To be honest, this song is really out of place on crystal ball.. It was this one great long experimental song, and the rest of the songs didnt gel with the main focus.. "Crystal Ball".. I could be wrong, but thats how I see it.

How does everyone feel bout this song? I rarely hear about it around here.. I think its an amazing song.

one of his most inventive?

well, duh.

there are about 40-50 different instruments/sound effects on there, as well as a 60 piece orchestra.

without a doubt his most ambitious song.

It's a sleeper. On first listen, a person might skip over it. An open minded perusal of the track might make a mofo jones for some of the more experimental Purple Funktitude.

It's awesome. It's to Prince's career what "Station To Station" is to Bowie's.

I always thought of it as his "Strawberry Fields" very hypnotic and dreamy..


creepy also.. but its beautiful

It's a jaw-dropper to non-Prince fans...

I like to lay this on some of my non-P fan friends! Cool track, very experimental. Blows them totally away and shakes them from the dream that Prince is the mainstream artist of Raspberyy Beret and Cream...

PLUS it's recorded nice and loud on the cd... imagine Sign 'O' The Times having been recorded this loud!

its great. sometimes my fav

was he taking drugs when recording?

He was driving under the influence of W & L that week.

certainly.


it's the only single track that i can think of that epitomizes the complete talents of Prince.


in other words, if i had to play one song for a person to explain all that Prince is, it would be Crystal Ball.

Funny, I spent the best part of last night listening to my
85-87 outtakes and albums playlist and I spent a lot of
time listening to "Crystal Ball" on repeat.

One of my all time fav Prince songs, certainly top 10, if
not top 5, hell if not top 3.



I love all the moods the song goes through, the changes in
dynamics, the exhuberance and the sparseness. It's all in
one without sounding cluttered or puzzled. It's brilliant.

That's all you can honestly say about it: Brilliant.

Moonbeam

'Prince drunk on his own genius' - Liz Jones

This track just blew me away when I first heard it...
the amount of things going on in the song is unbelievable.

definitly one of his greatest songs ever

Crystal Ball

Absolutely amazing. Can't give this track enough credit. Pure Prince

I remember when I first heard it, I almost wet myself over how fucking awsome it was, it was overwhelming, I was thinking to myself "Why the fuck is this unreleased!"

I think he released it in 1998 probably because he wanted to name the set Crystal Ball.

As I said in another Thread:

What a masterpiece. It's perfect, but at the same time so complex that I discover something new every freakin time I listen to it.

Crystal Ball is one of his most sweeping tunes. It's AWESOME. Way ahead of it's time.
strange'!! strange' good sir!!

Sdldawn said:

great point! (...damn, why didn't I think of that?)

r1ghteousone said:

Absolut co-sign.

Sdldawn said:

I agree completely. After this song fucks you, brings you to multiple orgasms and leaves you sweating and panting on the floor, the rest of the compliation is almost a letdown.

Can you imagine if he had instead put out an entire album of 8 or 9 songs in this vein?

Sdldawn said:

do you mean on the original album Crystal Ball? i'd have to agree, especially in regard to where in the tracklists i've seen it placed on those original configurations.


it's either got to be first, as an introduction, to expect any and everything for the rest of the album, all at the same time. or it's got to be last, since it can't be topped.

AaronUniversal said:

For some reason I think 'Crystal Ball' would sound
out of place on any Prince album...

r1ghteousone said:

I think it goes well with a lot of the SOTT/Dream Factory songs.

FunkMistress said:

Yeah, I suppose

I mean the only part of 'Crystal Ball' (98' version) that flows well is 'Crystal Ball'
into 'Dream Factory'. The rest of the songs are all over the place.

r1ghteousone said:

Agreed.

Sdldawn said:

One of his best imo. Surely one of his most brilliant. i thought i was the only one thinkin that way cuz nobody discusses it here. "i'll have to ask my mummy first"

After the orchestra kicks in, you think this may be the greatest song you ever heard--no lie.

I like when the guitar solo starts, maybe the greatest guitar solo ever. Playful, and weird, while the orchestra booms, and Prince, goes, "guitar, guitar..." Brilliant.

2freaky4church1 said:

yep

AaronUniversal said:

Fantastic summary Aaron!