Many seem view “Planet Earth” as a weak album. Is the reason the quality of the songs or the cumulative effect of the listening experience? I like each song individually and consider each of them “good”, however I think where Planet Earth falls short is in coherence. Its plays as a collection of unrelated songs with no underlying theme or sound to unify it and give the whole set a distinct personality. So when one thinks of Planet Earth it doesn’t conjure an image. I think other fans have noted this has well.

With this mind I believe Prince heard the “constructive criticism” and birthed MPLSound and LotusFlower with cohesion of sound and structure more realized. Also taking note fans clamoring for a rock album while others begged from funk led to the two for one multi-album project. Prince indeed listens to his fans and tries to please them to some extent. Those who think otherwise aren’t really paying attention.

I also submit that the probable reason that “Elixer” was included in the set stems from what happened with Tamar’s CD. I think Record label politics lead to the CD being shelved. Prince decided to insure that the same thing would not happen to Bria by including the CD as a bundle with his. Thoughts?

The problem with PE is that it was NEVER a real project 2 begin with.

I don't see "Planet Earth" being any less cohesive in theme than most of his classic albums from the 80s, but I guess perceptions in that regard may vary. Funny how people were longing for the Dream Factory sound to return for so long and when they actually got some of it on "Planet Earth" they decided to spit on it.

I still consider it a better album than either "Musicology" or "3121". At least it's more interesting sonically.

Wrong forum, btw.

Tricky, you my boy but this is the wrong forum.

purplecam said:

I'm putting him into the right forum

Moving to Prince: M&M forum

To begin with, I think the title threw me off. I was expecting perhaps some experimentation with music from different regions of the world incorporated into his sound. That surely would have been interesting, but I don't blame Prince for my expectations.

I love the title track and like 4 other songs but I lost interest in the album as a whole pretty quickly...same with Musicology.

novabrkr said:

Co-sign.

tricky99 said:

I agree! I think Prince is very concerned about pleasing his fans, how can he not be?

I think some fans were a little disturbed by some of the lyrics in Chelsea Rodgers, Mr Goodnight and Future baby mama. I didn't really mind these songs, gave us an insight in Prince's mind when he was creating this album.
I loved Guitar, Somewhere here on earth, it is not my favorite album, but I can listen to it without cringing.

Elixer is very nice..... I have been listening to it alot. I especially like "home".

Planet Earth is the best album of the 00's, by far.

pplrain said:

ernestsewell said:

really? - I don't think so.

The Rainbow Children (9)
N.E.W.S. (2)
ONA... Live (2)
Musicology (7)
The Chocolate Invasion (6)
Slaughterhouse (6)
3121 (6)
Planet Earth (5)
Indigo Nights (2)
Lotus Flower (8)
MPLSound (8)

Planet Earth is the Newpower Soul of the 00's

Love, "Planet Earth."

For me, PE is upbeat and positive in its entirety, second only to TRC in the 00's. My very first impression of it was that it evoked a happiness. It is lighthearted and stands out to me as a work possessing a purity and almost innocence. Definitely a "feel good" album. My husband said it reminded him of "Up with people"

It was a decent album, far more interesting than Musicology.

How someone can play Planet Earth and not be reminded of his Sign 'o' The Times era is beyond me.

All The Midnights of the World, one of his best short ballads ever IMO, could easily have been a bootleg hit like Heaven from Dream Factory. Even Planet Earth's title track could have been a Dream Factory era song.

The problem with Planet Earth to me is just that it had no emotional resonance. It had no 'classic' single. Guitar wasn't just unimpressive for a song about his guitar, it was bland and generic sounding---Prince , if anything, wasn't meant to sound normal.

Overall, it's one of my least favorite Prince albums of late, but I don't think it's as terrible as folks say it is.
[Edited 5/9/09 7:11am]

I like it more than 3121, but not as much as Lotus/MPLSound or maybe Musicology.

It does feel like a mish-mash of things, though. I think in retrospect it's pretty easy to tell that it's outtakes from the 3121/LotusFlower sessions. The r&b/funk/soul tracks (and a couple of the rockers) suffer slightly from overproduction of 3121 and most of the rockers have the more organic sound of LF.

thedance said:

Those two are night and day. PE had "Guitar" and "The 1 U Wanna C" which were great pop songs. Title track and S.H.O.E. were beautiful ballads. "Mr. Goodnight" and "Future Baby Mama" were fun mid-tempo numbers. The only song I don't care for is "Lion of Judah".

The NPGMC stuff is ridiculously dry, plastic, vapid, and uninspired. ONA Live was a joke advertising "your favorite songs like 'Condition of the Heart' LIVE" because it was the piano medley at best. Don't even get me started on the hateful TRC album.

Tame said:

Me too, Somewhere Here on Earth is my favourite.

Minus "Mr.Goodnight" & "All The Midnights In The World"... Planet Earth is a Great Album !

Imago said:

saafiir said:

I agree with NoveauDance, thumbs up on this. Although....I like "Mr. Goodnight", but the spoken word part is a bit LOOOOONG for my taste. I'd keep Midnights in lieu of ditching "Lion of Judah" and "Resolution". But if I had to get rid of midnights too, I would. I'd insert a few songs from 3121, and beef up the disk to near 75 minutes, and have a really great full CD.

There were only two songs I didn't care for on the album, the rest of it to me was pretty good, the title track opening alone had me convinced. I was expecting something different as someone had mentioned before, but most of the album was entertaining enough for my appetite. I was hoping it would've been a little longer but the fact that he released it & that I wasn't really expecting anything from him for awhile & then boom he dropped it was pretty cool. I was just excited that he released something so soon.

I like Planet Earth a lot. I've never thought about the album as inchoherent. Although he could've placed the title track at the end, it's rather gloomy.

It's hard to say if Elixir was included partly because of what happened to Tamar's CD. In any case, it was a good move to include it. If you're an artist starting out and you get a chance to be included next to Prince, that's very good.

peter430044 said:

I think it's heady, and moody, but it's positive. Doesn't seem dismal or depressive or anything. It is odd that Prince started an album with a ballad like that. I can't really think of another CD where that happened.



Too bad he didn't just include Tamar's CD with 3121. Would have been so simple, and a good thing. Would have been a very strong package, opposed to the Lotus schlock. Lotus is one decent disk at best of the three CDs. I have moments when I like Bria's CD, then other times when days or a couple of weeks pass before I even remember it.

ernestsewell said:

The title track is both negative and positive, I just feel that I don't want a song that starts the album that talks about "Imagine you could rid the Earth of anyone you choose...". It's not that it's a bad song, it's good, but it's not the kind of song I want to hear at the beginning.
[Edited 5/10/09 12:10pm]

I really like PE, much more than 3121 but i do like Musicologyalot aswell.

With the CD being given away for free in the UK and Ireland, I wonder if some of the tracks were more/mere throwaways which Prince saw as a way to release them. The album starts off quite strongly (IMO) with the first three songs and goes through the motions afterwards, finishing off with two pleasant songs.

I think that a difficulty with Planet Earth was the two songs that were released afterwards, F.U.N.K. and Turn Me Loose both being of a strong tracks.

All in all though, I quite like Planet Earth, although I'd rate 3121 higher.

Smillan said:

Turn Me Loose is still unreleased although a studio version has been played on the radio

ernestsewell said:

you can't be serious...