A Million Days
What Do U Want Me 2 Do?
Reflection

Love
The Word
The Dance

The One U Wanna C
Future Baby Mama
Lion Of Judah

I know many don't but I actually consider these 3 albums very strong indeed in terms of the individual songs they contain. I suspect Musicology and 3121 went through a similar process in terms of song selection as it appears Planet Earth seems to have been subject to i.e. whittled down from 30 odd songs or so.

Perhaps, on reflection, this is why I feel the number of top quality songs on each set perhaps outweighs how I feel about these collections in terms of them being cohesively themed 'albums'. That being said, a friend recently pointed out to me that he was '...so entranced by "Planet Earth", that it makes sense, if for no other reason, just like with a "greatest hits" or "best of" collection because terrific music almost always works in harmony'.

My personal favourite of the three is, without a shadow of a doubt, Planet Earth. Whilst I dig Musicology and 3121, the energy levels on Planet Earth really feel free flowing and in turn the music seem seamless. I think it's right up there with the likes of The Truth, The Rainbow Children and The Gold Experience in terms of being a GREAT Prince album. How does that sit with you, Isten?

Anji said:

Wow... this sounds like one of the type of answers I write. haha

I agree with what you're saying with Planet Earth. All of the tracks just flow so well together... and each track has its own special message. Free-flowing and seamless feels just right. And when I first heard it, I felt like it really could give some of the older albums a run for their money.

Not such if I'd put up with TGE in terms of free-flowing and seamlessness... Thanx to the NPG operators, it doesnt run as smooth as it could.
Sometimes I prefer Come to TGE becuase its a tighter production. And PE has a lot in common with it structurly: same amount of songs, roughly same length, and all of the tracks flow together beautifully. But like TGE, PE is multiple storylines in one album.

PE, whittled down from 30 songs or so to 10? Wow... wouldn't that have been something if he had written that many songs for that project? I'd like to see some of those other songs myself if they exist.

Musicology
The Marrying Kind/If Eye Was The Man In Your Life (Can't choose between 'em)
Call My Name
Cinnamon Girl

3121
Love
Lolita
The Word

Planet Earth
The One U Wanna C
Somewhere Here On Earth
Future Baby Mama

On the Couch (Very Underrated Soul)
3121 (Eccentric Funk)
All The Midnights (Quirky Poem)

Anji said:

I would generally agree you with but I think PE doesn't have the highpoints of the other two. I've enjoyed all three albums but they are missing the eccentric experimentation and wierdly beautiful elements of Prince's greatest albums. The Truth is my fav P album of the last decade. If Feist, PJ Harvey or any of the other critic's darling would've released this gem it would've been hailed as a masterpiece. "Dionne" is gorgeous.

Musicology
A Million Days
The Marrying Kind/If I Was The Man In Ur Life
Call My Name


3121
Insense & Candles
Love
The Word

Planet Earth
Future Baby Mama
Mr.GoodNight
Somewhere Here On Earth

jdcxc said:

Absolutely love these two you picked out, jdcxc. On The Couch and All The Midnights In The World seem to be two very overlooked gems with Satisfied being yet another (although it seems Prince is doing his darndest to make sure we don't).

jdcxc said:

Man, highlights on Planet Earth for me are peppered ALL throughout the record. Future Baby Mama reminds me of the original demo of If I Love U Tonight from way back in the very early '80s (originally planned for The Rebels project) and boasts a very subtle but hugely infectious melody (and great ear candy on headphones). That being said, The One U Wanna C is perhaps THE most infectious pop tune that Prince has been trying to write for ages (see any number of the last decade's single choices, which just don't quite hit the mark compared to his classic '80s singles). The One U Wanna C is very much in the classic pop status of the likes of Raspberry Beret and Kiss. I just wish he'd release an extended version of this like back in the day! Lion Of Judah is perhaps THE strongest, most emotive Prince cut I've heard in years; seems like his soul was burning up when he committed that one to tape as the hurt and anguish in the music/vocals is very apparent. Very, very soulful music. The title track, Planet Earth, is definitely one of Prince's greatest anthemic album openers and very much in the tradition of Crystal Ball and The Rainbow Children for sheer power and reach. Michael B. and Sonny T. rumbling underneath on this number really help (if that is them) and immediately transport me back to the vintage Gold Experience era. When Guitar kicks in after Planet Earth's reverb angrily fades away, that opening riff and beat line just work brilliantly. Somewhere Here On Earth is right up there with the likes of Lion Of Judah in terms of classic Prince status and for me comparable to the untouchable heights reached by the likes of Power Fantastic, If I Was Your Girlfriend and When Doves Cry. It also has a gorgeous tempo and melody with an absolutely stellar vocal performance. The other main highlight for me is the fantastic groove and bassline in Chelsea Rodgers; really quirky lyrics and I really dig the fact that the vocal is taken over by a Mavis Staples sounding stella for something cool and different. References like the 'little Spanish man' in the insanely catchy Mr Goodnight and 'Zuzu's petals' in the extremely cute All The Midnights really make me smile and I still find myself cracking up at the sheer audicity when he says in Future Baby Mama, "Deep down eye know what U want. U want your girlfriends 2 hate U. 'Cos they can't get Ur man". HILARIOUS! Classic Prince cheek delivered brilliantly as he actually sounds like he sincerely means it! Resolution is such a melodic song. It perfectly allows the listener to breathe after how how heavy Lion Of Judah feels in terms of emotion and it closes the album really well. I mean there are just so many highlights, it's really difficult to do this album justice. Y'all gotta listen to it again.

