http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20046850,00.html
Has Prince's genius ever been in fuller bloom? Ever since he came up with
that gambit to offer free CDs with concert tickets in 2004, he's been on a
roll. In 2007 alone, he's given us a Super Bowl triumph, highly publicized
residencies in intimate Las Vegas and L.A. venues, and the controversial
giveaway of his latest CD (2.9 million of them!) with a London weekly.
Clearly he's at the peak of his powers - that is, as a wily survivor willing
to try any new model of getting music out. Oh, you thought we meant his
songs? Yes, there's...that. With recent albums like 3121 and Musicology
sounding like affably goofy outtakes collections, Prince's brilliance as a
self-marketer has grown in almost inverse proportion to his confoundingly
shrinking ambitions as an artist.
But there's a change in the winds with Planet Earth. It's evenly split
between melodic rock and classic soul, minus the daffy, George Clinton-type
jams that've lately stood in for actual songs. You say you want the
Revolution? Weh-ell, you know, he's finally doing what he can to recapture
some of that peak-era vibe. Ex-Revolutionaries Wendy & Lisa, long estranged
from the maestro, make cameos; real drums mostly replace canned ones; and he
unleashes all the guitar eruptions he's been bottling up for years. Though
we'll never get another Purple Rain, it still feels right, in a lavender
drought, to settle for something at least approaching another Parade (to
name a late-'80s work only now regarded as unapproachably awesome).
There's a sense of patience rewarded, hearing the feathery tremolo guitars
and female backing coos in ''The One U Wanna C'' - a slice of pure pop cut
from the same pie as ''Raspberry Beret'' - or the return of his Delfonics
falsetto on ''Somewhere Here on Earth'' and ''Future Baby Mama.'' Of all his
attempts at rapping, ''Mr. Goodnight'' is the first that works, because it
could pass for an early-'70s bedroom recitative. And the one time he lays
down serious funk - on ''Chelsea Rodgers,'' sung by band member Shelby J -
it isn't 3121's formless party improv but a terrific, full-on disco stomp.
Prince continues to get his lothario moves on, with the notable exceptions
of the album's bookending tunes, ''Planet Earth'' and ''Resolution,'' which
go for globally conscious, peacenik profundity. The title track combines God
and going green about as effectively as Evan Almighty. Still, when he
cements that number's anthemic aspirations with a ''Purple''-colored solo,
it's thrilling to know one of pop's indisputable greats is really trying
again - and might be taking the recording process as seriously as he takes
disseminating his music. B+
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