I dont even have the CD myself, but i have listened to downloads several times.

At this moment i am not sure if in general its a better album then Musicology and 3121, but i am excited about certain elements that are definitely a step forward from the last two albums:
- He is going for more thought out, colourfull production on this album
- He does some exquisite guitar-work on some of the tracks
- Songs like All the Midnights in the world and Resolution sound rather fresh, and they also show he hasnt lost his ability to write good pop-melodies.

In essence i see it as a kind of transitional album. With Musicology he showed he could score with the mainstream again, by delivering a disciplined collection of songs.
3121, very decent, alltough not the big step forward i hoped, showed what he shouldnt do: compete with his followers
On Planet Earth there are signs of new found creativity, a certain freshness in especially the songs in the pop-vein. But at the same time he sounds like he is still walking on two legs: trying to please the public - and - trying to make the music he wants to make.

When he chooses for the latter, the next album might be the real CREATIVE breaktough i am hoping for.

yea i think its kinda weird. the hatefest with some people here. its like REALLY? its THAT BAD? i enjoy it a lot more than i did 3121 or Musicology but even those werent hated on like this one.

PurpleKnight said:

personally, I don't think he sees this as a tough spot. he sold out 21...twenty fucking one!! shows in london. not 5. not 10. twenty one.
he has complete artistic freedom with his career, and respect from fellow musicians. he can make $$ whenever he wants by touring. I feel he's in a great spot in his career. He has nothing to prove, to anyone.

The 'funny' thing is: People who heard 3121 early were raving about it, and that CD hasnt been into my CD-player in months.

There is a lot of critism about Planet Earth right now, but maybe in about halve year people realise this is really a step forward.

I know, a lot of the critism has to do with Prince being so diverse in his styles of music, and the kind of songs he delivers. He cant keep everybody happy.

I mean, The 'funklovers' dismiss it for being too poppy, while Prince isnt exactly delivering splendid funkmusic anymore for at least 10 years (look at the crap on The Slaughterhouse, The Chocolate version and New Power Soul), so why are they wishing for yet another funk-album?

The R&B- and Hip-hopfans dont seem to get into popsongs like All the midnights in the world and Resolution.

And the Rock-fans are complaining he isnt rocking hard enough, while the last time he truelly rocked out (Chaos and Disorder), he did receive some of his worst album reviews ever.

I sometimes feel people lose their perspective here: Prince has broughts us 30 years of music, a very diverse and broad catalogue, not only on albums, but also on studio- and livebootlegs.

While the Prince 'fams' here are still waiting for the next 1999 or Sign of the Times, fans of Rod Stewart have to deal with lousy cover-albums and fans of The Rolling Stones get a so-so album every 2 or 3 year, with songs on it that never top the classics they want to hear during live-concerts of the Stones.

I am not saying Planet Earth is a masterpiece or so, but at least Prince keeps surprising me with his (music- and businessmoves) and on his albums since, well, 1995, there are always 3 or 4 great tracks to be found.

Calling Planet Earth crap makes no sense IMO, because it just isnt on a musical level. Its maybe not what the overcritically 'fams' expected, but i hear at least 3 splendid songs on this album and a creativity and looseness on some songs that sounds refreshing.

Riverpoet31 said:

Yup.

Just like Emancipation. There was somethign for everyone on it, even though it was all a bit glossy. But folks lambaste that thing.

I've grown to love Emancipation, even though I could never sit through it track-for-track

AMEN!

BlackAdder7 said:

go2theMax said:

well, most pop stars don't know anything about music these days. why should i expect the journalists who write about pop music to know any more?

sassybritches said:

well the first 2 chords are voiced identically

Riverpoet31 said:

We have not been asked by Prince's management to control anything...

It is common practice here to regulate a topic if it's big news, such as concerts or cd releases, etc. Contrary to what you stated about 3121 and Musicology, we've done "controlled threads" (as you referred to them) for both of those releases. The track listing threads – those are new.

I created the song specific threads based on a complaint from an orger in the site discussion forum; as to having to wade through several different topics to talk about a certain song… it made sense, so now we have song specific threads.

The whole reason behind the sticky is to not have a whole forum filled with like topics that create more moderating duties. Three threads on Judas? Four threads on “my review of …” etc.

Hope that helps.

