Planet Earth
by Prince

Album details

US: 24 July 2007 on Sony
UK: 15 July 2007 [Free with the Mail on Sunday]

"Planet Earth" continues the Prince comeback by reuniting him with past collaborators such as Wendy & Lisa, Sheila E., and members of the New Power Generation. (Prince caused a controversy in the UK when he announced that the album would be given away for free with copies of the Daily Mail’s Sunday 15 July edition.)

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The critical consensus

Planet Earth was billed as a return to 1980s form (if not glory) for Prince, and many reviewers did hear echoes of the classic Prince sound, even if the album as a whole isn’t a Prince classic. Ann Powers of the LA Times not only notes similarities to past Prince greats, but believes them to be intentional, calling the album a "cunning homage to himself." Stylus calls it a "slight improvement" over predecessor 3121, but Amazon enjoys the album’s "peerless funk-rock-soul," which the site attributes in large part to an emphasis on Prince’s guitar-playing. (Other reviewers also noted the prominence of guitar, with Spin gushing that Planet Earth "places him back in six-string superhero territory.")

All Music Guide finds the album satisfying rather than stellar, saying "There’s no fluff and no fat, just ten strong songs delivered with just enough flair to remind you it’s the work of Prince, yet strategically avoiding the indulgence that marginalized him throughout the ’90s." Jon Pareles of the New York Times is on the same wavelength, calling Planet Earth "a good but not great Prince album." (His review also offers an interesting analysis of the business of Prince, by the way.) Likewise, NME notes that "a genius on autopilot is still very clever indeed."

MusicOMH attempts to complement the album but can only muster terms like "competent" and "inoffensive." IGN, while generally liking the disc, finds Planet Earth "top heavy" and a little too safe and "straightforward." The Guardian, however, is nonplussed, and Drowned In Sound is closer to depressed. While the latter hears a few highlights, to their ears much of the remainder suffers from a "muzaky, phoned-in feel" as well as "schmaltzy production values and trilling vocal histrionics." The AP compares it to "a notebook of passed-over songs," and Artist Direct says Planet Earth "feels about as fresh, diverse and contemporary as a 24-hour Cosby Show marathon." While the Village Voice assigns it "mixed-to-middling," the Washington Post gets more exact, determining the album to be "30 percent bad, 40 percent mediocre and 30 percent really, really good." And Pitchfork finds only "flashes" of the Prince that fans want to hear, discounting the remainder as "stuff he’s done before and better," and finding the album as a whole "textbook bad Prince."

It’s thrilling to know one of pop’s indisputable greats is really trying again.

- Entertainment Weekly

Review roundup

Tracklisting and media

1. Planet Earth
2. Guitar
3. Somewhere Here On Earth
4. The One U Wanna C
5. Future Baby Mama
6. Mr. Goodnight
7. All The Midnights In The World
8. Chelsea Rodgers
9. Lion Of Judah
10. Resolution

Also on the web

• Official Artist Site