I've never invested in this album, but after hearing a couple songs off of it on AOL radio, i like it. So Dark and Crucial are really nice.

Gimme your review. What album does it compare to? (in it's entirety).

luv4all7 said:

Crystal Ball is LOADED with great music (some 80s, mostly 90s)!!! It's difficult to compare because it's so unique. Just don't listen to the negative feedback or you'll cheat yourself out of some fantastic music. Definitely splurge and pick it up...you WILL BE rewarded!!!!!

gcu1

it's an outtake collection, spanning 85 up to 1998 or something like that.
so it doesn't compare to any of his other albums since the songs come from
roughly two periods (crystal ball era and gold era).

it's a very good set with some of his very best songs ever. if anything,
you could possibly view it like a "what if" best off set. an alternate
hits package or something.

the completely newly recorded 1997 acoustic album "The Truth" that comes
along with this album for free is an absolutel gem as well. it's one of
my fav Prince albums ever with absolutely stunning songs.

IstenSzek said:

Shame on me for not mentioning "The Truth." I absolutely agree with your opinion...The Truth is quite the little gem, indeed!!!

gcu1

Sounds awesome! I'm stoked, and out on the prowl for it today! I can't believe how many times I passed this one up cuzza neg reviews.

luv4all7 said:

it's got a bit of everything on it. plus, these days it's pretty
cheap to snap up somewhere, especially since you get 4 cd's for
that price. i'd say get it!

luv4all7 said:

Some great songs you'll like and some you probably won't, but over-all one of his more powerful collection of songs. It is available for download from the npgmc musicology store.

acknowledge me and hide the bone are fucking belters!!, i love this cd so much invest pal!

It's one the albums/sets I listen the most!

Can't never get enough of sexual suicide

one of my constant favs from this set is "Da Bang", i absolutely
adore that song. it's so raw and wild. it's absolutely wicked

Wow, you guys are giving me butterflies in my stomach! I'm really excited to go get this album now, y'all! THANKS!

MikeMatronik said:

that's the one that addicts me.

Crystal ball does have its Flaws...
the 1st 3 cd's are only 50 minutes each...[if im wrong ,some 1 will let us know]
It features 3 or 4 remixes of old songs ..dark, Lovesign are cool...
But they could have been replaced with something we havent heard
It does have it's +'s...Classics.....
Crystal Ball, Dream Factory, Last Heart..Calhoune Square
And some Classics.....
But a few tracks seem like they should have been left as "outakes"
I know otheres might like this but....
The Bang" Whats My Name" Tell Me How U Wanna Be Done...are throw away tracks..
And the edited version Of Good Love
[only cuz i have the original; cd to "BL,BC Soundtrack"]
But what Really makes up for every thing is " THE TRUTH " cd
"Welcome to the dawn"...love that song

If u were lucky to get the 5 cd set that made it all worth all
When i placed my order for the cds back in 1997..and it came in 8 months later in 1998 they gave me a free P tshirt

But i just couldnt wear a t shirt with prince looking like mother Terisa

mplsmike said:

I don't see the 3 CDs as being only '50 minutes' as being a point against them, you are, after all, getting 4 CDs of music, the Truth is only 43 minutes but you love that! Back then CDs tended to only have the capacity for 70 minutes max anyway.

I would agree some of the tracks, if not all, are throwaway tracks - that is why they are on this 'out-take' collection in the first place - they were 'thrown-away'. But that doesn't mean the tracks are bad because of it, just that they didn't fit in with his previous albums. If you take these 3 CDs as 3 albums, they don't work cohesively because they jump from era and sound to era and sound, but they weren't meant to. It might have been better if they had been put in some chronological order.

This was the perfect type of outlet for these throwaway tracks, it's a shame that there was never a Crystal Ball 2 with the amount of unused tracks Prince has lying around.

I think what kinda ticks me the most...3 cds at 50 mins each...
They could have put all the tracks on 2 cds..[or most of them]
And gave us more music...

the remixe's /alts
loose,p control.dark.lovesign,tell me how u anna be donee..good love
theres 1 more i think.... i cant remember...
they allmost makeup 1 of the cds...
I guess i expected more.

When U think of Bootlegs.... As listed on the cds...
Or Unreleased Music.....
i never thought i get a hand full of Unreleased Remixes

I wasnt saying there all bad songs...
theres only about 3 i really dont care for

I love Crystal Ball...I'm shocked people were disapointed with it. I love the remixes...I love Good Love, Acknowlege me and 18& Over...don't listen to the Truth that much though.

Crystal Ball is a bit of a strange animal really.
It was originally intended as a way for Prince to officially release a lot of
tracks that were already circulating on bootleg (a kind of 'beat the boots'
collection). However, when the album finally surfaced it actually contained
quite a few tracks that had not previously been heard as well.

If you view it as just a collection of random outtakes in perfect sound
quality, then it's a very enjoyable release, and it includes some great
material. But there were a few things about the release that annoyed some
fans...
1. only 50 mins of music per disc
2. inclusion of several remixes of released tracks
3. segueing of tracks that don't belong together

Here's an overview of the 'Crystal Ball' tracks and where they originate from...
(in chronological order)


2/8 - CLOREEN BACON SKIN – March 1983
impromptu jam by Prince & Morris Day, recorded during sessions
for The Time’s third album. Never intended for inclusion on the album
(but would have made a good b-side like ‘Tricky’)

2/7 - SEXUAL SUICIDE – August 1985
From the June 1986 configuration of the unreleased ‘Dream Factory’ album.

2/6 - AN HONEST MAN – November 1985
From the final ‘Parade’ sessions. This is an acappella version. An instrumental
version was used in the opening sequence of the movie ‘Under The Cherry Moon’
and the lyrics to the song were recited later on in the movie too.

