Does anyone know about this???

most of the versions of old songs on crystal ball seem slightly tweeked.

even "moviestar" has that sample of jam of the year in the beginning in
the background.

i've wondered about that for a while and perhaps it has something to do
with ownership/publishing rights?

maybe the official recordings still fall under the WB contract but if
he records the songs again, or changes them, that would constitute a
new master (didn't he say he could re-release his entire catalogue if
he only replaced the 'old' bassline for a 'new' one?).

perhaps that's the reason. or perhaps he simply wanted to update those
songs to the way he 'felt' them at the time? or there were simply some
unheard versions that we didn't know about and he chose one over the
other.

IstenSzek said:

Nope.

Consider that it wasn't edited for Crystal Ball in 1998, it was edited previously for inclusion on a project, and the versions we're familiar with are earlier and/or unedited versions.

The officially released 'Crystal Ball' itself (title track) is just one of several different versions/edits.

the only one that really pisses me off on that set is Crucial. and aside from including inferior remixes to several songs, everything else is just fine to me.

I like the sax version of this song better than the guitar version, by miles.

In fact, I think the sax solo is the second-best rock sax solo ever, behind Clarence Clemon's "Jungleland" solo for Bruce Springsteen.

databank said:

all 3 cds had to be 50 minutes each in order to fit into the plastic thingy

ass said:

ass said:

Yeah, that's actually how they edited the tracks by shaving the CD down with sand paper.

What do you mean by eddited? Are there other versions? I really hate the abrubt ending of the Crystal Ball version

TheScouser said:

There are 2 circulating unreleased version, including one which is exactly the CB version but much longer.

NouveauDance said:

What u say is true 4, say, Crystal Ball or Acknowledge Me or Movie Star (minus the strange Jam of the Year intro) but i doubt that Prince edited Crucial b4 1997. The liner notes say that it was considered 4 SOTT then replaced by Adore, and i can hardly imagine SOTT featuring this version. And as TheScouser says, the ending is really abrupt, almost as if Prince didn't want 2 hide the fact that the song was longer 2 whoever wouldn't already know about it.

And yeah, a possible reason is the fact that all 3 CD's had 2 feature the exact same number of tracks and have the exact same duration, which at least seems like the only reasonable xplaination 2 the strange intro 4 Movie Star and outro 4 Good Love, as well as the fact that this last one was edited down too. But still, the Crucial edit just sounds so "unnatural"

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[Edited 3/14/10 16:27pm]
[Edited 3/14/10 16:27pm]

ernestsewell said:

I confirm, unreleased material belongs 2 Prince.

This being said, the inclusion of Good Love and Tell Me How U Wanna Be Done was clearly a "fuck off" 2 WB because they DO own the masters of these songs and i doubt that Prince gave them a single penny or even asked 4 a written agreement 2 b allowed 2 include them.

Same goes with the rerelease of Thieves In The Temple's ext. version & Horny Pony on NPGMC in 2001 (not 2 mention the WB songs featured in the NPG Ahdio Shows): the only reason Prince "illegally" rereleased them probably was 2 claim his "ownership" of WB material, because once again i doubt there was any kind of a deal between him & WB about these songs but he bet on the fact that they wouldn't go in2 the hassle of a legal procedure 4 this, and he won his bet.

databank said:

the 3 discs are each 49:49 ... well, depending on how your CD player reads disc length.

anyway, Prince was annoyingly occupied with the numerology of his releases at the time. on Emancipation? fine. whatever. but on CB, all 3 discs could have fit on 2. or he could have filled them up with more stuff. and i really don't see the point of 38 blank tracks on NPS.....