I don't consider it an LP, I conisder it a bootleg but thats not important I think,,

I picked that motha 5 days ago and I really couldn't anderstand the negative vibes against it from some of ya'll folks. Altho we know its not a masterpiece, it has some good sides. I like Crucial just becoz it was a part from SOTT, The Crystal ball(the song) is quite Edgy and dark and Claire Fisher did a good jop putting the orchestral arrangments BUT my absloute fave is Da Bang, hell I didn't know he was bored when he recorded it.

The Truth LP is a good one too, I like 'Don't play me' & 'The truth' alot. Circle of Amour and one o' yo tears are PRICELESS, Fascanation is FUNKY. Dionne woulda been betta without these cartoon keyboard sounds but its a very moving song, its powerfull when Prince broke down at the end while sing 'I just mess you'.

So, your opinion about it???

I like the set, but the negative vibe comes from the fact that Prince chose to put songs like the Pussy Control Remix instead of Moonbeam Levels and other much-loved vault classics.

Also, many people are still bitter about how the sale and distribution was orignially handled. Prince lost many a fan over this.

lovemachine said:

I totaly agree with you, P.Control remix/how you wanna be done/so dark shouldn't be there. Hell, the only good remixes are Lovesign and 18 & over.

BTW I neva anderstood the hole distribution nd the sale handeling, could you please break it down 4 a sistah?? I also have know idea about the law-sues against these websites made by the fans, why did he sue them???

love them both

wish mine had some credits/lyric info & such

the packaging blew

but it had Calhoun Square on it!

and Make Yo Momma Happy...

and Comeback

I dig it

I think the marketing&the way it came out Pissed folks off overall.also the Music Selected for all the Discs much like Prince's Stuff from 1990-now for Me was Hit&Miss.Re-Mixes that were used instead of songs.I think more Vault Stuff from back in the day as to 90's to Recent that He added kinda Watered-it down overall.in alot of ways it seemed like He just wanted to get stuff out there&get it out of His System IMHO.that has been something that has been noticeable with certain releases He has done.He has alot of stuff&sometimes that urge to drop anything overrides if it's Quality or Quanity depending on the person who is buying it?

Harlepolis said:

The first problem that Prince had was that the project kept being delayed. From the time that people first pre-ordered until the project was actually ready to be delivered was almost a year. Because of this many people who had signed up a year earlier had their credit card expire in the year gap so they were declined after waiting a year.

The second problem is that Prince charged people around $75 (with shipping) for the set with the promise that it was going to come with a "displayable" limited edition case. Which turned out to be the hockey puck.

So the set get's ready to ship and Prince has no clue on how to mail out the 80,000 Crystal Balls that people had pre-ordered. It took months and months and months for everyone to receive their order. In fact a number of people still haven't received their copy.At the time it seemed that they were shipping about 100 a day which was excruciatingly slow.

But the final straw that pissed almost everybody off is that Prince released the set to Best Buy and Blockbuster at the same time they started shipping the set. The set released to Best Buy was only 4 discs, but they were only charging $29.99 (compared to the $75 through Prince) This means that people had paid $45 for Kamasutra which of course pissed a lot of people off.

They were not allowing people to cancel their orders and many people who got tired of waiting the months and months for their shipment to arrive ended up buying the Best Buy version so basically they ended up buying the set twice because they got so impatient waiting for the stupid thing to arrive.

All in all it was a mess. I think that they have done better since this fiasco, but I tell you he lost a lot of fans during this time that he will never get back.



BTW Calhounsq. you have seen the Online Crystal Book?

http://www.npgmusicclub.c...rames.html

They thought they were clever doing the on-line book, but basically it was just annoying.

"The truth", the song itself, I love!!!

And for some reason, out of all songs, it sounds so crisp, clear, and beautiful on my system...ain't that the truth!
[This message was edited Mon Sep 2 16:42:52 PDT 2002 by Starmist7]

I Love The Truth.Dont Play Me especially.


Much love Pochacco

lovemachine said:

I got my set from the local record store, so I didn't have to go through all that shit that other people did. Although I love all the different songs on it, I was still dissapointed that he left some famous outtakes off the set. Even though most of us have them on cd somewhere, it would have been good to get a clean copy of some of those songs. Oh well... I guess we'll just have to wait for version 2.

lovemachine said:

I have, thanks for the link though. I tried to print my own CD inserts but I never could get the damn things to come out right - too big, way too much ink, it just wasn't worth the trouble.

I've been saying for years that I'll have to buy a standard copy just to have all the printed info. The friggin' tracks aren't even listed on the faces of the CD's - LAME.

They should have printed & sent a book to everyone who ordered that thing...

CalhounSq said:

The printed info isn't that great with the standard copy. No lyrics and they don't even have a tracklist for the Truth. I swear you would be better off just typing tracklist on Word and inserting it into the puck.




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[This message was edited Mon Sep 2 15:53:19 PDT 2002 by lovemachine]

Like em'!

I think the Crystal Ball is OK.The TRUTH is worth every penny and then some.One of his best works ever!!!

I just recently purchased the set and I love it!! There are on a few cuts that will have to grow on me: Strays of the World and Loose (sounds better on "Come") I even like Cloreen Bacon Skin!! (LOL) I'm mostly stuck on "Lovesign".

