IMHO The Truth was purely an artistic statement.
It's a case of Prince wanting to give the people
what they need as opposed to what they want.

There are several reasons why I think he decided
to include The Truth with Crystal Ball as a bonus
disc, rather than release it in it's own right.

The Truth was Prince's latest thing at the
time, it conveyed where his head was at at that
moment in time. He has a long history of very
quickly creating something almost fully formed,
and wanting to immediately release it, rather
than waiting until his current project has run
it's course, and releasing it after that. It
was one of the big problems he had with WB, so
now that he was free, he wanted to do just that.

He was already commited to Crystal Ball, so
rather than having to wait until after it had
been released, he decided to include it as part
of the package. He could have released it
seperately from Crystal Ball, but I expect he
thought that the fans wouldn't be able to
handle another new album in competition with
the 3CD set of outtakes that they were already
expecting.

For this reason, I think that Prince recognised
that The Truth's appeal would probably be fairly
limited (the general public wouldn't really be
interested in an 'acoustic' album). So rather
than risk The Truth getting 'lost' in the crowd
he decided to sneak it into Crystal Ball, so
that everyone would get to hear it.

It also meant that Crystal Ball would now include
'something new'. He'd never been keen on 'archive'
releases anyway, be they 'old unreleased albums'
or 'best ofs'. Also, even though Prince knew that
The Truth was uncommercial, he hoped that once
people heard it, they would be 'wowed' by it's
stark simplicity, and deep down I expect he was
hoping that the reviews of Crystal Ball would
reveal The Truth as being the highpoint of the
set.

What is this term, "bound by $$$?"

Once the product is finished, no amount of $$$ changing hands can alter the fact of the original artistic statement.

Unless an album is edited on purpose for $$$.

teller said:

What if an album, or song, is edited by beliefs in what is right and wrong. For example, Days Of Wild.

BorisFishpaw said:

Boris has spoken.

Anji said:

What if it is? And what does that have to do with $$$?

teller said:

Answer the question, Telly.

Anji said:

What if an album, or song, is edited by beliefs in what is right and wrong? Then it is edited by the artist. What's the question?

teller said:

You've answered it.

Anji said:

it's about the Dollars no matter what anyone says.The Post Warner Brothers Prince don't come Cheap.

mistermaxxx said:

sho' don't.

mistermaxxx said:

Maxxx, is Prince still worth it to you? To me, he's worth more than he's ever been (although I expect I won't be joining the NPGMC this time around).

If "The Truth" was about money, the world is in fact a flat
disc, supported by giant turtles.

and don't you dare pull an Umberto Eco on me on that one

Anji said:

Great Question:in My Youth He was Right up there with the Other Cats I Dug.but nowadays I stay Casual on Him.but I still Buy His Albums,but expectation is long gone over a Decade&change ago.He ain't knocked me out on a Album in ages but Live I'd be there in a Minute.Cats I've Grown Up on I'll always be Down for.but Prince like Michael Jackson,Stevie Wonder,Rick James,Earth,wind&fire,Chaka Khan.Quincy Jones,James Brown,Aretha Franklin,etc.. Folks I dig I don't expect nothing even half way close to there Peak&Prime.oh sure I hear things I like here&there but do I ever things by them still that Blow Me away Today? NAW!

IstenSzek said:

I was thinking more Terry Pratchet.