Hello,
I was cruzing thru some websites and was looking for hidden messages in prince's songs when I came across this blog exchange:

+Holraven+ writes:
Brett: The Crystal Ball that has been released is a 1997 release of "previously bootlegged material", and has little in common with the release planned in 1986, except the title with title track. "Black Album" is the only "unreleased" full-length album that has later been released.


Ronald writes:
Camilla sings "If I was your girlfriend" on the album sign 'o' times


Porthos writes:
Camille is the name of one of his many alter ego's


Brett writes:
Actually, I own the Crystal Ball album. It is three discs longs with an extra bootleg disc. So Crystal Ball has been released.


[b]The entry that I'm curious about is the entry from Brett. does anyone know if there is any truth to an actual album call crystal ball that was unreleased in 1986?

Skillz4 said:

yep, look it up at Wikipedia, Crystalball, Dreamfactory, Camille and SOTT are all linked together, but the Crystal ball that was released in 1998 has very little to do with the originally titled album

Skillz4 said:

Brett is either talking about the official 1998 release, the bootleg set
and thinks it's the crystal ball album as it was planned to be released
back in 1986 (which obviously it is not) and the extra "bootleg" disc he
mentiones is -ironically- the only new, complete album in the package in
the first place, being "The Truth"

and if that's not what he means, then he just got a hold of a real boot
released on some of the bootleg labels (nothing to do with prince in an
official way at all) of the original Crystal Ball album. the tracklist
is widespread so i assume a few bootleg labels have made their own C.B.
box.

either way, the 1986 sequence of the album has never been released by
prince or through any other official means.

very interesting. Cuz I heard that a Camille album was relesed in europe in limited quantities back in the mid to late 80s.

Do you think that P will ever release those albums or compilation discs with those unreleased songs? I'm really wondering if we will ever hear what is in the 'Vault'.

Skillz4 said:

the Camille album was never released. a few copies might have been
"misplaced" from the test pressing though, lol.

Skillz4 said:

It wasn't.


What unreleased songs? Pretty much everything from the original 'Camille'
and 'Crystal Ball' albums has been released in some form or other.
[Edited 12/7/07 14:39pm]

BorisFishpaw said:

what was the track list for camille???

johno2 said:

"Camille"

side 1:
01. Rebirth Of The Flesh
02. Housequake
03. Strange Relationship
04. Feel U Up
side 2:
05. Shockadelica
06. Good Love
07. If I Was Your Girlfriend
08. Rockhard In A Funky Place


"Crystal Ball"

side 1:
01. Rebirth Of The Flesh
02. Play In The Sunshine
03. Housequake
04. The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
side 2:
05. It
06. Starfish And Coffee
07. Slow Love
08. Hot Thing
side 3:
09. Crystal Ball
10. If I Was Your Girlfriend
11. Rockhard In A Funky Place
side 4:
12. The Ball
13. Joy In Repetition
14. Strange Relationship
15. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
side 5:
16. Shockadelica
17. Good Love
18. Forever In My Life
19. Sign O’ The Times
side 6:
20. The Cross
21. Adore
22. It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night

.

BorisFishpaw said:

thanks havnt got most of the second disc apart from iiwygf (of camielle) i asked langebleu about this and he said the album was a myth

i wonder sometimes if Prince himself knows what he has and has not released

but you will always get the over indulged fan that thinks they know everything and every release, untill it goes so far that they forget the music and why it is there in the first place

there was a time when music was something to share, but now it has become one up man ship

^ Whitnail, I hope you're not referring to Boris with your statement. He has consistently provided accurate, detailed information for the last several years with absolutely no one-up-man-ship, including posting the Dream Factory, Camille, and Crystal Ball tracklists over and over again. He is a huge help not only to this site, but to Prince fandom in general.

That said, if you weren't referring to him, I stand down.

(Oh, and yes, I too wonder if Prince knows what he has and hasn't released. Sometimes when he busts out something like Empty Room in 2002, or 1,000 Hugs And Kisses this year, I wonder if he thinks of those in the same way as busting out, say, The Morning Papers.)

Hahahahaha...I don't profess to know everything about his music. I don't think anyone really knows for sure since there are so many bootlegs and cross information mixed with bad information leaks out.

I just wish we can hear the vaulted music.

Does anyone know if it's true that P has master recordings of the songs that gave to other groups and artists? I heard a rumor that he has masters with him singing the songs prior to giving them to other artists and groups.

I'm really intrigued about what will happen with all of his music after he passes on. Parish the thought but we all know that it's unavoidable.

Skillz4 said:

There's more than a few songs floating out there with Prince singing the lyrics to songs that he later gave away. manic monday, kiss demo (given away, then taken back),love thy will be done, almost the entire album by "The Family", etc...

johno2 said:

I've never suggested this.

booyah said:

just to set the record straight, I wasnt referring to Boris, it was just a reference to something I noticed at another site

The Camille album is brilliant! I think the cover art is very appropriate (i.e. peach and black colouring) for the time, and the cryptic/ not-so-subtle "PRINCE" printed backwards in brackets at the bottom is ace. The songs are among my favourite P tracks as well, I just wish he'd recorded more under the guise of Camille.

the songs are awesome. I still look up the lyrics to read them just like they are a story. I know I already know the words but there is something different and meaningful reading them.

does anyone know why he hasn't released or won't release the vaulted music?
[Edited 12/8/07 8:08am]

Anotherloverholeinyohead said:

^ That's not the cover art. That was put together by a fan
(made by using images lifted from the cover for the 'Gett Off' single.)
The real cover art for 'Camille' is completely different.

Skillz4 said:

If you're talking about "Camille" or "Crystal Ball"... he HAS released all the
songs from them apart from two.

If you're just talking generally... it's his music, and his decision what sees the
light of day and what doesn't. There are many reasons why songs are not
released. Usually it's just because they didn't fit musically with whatever album
he was putting together at the time. Or he just didn't think they were good
enough ,or quite finished yet.

Is it true that Prince and his group did a radio show in detroit back in the late 80's and re-did the entire top 20? I thought I heard that it was on vinyl, but have never seen it. I don't remember the year that it was but I just know it was in the late 80's.

Does anyone know about this?