Difference between revisions of "Album: Planet Earth"

24 July 2007 (US retail release)

The album (using slightly different slipcard packaging to the Mail on Sunday edition) was given to every audience member at each night of Prince's 21 Nights In London : The Earth Tour residency in August and September 2007.

Strangely, the album's packaging on each edition does not include a tracklist, indicating that the final tracklist may have been decided upon at a very late stage. Album credits only mention recording personnel by name, but do not specify which tracks feature each musician. The listing below reflects a best effort to compile accurate credits, but may not be completely accurate. Corrections will be made if further information becomes available.

Sessions and compiling

Little is known about the recording sessions for the album. Basic tracking for most tracks took place between November 2004 and Spring 2007, at three locations: Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA; 3121 at The Rio Las Vegas, NV, USA; and Circle House, Miami, FL, USA. Two of the songs Planet Earth, Guitar were recorded in November 2004, during a three-and-a-half hour session with Michael B. on drums and Sonny T. on bass at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Songs that were included on the 3121 album (the title track 3121), released in 2006 and his next studio album Lotusflow3r (From The Lotus..., ...Back 2 The Lotus, Colonized Mind, Love Like Jazz and Wall Of Berlin) were also recorded during this session.

Most of the songs from Planet Earth appeared on an early configuration of the Lotusflow3r which contained 15 tracks at that time (early 2007): Guitar, Chelsea Rodgers, Mr. Goodnight, All The Midnights In The World, Lion Of Judah, Future Baby Mama, and Resolution (see the Lotusflow3r album page for the full configuration). A four-song "Man Opera" consisting of I Am, Touch Me, Sunrise Sunset and No One Else was tentatively placed on an early configuration of Planet Earth in May 2007 but left off the album.

Promotion

The album produced only one commercially-released single, Guitar (which preceded the album), but also produced three promotional singles, Chelsea Rodgers (in the USA only), The One U Wanna C (in France only) and Future Baby Mama (in Holland only).

Prince launched the 21 Nights In London : The Earth Tour residency, but rather than the tour promoting the album, the album was in essence a promotion for the tour, as a copy was given to every audience member.

The album entered The Billboard 200 at number 3 and the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums Chart at number 1 but failed to be certified by RIAA. On 8 February 2019, The Prince Estate re-released the album with Sony’s Legacy Recordings (Musicology and 3121 were also re-released on the same day).

The compact disc version is the original issue.

1. Planet Earth (5:51)
2. Guitar (3:45)
3. Somewhere Here On Earth (5:46)
4. The One U Wanna C (4:29)
5. Future Baby Mama (4:47)
6. Mr. Goodnight (4:27)
7. All The Midnights In The World (2:22)
8. Chelsea Rodgers (5:41)
9. Lion Of Judah (4:11)
10. Resolution (3:41)

The digital version is a reissue from the CD.

1. Planet Earth (5:51)
2. Guitar (3:45)
3. Somewhere Here On Earth (5:46)
4. The One U Wanna C (4:29)
5. Future Baby Mama (4:47)
6. Mr. Goodnight (4:27)
7. All The Midnights In The World (2:22)
8. Chelsea Rodgers (5:41)
9. Lion Of Judah (4:11)
10. Resolution (3:41)

All songs written by Prince (credited to Prince and the New Power Generation).

• Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted
  
• Michael B. - drums on Planet Earth and Guitar
• Sonny T. - bass guitar on Planet Earth and Guitar
• Shelby J. - background vocals on Planet Earth, The One U Wanna C, Future Baby Mama, Mr. Goodnight, Lion Of Judah and Resolution, co-lead vocals on Chelsea Rodgers
• Marva King - vocals on Planet Earth, The One U Wanna C, Future Baby Mama, Chelsea Rodgers, Lion Of Judah and Resolution
• Bria Valente - vocals on Planet Earth, The One U Wanna C, Future Baby Mama, Mr. Goodnight, Chelsea Rodgers, Lion Of Judah and Resolution
• The Twinz - background vocals on Planet Earth, The One U Wanna C, Future Baby Mama, Chelsea Rodgers, Lion Of Judah and Resolution
• C.C. Dunham - drums on Somewhere Here On Earth, The One U Wanna C, Chelsea Rodgers and Resolution
• Joshua Dunham - bass guitar on Somewhere Here On Earth, The One U Wanna C, Chelsea Rodgers and Resolution
• Renato Neto - keyboards on Somewhere Here On Earth
• Christian Scott - trumpet on Somewhere Here On Earth
• Wendy Melvoin - acoustic guitar on The One U Wanna C and Resolution, mandolin on All The Midnights In The World
• Lisa Coleman - additional keyboards on The One U Wanna C and Resolution
• Mr. Hayes - drum programming and keyboards on Mr. Goodnight
• Sheila E. - percussion on Chelsea Rodgers
• Mike Phillips - horns on Chelsea Rodgers
• Maceo Parker - horns on Chelsea Rodgers
• Greg Boyer - horns on Chelsea Rodgers
• Lee Hogans - horns on Chelsea Rodgers

NB: Album credits only mention recording personnel by name, but do not specify which tracks feature each musician. The listing above reflects a best effort to compile accurate credits, but may not be completely accurate. Corrections will be made if further information becomes available.

• Prince - producer and arranger (credited to Prince and the New Power Generation)
• Kevin 'KD' Davis - assistant engineer
• Ian Boxill - assistant engineer
• Eddy Schreyer - mastering (Oasis, Los Angeles)
  
• Sam Jennings - package design
• Afshin Shahidi - photography

• "AEG - "much respect"
  "Ultimate power & glory 2 the most high - Jehovah""

• On 24 March 2007, the website 3121.com started playing a flash file showing the cover image and stating 'Coming Summer 2007".
• On 10 May 2007, Prince announced an unprecedented 21 shows at the O₂ Arena in London. This served to heighten interest in the Planet Earth album, although the album was not announced at the time.
• A Verizon Wireless commercial was filmed and broadcast, beginning 31 May 2007, with Prince playing a portion of Guitar. The song was available as a Verizon Wireless download, but the album was not announced on the commercial; only in the download file's information.
• The Mail on Sunday newspaper in the UK announced in early July 2007 that they would be distributing the album free with the 15 July 2007 edition of the newspaper. This was unprecedented for an original full-length studio album, and was highly publicized around the world. It gave the album a great deal of free publicity, and caused Sony BMG, the UK distributors, to cancel distribution in the UK. As a result, record store chain HMV carried the Mail on Sunday newspaper in stores with the sole purpose of being able to sell the album.
• Resolution was mis-titled 'Revelation' on some pre-release tracklists. Since there is no tracklist available on any copy of the album, this is still commonly listed as the title online.

• The US retail edition came with a lenticular cover, showing alternate images of the standard cover image and the symbol .
• The Mail On Sunday covermount version, released 9 days prior to the US retail CD version, came with a cardboard sleeve, containing no tracklist or credits.
• The 21 Nights concert version, given to concertgoers at each of the 21 shows at the O₂ Arena, came with an alternate cardboard sleeve, with rounded corners, containing no tracklist or credits.
• The cover and back cover feature a background wallpaper made of "3121" logos, while not featuring the album title, causing some confusion on the album name.
• While being released within a couple of weeks of the worldwide Live Earth concerts organized by Al Gore, the album was not connected and Prince did not appear at any of the shows, despite being courted as a headlining act.
• Planet Earth entered the Billboard 200 Albums chart at position 3 (its peak position) with a number of 96,000 units sold within a week.
• Planet Earth entered the French TOP 200 Albums chart at position 16 (its peak position) on 28 July 2007. It remained 9 weeks in it, and exited it on 6 October 2007.
• On 10 February 2008, Future Baby Mama won the Grammy Award for "Best Male R&B Vocal Performance" (beating Woman by Raheem DeVaughn, B.U.D.D.Y. by Musiq Soulchild, Because Of You by Ne-Yo and Please Don't Go by Tank).

• http://www.ozap.com/actu/charts-usa
• http://www.disqueenfrance.com