Newhouse News Service
July 19, 2007 Thursday 3:20 PM EDT
Where in the world is Planet Earth?

BYLINE: By KEVIN O'HARE

SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT

LENGTH: 1118 words

Prince, "Planet Earth" (Columbia) 4 STARS
Well, sorry folks, but unless your carrier or favorite store has been playing tricks, there's not a copy of the new Prince CD inside your newspaper today.

Alas, just this glowing review.

But if you were in England, you could have picked up a complimentary copy of the album inside one of England's biggest newspapers, The Mail. The marketing ploy angered British music retailers, with one official saying, "The artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behavior like this he will soon be the artist formerly available in record stores."

Still, with the music industry in a chaotic state on both sides of the Atlantic, Prince remains determined to get his music out to the masses. And with good reason. He's writing and recording some of the best music he has in ages.
With 2004's "Musicology," 2006's "3121," and now "Planet Earth," His Royal Badness has been on a roll. And while he did go off the deep end musically throughout much of the 1990s, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is most definitely back with music that will undoubtedly appeal to those who loved his early classics.

Al Gore will likely embrace the title track, which takes a hard look at what's going on with the environment, but so too will those who love Prince's gift for building a song brilliantly, and for those who are attracted to his soulful grooves and his blazing guitar solos.

Despite his prodigious musical output through the years, there were times when Prince didn't seem to be having nearly as much fun as he did in the 1980s. But he's back to being playful and sure sounds like he's having a blast in "Guitar," a song that was made for radio and features a lyrical refrain of "I love you baby, but not like I love my guitar."

The music throughout is upbeat, joyous, provocative and just like much of his finest work, a crafty blend between soul, funk, pop and rock. He leans toward the pop side on the downright irresistible "The One U Wanna C," but also creates a classic "quiet storm," on the trumpet backed sweet soul song "Somewhere Here on Earth."

His sense of humor surfaces frequently, not only in "Guitar," but especially during "Mr. Goodnight," a bit of seductive machismo in which the man raps softly against a soul groove, uttering lines like "All over the world they call me Prince, but you can call me Mr. Goodnight." Combine those moments with gems such as the sax and trumpet blasting funk of "Chelsea Rodgers," and it all ads up to pure heat, a meticulously crafted, extremely consistent shot of hot fun in the summertime.

Let the music industry worry about how he's distributing it. Make it your mission to track it down, no matter where you find it. This is one of the year's best albums.
[Edited 7/20/07 19:11pm]

LOVE this review!!! awesome!!