Prince - Planet Earth (Album)
Prince has a new album out. No, not 3121, that was last year. The 2007 offering from Paisley Park is called Planet Earth. Just like 3121 had the Willy Wonka style purple tickets granting the winners audience at a private concert, Planet Earth has had its own publicity surrounding it. It probably started with Prince playing the Superbowl this year which boosted his lagging profile no end, reaffirmed his status as an amazing guitarist and paved the way for the announcement that he would initially release this album for free in an English weekend paper. Further to this he also set up a 21 concert run at the 02 stadium in London, which sold out in minutes.In fact, his modern comeback started with 2004's funky Musicology and followed it up with 3121 which continued along a similar musical vein. Planet Earth changes direction slightly, employing a more distorted guitar but maintaing the trademark Prince pop mastery. The sex of Prince has toned down a lot after he was introduced to the Jehovah's Witnesses by Sly and the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham. There is still the odd reference to getting it on ('Mr. Goodnight') but with age perhaps he's taking relationships a bit more seriously as demonstrated by the song 'Future Baby Mama'. But all of this is par for the course on a Prince album, rather, the main focus of this record is the spiritual future of the earth.
The epic first and title track asks questions like 'imagine u could rid the earth of anyone u choose. which ones would u need the most and which ones would u lose?' (sic). But it isn't just a 'save the world' record as he proclaims that 'His kingdom come so shall it be written, so shall it be sung.' With a few other songs following along these lines ('Revelation', 'Lion of Judah') combined with the excellent party jams ('Guitar', 'Chelsea Rodgers') and the aforementioned lovemakers, Prince attempts to straddle sex and salvation, not always convincingly.
The remainder of the perfectly produced record is just breezy upbeat pop that he seems to pump out effortlessly. He still occasionally insists on using cringeworthy 80's synth brass for some of the lines and stabs but everything else is where it should be in the two channel house. He gets help, and a killer sax solo from funk legend and frequent purple alumni, Maceo Parker and re-enlists other NPG family members like Sheila E. If you are a Prince fan then you'd know that everything he puts out is a quality release. It is worth getting just for the title song and pumping, bass heavy, brass driven 'Chelsea Rodgers' but like the man says: 'I got a lot of money.' He doesn't need you to buy it.
