With almost thirty years in the business, it has become almost impossible for Prince to make any sort of defining statements with his new albums. He puts out new material regularly, and occasionally has a hit single, like last year’s great “Black Sweat.” But he’s never going to match the cultural omnipresence of his 80s heyday.
As his scorching, mesmerizing Super Bowl performance early this year showed, he can still bring it live, but nobody was asking him to bring his new material. Planet Earth isn’t going to redefine the Prince sound, and it’s not going to match Purple Rain. But it’s a great addition to his catalogue, delivering pretty much what you’d want from a Prince album. It’s by no means essential, but I can definitely recommend it.
The title track opens the album with a soaring mix of gospel, rock and pop as only Prince can do. The song begins small, then soars to a choir backed finale. The interplay of the chorus and Prince's swelling guitar is fantastic, building to a climactic solo. Prince can still solo like nobody else in the game, and he just murders the end of this track. It’s a really strong opening, probably the album’s best track.
While some artists do everything they can to update and modernize their sound, this album is only a slightly more organic synth away from his 80s work. “Guitar” is a driving rock song that would blend right in on one of his 80 minute 80s opuses. Part of the problem with getting into Prince is the sheer amount of material. Most of his classic albums are double albums, and when you’re listening for that long, the songs just blend together. There’s a lot of classic material in 1999 and Sign O the Times. But as a new listener, it’s not so easy to pick up on all of it.
The reason Purple Rain was such a successful album is because of its nonstop great songs, with very little filler. Each track is a great blend of pop accessibility and instrumental weirdness, peaking on the epic title track, one of the all time greatest songs. That album came at a moment when Prince was everywhere. That the odd, disjointed Purple Rain movie could become a massive box office hit is testament to his drawing power, and regardless of the narrative incoherence, just watching his performances in that movie makes it easy to understand just why he’s become a legend.
Article comments
1 - daryl d
This album is awful! I was so much looking forward to Prince releasing a good album for once. Why is it that one of the most musically talented artists of our time releases nothing but awful records. It's the equivalent of a weightlifting champion only being able to lift 50 pounds.
2 - Sophie
Prince is absolutely amazing, I love all his albums, I find them all unique. He's different from anything else out there, he's a genius, and I just saw him last weekend and he was great!
3 - PROOF THAT WHAT HE TOOK CREDIT FOR IN THE PAST, WAS NOT HIS WORK
YEARS NOW I'VE BEEN SAYING, THE PRINCE OF THIEVES, DID NOT CREATE THE EARLIER WORK. HE STOLE HIS IDEAS FROM NUMEROUS PEOPLE, NEVER PAID THEM FOR THEIR IDEAS. YES HE CAN PLAY INSTRUMENTS, SO WHAT. THE HITS CAME FROM SOMEONE ELSE. AND, I'M NOT TALKING WENDY LISA, THEY ARE STILL LESS THAN MEDIOCRE. SOMEONE ELSE, WAS THE CREATIVE LINK, THAT HE LONG AGO LOST.
4 - HE COULDN'T WRITE HIS WAY OUT OF A PAPER BAG
HE DID NOT WRITE HIS HITS!!! SOMEONE ELSE DID, AND OBVIOUSLY THEY DIDN'T NEED THE FAME, OR MAYBE THEY CARED ABOUT HIM, GAVE HIM MATERIAL, HE USED THEM AND NOW THEY HAVE BEEN OBVIOUSLY GONE, A LONG TIME. HE STRESSES NEW MUSIC, BECAUSE HE KNOWS HE CAN;T RECREATE THE GENIUS OF THE PAST, CAUSE HE DIDN'T WRITE THOSE SONGS. WE ALL KNOW ABOUT HIS LEGAL LETTERS. THAT;S WHY IT'S NOT COMMON KNOWLEDGE WHAT A REAL PHONEY HE REALLY IS.
5 - GATE CRASHER
NOTICE HOW PATHETIC FOR ATTENTION HE IS THAT MAJOR PREMIERS OF OTHER STARS, HE SHOWS UP UNIVITED, CAUSE HE KNOWS THE PRESS IS ALREADY THERE, ACTING LIKE HES SO IMPORTANT, HE REALLY KNOWS HOW TO USE OTHER PEOPLES FAME AND EVENTS, TO STEAL THEIR PRESS!!! MATT DAMON AND I LAUGHED OUR BUTTS OFF WHEN HE SHOWED UP WITHY THOSE TWIN HIPPOS, LIKE HE WAS JAMES BROWN. HE HAS STOLEN HIS WHOLE IMAGE FROM OTHERS. NOT ORIGINAL IN ANY WAY, NEVER WAS. JUST BETTER AT PHONEY HYPE. HE PLANS EVERY MOVE HE MAKES TO HYPE HIMSELF AT OTHER STARS EVENTS. THEN GOD FORBID YOU END UP IN A PICTURE, YOU DON'T KNOW HE PLANNED TO USE YOUR IMAGE IN, NEXT HE USES YOUR NAME ON HIS SITE AS A PRESS RELEASE, THATS AN OBVIOUS PHONEY SETUP. THE STARS ARE GETTING HIP, WHEN THEY SEE HIM GATE CRASH, THEY GO THE OTHER WAY!!! TO NOT GET USED FOR THEIR WELL EARNED SUCCESS, BY THE LITTLE VAMPIRE.
6 - HED ALSO CALLS THE MAGS HIMSELF, THEY DON'T KNOW ITS HIM
HE IS MOST FAMOUS FOR THE PRESS SETUP, WHERE HE CALLS THE PAPS HIMSELF AND THEN SHOWS UP AS IF HE DON'T KNOW THEY ARE THERE. ITS KNOWN FACT NOW, SO WHEN SOMEONE CALLS AND SAYS PRINCE MAY BE SO AND SO PLACE, WE KNOWS ITS HIM SETTING US UP. TMZ HAD VIDEO OF HIM NOT KNOWING HE PLANNED THE WHOLE THING, WHEN GUITAR CAME OUT. WE THOUGHT SOMETHING WAS UP WHEN HE DROVE AROUND THE PARKING LOT WAITING FOR US, TO SHOW, AND THEN PRETENDED HE DIDN;T WANT A PICTURE. HE HAS TO BEG, TO GET PRESS ON HIS OWN, WE ARE JUST NOT INTERESTED. HE PLANNED THE BACK OF THAT BAR CRAP, FOR SURE.