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Title: Crystal Ball
By: Prince
Released by: NPG Records
Released on: 1998
Rating (out of 10): 9
Date: 06/08/2001

Prince Cleans House

Originally, Prince's Sign O' the Times was going to be called Crystal Ball. It was to be a triple album instead of the double album that Sign ended up being. Warner Brothers suggested that a triple album might not be the best idea since his last two releases, Parade and Around The World In A Day, sold much less than expected.

It's a pity that Sign was never released as the 3-CD set. The sprawling 10-minute-long title track could have significantly changed the musical landscape of the late '80s just as "When Doves Cry" had a few years before. Instead, that song and several others were cut, the disc renamed, and he still ended up with a gem of an album in Sign.

In the late '90s Prince spent much of his time in a public battle with his record company over the rights to his music. He was apparently holding back hundreds of songs in his vaults, all to be released when he regained control over his music. When he was finally released from his contract, an announcement was made that a 3-CD set called Crystal Ball would be released and would be sold over the Internet and by mail-order only. This is when the debacle started.

Almost immediately, complaints began to air over Prince-related Internet newsgroups. There was often no one answering phones at the 800-number set up to take orders, and canceling your order was nearly impossible as the ordering process wasn't computerized; rather, the orders were just written down on pieces of paper.

When Crystal Ball was finally released, the shipping process was confusing. I was told they were sending out about 100 copies a day. At that rate it would take months to fill all the preorders that, it was said, had been taken.

To make matters worse, Crystal Ball suddenly appeared in stores long before all the preorders had been filled. There were many people like myself who called in to cancel their preorders because they wanted to purchase the set in stores. I had no problem with my cancellation but there were many complaints of orders not being cancelled, of double billing, etc.

Most people were forgiving once they had the actual package in their hands. The 3-CD set of outtakes came with a bonus disc of all-new, mostly acoustic songs, titled The Truth. People who ordered through the Internet were rewarded for their patience with an additional disc of instrumental music that was composed for Prince's wedding.

Disc One opens up with the aforementioned title track. Hearing this song on a bootleg CD in the early '90s changed my world. Beginning with a sole drumbeat that sounds more like the beating of a heart and slowly building, Prince sings:

As bombs explode around us and hate advances on the right
The only thing that matters, baby, is the love that we make 2night
As little babies in make-up terrorize the western world
The only thing that matters, baby, is love between a boy and girl

Oh, expert lover, my baby
U ever had a Crystal Ball?
Undercover, no maybe
All 4 fun and fun 4 all

I can't remember my baby's voice cuz she ain't talkin' no more
Only the sound of love and prayer echo from the yellow floor, yellow floor
Huh, she's sayin' - "Dear Jesus, save us from temptation
Dear Jesus, save us from hell
Save us from the madness that threatens us all
Can U hear us? It's hard 2 tell
In your name we pray


The despair of the song is mirrored in the liner notes as well: "The song 'Crystal Ball' was written in a deepbluefunk depression as Prince pondered his future in a music business that had become more business than music."

Disc One contains other such gems as "Acknowlege Me" and "Hide The Bone," two outstandingly funky tracks, but it is also marred by quite a bit of filler. "Ripopgodazippa" was originally used in the film Showgirls and is about as uninspired as the movie. "Lovesign," originally from Prince's NPG Records label sampler 1-800-New-Funk, appears here in the sort of bland remix that Prince is becoming more and more known for. The same is true of "Tell Me How U Wanna B Done." Essentially this song is a remix of "The Continental" from Symbol but has had all the lifeblood sucked out of it and lots of generic drum and systhesizer programming inserted.

Disc One grade: B+ (essential if only for the mindblowing title track)

Disc Two opens with a song that had been included on his CD-ROM from a few years previous. "Interactive" deals with the coming of the Internet age. It seems a little dated today since the subject matter is so pervasive in our society, but at the time it was pretty hip. Disc Two also contains other great tracks like the wonderfully goofy "Good Love" from the Bright Lights, Big City soundtrack:

Technicolor children in Picadilly Square
Whisper words, erotica, when U kiss me there
Gustav Mahler #3 is jamming on the box
I'll have another glass of U, this time on the rocks

4th of July in every stroke
A symphony of light and sound
Oh, I want 2 die from all the smoke
Fire breaks out when U're around.


"Crucial" is a beautiful ballad with some horn work that is so outstanding that many people thought Miles Davis was playing on the track. This song was originally intended for Sign O' the Times but was replaced by "Adore," a move I can appreciate as "Adore" is my all-time favorite Prince song. This second disc loses points for the boring "Strays Of The World" and the endlessly meandering "Cloreen Baconskin," an exercise in self-indulgence that results in failure.

Disc Two grade: A- (a low A- because of "Cloreen Baconskin")

Disc Three is the best of the Crystal Ball set. It opens with the wonderfully nasty "Days Of Wild." Although not as good as the studio bootleg version of this song, this live version still gets the job done. Also included on this disc is the super-raunchy "18 & Over." This song, a reworking of the title track from Come, is built around a meandering synth line and the chorus "18 & Over/I wanna bone ya."

One of the highlights of Prince's small-club shows had been "The Ride," a bluesy track that showcases Prince's superb guitar work. This is one of those songs with an essence that could only be captured in a live setting; thus the version here is indeed live. Another such song on Crystal Ball is the tight-funk number "Last Heart," one of the better love songs Prince has ever done:

How many time have U called my number
Wishing I was someone else?
How many time did my heart tumble
Feeling sorry 4 myself?
How many time have I kissed U
And smelled another man's perfume?
How many lonely nights I missed U
Wishing 4 your body in my lonely room? (Lonely room)

Baby, if U break my heart one more time
It'll be the last heart U ever break
I've taken all I can take
Baby, this heart wasn't made 2 break


Disc three grade: A- (points taken off for less-than-par remixes of "P Control" and "Loose!")

The real surprise, however, is the bonus album, The Truth. It has been years since I've heard Prince this loose and it is probably because of the mostly acoustic nature of the disc. The disc explores many of the themes prevalent throughout Prince's music: sex, the apocalypse, sex, problems with his record company, more sex, stereotypes about him, etc. On The Truth, he reveals a musical facet that we have never seen before.

There are a few clunkers here, but that is to be expected for the sheer amount of music Crystal Ball contains. The gems shine bright though, and are as essential as anything Prince has ever done.




© Copyright CultureDose.com 06/08/2001

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