Hey, Even Mediocre Prince Is Still Pretty Damn Good!
Written: Aug 01 '07
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Well, it's a pretty good album.
Cons: Prince has made 10, if not 15 albums that are better. Yep, we're spoiled.
The Bottom Line: In a way, it's a letdown. But it's still good!! If you've ever wondered what Prince sounds like without having a point to make, here's your chance.
|
|
|
| speeddemon531's Full Review: Planet Earth by Prince |
One adjective you'd probably never use when describing Prince is "casual". That word has probably not been applied to any facet of the man's life in the thirty years he has been a professional musician. On just about every song on every album the man has put out (whether under his own name or under the guise of one of his proteges), the man sounds fully committed.
The thing that threw me off about "Planet Earth", Prince's 9704278420th album (OK, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly), is that is sounds almost tossed-off in a way. There are no great statements to make, there's no chip on his shoulder, there's no big meaning. Prince Rogers Nelson, arguably the most eclectic, influential and accomplished musician AND songwriter of the post-punk rock era (and not a word of that is hyperbole), made an album just because he wanted to. And while the end result is one of his more incidental albums, it's still f*cking good. Not great in the way last year's "3121" was. Not mind-blowingly awesome like any album he recorded between 1980-1987 is. Just good.
And for a while, I was disappointed. Because when I listen to a Prince record, I'm waiting for the "oh s*it" moment. The lyric or the guitar solo or the scream that's going to bring the fanboy out of me. And there are none here. But then I put everything into perspective, and realized that Prince on autopilot is still REALLY f*cking good. Once I came to that realization, I appreciated "Planet Earth" a little more.
(And yes, to second the review of my Epinions colleague plorentz, they could have done a LOT better with the packaging. No lyrics? No individual song credits? Come on Prince).
For classification purposes, "Planet Earth" is Prince's "pop" album. There aren't any funk workouts here, no hard grooves. The uptempo tracks have an effortless, hooky flair, while the slow jams...well, if you're a Prince fan, I don't have to tell you about his slow jams, right?
"Somewhere Here On Earth" is the album's showstopping moment and standout track. The groove is slow as molasses, a muted trumpet blows classily in the background, and Prince reminds us of one great talent that we often forget or take for granted. The man can sing his *ss off. As much of a funk pioneer or rock god as he is known as, this track confirms he could just have easily been a jazz vocalist. He keeps up the sensual vibe with "Mr. Goodnight", which marks the return of Prince the rapper. While Prince's hip-hop excursions have rarely been worthy of recommendation ("P Control" being a serious exception), his somewhat wooden flow actually matches well with the song's bass-heavy, mellow groove (and is it me or does it sound awfully similar to The Notorious B.I.G.'s "One More Chance"?). These songs also announce the official re-introduction of Prince On The Prowl. Having recently been divorced for the second time, Prince is back on the make, although it's being done in a much classier way than before, partially due to Prince's Jehovah's Witness faith, and partially due to the fact that...well, the man is 49.
"The 1 U Wanna C" has a carefree vibe to me. It's quite singable, and it's one of those great summer songs for driving around with the windows open and the radio blasting. "Lion Of Judah" is a rock-etched throwdown that has a serious mid-Eighties Revolution flair. Small surprise, then, that former co-horts Wendy & Lisa are on board for this track (I guess the water's still warm enough). It is a pleasure to hear the girls contributing to Prince's work again, and even more of a pleasure to hear Prince shredding the axe more than he has in at least a decade. The playing on this and first single "Guitar" serve as a reminder that this man is one of the finest guitar players of our time.
At 10 songs and 45 minutes, it's easily Prince's most compact album since the early Eighties, and there's actually not one outright bad song on the album. The slow-jam-by number "Future Baby Mama" (the album's only outright bid for a radio single) joins the piano-led pop/rocker "All The Midnights In The World" as Prince songs that are just kind of standard (for the latter song, think "The Morning Papers" + "The Holy River"), but if all you can say about the worst song on an album is that it sounds like two of Prince's older songs (both of which were good in their own right), then the album's not really bad, is it?
Looking at "Planet Earth" from the opposite side, there isn't much here that will be a revelation. However, after all this time in the game, during which he's dabbled in just about everything this side of country, how much more revolutionizing (NPI) can this man do?
It's a new album from the man who is probably most responsible for the way pop radio sounds in 2007. It doesn't reinvent the wheel (again), but even if it ain't nothing new, he still does it better than just about everyone else!!
"Planet Earth" by Prince
Released 2007 on NPG/Columbia Records
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars (rounded down because if you're going to get into Prince for the first time, there are many albums I'd recommend before this one).
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
speeddemon531
|
 in Music |
 in Music |
 - Top 200 |
|
Location: Somewhere On The East Coast
Reviews written: 954
Trusted by: 303 members
About Me:
I let y'all play with it for a little while. Now Daddy's back.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.