My review from the old thread (with some corrected ratings):

I just enhanced my "the new age of CD distribution has begun" Prince experience today by getting the album from the supermarket (!). Here's my review:

Planet Earth - O! My! God! This must be one of the best tracks Prince has ever done! The songwriting, the arrangement, the way things build up - fantastic! And I don't mind the Barry Manilow moment (the bridge is really great in the context of the song). Prince sounds on fire! Classic! 10/10

Guitar - Like it, great pop/rock, just a bit too short. 9/10

Somewhere Here on Earth - One of the best Prince ballads in ages, has a jazzy feel to it, great piano work. Everyone claiming that this is not on par with the stuff from the 80s should get their ears washed. 10/10

The 1 U Wanna C - Extremely catchy pop/rock tune! 9/10

Future Baby Mama - Has a laid back neo-soul mid-to-late 90s R'n'B feel. Very nice songwriting. 9/10

Mr. Goodnight - I can't see why so many people hate this song. Works very nice back to back with FBM. Reminds me of 90s R'n'B a lot. Everyone who says that's crap should listen to the new Kanye West "song" (the one where he ruins Daft Punk). Should help to get the standards right. Though I have to agree that it's not the best track on the album. 7/10

All the Midnights in the World - What a wonderful, sugary melody! Why isn't that longer? 9/10

Chelsea Rodgers - Wow! Wow!!! That's extreme disco funk of the finest! Soulful vocals, horns like acid - I love it. Is it possible to get a 20 min extended version of that (one may dream)? Hope that's going to be played on August 25th in London - and I'll move my fat pale white ass to it!!! 10/10

The Lion of Judah - I would rate that as a grower. Nice pop/rock sound again. 8/10

Resolution - The lyrics are a bit silly (more on the Band Aid kind of level), but the music is very nice. Don't know though if I would rate it as the perfect album closer. 9/10

Overall impression - A quite cohesive album, about half of the tracks has a guitar-based pop/rock sound somehow reminding me of the Gold era, plus some nice soul/R'n'B stuff plus a disco funk burner! And a bit of Revolution nostalgia. Very strong! Only drawback: some tracks could/should be longer. Was some stuff edited to make it more of a pop effort rather than a fan base oriented record? Anyway: very enjoyable! 9/10
[Edited 7/15/07 11:41am]

DB71 said:

Your system is pulling this data from a CDDB server where a fan has uploaded the wrong data.

June7 said:

ok, I agree with this.

A few months ago, I "Prince, Anal Sex, and the Watchtower" thread got lost in a shuffle of Prince-Superbowl threads.

BlackAdder7 said:

I meant a tough spot as it relates to his fans' perception of him. And I think Prince has shown many times in the past that he is quite sensitive to what his fans think about him.

Imago said:

And who wants such a precious pearl of human inspiration to get lost...

It's an ok Album, you should all go listen to Sign 'O' The Times instead.

krazysi said:

Sorry, I don't have a time machine to visit and I really don't want to live in the 80's again... but you feel free and then report forward how that goes.

Can someone please post info on the packageing and the quality of the CD (as opposed to what's been leaked).

superspaceboy said:

Packaging: extremely basic (and cheap), paper card sleeve, no hologram, no booklet, no info (tracklist etc.) at all. I'll wait for the concert giveaway version, and if that's the same, I'm gonna buy the retail version (just for a better packaging).

Quality: very good IMO although I'm not an audiophile. Can't find anything wrong with it.

the only tracks i like are chelsea rodgers and lion of judah. i could avoid skipping planet earth if i felt generous but i think the only two tracks making it to my iPod are the first two mentioned above.

this is the first prince record i won't be buying. i will buy the two songs above from itunes, though, to at least pay for the songs i do like.

superspaceboy said:

Just to put into context what EmancipationLover said: This basic, card sleeve is what ALL CDs given away free with the Mail come in (they give one away every Sunday - just this is the first NEW release, they recently gave away 'Tubular Bells', which caused a similar media stir, but previously they usually give away cheap 'Best Of' CDs - like a 10 track 're-recorded' or 'live' versions, that kinda thing).

NouveauDance said:

hey ND, where ya been...???

BBC atricle on the topic:

Prince album 'should enter chart'

A newspaper is calling for a change to chart rules to allow Prince's new CD, which is being given away in the Mail on Sunday, to enter the album charts.
Planet Earth, a covermount in Sunday's Mail, is being "penalised" for being the first album to be launched in a paper, says the publication's manager.

