Prince - Planet Earth: Much ado about not so much.

If you don't live in the UK and you've been insulated from the hubbub about the release of Prince's Planet Earth as a throw-in "covermount" with the Daily Mail, well, then you might not know that The Artist... is releasing a new record. And you might not have needed to.

Whether or not you recieved it for free with your morning paper, you can now stream Planet Earth in full courtesy of MSN.

The verdict? Anyone who says they love it is kidding themselves or works for Prince. But the man can still shred like nobody else and can still croon with the best of them. It's worth at least one listen, just to catch the few spectacular moments sprinkled in over the less-than-subtle preachiness of the title track and the generally glaring mediocrity of the songwriting throughout. My favorite lines come from the seductive "Mr. Goodnight:"

If your heartbeat goes up a notch or two
There ain't no telling what I might do
But I got a mind full of good intentions
And a mouthful of Raisinets

Free was probably the right price.