Anji said:

The album has definately grown on me but to put it in the same world as If I Was Your Girlfriend, Kiss and When Doves Cry is a huge stretch. That era was truly revolutionary songwriting that originated new artforms, genres, styles and craft. The point being, it is truly unfair to compare current P with his amazingly complex past. I agree with you that there are new pleasures to be had.

I disagree with you regarding the lyrics to Chelsea. I think they are cloying, preachy and detract from the cool breeze of funk that is the song. When were models ever "role models" anyway? Prince has the annoying recent tendency to put women up on a puritanical and controlling pedestal. This is one of his many interesting dualities and contradictions from a person who has advanced female musicians and gender discussions.

jdcxc said:

I agree as well that Prince's current material can't be compared with his past accomplishments. His past is a different world. Some of his work is so impressive that it puts a lot of his other work to shame.
A lot of people from the old-school devalue (if that's a word) the newer material cuz they know what he did in the good old days. And I don't think that's fair.

I think Planet Earth is the best album he had done in this decade. All of the songs are around the same calibar and as said b4, free-flowing and seamless (with the exception of Chelsea Rodgers... throws off the flow 4 me).
I decided when I listened to the last 3 albums one after the other that I would stop comparing them to his past accomplishments. Doing so takes away from them and makes you miss out on good music just because its not the same as it used to be. It's not better or worse than what he's already done. It's just something else.

Musicology

1. A Million Days
2. Musicology
3. Dear Mr. Man

3121

1. 3121
2. Love
3. Fury

Planet Earth

1. Lion of Judah
2. Planet Earth
3. The One U Wanna C

It's neck and neck in terms of 3121 and Planet Earth according to the top 3. Where 3121 wins overall is in the remaining tracks. These albums definitely seem to form a trilogy- a kind of retrospective on his career. There is some real insight into his psyche and soul on these albums, and as such, I value them very much.

Illusion Coma Pimp and Circumstance
If I Was The Man In Your Life
The Marrying Kind

3121
The Word
Lolita

All The Midnights in the World

Can't vote for any others, they're all so bland.

Musicology:
- A Million Days
- Cinnamon Girl
- Dear Mr Man

3121:
- 3121
- Fury
- The Word

Planet Earth
- All The Midnights In The World
- Chelsea Rodgers
- Lion Of Judah

I like Planet Earth most.

Anji said:

Ultimately these three works might form a triptych, but right now I’m only truly enchanted by its possible denouement.

I can sense the retro fun and the “real music for real musicians” dispatch that so desperately needs better circulation. But so little of it stirs me into rediscovering my too numerous to mention collection of classics.

And I can appreciate the party vibe and the stacks of Japanese sandals on my “welcome” mat, I just wish that more disrobing had taken place in my headphones.

I’m sure that the mood was palpable, even though I’m not a celebrity and I didn’t attend any of the massive concerts that returned him to the public conscious. But too much of the “Fury” for me was left to air out to the public and on postage stamps of discontent (youtube.com).

But “Planet” – as bourgeois as it may be to praise the latest work of someone on a site that carries his moniker – finally connects me deeply to something that can be embraced by more than just a few self-proclaimed music snobs.

It’s not as immediate to me as his previous (possible) attempts at being heard beyond the downloads, the low-pitched voices, and the instrumental works, but it’s far more rewarding to me than either.

Complexity or simplicity carry no special value for me. Neither do light or dark, minor or major, joyful or depressed. Everything new has been seen under the sun by someone.

