It's hit and miss unless you're a blind devotee (which isn't a bad thing, just saying how I see it). But the one song I listen to the most...?

Clorine Bacon Skin.

You take a drum and a bass and you turn it into something THAT fucking funky?!? It's not right I tell you!
[Edited 10/29/07 1:36am]

iloveannie said:

Or maybe it is!

Excellent idea, executed very poorly.

Most of the individual tracks are top drawer stuff - most of the 80s tracks are essential, and the Come/Gold era tracks collected here are amongst the strongest from this period.

Where the collection is let down is the mish-mash of eras, heavy weighting on the mid 90s (far more interesting unreleased stuff from the 80s that wasn't used), the superfluous remixes, and the ridiculously mis-guided decision to purposely edit some tracks badly to make it more a "authentic" bootleg.

NouveauDance said:

Why is it I find your av piccie really, umm, err, how to say it? Well it always catches my eye and for some reason I have now built a complete mental nudey image and to be honest, uh oh, here it comes again...

The first three discs have some good and some bad stuff on them. The fourth disc, "The Truth", is an entire album of boring acoustical shit that sounds like it came straight off of "Hee Haw". He should have lowered the price of the set and sold "The Truth" separately so I could have left it on the shelf in the record store to collect dust. And that's "the truth".

vainandy said:

LMAO! Just be grateful that the record stores carried the 4-disc version and not the 5-disc version. I can't even begin to think of how you would describe the 5th disc, "Kama Sutra", which was the opera that Prince wrote for Mayte.

I love 99% of Prince's work, including what you would call "boring acoustical shit" and "shit hop"....but even I cannot even begin to stomach Kama Sutra. LOL.

My motto is: If it's got a touch 'o the purple, I get it"

vainandy said:

iloveannie said:

My work here is done.

great album with some great songs and some shit ones

That's strange.

I thought that when compared to Emancipation, this album sucked

Am I missing something here?

I could have sworn a bunch of people have tried to talk me out of getting this one too and yet a bunch of people are praising it.

What's going on?

I want to get Emancipation and nothing anyone says can change that. I know perfectly well what it's about and what it means.

But is Crystal Ball so good that its worth getting as well? It's bound to cost a lot for 3-4 discs (but of course, Emancipation is being sold for as low as $4, so price isnt really the issue with that).

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

You know it was also sold with a 5th disc (Karmasutra)

Militant said:

No kidding. I bought the 4-disc version at Best Buy in '98 and always sort of regretted that I didn't get Kamasutra in the deal.

When I joined NPGMC, I was excited to get Kamasutra, at last. That is, until I listened to it. What a piece of dreck!

But, yes -- I'd say that if you can get the 4-disc Crystal Ball, it is definitely worth buying. You won't like everything on it...but there are enough gems to make it worthwhile.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Yeah, it's available for between £80 and £140 over here. Double that for dollars So it's a good job you know that it'll cost a lot!

mplsmike said:

I think I have... thru the NPGMC, you could get all 5 discs... but in stores, it was sold with 4.

:shudder:
I've heard horror stories about Karmasutra...
Don't think I want that in my collection. Heard plenty of bad things about it.

Guess I'll just have to read the description carefully when I order online... in a year or so This doesn't feel like a requirement for me, just something to get if I'm craving more of 's music.

You should get it, which is what Im in the process of doing now, anything by Prince is worth a listen, and Im sure I will make my own judgement on what I like and what I dont like.

You can get it on ebay for 30 Us dollars which is about 15 pounds I think-go on ebay and have a look there are cheaper ones than that.

Since it's almost out of Print, you really ought to get it. If anything for The Truth Album.

All in all, I'd say it's sorta a mixed bag. You have some gems on there like the title track, Movie Star, Days of Wild 18 and Over etc. Then you have your dogs...like the remixes and a few of the outtakes from Emancipation. Then you have the odd curiosity, like An Honest Man and Cloreen Baconskin.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

They're perfect complements to each other. Complete opposites in a way. Emancipation is a cohesive album, CB is a mish mash. Emancipation is dull, CB is exciting. Emancipation is deeper, CB is on the surface.

Emancipation took me a long time to like, but I liked CB right away.

sosgemini said:

Really! Wow, cuz you know that version is worth about 100 bucks now.

KidaDynamite said:

So was the packaging.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

The responses here are evidence that YES you should get it. There is something for everyone. PLUS most people like the TRUTH, you probably will too. And get it before it gets pricey and you can't get it any more. Right now used copies are going for what it came out at...about 30-40 bucks.

Emancipation can still be had for pretty cheap.

IMO, get CB before you get Emancipation.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

The responses here are evidence that YES you should get it. There is something for everyone. PLUS most people like the TRUTH, you probably will too. And get it before it gets pricey and you can't get it any more. Right now used copies are going for what it came out at...about 30-40 bucks.

Emancipation can still be had for pretty cheap.

IMO, get CB before you get Emancipation.

mplsmike said:

Good luck finding those. Copies are about 100 on Ebay.

KidaDynamite said:

Is this the track that became "Tricky: by the Time? I forget what B side it is on

I dig Crystal Ball. I gotta hand full of favs on it.

superspaceboy said:

wow really? i remember those collecting dust at sam goody for like 5-10 bucks! lol

Jungle Love

BTW buy it

It has some of his best songs ever.
[Edited 10/30/07 1:18am]

Cloreen Baconskin!

Just the name alone is worth the price of admission.

And the Truth rocks... Acoustic...so nice!

i got it during the whole Hype surrounding it..i think at a Blockbuster video store...I immediately preferred the vesrsions I previously had..I'll take the raw Bootlegs over polished versions any day !

Dan26 said:

The Crystal Ball album is not very good. Instead of putting on unreleased tracks people wanted, he used the album to give people his shareware (So Dark, How U Wanna Be Done, 2Morrow, Lovesign remix). The album was a huge disappointment on many levels -- you're better off buying a bootleg. More good music for your buck.