"3121" was a welcome return to form for Mr Roger Nelson, a deeply funky vibed record that you could/can enjoy even without paying too much attention to it; "Planet Earth" is a bit different, starting with mellow piano chords the title track is a six minute piece that might puzzles you at first with its weird guitar riffs and changes of rhythm, not a catchy start but a grower. Following song and first single "Guitar" plays safe (almost too safe) by basically being an almost exact copy of "Girls & Boys", its as our hero is saying to his longterm fans, "everybody listen up, you have to buy my new album, it sounds like vintage me!!!!".
After "Guitar" drifts by that's when the album begins to make sense with the slow paced "Somewhere Here On Earth" with falsetto vocals, muted trumpet and a jazzy atmosphere not far from "Adore" off "Sign O The Times", very nice indeed, as much as "The One U Wanna C", Prince at his most country & western (!) with a bass guitar that's trying to come out of your speakers... "Future Baby Mama" and "Mr Goodnight" are smooth slices of soul music that only in Prince hands can fly dangerously close to Planet Cheesy without ever landing on it.
"Chelsea Rodgers" is the funkiest, James Brownish track of the lot, a contagious tune you'll simply cannot escape; when "Lion of Judah" begins another huge flashback lays its weight on you like those memories you won't/can't forget, the first three seconds sounds like the "Purple Rain" intro with its minor chord guitar that soon, after you slowly catch your breath, evolves in a pleasant pop melody.
"Resolution" ends the album on a positive note with an optimistic lyric about "we the people", something that Curtis Mayfield would have been proud of. Love it or hate it, the artist back to be named Prince after he was formerly known as Prince has done it again, this record is another brilliant collection of songs, it might not save Planet Earth, but it will uplift a few million souls all over the globe.
I'm one of them.
8/10
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