Is it true that Crystal Ball was originally slated to be sold only online, then only 2 of 3 discs at the story (only online would get all 3 discs) then the store version became available before mail versions got sent out?
Also did all 3 discs get released to stores or was it only available online, and how many actually got all 3 discs?

And (breathe, ) how would you rate the cd?

I am thinkining of adding to my collection and want to know what I should search for next.

prodigalfan said:

Thats pretty much it. Everyone got 3 discs, but the main problem stemmed from disc 4 and 5, plus booklet, no booklet.

Its easy to look back now and laugh, but the whole thing was a nightmare at the time. I have never known fans to be treated so badly.

(except when P began sueing them!)

This was a total fiasco!!

At first the NPG was advertizing it before it was even manufactured, so 1000s of fans were sending in orders along with payments for something that didnt even exist yet, resulting in lost orders about a year/18 months later!! Then it was gonna b sold online only, then it wasnt gonna b sold online and only in stores. Then it was gonna b sold both online and in stores, then it wasnt gonna come out at all!! It was a total mess!!

In the end it was available both in the stores and online!! The online version had the 3 bootleg CDs, The Truth CD, The Karmasutra CD and a poster I think!! The Store version had the 3 bootleg CDs, The Truth CD and the booklet!!

I shall never forget this as long as I live!!

the whole thing can easily be summed up in 3 words

1. Complete
2. Fuck
3. Up

Prince did go "all the way to the bank" with it though

I don't remember it being such a pain. I'm over it anyway!

They took pre-orders for a three-CD set. In the end we received a five-CD set:

3CDs of Crystal Ball
1CD The Truth
1CD Kamasutra

I also received a cool NPG t-shirt in the deal, and a while later received a cassette copy of The War in the mail for free.

Not too bad I reckon.

sabaisabai said:

Huh?! Did you participate in the pre-order? I placed a pre-order like the very first day they started taking them. And it wasn't until several months later, into the following year, that I finally got my Crystal Ball set. It was 4 cds, no Kamasutra, no War, no t-shirt. Then, a nicer package became available in the stores for a cheaper price.

I feel so bad for the fans that got screwed,but I didn't have any problems at all.I pre-ordered the set in the summer of 1997 and it arrived at my house in early 1998 (which I assume was the official release date).In addition to the 5 discs,they also included a bonus T-shirt from the "JOTY" tour.Several months later,they also sent me a promo-cassette of "The War" single.


I did have problems with getting the NPG magazine back in 1994/95,so maybe they were trying to redeem themselves by not screwing up my second order? LOL.

sabaisabai said:

I had a similar experience as you and Davideye....I placed a PRE-ORDER that I KNEW was a PRE-ORDER and received a 5 disc set with a free t-shirt! I always felt it got blown WAY out of proportion.
My friend bought it at the 2001 Celebration for 15 bucks!!! :shock:
It's definately worth purchasing, something I think every collection should have.

i'm so glad i was poor when this all happened and i had to wait for it to turn up at the wrecka stow on sale. i missed out on 'kamasutra', but i also missed out on a lot of headache and that ugly-ass hockey puck CD case.

wow, thanks for the info.
So there were actually *5* cd's. If I got one off ebay that was the store copy of only the 3 cd's of CB, could I still get the Truth and the Kasmsar (whatever! ) separately? Or is it one of those deals like the hits/ hits B-Side issue (if you get the hits, you miss out on hits2 and b side)

prodigalfan said:

The store version had the 4th disc, The Truth, on it (no version was released as only 3 discs) but you can only get Kamasutra CD as part of the 5 disc set. I believe they sold Kamasutra on cassette seperately (but not 100% on that).

It was a total fuck up.

Prince had a bunch of monkeys working off of post-it notes at 1800NF at that time.

A bunch of early orders got lost (mine included) so I had to re-order (All this time making expensive phone calls to the USA to find out what was happening - WHEN you could get through, or didn't get put on hold for 20 minutes).

By the time my RE-order arrived, I'd already purchased the shop-bought 4CD set.

A few months after the RE-order arrived, my original order arrived (which I told was lost, which is why I re-ordered). Because of their no-returns policy, I was stuck with an extra 5CD set.

