to hear an entire album from Prince without any "modernish" r&b. Somewhere Here on Earth, to me, is a beautiful song, more of the Miles Davis variety than the (to me) lazy r&b variety such as Future Baby Mama and Mr. Goodnight.I hate r&b music. I hate it! I hate it! It sucks. But hip hop sucks more.

peace
[Edited 7/25/07 7:05am]

shausler said:

Parade is so overrated it isn't even funny. I Wonder U? Christopher Tracy's Parade? Do U Lie? Under the Cherry Moon? 4 wack songs right there! New Position? That's 5 wack songs! How many tracks were on that album, 11 or 12? There's Others Here with Us and Love or Money are both better than those 5 wack tracks! He should have just lost those 5 wack tracks and put the long version of Kiss and Mountains on the album!

i think age has a lot to do with the perception

im 40, so i have changed as has he

if your younger, parade say may mean something different to you then had you heard it when it was released that many tuesdays ago


or maybe not

There were two great slow jams, one great disco/funk song, a decent rock song, and one "so-so" song. It was a decent album, however, there was not enough funk on the album. All, and I repeat ALL Prince albums should be majority funk, one rock track or two, and a slow jam or two. Fuck all the other "diverse" shit.

vainandy said:

oy vey?

vainandy said:

No way, a Prince album should be 80-90% rock music. Just look at Purple Rain, his most rocking album and his #1 selling and reviewed album. R&B and funk isn't going to get Prince anywhere. Just look at the Super Bowl performance, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show, and "Fury" on SNL. All rock stuff with Prince playing guitar. Why he put FBM and Mr. Goodnight on the album instead of two more rock tracks, I have no idea. Prince lacks huge sales numbers and critically acclaimed albums because he releases too much r&b music instead of rock. What a snooze fest! At least FBM is not as bad as Call My Name or U Make My Sunshine or On the Couch or The Greatest Romance Ever Sold. If I Was the Man In Ur Life? Yuck! That's my opinion. Leave that R&B stuff for the lowest common denominator and play that Guitar.
[Edited 7/25/07 7:39am]

its all good people

its all good

[quote]

lspear76 said:

I was a Prince fan long before "Purple Rain" or even "Little Red Corvette" for that matter. Prince was getting plenty of R&B airplay and sales with funk like "Let's Work", "Head", "Lady Cab Driver", "Sexy Dancer", etc. He got along just fine without a pop following. Actually, I didn't want him to have a pop following in those days because I knew it would change him.




He might have better sales if he went more after the rock crowd these days. I'd rather see him not go after any of today's crowd, rock or R&B, because today's crowd is dull on both sides of the fence. Prince has enough hardcore fans to keep him comfortable without worrying about going after today's dull crowd.



You're listing R&B, I said "Funk". No, I wouldn't want an album full of songs like those you listed either. I want hardcore uptempo funk, the kind that would NEVER be played on today's R&B radio. I'm with you though, I'd rather have a whole entire rock album rather than even ONE song that would fit in on today's R&B radio.

vainandy said:[quote]


Change him for the better, of course. Lady Cab Driver... it's ok. Lets Work? Bleh. Sexy Dancer? Double bleh. Prince had ok sales with that early r&b stuff, but he didn't take off truly until Purple Rain. 1999 was just a platinum album, but Purple Rain was 13x platinum. Prince is a rock star, he should not be doing any r&b stuff, it's beneath him. Funk stuff? Sure, if its funky like BJB, 319, The Sacrifice of Victor, Sexy MF, Willing and Able. I'll even go for funky jazzy stuff... I can never get enough of It's About that Walk, 5 Women... To me Prince is a rock and pop star. When he plays his guitar, more people listen.
[Edited 7/25/07 7:59am]
[Edited 7/25/07 8:01am]

i really liked the carmen album

and the TC Ellis album

this does not compare

I googled "hate Prince" hoping there was another forum somewhere for some of you to check out because I'm so run down by all of the exhausting disgust that some of you have for this cd.

Wanna know what's funny? When I tried that search, a forum came up...turned out to be a music student who "hates Prince" because he can play so many instruments so well.

So I guess there has to be room for all of us here. Please, just take Planet Earth off right now if you hate it and put it on your shelf because you are a completist and you had to own it whether you like it or not. Next, grab either 1999 or The Rainbow Children. Crank that loud! And post about how awesome those discs are in the given threads.

Jeeesh!

Keith/Kacey