I've been a Prince fan for years now, and I've heard 38 of the 39 studio albums he put out in his lifetime. The only one I have not heard is Crystal Ball. I want to hear it, but it's 2 1/2 hours long. 3 hours of Emancipation was enough for me, and I don't listen to albums longer than an hour and a half very often. But what do y'all think of it? And what are the best tracks on the album that I should listen to if I never hear the full album?

simple, just listen to each disc as an individual release. there isn't a lot of cohesion
in that set anyway since it's just a set of unreleased (at the time) tracks.

there's some great stuff on there that is not to be missed, so just check it out

sexyhotandmorefun said:

I've been a Prince fan for years now, and I've heard 38 of the 39 studio albums he put out in his lifetime. The only one I have not heard is Crystal Ball. I want to hear it, but it's 2 1/2 hours long. 3 hours of Emancipation was enough for me, and I don't listen to albums longer than an hour and a half very often. But what do y'all think of it? And what are the best tracks on the album that I should listen to if I never hear the full album?

Dunno if you know the official release Crystal Ball was a compilation of (at the time) unreleased vault tracks. It's got some fascinating songs on it, such as the title track, Cloreen Bacon Skin (simply Prince on bass/vocals and Morris Day on the drumkit), Sexual Suicide (horns to die for) and the initally planned closer to SOTT, Crucial.

Before this release, Prince planned an actual 3 LP studio album with the title Crystal Ball, which I believe with time, morphed into SOTT. Prince Vault has details – https://princevault.com/index.php

It's shuffle mode on eras so just do like a track per week or something. There's no continuity or cohesion.

It's part of why it's just whatever to me. 'Old Friends 4 Sale' is the superior Vault compilation. It's definitive Prince mixed bag in that there's some essentials, some non-essential, some lame, some cool, some okay.

Some people really rave about "Cloreen Bacon Skin" in these type of threads but I will always prefer "Tricky" if you don't already have that (B-Side).

I will also add the version of "Crucial" with the horns still in The Vault is the definitive version and Eric Leeds peak moment on a Prince recording. The one with Prince on guitar is zZzZZZzz boring.

I personally like it more than some of the classic albums. If only because "Crystal Ball", the song, is one of my favorite Prince songs of all time. It's not very cohesive as an album/compilation, but many songs are just great.

Just listen to each CD as if it were a single 50-minute album. Don't force yourself to listen to the 3 CDs one after the other. There's no rule that says you have to do that.

[Edited 3/27/24 3:39am]

WhisperingDandelions said:

I will also add the version of "Crucial" with the horns still in The Vault is the definitive version and Eric Leeds peak moment on a Prince recording. The one with Prince on guitar is zZzZZZzz boring.

That's funny, because when the "Crucial" bootleg was released in the early 90s, with both versions, I absolutely loved the guitar version (the full version, not the edit on CB) and the horns version was the "boring" version to my (young) ears. I'll listen to both versions right now. Thanks for reminding me of their existence.

olb99 said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

I will also add the version of "Crucial" with the horns still in The Vault is the definitive version and Eric Leeds peak moment on a Prince recording. The one with Prince on guitar is zZzZZZzz boring.

That's funny, because when the "Crucial" bootleg was released in the early 90s, with both versions, I absolutely loved the guitar version (the full version, not the edit on CB) and the horns version was the "boring" version to my (young) ears. I'll listen to both versions right now. Thanks for reminding me of their existence.

Ok, the sax version is excellent. I still love the guitar version, though.

erik319 said:

Rumour has it that these modern 3 disc albums can be played separately rather than being forced to listen to them in one go. Crazy, I know.

Yeah, but when one downloads it from a pirate site, it could be that the album has to be played in one continuous sequence.

erik319 said:

I got into Prince as a guitar rawk kid and would obsess over his solos and any prominent guitar in his tracks.

Even at the height of my rawk obsession I felt the "Crucial" guitar version was lame and the sax version has some of the most soaring, majestic moments in Princestory.

AND, AND, I generally have always hated the stupid horns everywhere in his late 80s work and felt like it partially undermined what made him so cool in the early 80s which was replacing the horns with synths and all that. I felt like Eric Leeds was the biggest no talent hack to ever collab with Prince.

But "Crucial" is Eric Leeds definitive moment of vindication. Gorgeous, GORGEOUS solo.

[Edited 3/27/24 18:22pm]

Lars said:

If you have listened to 38 Albums already you will eventually also hear his 39th album anyway. So give it a Go.

It's a compilation. Same as 'The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale'.

olb99 said:

olb99 said:

That's funny, because when the "Crucial" bootleg was released in the early 90s, with both versions, I absolutely loved the guitar version (the full version, not the edit on CB) and the horns version was the "boring" version to my (young) ears. I'll listen to both versions right now. Thanks for reminding me of their existence.

