It has almost been three decades since Prince released his first album, “For You,” and in that time, Prince has gone through more style changes than Madonna. The little man from Minnesota has contributed to multiple genres and influenced many, if not all, of today’s R&B singers by pushing many boundaries, including explicitness on record. Being one of today’s most underrated guitarists and after his amazing performance at least year’s Super Bowl, it left butterflies in my stomach when I heard he was releasing yet another album. Alas, it was too good to be true.
“Planet Earth” has its moments, but overall it lacks the energy and life he once had down so well. The first track, which shares the name of the album, encourages high hopes for the remainder of the recording with its slow, soft piano and Prince’s gentle vocals. As it builds through the addition of booming drums, bass and guitars, the song serves as an excellent yet deceiving introduction.
Most of the album is made up of elevator-ready music that produces more drowsiness than NyQuil mixed with Codeine. If insomnia is a problem, then songs like “Somewhere Here on Earth” and “Future Baby Mama” will cure it as soon as they start. It is not that the style or sound of the music is bad, but more that it has been done before and with more vitality, which leaves no real reason to pick up a copy if you’re looking for an original presentation of those attributes.
There are high points, though. “All The Midnights in the World” and “Resolution” are so upbeat and filled with musical rainbows and lollipops. The beat of “All the Midnights” will have you bouncing from shoulder to shoulder like a Peanuts’ dance-a-thon. “Resolution” is a political statement that allows Prince to create smiles with the music as well as spread his thought through “serious” words. Lyrics such as “The main problem with war is that nobody ever wins/ The next generation grows up, learns how to do it all over again” are not wrong, but so general that they cannot achieve any motivation in a person to make a change. Maybe when Prince started making music, lyrics as generic as that could touch people, but we are in a different time. It takes a little more creativity and power to get people moving for a cause.
“Planet Earth” isn’t terrible. It just never takes on a life of its own and ends up as background music. The moments it does have are few and far between, but Prince shows no signs of slowing down, and there is reason to be pessimistic about future material. I mean, the guy made “Purple Rain” – come to think of it, Bon Jovi also made “Slippery When Wet,” and look where they are now – so maybe there isn’t much hope. We’ll just have to wait and see.
