Definitely one of my favourite albums. I bought it from the website and it tipped my fandom over the edge. I'd previously only bought the obvious classic albums (Parade, Purple Rain, Sign O The Times) but I'd just got internet at home and was looking at sites that I'd heard were good. I looked at Princes and thought this CB thing looked like a cheap bit of fun (and I remembered reading the news item in Melody Maker a few years earlier), so I thought 'fuck it' and bought it.

I played it and thought to myself "If this is the stuff he throws away, I've got to have his released stuff". Ever since that fateful day 2 years ago, I've been buying.

Anyway, my faves are the title track, Cloreen Bacon Skin, What's My Name, 18 & Over and She Gave Her Angels (off the top of my head) but I do like it a whole (apart from Karma Sutra, of course) and rate it 7/10.

so many !

interactive
crystal ball
acknowledge me
ripop...
hide the bone
so dark
poom poom
18 and over

hell almost every track !

i think i best order

disc 1 = awsome !
disc 3 =almost awsome !
disc 2 = xlent , really good !

kamasutra and the truth r not really part of CRYSTAL BALL

I think Crystal Ball would have been a whole lot better if he'd not screwed with some of the songs (i.e. "Crucial") or added remixes/alternate versions (i.e. "Love Sign") or stuff that's already been released ("Good Love"- CB's version was edited down, though). I was hoping for a set of total bootleg material, not songs that are just a little different than their previously released or unreleased versions. Don't get me wrong...there's still a bunch of songs on CB that I love. It's just not as perfect as I'd have liked it to be.

craigle said:

A mini list? Niiiccceee! MY fav's R:

• ACKNOWLEDGE ME
• WHATS MY NAME
• THE RIDE (of course!)
• DAYS OF WILD
• HIDE THE BONE
• CALHOUN SQUARE
• SEXUAL SUICIDE
• CHLOREEN BACON SKIN
• MOVIE STAR

>>>These R the "fav's". "why" is self explanatory when U hear THEM.

For me it has to be "Goodbye"... especially when he sings "excuse me, but is this really goodbye" in falsetto, just before "last night when you left me I was so sure we'd be together forever and..." Yeah, at the time of the release that was very personal to me.

I tell ya, P never fails. Whenever I have a personal moment in my life I can always relate to a song of his. When I was at a low point, Goodbye was the song for me. So my vote is for Goodbye.

Where to begin?

The title track is my favorite. It has so much genius in it and so many layers. A top 5 Prince song for me.

BoraBora said:

That's just heaven that song.

The Crystal Ball set is near perfection as far as I'm concearned. As someone mentioned, it's quite scatterbrained in it's track order. But hell, so are most of my mixed discs I make of his stuff.

It's all the styles of Prince that I like, put in a blender and set for puree.

Not a bad song in the bunch. Nothing overblown, nor over produced.

Miles said:

FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT, I can hear a few similarities between crystal ball and East...SPOOKY!

NCC2012 said:

Agreed.I like the 'CB' set,but there are many flaws.Remixes should not have been included at all,and some of the tracks are sloppily edited.Also,the order of the songs is a mess.But overall,it's a worthy release.

i had a good listen to it last night and i am very impressed. I checked out the trax u guys reccomended and i agree with most of you.

There are a few trax which are abit sloppy, but overall i think it was worth the £29 i paid for it,

I havnt listened to the TRUTH CD with it yet though

She gave her Angels

I think this is a beautiful song.


[This message was edited Tue Oct 21 6:39:23 PDT 2003 by JDINTERACTIVE]

craigle said:

You must! NOW!!!

Cloudbuster said:

tell me what is so good bout the TRUTH CD??

im gonna listen when i ge thome

craigle said:

Stripped down acoustic blues with a few quirky tracks thrown in. My fave '90's album of his.

never mind that! what happened to Crystal Ball II?

Poom Poom