Stephen Miron has written to the Official Charts Company, saying he is prepared to consider legal action.

As a free giveaway, chart rules say the CD is ineligible for chart inclusion.

'Genuine purchases'

Prince's new album, which will be distributed in approximately 2.9m copies of the Mail on Sunday this weekend, "falls out of those parameters", according to Mr Miron.

"It's a first, it's a one-off, so we feel we can challenge them," he said, with regard to the current chart rules.

He also suggested there would be "a lot of peer pressure" from fans to make the Official Charts Company reconsider their position.

The chart company has also claimed it would be hard to prove that a newspaper giveaway consisted of "genuine musical purchases", and sales could not be accurately audited.

But Mr Miron says the newspaper will be able to indicate how many CDs have been taken up by measuring the difference between regular sales and those with a covermount.

If deemed eligible for chart inclusion, the album is expected to enter the chart on 22 July.

The deal between Prince and the Mail on Sunday led the UK arm of his record label, Sony BMG, to suspend its planned release of the album.

The US pop star, whose latest album marks his 24th studio release, is due to play 21 concert dates in London later this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/h...897869.stm

June7 said:

OK thanks for that.
Can you also make the forum search engine to work

EmancipationLover said:

The Musicology concert giveaway was the same, so you'll probably get the same at the upcoming UK concerts.

tznekbsbfrvr said:

I don't know enough about UK chart rules - is it like in the US that actually the units SHIPPED count and not the units sold to customers? If that is the case, then I don't see the difference in a record store ordering x units of a CD to sell it for price Y or in a newspaper (or anyone else) ordering x units of a CD to sell it for price Y, just that in the latter case Y =0.

On the other hand, I can understand that the chart company does not want to have a new number one every week (which can only be number one for a week anyway) just because of the latest newspaper giveaway.

I have just played the entire album, piked it up one hour ago and initial impression is very very positive, for fans outside uk and ireland who will not get album, rest assured its on par with 3121 and better than musicology imo.

I listened to a quality, stereo version this morning:

Planet Earth - 10/10

Guitar - 7/10

Somewhere Here on Earth - 10/10

The 1 U Wanna C - 6/10

Future Baby Mama - 9/10

Mr. Goodnight - 10/10

All the Midnights in the World - 5/10

Chelsea Rodgers - 10/10

The Lion of Judah - 6/10

Resolution - 5/10

It's a solid album overall with Planet Earth, Somewhere Here On Earth, Mr. Goodnight, and Chelsea Rodgers being the cream of the crop. I can definitely listen to it all the way through without skipping tracks.

.....

i burned this and it comes out to exactly 45 minutes. i wonder if that was intentional.

jacobpb said:

cool post! i agree with your thought that the album might have been changed
somewhat at a later stage since it does come across as slightly uneven in a
few places. i kind of get the feeling, just like with RAVE, that it started
out being a much more rock and weirdness orientated affair but in the end,
for whatever reason he added the 'expected' r'n'b and rap tunes.

i don't mind since i like all the songs just fine, there's nothing on the
disc i dislike or 'hate'.

but i can't help the feeling that a few extremely cool tracks were taken
off the album for whatever reason and replaced with 'safer' material.

like you said as well, the last two albums and this one to a bit lesser
extent have been prince doing established genres.

whereas the place where prince always really shines is when he bends a
rule or two on an established genre. that's when things get interesting
and uniquely prince.

we know that this happened with Rave, which also started out as a more
rock oriented album with more weird stuff on there and when he shopped
it around he went back into the studio and created more rnb and radio-
friendly songs to put on there -which in term pushed off the more real
princely stuff imo.

i'm starting to think more and more that something along those lines
happened with this album as well. although i can't really see anyone
telling prince to go back and write different tunes for his album in
this day and age since he basically calls the shots now.

at the end of the day it's still the album the way he wants it to be
i guess. but the albums do feel sort of like he's trying to cater to
too many crowds at once. it gives you diverse albums, true but they
don't really feel totally cohesive anymore.

planet earth, to me, feels like two seperate albums. i like them a
lot, both of them. but in order to fit onto one disc, half of each
probably ended up on the cutting board.