As a collection, it's a car crash but the individual tracks are largely very good.

The amount of 80s stuff is disappointingly scant, and there's some stupid editing/dubbing that is unnecessary (intended to make the set seem more like a bootleg, tongue in cheek-like).

You'd mainly want it for the fact that it gathers up most of the missing Gold/Come era tracks that were largely previously circulating on bootlegs. Interactive, Acknowledge Me, Calhoun Square etc - all top drawer stuff.

In my opinion the first two discs are a killer sequence of songs, going through a variety of genres and attitudes of production that contrast in a refreshing way. I remember first hearing them in headphones back in the day and marveling at how well the sequence would jump perfectly to a contrast to the last track... no repitition, and really refreshing and quite awesome.

3rd disc... not so much.

Great cd set! I love it!

hhhhdmt said:

love sign has a great music video!

BlackCandle said:

hhhhdmt said:

Now that i have finally got it and listened to it, i dont think its quite as fantastic as some make it out to be, but definately has some good stuff. What surpries me though is how some of these songs are actually better then alot of what actually ended up in his albums. Either prince made some poor choice not to put this stuff on his albums or warner brothers did.

Crucial, Love Sign, Interactive, The Ride, Sexual Suicide, Interactive, Dream Factory, Last Heart, She gave her angels, acknowledge me. I also quite like ripop despite its ridicolous lyrics. Then again there are tunes that i dont want to listen to again.

Can't really agree when you think about what he replaced some of those tracks with: Crucial w/ Adore? Interactive w/ Endorphin Machine? But, sure WB are responsible for us not getting The Ride and Dream Factory and for preventing Love Sign being released as a single.

WB had nothing to do with Dream Factory being unreleased.

NouveauDance said:

... and there's some stupid editing/dubbing that is unnecessary (intended to make the set seem more like a bootleg, tongue in cheek-like).

Could you give some examples, please? I hadn't noticed.

I myself liked Crystal Ball so much more than the stuff he put out those days, and The Truth gave me back my faith in his continuing creativity.

irreverence said:

NouveauDance said:

... and there's some stupid editing/dubbing that is unnecessary (intended to make the set seem more like a bootleg, tongue in cheek-like).

Could you give some examples, please? I hadn't noticed.

I myself liked Crystal Ball so much more than the stuff he put out those days, and The Truth gave me back my faith in his continuing creativity.

The overdubbing of Jam Of The Year over the intro to Movie Star and the horrible splicing between Days Of Wild and Last Heart.

BlackCandle said:

hhhhdmt said:

Now that i have finally got it and listened to it, i dont think its quite as fantastic as some make it out to be, but definately has some good stuff. What surpries me though is how some of these songs are actually better then alot of what actually ended up in his albums. Either prince made some poor choice not to put this stuff on his albums or warner brothers did.

Crucial, Love Sign, Interactive, The Ride, Sexual Suicide, Interactive, Dream Factory, Last Heart, She gave her angels, acknowledge me. I also quite like ripop despite its ridicolous lyrics. Then again there are tunes that i dont want to listen to again.

Can't really agree when you think about what he replaced some of those tracks with: Crucial w/ Adore? Interactive w/ Endorphin Machine? But, sure WB are responsible for us not getting The Ride and Dream Factory and for preventing Love Sign being released as a single.

Crucial still could have been used on any of his 90's albums, its one of his best ballads IMO. Love sign should have been released but wb had nothing to do with dream factory. It was prince who disbanded the revolution and came up with the unreleased crystal ball project. Wb did reject that but it was a wise move IMO. A triple album simply wouldnt have gotten the same reviews.

I happen to thoroughly enjoy Crystal Ball. Be careful where you get it from though, if you want a hardcopy. I've seen people selling it for $150 and I've seen people selling for $40. Just make sure you get The Truth with it because that's my favorite CD. But as for songs, my favorites are:

Crystal Ball

Acknowledge Me

Ripopgodazippa

Love Sign Remix

So Dark

Interactive

Da Bang

Calhoun Square

What's My Name

Days of Wild

She Gave Her Angels

(and from The Truth):

Don't Play Me

Circle of Amour

Animal Kingdom

The Other Side Of The Pillow

Fascination

One Of Your Tears

side note: i got my copy for $30 so if you hunt for it you don't have to pay an arm and a leg

NouveauDance said:

irreverence said:

Could you give some examples, please? I hadn't noticed.

The overdubbing of Jam Of The Year over the intro to Movie Star and the horrible splicing between Days Of Wild and Last Heart.

Okay, thanks. I can't hear the first one, but the other one I get. But I don't like Movie Star much, so I don't play it much.

irreverence said:

I don't like Movie Star much

MY thoughts are here: http://prince.org/msg/7/345024

I think it's worth getting.

NouveauDance said:

irreverence said:

I don't like Movie Star much

But I do like Ronnie Talk to Russia...

irreverence said:

But I do like Ronnie Talk to Russia...

not a big fan of this cd. I liked about 5 or 6 songs total out of all of the cds. Not my cup of tea. I guess its all demos and b rated songs not good enough for an album and believe me it sounds like it. It is better than 20ten though.

That RC review mentions a NPG T-Shirt! Where's my T-Shirt!? It's been 13 years already!!! (not that it was advertised on the website). I still might have the dot-matrix-printed receipt dated 20-10-1997, and the online booklet is still at http://www.crystalballcd.com/. Classic Netscape!

I went and broke my original sealed 5-disc copy by accidentally stepping on it. Gutted.

As for the sequencing I love its all-over-the-placeness - bit like Zappa's 'Lost Episodes', or an early iPod shuffle.

CB

NouveauDance said:

irreverence said:

I don't like Movie Star much

that picture really cracks me up