Disco de Prince: “Crystal Ball”

This is Prince's follow up to 1996's "Emancipation" which was his first release after the end of his much publicised fued with Warner Brothers and his exclamation of freedom. "Crystal Ball" though remains the true sound of an artist unleashed. Prince releaed the set on his own NPG label without the help of a single major label. And thank God he did it on his own, cause there is no way one of the majors would've released a 4 disc set of mostly discarded songs from the 1980's and we would've missed out on some of his most captivating music. Not to say it's a polished set with no mis-steps. There are some diffinite duds here, but "Crystal Ball" more than makes up for them by offering an astonishing view of his diverse talent and exposing sides of him we've never seen before. That's a pretty impressive feat considering that he's released a CD a year for at least 15 years! "18 and Over" for example offers us his most convincing hip-hop attempt yet, "Cloreen Bacon Skin" is a 15 minute jam session with Prince tossing off lyrics like yesterdays clothes, it's just free association and the glimpse into his mind is captivating. There's also the blues meets thrash metal "Da Bang", the techno/rock "Interactive", and the regge of "Rippopgodazippa" (as heard in Showgirls).

The Fourth disc "The Truth" is a mostly accoustic set that many fans have been begging to hear for ages now. The wait was well worth it. From the lovely "Welcome 2 the Dawn", to the tounge in cheek "Dionne" to the animal rights song "Animal Kingdom", he sounds inspred and relaxed. He's not trying to prove anything. The man's jsut enjoying himself and you can tell. There seems to be no airs about the man on these songs.

The only thing to make you think twice about this set is the insanely low price. High prices can scare a person but so can the low ones. $9.99 for four CD's?!?!?! I don't get it. Are they all included? Are all the songs represented? Has the set been edited? I don't know. I bought my "Crystal Ball" the day it was released for a heck of a lot more $. It's a hard set to find now, so you have to ask yourself is it worth $10 to risk getting an edited set. In my opinion, yes.

An insane collection of outtakes. These are outtakes? Seriously? These are AMAZING outtakes! Prince's left overs are better than most people's most amazing albums. This stuff is really really three albums of brilliant left overs, that stewed in their juices in the refrigerator of the vault, and came out tasting better than ever! The fourth disc, The Truth, is a snazzy little "acoustic" album from Prince that is almost worth the price itself! At this point, people were worrying that Prince had completely lost his marbles and talent, and this small little "something extra bonus" was just what the doctor ordered! Oozing with well crafted, fun songs, that are different from the usual Prince style, he shows his ability to adapt and change and try new things all while writing amazing new songs. One of his best albums in years on a collection of music that helps his legend grow.

For those of you wondering, this is the FULL 4cd set. Any real Prince fan should not miss out on this set. why would you pass it up? I mean it's hard enough to find in the first place. Even though it says it's a "cut-out", there's no drilled holes or anything on the package, just like brand new! The music is extremely good for outtakes, most of the songs are worthy enough to have been put on the albums they were respectively cut from. The songs sound mostly like his 1999-Graffiti Bridge period except for the last disc, which sounds mostly NPG. A great album at a great price, don't let it get sold out before you buy it!! A MUST HAVE.

If you are a fan of The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, then you know that you'll enjoy this album. Prince doesn't make junk. This is a collection of out-takes, private performances, and other things that The Artist didn't think was worthy of release at the time of recording. But time sometimes brings a new perspective, and I think Prince must have realized that even what he considers to be his worst material, is a lot better and a lot more interesting than much of what is on the radio today. You will find this music to be both progressive and aggressively funky, and the package contains informative notes. The fourth disc really shows Prince's versatility. It's kind of like a "Prince Unplugged" disc. But you should beware, because the last time a Prince album appeared in this section ("Emancipation"), it was the version that had all of the cursing deleted. I, for one, don't enjoy hearing that backwards/vacuum sound in the middle of a groove. So just be aware that this is a possibility (I bought my copy in a record store). But at this price, you may feel that four discs of quality music is more than you can resist.

4 disc of complete and consistant works compiled by the artist himself. Most of them are outtakes from the "Parade and long awaited 1987 Crystal ball and Camile album. Which was later trimmed down and called "Sign of the Times". This is a jewel in the prince collection at best! These are songs that illustrate's a time period when Prince had fun and wasn't so serious! Disc 4 is an Accoustic set called "The Truth" which is beautiful and extremley innovative. The accoustic "Micheal Jackson" Jabb "Don't Play Me" is the stand Out! Disc 5 which is kinda rare to find is a Classical Instumental that is 40 min's long called the "Karmasutra"! Very, Very, Very Interesting seeing his former wife Mayte printed on the disc. This is a beautiful collection and originally was intended only for purchase through his 1-800 number for the fans. There were 500.000 limited pressings of this cd. Of coarse you will have alot of people that are not going to agree with creativity these days. And so you still have a chance to own a used copy. If you find the 5 disc in crystal (see through case) Grabb it that is the first pressings available only through the 800 number, and a sure collecters item.

Arish