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Is Crystal Ball the most impressive song Prince ever recorded? Crystal Ball is one of my all time favorite Prince songs. There is just so much going on in that song, I think it is his most impressive song ever, artistically and performance wise. Thoughts? RIP Prince: thank U 4 a funky Time... | |
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It's certainly his most diverse song. Probably best it wasn't released to the mass public, they wouldn't have got it, and the album would've bombed being too much. It certainly wouldn't have been lauded as a classic like SOTT is. She Believed in Fairytales and Princes, He Believed the voices coming from his stereo
If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me? | |
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bigd74 said: Probably best it wasn't released to the mass public Except it was. | |
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Not really though. RIP | |
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TheEnglishGent said:
Not really though. So it's unrleased to the mass public? I, along with several friends, bought it in a record store which had many copies stocked. I saw it stocked in several others, and it was available online. | |
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moderator |
I think it might well be the most impressive, yes. I remember being absolutely blown away the first time I heard it, and as a songwriter myself, it's one of those rare songs that profoundly changed my perception of my craft. |
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[Edited 8/8/14 9:25am] | |
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Just because you and your Prince fan friends bought it doesn't mean it was heard by the mass public. It sold about 130k copies. At the time, I'd wager he had that many 'hardcore' fans. It got no radio airplay, and the price tag will have deterred most of the 'mass public' to stear clear.
It's like saying that if you sold a CD to everyone who lived in Dundee that your CD had been heard by the mass public. Only if you're counting Dundee as your entire catchment area, I'm afraid.
Anyway, I think the song is breathtaking, simple, complicated, edgy, gentle, harsh... It's a a world of opposites roled into one and that makes it superb. But I wouldn't play it to the mass public!
It's like our own little secret, and it should stay that way. It's too good (and to 'beautiful strange') to share.
blah blah blah | |
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I never said it was heard by the mass public. | |
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it was released in record shops! that is where i got my copy. it is an urban legend that it was only sold online. "Keep on shilling for Big Pharm!" | |
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i remember before it came out I asked about it and they guy had no idea. I said "it is an official collection of some his bootleged songs" and He said "Oh no we would never carry any bootlegs..." and I scoffed and went to the used cds and in a few minutes found several boot legs! and took them to him and said "Never sell bootlegs huh"
"Keep on shilling for Big Pharm!" | |
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but maybe they mean it was not a traditional release with singles and videos and marketing. Those factors did hurt sales. But then again as he was getting a much larger cut of sales he did not feel like he needed to sell near as many. "Keep on shilling for Big Pharm!" | |
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hopefularranger said: bigd74 said: Probably best it wasn't released to the mass public Except it was. Only to those that still cared about his music by that point. There was lot more interest in the follow up to Parade to which SOTT was a far better release. She Believed in Fairytales and Princes, He Believed the voices coming from his stereo
If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me? | |
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I never said it wasn't released. I think it's a stretch to say that it was available to the mass public. Purple Rain, Sign of The Times etc, they were mass produced. Crystal Ball was somewhat limited. RIP | |
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Didn't Prince say at one point that he made more from Crystal Ball than he did from Purple Rain? But then again, Prince does say a lot of shit. RIP | |
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To directly answer the OP's question -
Yes.
For me, CB is Prince's greatest single track. Not his best song, but his best track, his single best musical production.