I’m just searching to be relentlessly stimulated by the experience of others. And this album, along with “Rainbow” and “N.E.W.S” provide that for me in vastly disparate ways.

With regards to Prince’s rather bodacious background, I just don’t need to compartmentalize that way anymore to fully embrace or reject. But I still constantly divide up my brain with regards to enjoyment.

For me, “Lion” and “Somewhere” share the same brain tissue that suits other classics. And “Chelsea” plays with the same toys as “Erotic City” and “The One U Wanna C” is pure manna from pop heaven.

And this period in the 80s remains for me his absolute artistic peak. But it is not unapproachable. Nothing commands that type of respect.

I could be proven wrong (you should see how often it happens), but I don’t hear anything as awe inspiring here as “Kiss” or “When Doves Cry”. But those are among a handful of the greatest songs of not only the 80s, but of all time.

And “Planet”, with its own version of “We March” in the Technicolor bragging of “Mr. Goodnight”, with its missing moments of pure extended bafflement, and with it’s “Dirty Mind” motif that’s as ill fitted as that blue “Rave” outfit, doesn’t for me surpass “Parade”, much less the real trilogy of greatness, “SOTT”, “1999” and “Purple Rain”.

But my mind is never wholly set for something so completely gray.

--

Musicology: Reflection, Call My Name, Musicology. Not really enough to even assemble an EP.

3121: The Word, Te Amo Corazon, Black Sweat. And, if “Fury” were the SNL version, it would easily dominate this poll. And a whole plethora of other “have you heard this live yet” moments?

Plane Earth: Lion of Judah, The One U Wanna C, Chelsea Rodgers / Somewhere Here On Earth / Future Baby Mama, followed shortly thereafter by four others.

It’s cheating, but that’s what I do.

Musicology

1) A Million Days
2) The Marrying Kind
3) If I Was The Man in Your Life


3121

1) Love
2) Black Sweat
3) Lolita

Planet Earth

1) Guitar
2) The One U Wanna C
3) Somewhere Here On Earth

jdcxc said:

Why would it be unfair and to whom, jdcxc? If Lion Of Judah strikes me down in the same way that When Doves Cry floors me, then surely that's what matters, no? In the same way that it matters that Somewhere Here On Earth has the strength to pull the same emotional chords with me as does Power Fantastic. I think it somehow works for us, especially as fans of his '80s legacy, to build a precious mystique over the music that has come before.

Brendan said:

Brendan, dude. I think you maybe suffering from fatigue to dismiss Musicology, as an album. Just as the title track has grown on you over the past few years, watch the rest of the album climb. It's funny how Prince's work tends to do that over time. I don't think it's necessarily to do with how great (or not) the newer records are but rather how dismissive we have become over our musical experiences nowadays. Then again, there was a time when Parade was ridiculed and mocked when it first come out, you know.

Brendan said:

Likening Mr. Goodnight to We March in terms of it being an unwanted clunker is so harsh. We March will always be criticised for the often held assumption that it replaced Days Of Wild on The Gold Experience (although that's not actually true). Days Of Wild simply didn't make the cut whereas We March did; two separate issues and not one or the other. Besides, Mr. Goodnight has a lyrical and musical flow that puts it close to some of Prince's spoken word/rap forays. True, it's not in the league of beats like Irresistible Bitch or Days Of Wild but to compare it to We March is just lazy, Brendan. Maybe Sexy MF but not We March.

And what do you mean by the Dirty Mind motif?

Anji said:

I’m clearly suffering from something; it’s just too big right now to properly grasp.

It’ll always remain true that humans in general are more unfocused with current events.

That’s how the Artic Monkeys got proclaimed as saviors before they even released a recording.

If my vision isn’t improving with time, that probably means that I’m just a little too in love with my own thoughts.

But, fortunately or unfortunately, you know that I don’t spin a recording a few times and declare that I can give you anything more than my initial impressions.

I’m greatly flawed, but not in the way.

And it always remains possible that I’m being too myopic, but I’d listen to his early 90s releases before either “Musicology” or “3121”.

Perhaps, as you suggest, part of the reason is nostalgia. Could be. But these albums to me do benefit from slightly more heavyweight material that buoys the undistinguished.

At this point I’m just not experiencing enough of that material to buoy the lesser stuff.

But time could show me more flaws. That would be nothing new to me.

And it would be totally welcomed, as it would mean even more stuff to fully embrace.

Anji said:

It looks as ill suited to me as I'm sure it sounds to others.

Those "3121" designs could certainly mirror the stripped bedsprings and the corset could certainly double for the open trench coat and bikini briefs. Different, sure, but not that different (wink).

