Hey, when these three albums, Crystal Ball, Chaos and Disorder and Vault, Old Friends for Sale, were released what did everyone think. Were any of these songs that new or were a lot of them known at the time?

Most of them, except for a few exceptions like Cloreen Baconskin, were pretty known among longtime fans. Some had already been released as slightly different bootleg material, some bootleg versions are even more popular than the released version(s), for instance Crucial and many other songs.

The "Crystal Ball Fiasco" rings a bell or two in this community.

Some of the stuff on the Vault and Chaos and Disorder was pretty new.

crystal ball was mainly a lot of waiting around. and then waiting some more.
i liked the 3cd's though. there are some amazing songs on them but just like
a lot of other people i was disappointed with all the remixes of songs that
had been released just a few years before. the good content was very good,
but there could have been much more or better cuts on there as well.

the inclusion of "The Truth" made it my 2nd fav release of the 1990's. that
album is a total classic imo. it's inclusion in the crystal ball package
made me forget all about the waiting and the retail screw ups etc.


chaos and disorder, i don't know if it was advertised well or anything. and
it was before the org days. but usually i'd know about a prince album well
before it was released since 1988. this album caught me by surprise though.
i was waiting for Emancipation to be released in autumn and then all of a
sudden i'm watching MTV NEW or whatever it was called and they announced a
new prince single from his new album "chaos and disorder". tripple wow. the
album is cool. but i was and still am disappointed that rumors of empty room
being on it proved to be untrue. the album has some very strong material and
some very sucky stuff. like i said on another thread, with this tracklist it
would have been a five star amazing full on rock album:

01. chaos and disorder
02. i like it there
03. the ride
04. dinner with delores
05. the same december
06. calhoun sq
07. zanalee
08. into the light
09. i will
10. da bang
11. empty room
12. had u


the vault old friends 4 sale, i remember being reported on online. i can't
remember if the tracklist was known very long before the release but by the
time i went into the store to pick it up i had already seen pictures of it's
back cover and tracklist. nice little album. i love it's consistend sound
and vibe. the only bugging thing is the new version of Old Friends, which is
about 0.000005% as good as the original. and perhaps my little pill. snooze.

the vault as well as chaos and disorder seem to have many fans but also many
people who dislike them. a lot of the dislike seems to come from people who
will always refer to them as "contractual obligation releases" together with
the COME album. as if that means they are just a bunch of outtakes thrown
onto a disc. there was enough thought and time going into all 3 releases i'm
sure. they all have a distinct sound and direction and are more cohesive than
some of his later indi releases.

The Vault - 'When The Lights Go Down' wasn't circulating, Extraordinary and I want to say 'Sarah' too, but not 100% that one.

CB - Cloreen Baconskin, An Honest Man, Da Bang, Make Yo Mama Happy were all uncirculating IIRC.

C&D was the most 'unheard' out of the 3 I guess - Zannalee was circulating in an alt version, title track was familiar from live shows, I think nothing else was circulating.


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[Edited 5/20/09 13:56pm]

NouveauDance said:

That one was circulating.

KoolEaze said:

Thank you.

NouveauDance said:

i have a boot (a holy one, of course) called Brave New World which was basically Kamasutra and a few outtakes, one of which was Sarah. This appeared a good while before The Vault.

and I know you'll kick yourself when you remember that The Same December was also circulating pre-C&D from the vids shown before the '95 shows started.

NouveauDance said:

the early version was a bit more guitar heavy. i think it had guitar
where the synth is in the released version.

soundwise it would have fit very well on chaos and disorder i guess,
but perhaps prince thought that delores was already a girl name and
he didn't need 2 girl name titles in a 11 song tracklist, lol.

i still prefer the 'original' version to the one on The Vault. that
one is nice too but the early version has more of a drive/punch.

i had it on the past present and future bootleg but i'm not sure if
i still have it. i should check.