Crystal Ball is one of my all time favorite Prince songs. There is just so much going on in that song, I think it is his most impressive song ever, artistically and performance wise. Thoughts?

bigd74 said:

hopefularranger said:

bigd74 said:

Probably best it wasn't released to the mass public

Except it was.

Not really though.

TheEnglishGent said:

I think it might well be the most impressive, yes. I remember being absolutely blown away the first time I heard it, and as a songwriter myself, it's one of those rare songs that profoundly changed my perception of my craft.

Militant said:

I think it might well be the most impressive, yes. I remember being absolutely blown away the first time I heard it, and as a songwriter myself, it's one of those rare songs that profoundly changed my perception of my craft.

It's interesting you say that, as the song itself is not terribly complex. Strip it down to the essential elements of any song (melody and, if any, lyric), and you have a piece that is not, in my view, the least bit impressive. It's a testament to Prince's skills as an arranger that he (along with Clare Fischer) was able to take a mundane 4-note melody and flesh it out into such an epic work.

[Edited 8/8/14 9:25am]

hopefularranger said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Not really though.

So it's unrleased to the mass public? I, along with several friends, bought it in a record store which had many copies stocked. I saw it stocked in several others, and it was available online.

Just because you and your Prince fan friends bought it doesn't mean it was heard by the mass public. It sold about 130k copies. At the time, I'd wager he had that many 'hardcore' fans. It got no radio airplay, and the price tag will have deterred most of the 'mass public' to stear clear.

It's like saying that if you sold a CD to everyone who lived in Dundee that your CD had been heard by the mass public. Only if you're counting Dundee as your entire catchment area, I'm afraid.

Anyway, I think the song is breathtaking, simple, complicated, edgy, gentle, harsh... It's a a world of opposites roled into one and that makes it superb. But I wouldn't play it to the mass public!

It's like our own little secret, and it should stay that way. It's too good (and to 'beautiful strange') to share.

erik319 said:

Just because you and your Prince fan friends bought it doesn't mean it was heard by the mass public. It sold about 130k copies. At the time, I'd wager he had that many 'hardcore' fans. It got no radio airplay, and the price tag will have deterred most of the 'mass public' to stear clear.

It's like saying that if you sold a CD to everyone who lived in Dundee that your CD had been heard by the mass public. Only if you're counting Dundee as your entire catchment area, I'm afraid.

I never said it was heard by the mass public.

it was released in record shops! that is where i got my copy. it is an urban legend that it was only sold online.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

it was released in record shops! that is where i got my copy. it is an urban legend that it was only sold online.

Yes, we remember that. Bigd74 suggested in his post that it was not released to the mass public, which I dispute. Somehow, the terms "released" and "heard" are being conflated here.

hopefularranger said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

it was released in record shops! that is where i got my copy. it is an urban legend that it was only sold online.

Yes, we remember that. Bigd74 suggested in his post that it was not released to the mass public, which I dispute. Somehow, the terms "released" and "heard" are being conflated here.

i remember before it came out I asked about it and they guy had no idea. I said "it is an official collection of some his bootleged songs" and He said "Oh no we would never carry any bootlegs..." and I scoffed and went to the used cds and in a few minutes found several boot legs! and took them to him and said "Never sell bootlegs huh"

When it came out I showed him and he said "that's not a bootleg"

Now they set they sold was the 4 cd one in the jewle case. I do not recal seeing the 5cd set for sale in a shop for a long time and then it was used.

but maybe they mean it was not a traditional release with singles and videos and marketing. Those factors did hurt sales. But then again as he was getting a much larger cut of sales he did not feel like he needed to sell near as many.


Like he said about Emacapation: "I am #1 at the bank"

Either way: I was a bit annoyed with the version that was released.

hopefularranger said:

hopefularranger said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Not really though.

So it's unrleased to the mass public? I, along with several friends, bought it in a record store which had many copies stocked. I saw it stocked in several others, and it was available online.

I never said it wasn't released. I think it's a stretch to say that it was available to the mass public. Purple Rain, Sign of The Times etc, they were mass produced. Crystal Ball was somewhat limited.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

but maybe they mean it was not a traditional release with singles and videos and marketing. Those factors did hurt sales. But then again as he was getting a much larger cut of sales he did not feel like he needed to sell near as many.


Like he said about Emacapation: "I am #1 at the bank"

Either way: I was a bit annoyed with the version that was released.

Didn't Prince say at one point that he made more from Crystal Ball than he did from Purple Rain? But then again, Prince does say a lot of shit.

To directly answer the OP's question -

Yes.

For me, CB is Prince's greatest single track. Not his best song, but his best track, his single best musical production.

I only play it occasionally, so when I do it still manages to blow me away with its majesty .

Back then the bootleggers named the song "Export Lover"..


Imho, Crystal Ball was a great outtake.. and BigD74 is right,

It was a too complex song for the masses. Sign O' The Times is much much better (the album), it is after all maybe Prince's best album.

