Dr Dre Working on Instrumental Album Based on the Planets

Dr Dre has revealed one reason for the delay on long awaited album 'Detox' -- he's working on an instrumental album.

In an idea somewhat reminiscent of Holst's orchestral suite 'The Planets' (it even shares the title), each song will be based around the nine planets of the solar system.

Speaking to Vibe magazine (via Gigwise), Dre said, "Oh yeah, that's in the works. An instrumental album is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I have the ideas for it. I want to call it 'The Planets.'

"I don't even know if I should be saying this, but f--- it. It's just my interpretation of what each planet sounds like. I'm gonna go off on that. Just all instrumental. I've been studying the planets and learning the personalities of each planet. I've been doing this for about two years now just in my spare time so to speak. I wanna do it in surround-sound. It'll have to be in surround-sound for Saturn to work."

A surround-sound instrumental album, with, presumably, a hip-hop bent to it. Sure, it sounds interesting, but what about 'Detox,' an album that has been in the works since around 2004, and subject to myriad delays, due to Dre's hectic schedule of producing (including Eminem's 'Relapse') and signing new talent?

Dre now says that that album will not be out until 2011. When asked whether he thought it would take this long, he said, "Absolutely not. I thought it would take at worst case a couple of years. For example, actual work time on 'The Chronic' was nine months and actual work time on my last album, '2001', was about 10 months. The actual work time on this album is about half of that, where I'm seriously focusing on it. There is always something coming up."

With an urgency known only to Guns N' Roses, time will only tell when 'Detox' and 'The Planets' will be finally released.