Even if somehow metaphorically this is how conflicted he feels, it's still not executed properly.

It's like "N.E.W.S." meets "Dirty Mind" in 2007; not unlike what that blue body suit seemed to be saying as it walked across the MTV stage.

I feel like giving Prince a coffee table book that contains examples of great artwork.

But he never really got it with his videos either. He's a musical genius, not a visual one.

musicology:

musicology
illusion, coma, pimp and circumstance
dear mr. man

3121:

fury
lolita
black sweat

haven't heard planet earth yet

Anji said:

lol, i don't agree well, i do on some levels. mostly i agree that planet
earth despite it's being rather dull and forgetable imo feels more like an
album/project than 3121 or musicology.

planet earth feels more cohesive and free, relaxed and breezy. i guess the
reason i don't like the album at all is because the title track contains
my personal number 1 most horrible moment in prince history, namely that
bridge feat the could it be magic chords.

another thing i totally dislike it songs like Beautiful Loved and Blessed
and on this album Chelsea Rodgers feat lead vox other than prince and they
should imo not be on the albums at all.

for the most part, planet earth is really very much like "gold experience"
but it's just a combination of

1. lack of mysterie
2. lack of magic
3. shallow lyrics
4. weak(er) songs

that makes me so inclined against it. i dig some individual songs, in fact
i like them all -except chelsea rodgers. so to sum it up shortly i think
the album had a great flow and energetic, free feeling to it but the songs
on it are not to my taste.

IstenSzek said:

Chelsea Rodgers interrupts the flow Planet Earth has. I actually like BL&B from 3121... cuz its plain inspirational and Tamar doesn't overshadow Prince's vocals the same way Shelby does on the other...

But I gotta say. "Lack of magic?"

Planet Earth is one of the most magical albums I've heard him do. It blew me away the first time around and I said, "this album is a contender".
Haha, in fact, it was the first album I did label as "pure magic"... the phrase jumped to the forefront of my mind.

I agree the lyrics are weak... but some of the music in the PE tracks is so amazing and it even reminds me of sounds he's played with before.
Mr. Goodnight's R&B sound reminds me of "Space"
All the Midnights- the way he sings reminds me of "The Morning Paper"
And the opening notes of "Lion of Judah" feels like "Dolphin"... just amazing.

Haha, I gotta stop talking cuz I'm getting the urge to pick PE up for another listen, hearing the songs play in my head.
[Edited 10/14/07 14:41pm]

Anji said:

It wouldn't make much sense me comparing "Mr. Goodnight" to a great track like "Sexy MF".

Seriously, though, I think that's another mistake. We all make them. Can't be avoided.

The studio version is what I fell in love with back when it was on that VH1 special. It's only afterwards that I heard the even superior live takes.

But that story, as you point out, makes no difference. The track simply doesn't take off, even in spite of the great message of hope that it probably carried onto the Million Man March.

And it's certainly only a "clunker" to me relative to Prince's ridiculous achievements, not based on the whole of all released music.

If you want to hear a true clunker, I'll give you one.

And, besides, for some very minor artists, this would be one of their career highlights. It, much like most of life, is all relative.

Anyway, it's all good. I read mostly so that I can learn more and not fall prey to many of the same mistakes.

I mean, it doesn't always work, but a person can make an honest effort, can't they?

I was just opening up again to "The Truth" while I was reading this very thread where someone spoke up about it.

Every now and again that can happen and for some reason either something unlocks or, like in the case of "The Truth", I heard it again for exactly what it used to be for me.

And if I'm hearing a lot of convincing thought and/or feeling for "Captain Goodnight", it surely could help me hear something for what it is, rather than for what my ego was so keenly serving up.

So people shouldn't be afraid to speak their minds, good or bad. Just remember that just because you're being honest, doesn't make it right.

Just look at my opinions.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

well i agree with you there. although i don't think the music on the tracks
is amazing, it is very good.

the music on Future Baby Mama is just sheer bliss. i just think the words r
crap, lol.

Mr Goodnight reminds me a lot of the outtae "player" (if life was a movie u
would have the main part, girl ur #1 with a bullet on my chart)

MUSICOLOGY: Call My Name, ...

3121: Love, The Dance, Te Amo Corazon

PE: S.H.O.E., Lion of Judah, All the Midnights

Me thinks that 3121 is the strongest of them all, PE coming in second. Where it falls in my favored opinion is PE first, then 3121.

Musicology
Call My Name
What Do U Want Me 2 Do

Lolita
Love
The Word

Guitar
Somewhere Here On Earth
Lion Of Judah