Tina (~!~)

Okay, fair enuff Crystal Ball aint a flawlessly compiled, rarity-stuffed, chronologically assembled "Anthology" of Prince out-takes. But,track by track, this is as wild and as versatile as any music Prince has made.Its a full-on exhibition of the multi-genre command which has always been his strongest calling card.It's stuffed full of rap, disco, soul, R&B, blues, rock, pop, ballads, boppers, and ALWAYS more funk.With The Truth CD, its a welcome reminder of why I love Prince so much in the first place-for his artistic daring, his passion, his refusal to be confined by anyones expectations, his melodies, his playfulness, and his wierd and wacky sense of humour.On some tracks (The Truth title song),he screams with a commitment that had been missing from his music for years.On others, he's the ultimate pop-prankster, throwing in references to Jimi Hendrix and Henry Mancini the way other artists scatter expletives (altho-he can manage those too-Days Of Wild!).
My main reason for replying to this thread was this tho.I just wanted to repeat something I read when he first released it, it said:
"Buy this album, but pause for a moment's silence, in memory of the man's commercial sense-and consider another scenario. The Truth is released, after a flurry of press leaks, as a single CD.Everyone welcomes Prince back to the land of the giants.Then he unleashes Crystal Ball.It goes quadruple platinum, and sets him up to do whatever he damn well pleases for the next decade.Ladies and gentlemen-this album is ALIVE!


That was it!-Sorry for going on, but if u read the WHOLE thing-well done!

NettieSmiles said:

I have never like the remix near as much as the original on new funk.

I LOVED Crystal Ball, and think "The Truth" is interesting but a bit overrated.

Some of the funkiest Prince songs I've ever heard are on The Ball (Calhoun Sq., What's My Name, Acknowledge Me). As usual, I edited out what i didn't wnt and wound up with a 90 minute classic.

Only the first 2 songs on "the Truth" really grab me.

I actually felt guilty NOT purchasing it from 1-800-NEW-FUNK, but when I got around to ordering it I noticed the set in my local record store and said "what the hey... Prince ain't gonna miss my 50 bucks." I guess because I didn't have to wait a whole year for the set I really appreciate it -- and remember this too the remixes are only old to people that already brought COME and TGE, and there was practically no FUNKY SINGLES released with those albums so I think Prince called himself getting the new mixes out to his fanbase.

Am I the only one that remembers buying a new Prince album practically monthly back in the day simply for the REMIXES and b-sides? Well Crystal Ball was the REMIXES and b-sides for COME and TGE most likely.

lovemachine said:

Yea, I should just get a jewel case & make my own inserts. The Truth can go in a standard case & Kama Sutra can stay in the puck!

CB was pretty good. Some nice rarities. Also some real clangers. But when you are spanning an entire era, and more, to make such a compilation it is bound to suffer from inconsistency somewhat.

I agree, the remixes were pointless, especially when they aint very good ones at that.

The truth is OK. Not fantastic in my opinion, but a worthy addition to the set.

And after waiting a whole year for my `puck´, I proceeded to listen to Kamasutra... What a big pile of absolute shite!

What on earth was he on when he did that nonsense? I remember thinking at the time, stick to the day job Prince, this synthesised, orchestral shit doesnt become you... Let Mayte find her own music to dance to...

So the whole set was somewhat of a mixed bag of opinion for me. And to think, he then followed it up with NPS... No wonder fans strarted to leave somewhat rapid-like.

Still, the rollercoaster continues and hopefully we are on the way up outa the trough that we tumbled into at break neck speed...

lovemachine said:

I agree...i still look forward to hearing a 2nd Crystal Ball--but hope he'd add more older vault songs to the package.

And I still hear about the CB/1800newfunk- fiasco from some friends of mine who are(or were) more casual fans.

I think The Truth is a bit overrated, although some of the songs are nice.

I mainly play the first disc of TCB, I just love tracks like Crystal Ball and Dream Factory. These kind of experimental, raw and funky tracks are the ones that got me into Prince!

I don't care too much for the remixes and yes, it would have been nice if he had put some classic vault tracks like Moonbeam Levels, Wonderfull Ass, All My Dreams for example...

You guys are talking about a CB PT.2??? R U guys 4 real?

When it wil be released?? And How?? Don't tell me its an NPGmusic LP too

Please holla!

Harlepolis said:

It doesn't look likely that there will ever be a 'Crystal Ball pt II' set, Harlepolis, "NPGmusic LP" or not...




.

Harlepolis said:

I know he's hinted at it...i remember being able to vote for certain songs that we would want to see on a new vault album, at the first Celebration. Nothing's ever come of it, but that was only two years ago, June 2000.

I think he intended to release the vault album 'Roadhouse Garden' (like 'the Truth' on CB I) as part of the release, but who knows what songs would really be included.

Harlepolis said:

---

4 the most part I like the compilation - the only thing I don't like about it is that so many songs got "edited". like "Good Love" and "Movie Star". He took out a few measures of music out of each one, 4 what I don't know. I remember during the Larry King interview he talked about going back in the studio and remastering trax the way he intended or something - I guess a few extra measures of music makes all the difference in the world... (???)


My favorite track on The Truth is Comeback. What a beautiful song - it made me cry. I love the whole album, but that one short song really has a powerful effect.

crystal ball=
sorry, but i didn't dig it at all...

The Trust is one of my all time favorites

loosekiss said:

huh the Trust???

u mean the Truth... right...

Man I love those CD's! without them I wouldn't have Day's of Wild, Calhoun Square, Circle of Amour, Crucial, Hide The Bone, and all the others I love. Not to mention that version of The Ride.