It seems the longer it's been since Prince got out of his contract with Warners and found religion, the less interesting his new albums have become. At first he was merely making a statement by releasing multi-disc albums (Emancipation, Crystal Ball) but at least we got some of the better Prince songwriting and some good cover material. As of the last decade he has become increasingly bland, often just too derivative.

Planet Earth is an example. The opening title track is fine and dandy in his more classic style but the lyrics get a little eco-preachy. On "Guitar" may I dare say that the purple one is getting overly sentimental in a bouncy meditation on teenage guitar joys. "Future Baby Mama" is an absolutely indistinguishable slow jam that you could find on MTV at any time courtesy of any number of bands. The other jazzy workouts on this record are equally unremarkable both lyrically and musically. Even the strongest old school Prince songwriting here comes on "All the Midnights In The World," a number that comes off too much like a Diamonds and Pearls" re-tread.

Advice to Mr. Lovesexy: Shake things up a little, dust off the analog synthesisers, write something controversial and quit trying to sound like the Tonight Show Band.