I've noticed that a good amount of orgers constantly refer to Crystal Ball as an album. I always thought it was meant to be a collection of bootlegs and therefore didn't expect each disc to have a flow or cohesiveness to it. That lack of flow to it seems to be a sticking point for a lot of fans. I'm wondering if you're looking at it wrong or am I? Considering that some of these tracks were written over a decade apart why would they flow together?

I guess because we go to the 4-disc package when we want to listen to this collection.

I guess all that matters is liking the material even if it doesn't flow...

It's the same mindset you have to pretend to have with Prince. Remember, Prince release "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic", but we know damn well that was NOT the album it originally was. Same goes for Crystal Ball. Yes, it's basically a compilation album, and Prince said as much on Larry King, when he said he was one of the most bootlegged artists, and wanted to "clean that up a bit" by releasing CB.

ernestsewell said:

My point is that "Rave Un2 THe Joy Fantastic" should have a flow because it was intended to be an album. Thereby opening it up to criticism by that standard or lack thereof. "Crystal Ball" was intended to be a compilation and should not be judged by the same standards.
[Edited 9/19/09 19:36pm]

Well The Crystal Ball was an album back in 1987, right? Unreleased as a whole.

Crystal Ball was a multi-record set that was eventually whittled down to Sign o the Times...there was some great stuff not released on Sign....some of it was released afterwards...some has not seen the light of day yet....

the mid 1980s was probably Prince's most prolific time....between 86-87 Prince had 3 albums going on ... Dream Factory turned into Crystal Ball..then Sign o the Times....the Camille album was slated for release around that time too, not to mention Madhouse/Sheila E and a few other protegee albums were being worked on...he eventually released Sign o the Times....and almost The Black Album...

This may not relate to the initial question, but I listen to the 3-disc Crystal Ball set all the time. It may not be intended as a cohesive album conceptually, but I don't skip one damn song. A very enjoyable collection of songs. I would purchase a Crystal Ball II in a second.

No matter what Prince throws together...it will always seem to have a flow.
That's because Prince's music has a timeless quality...His music is always of The Now.

ufoclub said:

I'm referring to the bootleg compilation Prince put together and released as a 3 disc set (along with the acoustic CD "The Truth").

squirrelgrease said:

You're appreciating it for what it was meant to be. A collection. Some on here have called it one of his worst albums when it was never meant to be seen as an album.

i love it for what it is, a compilation of outtakes. eventho he edited
a lot of the tracks or updated them, i'm still very happy that he chose
to release songs like "moviestar" and "crystal ball" on an official cd
in great quality.

as a whole it hasn't got any real flow imo. it's mixed together heavily
and ruins some of the songs since a 1995 track will flow into a 1986 one.

imo the package would have been more cohesive if he'd simply put the cuts
in order of recording date.

but even if it were compiled like that, i still wouldn't consider it to
be an actual "album" as such. it's a collection of songs from different
periods much more so than him compiling a new album and putting one or
two old vault songs on there. in the process they become part of the new
album and simply 'belong' there. (think Rave or Feel Better).

People use the term 'album' to describe any long form music release, regardless.

Greatest Hits albums are compilations, but they're still called albums.

It's funny that the official released Crystal Ball set is aleays maligned for being a compilation... BUT... being a hardcore Prince fan that had heard everything up to the point, (even unreleased limited circulating stuff like God is Alive), it's hard for Prince to surprise me and keep me for an entire album. BUT in listening to Crystal Ball in headphones the first time, I was always pleasantly surprised by it's twists and turns on the first two discs, and loved the shifts as if I was listening to a very well engineered sequence of moods. When Cloreen Baconskin hit, I was in awe that he just chose to put a raw long take like that (not to mention it was funky and wicked and funny) as another twist, something he had never done before.

NouveauDance said:

But they're not criticized as albums. Other than the usual bonus Previously unreleased tracks they go uncriticized. Shouldn't Crystal Ball be afforded the same luxury? It was clearly not intended to flow like an album but it's often criticized as one.

I think the criticisms are valid. Prince wanted to 'beat the bootleggers' with CB, and failed miserably.

The cock-eyed editing and filler mixes might've been the joke, but it made for a poor listening experience, and any way, by this time bootlegs had better artwork and tracklistings than Emancipation, never mind Crystal Ball.

I guess using the opportunity of wanting to release a 3CD set of unreleased material and just doing that was too easy for Prince, he had to stuff it up in one way or another.