1/2 - DREAM FACTORY – December 1985
3/2 - LAST HEART – January 1986
1/9 - MOVIE STAR – March 1986
All from the unreleased 1986 ‘Dream Factory’ album. The album was
scrapped once the Revolution was disbanded in October 1986. ‘Last
Heart’ is a demo that Prince had always intended to re-do (but didn’t
bother to after the album was shelved) and ‘Movie Star’ was originally
intended for use by ‘The Time’.

1/1 - CRYSTAL BALL – April 1986
Originally from the unreleased ‘Dream Factory’ album. This version is
actually the one from the original unreleasd 1987 ‘Crystal Ball’ album

3/9 - MAKE YOUR MAMA HAPPY – August 1986
Never inteded for any album.

2/5 - CRUCIAL – September 1986
From the unfinished 1986 project ‘The Dawn’. Also considered for inclusion on the
1987 Crystal Ball album at one point, but was dropped when 'Adore' was recorded.

2/9 - GOOD LOVE – October 1986
Originally from the unreleased ‘Camille’ album, then included on the
unreleased original 1987 ‘Crystal Ball’ album. An extended version (made for
the original 'Crystal Ball' album) was finally released on the soundtrack
album for the movie ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ in 1988. The version on the
1998 ‘Crystal Ball’ is the original Camille album version.

2/1 - INTERACTIVE – May 1993
2/4 - WHAT’S MY NAME – May 1993
2/10 - STRAYS OF THE WORLD – May 1993
2/3 - CALHOUN SQUARE – June 1993
1/3 - ACKNOWLEDGE ME – October 1993
1/4 - RIPOPGODAZIPPA – October 1993
1/6 - HIDE THE BONE – November 1993
tracks recorded during the 1993 ‘Come’/’Gold Experience’ period.
Between them, these tracks have appeared on various configurations of
‘Come’, ‘The Gold Experience’, ‘The Dawn’ & ‘Chaos And Disorder’.

1/5 - LOVE SIGN (SHOCK G. REMIX) - June 1994
One of several remixes of 'Love Sign' made for an unreleased maxi-single.
'Love Sign' was going to be the follow up single to 'The Most Beautiful Girl In
The World', but WB wouldn't give permission for a second independant release
(they had already denied permission for the use of 'New World' as the original
B-Side to 'The Most Beautiful Girl In The World' forcing to use a remix
of the A-Side).

3/5 - 18 & OVER – 1994
Originally started life as one of many remixes of ‘Come’ made for a possible
maxi-single release, much like ‘Violet The Organ Grinder’ did with ‘Gett Off’.

3/8 - P. CONTROL (CLUB MIX) – 1994
One of several remixes made for a potential single release. Promo cassettes of
This and the ‘House Mix’ were made, and the a snippet of the track was also
Included on ‘The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold)’ tape given away
to spectators during the Paris Fashion Days at Le Ritz in June 1995.

3/7 - GET LOOSE – 1994
Also known as ‘(Lemme See Your Body) Get Loose!’, this remix was
slated at one point to be included on a release called ‘The Tora Tora
Experience’, and a snippet was included on the ‘Sampler Experience’
Cassette given away on during the European Gold Experience tour
In 1995.

1/8 - SO DARK
1/10 - TELL ME HOW U WANNA B DONE
‘94/’95 remixes of two tracks not intended for any particular project. ‘So Dark’
is a reworking of the ‘Come’ track ‘Dark’, with mostly new instrumentation.
‘Tell Me How U Wanna B Done’ is a Kirky J remix of the 2nd half of the track
‘The Continental’ from the ‘’ album, featuring Carmen Electra on vocals.

1/7 - 2MORROW – November 1995
2/2 - DA BANG – 1995
3/3 - POOM POOM – August 1995
Never inteded for any albums.

3/6 - THE RIDE (LIVE) – October 28th 1995 (original from June 1993)
3/1 - DAYS OF WILD (LIVE) – December 12th 1995 (original from January 1994)
Never intended for any album. Though the original studio version of ‘Days Of
Wild’ was included on early versions of ‘The Gold Experience’ and a different
version of ‘The Ride’ was included on the unreleased ‘Undertaker’ album
(which was later issued on VHS, in a slightly changed form)

3/4 - SHE GAVE HER ANGELS - 1996
3/10 - GOODBYE – December 1991
Outtakes from ‘Emancipation’.
[Edited 5/2/06 4:21am]

BorisFishpaw said:

WOW! Thanks for that detailed breakdown!!!

gcu1
[Edited 5/2/06 3:46am]

I love this album, I was listening to it this morning,

my favourite tracks are

Crstall ball,
Dream factory
Sexual suicide
da Bang
Whats my name
Cloreen bacon Skin
Movie star (i was upset it did'nt carry on into a place in heaven though)
Last Heart
Acknowledge me
Don't play me

All of these are more than good enough to be among his released album tracks, and I almost wet myself when I read the tracklistings let alone heard them.

I think its a great album to gain a full understanding of wht he's capable of and just how prolific an artist he is, most of the 90's outakes leave me cold
however.

Also, interactive was released, as an ahem 'interactive ' Pc Cd rom game. So they are'nt all bootlegs e.t.c
[Edited 5/2/06 4:10am]

Listen to "Crystal Ball" "Sexual Suicide" "Moviestar" and compare to the tone of the albums Parade and SOTT.... then... you will know what those albums should sound like with a dramatic remaster.

hide the bone...calhoun square...da bang...cloreen bacon skin....those are my favorites..but imo...crystal ball minus the truth is awesome..not to say the truth isnt good...its just not crystal ball in no way...