Militant said:

I think it might well be the most impressive, yes. I remember being absolutely blown away the first time I heard it, and as a songwriter myself, it's one of those rare songs that profoundly changed my perception of my craft.

Same here, back in 98 it brought me to write a text while listening to it repeatedly and that text alone, inspired by CB alongside a very experimental performance I'd just seen, brought my whole writing process into a whole new direction that eventually brought me where I'm now, I mean when it comes to songs/poems everything I do now still is the consequence of the shift this one poem provoked back then. Funny how one song, just one song, have impacted the both of us so deeply in terms of creative process. The same way a very few movies and novels have deeply impacted my work as a fiction writers, Crystal Ball has impacted my work as a poet as no other text did

So in that sense, yeah, it may be the most impressive indeed ^^

erik319 said:

hopefularranger said:

TheEnglishGent said: So it's unrleased to the mass public? I, along with several friends, bought it in a record store which had many copies stocked. I saw it stocked in several others, and it was available online.

Just because you and your Prince fan friends bought it doesn't mean it was heard by the mass public. It sold about 130k copies. At the time, I'd wager he had that many 'hardcore' fans. It got no radio airplay, and the price tag will have deterred most of the 'mass public' to stear clear.

It's like saying that if you sold a CD to everyone who lived in Dundee that your CD had been heard by the mass public. Only if you're counting Dundee as your entire catchment area, I'm afraid.

Anyway, I think the song is breathtaking, simple, complicated, edgy, gentle, harsh... It's a a world of opposites roled into one and that makes it superb. But I wouldn't play it to the mass public!

It's like our own little secret, and it should stay that way. It's too good (and to 'beautiful strange') to share.

Y'all need to STOP reasoning like that. Just because a record doesn't sell 5 million copies doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Most of the records ever released sold a few dozen thousand copîes, and that would include most of the best records ever recorded. Crystal Ball was available, widely, in every record store in the developped world back then, that's more than most records. I'm so tired of this populist elitism that discards everything that's not a mass media success when most of the records selling millions are sheer crap and most of the good records don't sell! Radio aiplay? Give me a break! So now an album needs radio airplay to "exist"? Did u hear what the radios play? Burn your radio, burn your TV, good music is all over the place, just it won't get to you if you don't get to it first! Don't u see that y'all have been brainwashed by mass medias! GODDAMMIT!!!

^Actually this is so INSULTING to artists! You don't sell million of copies = you don't exist, your hard work is worthless, you're shit! Shame on you people, SHAME!

TheEnglishGent said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

but maybe they mean it was not a traditional release with singles and videos and marketing. Those factors did hurt sales. But then again as he was getting a much larger cut of sales he did not feel like he needed to sell near as many.


Like he said about Emacapation: "I am #1 at the bank"

Either way: I was a bit annoyed with the version that was released.

Didn't Prince say at one point that he made more from Crystal Ball than he did from Purple Rain? But then again, Prince does say a lot of shit.

It was Emancipation.

Militant said:

I think it might well be the most impressive, yes. I remember being absolutely blown away the first time I heard it, and as a songwriter myself, it's one of those rare songs that profoundly changed my perception of my craft.

I'm sorry Militant but according to some of the people here, because we are not ultrafamous megastars who sold 5 million copies of everything we ever did, all of our hardwork is worthless, we are worthless, we are not entitled to exist. Your whole career and life are shit, so are mine. You got a gun? I feel like shooting myself all of a sudden!

hopefularranger said:

Militant said:

I think it might well be the most impressive, yes. I remember being absolutely blown away the first time I heard it, and as a songwriter myself, it's one of those rare songs that profoundly changed my perception of my craft.

It's interesting you say that, as the song itself is not terribly complex. Strip it down to the essential elements of any song (melody and, if any, lyric), and you have a piece that is not, in my view, the least bit impressive. It's a testament to Prince's skills as an arranger that he (along with Clare Fischer) was able to take a mundane 4-note melody and flesh it out into such an epic work.

[Edited 8/8/14 9:25am]

I'm gonna go with Militant here. I'm a songwriter, and it is profound. If you listen to it without the Clare Fischer parts, it is still an amazing song. The drums and guitar alone are priceless. Sure the drums recall Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk," but a lot is going on in this song...and the singing is very unique...slow, fast, screaming...and not just some heavy metal yell...

So you not being impressed with it doesn't change how this song has affected most hard core fans.

TheEnglishGent said:

stillwaiting said:

No.

I would put the song Lovesexy at the top

of his most impressive songs.

Honestly I felt that song was in dire need of some editing! I loved the intro with that baseline hook over that beat. Really smooth. Then I loved that keyboard part. I'm loving it so far, then the song suddenly changes to a jumbled mess...then it becomes nice again when Prince starts singing "Whoaaaaaaaa Whoa Whoa" (damn I love that part), then it gets sloppy again near the end. I feel this would had made a surefire hit, if it was a 5 minute long song.

[Edited 8/9/14 0:53am]

databank said:

^ Erik319.... I remember you from earlier,

I think you should stay here, don't leave... I like your posts.