FUNKY
PRINCE
Planet Earth
***
When your career has lasted as many decades as Prince’s has, there is no reason to use the word comeback. Prince had his years of hits and his discs that flopped. He endured controversy galore, and he produced at least one masterpiece, the three-disc Emancipation, that went totally ignored. That was over a decade ago. And, no, it didn’t slow Prince down. Prince has released so much music at this point—new discs, movie soundtracks, outtake collections, greatest-hits compilations, live DVDs—that only hardcore fans care to keep track.
Yet, undeniably, since Musicology in 2004 Prince seemed to be looking to reconnect with an audience beyond his most dedicated followers. Last year’s 3121 was a commercial and critical success. Earlier this year Prince reached out by setting up shop in Vegas as a headliner at the Rio. He even performed at the Super Bowl halftime show. All signs pointed, with this disc, toward Prince strutting on the big stage again. So, Planet Earth, despite being a perfectly adequate collection of 10 Prince songs, must be regarded as something of a disappointment.
The title track sounds like the opening of a grand environmental concept disc (though not as good as the title track on Sign ‘O’ the Times). Thankfully, we are mostly spared Prince’s biblically lyrical grand statements on the meaning of life. But what happens instead is less a united disc, like the taut Musicology or 3121, than a gathering of songs, like Crystal Ball or The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, flawlessly executed yet totally forgettable.
The single “Guitar” sounds like the weak marriage of “Raspberry Beret” to “Peach.” And so it goes, with each song on Planet Earth recalling another better Prince moment. Of course, that makes Planet Earth far from a disaster. This is a top pro on autopilot, and even that makes for a safe flight for fans.