I only play it occasionally, so when I do it still manages to blow me away with its majesty . | |
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Back then the bootleggers named the song "Export Lover".. Prince 4Ever. | |
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Same here, back in 98 it brought me to write a text while listening to it repeatedly and that text alone, inspired by CB alongside a very experimental performance I'd just seen, brought my whole writing process into a whole new direction that eventually brought me where I'm now, I mean when it comes to songs/poems everything I do now still is the consequence of the shift this one poem provoked back then. Funny how one song, just one song, have impacted the both of us so deeply in terms of creative process. The same way a very few movies and novels have deeply impacted my work as a fiction writers, Crystal Ball has impacted my work as a poet as no other text did So in that sense, yeah, it may be the most impressive indeed ^^ A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/ | |
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Y'all need to STOP reasoning like that. Just because a record doesn't sell 5 million copies doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Most of the records ever released sold a few dozen thousand copîes, and that would include most of the best records ever recorded. Crystal Ball was available, widely, in every record store in the developped world back then, that's more than most records. I'm so tired of this populist elitism that discards everything that's not a mass media success when most of the records selling millions are sheer crap and most of the good records don't sell! Radio aiplay? Give me a break! So now an album needs radio airplay to "exist"? Did u hear what the radios play? Burn your radio, burn your TV, good music is all over the place, just it won't get to you if you don't get to it first! Don't u see that y'all have been brainwashed by mass medias! GODDAMMIT!!! A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/ | |
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^Actually this is so INSULTING to artists! You don't sell million of copies = you don't exist, your hard work is worthless, you're shit! Shame on you people, SHAME! A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/ | |
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It was Emancipation. A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/ | |
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I'm sorry Militant but according to some of the people here, because we are not ultrafamous megastars who sold 5 million copies of everything we ever did, all of our hardwork is worthless, we are worthless, we are not entitled to exist. Your whole career and life are shit, so are mine. You got a gun? I feel like shooting myself all of a sudden! A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/ | |
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I'm gonna go with Militant here. I'm a songwriter, and it is profound. If you listen to it without the Clare Fischer parts, it is still an amazing song. The drums and guitar alone are priceless. Sure the drums recall Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk," but a lot is going on in this song...and the singing is very unique...slow, fast, screaming...and not just some heavy metal yell...
So you not being impressed with it doesn't change how this song has affected most hard core fans. | |
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TheEnglishGent said:
I never said it wasn't released. I think it's a stretch to say that it was available to the mass public. Purple Rain, Sign of The Times etc, they were mass produced. Crystal Ball was somewhat limited. Bigd74 said it wasn't released to the mass public. It was. It may not have sold as much, but that doesn't mean it wasn't released. TRC wasn't heard by the masses either; does that mean it was unreleased as well? Forget it... [Edited 8/8/14 14:47pm] | |
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stillwaiting said:
I'm gonna go with Militant here. I'm a songwriter, and it is profound. If you listen to it without the Clare Fischer parts, it is still an amazing song. The drums and guitar alone are priceless. Sure the drums recall Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk," but a lot is going on in this song...and the singing is very unique...slow, fast, screaming...and not just some heavy metal yell...
So you not being impressed with it doesn't change how this song has affected most hard core fans. You're misinterpreting me. I'm not disagreeing with Militsnt. I'm pointing out that there isn't much to the song without both Prince's AND Clare's arrangements. Being a songwriter, I'm sure you understand that drum and guitar parts are elements of the arrangement - not the song itself. Sing the melody to yourself acapella. Is there much to it? No. The elements Prince added to it made a sketch into a masterpiece. I'm impressed as hell with one's ability to do that. That takes equal amounts skill and guts. Don't get me twisted. I mean, I marvel at what Prince did with "Pop Life" for similar reasons. He took what would be a boring (essentially one-note) melody, set a great lyric to it, put some gorgeous harmonies underneath, supported it with a crack funky groove and voila! Pop perfection! For the record, I'm a songwriter too. Not sure what that has to do with anything. Everyone observes something different about a piece of music, songwriter or not. [Edited 8/8/14 15:21pm] | |
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No. I would put the song Lovesexy at the top of his most impressive songs. | |
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Honestly I felt that song was in dire need of some editing! I loved the intro with that baseline hook over that beat. Really smooth. Then I loved that keyboard part. I'm loving it so far, then the song suddenly changes to a jumbled mess...then it becomes nice again when Prince starts singing "Whoaaaaaaaa Whoa Whoa" (damn I love that part), then it gets sloppy again near the end. I feel this would had made a surefire hit, if it was a 5 minute long song.
[Edited 8/9/14 0:53am] | |
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databank said: ^Actually this is so INSULTING to artists! You don't sell million of copies = you don't exist, your hard work is worthless, you're shit! Shame on you people, SHAME! Shit the bed, sorry for not having an opinion that totally matches yours. Next time, I'll remember that the all powerful databank's opinion is the only one allowed. 3 posts in after not posting here properly in years & I suddenly remember why I left. I'll leave you guys to it, have fun blah blah blah | |
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^ Erik319.... I remember you from earlier, Prince 4Ever. | |
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