The moral of the story is 1) Prince at that time was bordering on being a con-man, to put it another way, he was a shit businessman. And 2) I kept the 2nd 5CD set sealed, and recently sold it on eBay for a handsome profit.

Worst Prince episode...EVER.


The lowest point in his career, me thinks.

Makes 2004 all the sweeter, though... Now if he can make ammends, and give us a killer, problem-free, Crystal Ball 2 this year!

I got my internet connection about a week before Crystal Ball was released so I had missed all the pre-release drama. I was pretty happy - I bought my copy from Blockbuster - so I was amazed at the negative reaction to the cds plus the ongoing bitching towards Prince & 1800NEWFUNK.

I never ordered the Crystal Ball disc or anything "prince" related online at the time (no credit card) but I must've inquired about it or something and they somehow got my address because months after the fiasco I received "The War" cassette by mail It was a nice surprise.

Anxiety said:

and that's bad how?

MendesCity said:

Yeah, count yourself lucky!

I bought "Crystal Ball" from the record store when it was released. It included 3 CDs of "Crystal Ball" and 1 CD of "The Truth". I received a cassette of "The War" in the mail because I had previously ordered a cap from 1-800-NEW-FUNK.

A friend of mine made me a copy of "Karmasutra" which was horrible. "Crystal Ball" in the stores should have had a lowered price and not included "The Truth" album because it was worse than "Karmasutra".

As for the album "Crystal Ball", it was OK and there were some good tracks on there but the only "old Prince" track on there was "Cloreen Bacon Skin". Everything else was late 1980s and 1990s Prince. Prince needs to get up off the pot and release some of that "old Prince" stuff. The other stuff is only second rate. Once again, Prince turning his back on his old fans, even when releasing previously unrealeased stuff.
[Edited 1/12/05 11:34am]

NouveauDance said:

What was so bad about it? It initially wasn't going to be part of the set, but was tacked on at the end, which made it a surprise to receive....and while not a masterpiece, it's not THAT bad... certainly better than N.E.W.S., and maybe even better than Xpectation.

For me it was a disaster. I pre-ordered, got billed TWICE and never got one set. I ended up having to dispute the charges with my credit card company after calling New Funk and being told that I had never ordered it, even though I had two credit card charges to prove that I had ordered it. Bitches took my money twice and then tried to tell me I hadn't ordered it.

Total nightmare and in the end, it wasn't even close to expectations.

papabeat said:

You know what, I first got it on cassette, so I had it before getting CB, but I remember listening to it and just laughing at how bad it was, and I haven't listened to it since.

I love Xpectation, it's a worthy successor to the Madhouse legacy, but SNOOZE is not my cup of tea.

I think I'll check out Kamasutra to see if I still think it's as bad as I did then.

NouveauDance said:

To add insult to injury, I would phone across the Atlantic to try to find out what had happened to my orders, and was forced to listen to excerpts from 'Kamasutra' whilst I waited!!!
.

I had just become a born-again Prince fan. Though I had more fever in me as I was being let on about boots. It's also when I learned what an ass P can be...just because.

But we all ordered this online. and waited and waited and waited. I actually cancelled it and bought it in the store.

langebleu said:

And the wait on the phone...GOD I remember that!

papabeat said:

i wouldn't go THAT far, but i really don't know why so many folks get so down on 'kamasutra' - it's far from one of the best prince albums/side projects/whatev, but i think it's far more tolerable than most people give it credit for. tolerable enough that i wish i had an original copy of the disc, but not tolerable enough that i'd actually put special effort into acquiring one.

im still waiting for my war cassette.

Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones. I preordered the set with no problem. It arrived with the T-shirt and I received the War cassette later. I also bought a store copy for the track listing in the booklet. I still have them all to this day.

Anxiety said:

I challenge you to come up with a duller collection of music Prince has released! It makes some of those '90s Van Morrison albums sound raucous by comparison. At its worst, it sounds like music he'd have playing during his own private Renaissance Fair.
[Edited 1/12/05 14:47pm]

MendesCity said:

Anxiety said:

I'm no Rave fan, but I don't think it's dangerous to drive to!