Ok, the sax version is excellent. I still love the guitar version, though.

It's the one time his guitar solo failed to move me, like he's just noodling around. Normally his playing is so mighty and grandiose. I feel like "Crucial" definitely calls for something more in that direction, otherwise why add guitar at all?

Landonfunkmonkey said:

It has some really great stuff on it. Just break it down and listen to each disc at different times. Disc 2 is my favourite

One of my favorite "album" from Prince. There are some fillers, yes, but the whole project is a parade of Prince music from '80 to '90. I really love the 5cd set version: Kamasutra and The Truth were a perfect completion.

If you like 85/86 and 93/95 era's it's well worth checking out.

.

Back at release I loved it just for the fact I was getting the Gold era outtakes like Interactive, Acknowledge Me, Ripopgodazippa, Hide The Bone etc

.

And The Truth turned out a massive bonus. Cool little album that deserved a stand alone release

[Edited 3/28/24 4:50am]

The song Crystal Ball is a stone cold masterpiece, it has to be listened to with headphones on several times to appreciate it in full.

The album itself is frustrating, because you have some of his best work, alongside some pretty throw away things, like 90s remixes.

Movie Star is another classic mysterious early era bootleg - or it was until it showed up here. Prince's sense of humour and (very) quirky personality is on show in spades.

Make Your Mama Happy is another cool track, given his girlfriend of the time challenged him to write it.

There's also a 10min live take on Days of Wild, with studio overdubs, which many fans will debate...e.g. is it the definitive version. Many will feel not, or have their favourites, but it's still a good representation of that live era.

Sexual Suicide is brilliant as well.

As some people have commented above, it is very uneven and random too... so in that sense it's quite an odd release, even by Prince's standards. It's the kind of album once listened to 3-4 times through, you'll want to consolidate into a playlist of 1-2 discs worth of material.

Definitely worth your attention though. Hope that helps.

T

olb99 said:

olb99 said:

That's funny, because when the "Crucial" bootleg was released in the early 90s, with both versions, I absolutely loved the guitar version (the full version, not the edit on CB) and the horns version was the "boring" version to my (young) ears. I'll listen to both versions right now. Thanks for reminding me of their existence.

Ok, the sax version is excellent. I still love the guitar version, though.

Is there a reason the sax version didn't make it on to SOTT deluxe?

WhisperingDandelions said:

It's shuffle mode on eras so just do like a track per week or something. There's no continuity or cohesion.

It's part of why it's just whatever to me. 'Old Friends 4 Sale' is the superior Vault compilation. It's definitive Prince mixed bag in that there's some essentials, some non-essential, some lame, some cool, some okay.

Some people really rave about "Cloreen Bacon Skin" in these type of threads but I will always prefer "Tricky" if you don't already have that (B-Side).

It's a bit more than 'shuffle mode' - there is clear thought on the tracklist, but it's thought that ignores when the songs that were created.

leecaldon said:

olb99 said:

Ok, the sax version is excellent. I still love the guitar version, though.

Is there a reason the sax version didn't make it on to SOTT deluxe?

Yes, they clearly chose not to release everything (very far from it) and when releasing a song with multiple versions, they deliberately chose to release a version that was unknown to (most) fans. Hence the "new" version of "Crucial" we got on the SOTT SDE.

I've loved this one since day 1. I knew some of them already but a lot I didn't. Yes, its a hodge podge, but that was sorta the point right? It was supposed to be like a bootleg. Still play it quite a bit. I actually like this better than Emancipation (which I also do love) as it has tunes from his classic era.

I wasn't one of the unlucky ones who ordered it beforehand...I didn't even know it was coming out at the time. Just saw it at the wrecka stow one day and almost came.

SOOO many classics:

Epic title track

Dream Factory

Acknowledge Me

Hide the bone

Da Bang!!!

Last Heart

Whats My Name

Sexual Suicide...

so many others.

It's a fun compilation. Lots of older tracks, but also quite a few new/throwaway/remixes from the 90s.

What's most interesting is that a good amount of tracks are from the WB era, and he released this compilation right under their noses during a very contentious public feud with them.

sexyhotandmorefun said:

I've been a Prince fan for years now, and I've heard 38 of the 39 studio albums he put out in his lifetime. The only one I have not heard is Crystal Ball. I want to hear it, but it's 2 1/2 hours long. 3 hours of Emancipation was enough for me, and I don't listen to albums longer than an hour and a half very often. But what do y'all think of it? And what are the best tracks on the album that I should listen to if I never hear the full album?

Are you asking if you should buy it, or just listen to it? Are you not on any streaming platforms that have music? It's just such a weird question when you have the option to just go on any music streaming platform and just, I dunno, pick a track or two, listen to it and decide for yourself if it's worth listening to as a whole. And then I think, why or earth would anyone here have to actually tell you that?