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Crystal Ball

NPG Records

They’ll say that I’m not capable of distributing my own materials.

First announced in the CD booklet for Emancipation issued in November 1996, pre-orders opened for yet another three-disc set, titled Crystal Ball, a compilation of previously vaulted tracks. The process remastering the original tracks started at Paisley Park in April 1997 and was complete on 4 July 1997.

Crystal Ball was released as a 5-CD package in the form of a transparent “hockey-puck”. Originally envisioned as spherical cases but flattened due to manufacturing difficulties, triple-disk album Crystal Ball was also issued with bonus CDs The Truth and Kamasutra. The veritable five-disc bumper set was a mail order release through Prince’s official retail website 1800newfunk.com, with first the shipments sent on 29 January 1998.

Crystal Ball was Prince’s first album released as an independent artist without assistance from a major label, and up till then the most significant release of material from his vault. Prince (then under the name Prince love symbol) was delighted that Crystal Ball sold 150,000 units without having a single cent spent on advertising, netting an impressive $11 million. Manufacturing delays of the packaging led to the inclusion of Kamasutra by way of an apology, announced in December 1997. The unexpected volume of orders caused considerable logistical challenges for the 1800newfunk staff, fulfilling the backlog of pre-orders which had been mounting since May 1997 and took until late spring 1998 to process. Later shipments also included a cassette of The War as a further plication. Despite this, the success as an independent, if haphazard, distributor emboldened Prince to continue releasing his future works through independent channels.

The name and concept of Crystal Ball originate from the triple LP due for release in 1986 under that name but later evolved into the double album Sign O’ The Times. Prince revived the name in 1998 to release a triple album of previously unavailable tracks, half of the material dating from the original Crystal Ball era albeit including only two songs from its 1986 configuration: Good Love and the title track. The 28 remaining tracks are outtakes from studio sessions and an array abandoned projects of the early 1990s.

Owing to its success, a conventional in-store release of Crystal Ball followed on 21 March 1998 (sans Kamasutra disc), this time presented in a conventional fat jewel case. Crystal Ball was issued bearing the strap-line “Previously bootlegged material” and the packaging and CDs designed to mimic an unofficial release to play on the fact the content compiled of some of Prince’s most pirated songs prior to their eventual official release in this set.

While not including any specially recorded material, the only previously available track in the set was Good Love, written for the aborted Camille album of 1986 and later included in the Warner Brothers movie soundtrack Bright Lights, Big City issued on 8 March 1988. Crystal Ball peaked at a respectable 62 in the Billboard Hot 200 and at 59 in its R&B chart, considering the set’s price point, limited availability and lack of promotion.

Recording

Crystal Ball is a compilation of two distinct but different eras from Prince’s unreleased catalogue, recorded in sessions taking place over four studios.

Sexual Suicide, a collaboration with Shelia E, was intended for The Revolution’s Dream Factory album, and An Honest Man recorded as the love poem for the movie Under The Cherry Moon, were laid down at the Washington Avenue warehouse studio in 1985.

Recalling the US bombing of Libya, Crystal Ball, which features a 6-peice orchestra, is title track of the triple LP of Prince reconfiguration of the Dream Factory LP purging the input of The Revolution. Movie Star is inspired by Morris Day and produced in the Parade period, Crucial and Sly Stone inspired Make Your Mamma Happy are tracked at Prince’s Galpin Blvd home studio in 1986.

Cloreen Bacon Skin is a demo Prince recorded in 1983 with Morris Day on drums during sessions for The Time’s second LP What Time Is It? Dream Factory is the 1985 produced title track of the aborted fourth album by Prince and The Revolution. Good Love hails from the aborted Camille album, and Last Heart from the Parade sessions, were recorded in 1986. These tracks were recorded at Sunset Sound.

The balance of the album’s material was created in the 1990s, and recorded at Paisley Park Studios. Hide The Bone was first laid down at Studio Guillaume Tell, Paris, during November 1993, then subsequently reworked with the full New Power Generation at Paisley Park. Its original lyrics are written by Brenda Lee Eager and Hilliard Wilson, in response to Prince’s request to work with the duo having wrote the lyrics for Somebody’s Somebody – originally given to Mavis Staples for her LP The Voice.

Tell Me How U Wanna B Done was recorded in 1992 as the continuation of The Continental as released on Love Symbol Album and features the vocals of Carmen Electra. Ripopgodazippa and Acknowledge Me are early The Gold Experience session out-takes recorded in 1993. Ripopgodazippa was later featured in the 1995 erotic drama Showgirls. So Dark (remix of Dark) and Calhoun Square likewise date from 1993, for no particular project. As do, Interactive, What’s My Name and Strays Of The World, produced for Prince’s dance show Glam Slam Ulysses. Love Sign is a remix by Shock G of Digital Underground; it and 18 & Over (a reworking of Come), Get Loose (Loose! remix), P.Control (remix) hail from 1994. The Ride is a live recording with the NPG performing at Paisley Park on 29 October 1995 for the Love 4 One Another TV special aired on VH-1. Days Of Wild is also a live performance, captured from a concert staged at Paisley Park on 9 December 1995. Goodbye is a 1995 outtake from Emancipation, removed from the album’s configuration in favour of The Holy River – the album’s other out-takes are Poom Poom and She Gave Her Angels, recorded in 1996 – the latter written in celebration of Mayte’s pregnancy with his child Amiir. Tragically, 2morrow was the first song Prince recorded after the child’s death, November 1996. The Truth album followed in consequence as Prince tried to process his grief. Da Bang was recorded at Larrabee Studios in 1995.

Packaging

The packaging of Crystal Ball is Prince’s most ambitious but troubled release of his career. As an archival release harking to his iconic Sign O’ The Times era, 1998’s triple CD set was envisaged to be presented in a perfectly spherical case. To spur pre-orders, production would be promised once 100,000 orders was taken. Surpassing 150,000 pre-orders, production commenced, starting with the development of 1-ton injection-moulded templates hand tooled at great expense. Sense prevailed to abandon the sphere but not before compounding to the string of delays at the unfortunate manufacturer Noiseland Industries. The solution was to flatten the packaging to bear closer resemblance to a hockey puck than crystal ball to speed up production and shipped to increasingly frustrated customers. Crystal Ball was therefore issued in two versions; the transparent set, mailed to fans pre-ordering it with 1800 New Funk, and three months later a retail version as a conventional 4-disc ‘fatboy’ jewel case. The retail release was accompanied with a circular booklet designed by Paisley Park’s art director Steve Parke. Its design features a crystal ball on the cover, which today is looked upon unkindly for its heavy application of Word Art style fonts popular in the 1990s. The transparent version however is one of Prince’s most sought-after releases today.

Crystal Ball online lyric book

To aid promotion of Crystal Ball, in 1997 crystalballcd.com was launched as an online lyric book to accompany the upcoming album. Although basic, it was one of the very first websites of its kind. The site was built, with Prince’s blessing, by two German fans Steffan Bieker and Alice Mannl, and gave it a bootleg feel. It remains live to this day.

Crystal Ball lyric book | crystalballcd.com — Crystal Ball online lyric book

Crystal Ball Volume II

A 2-CD follow-up volume to Crystal Ball was intended for release in the latter half of 2000. It was envisioned the two discs would replace the slots taken by The Truth and Kamasutra in the 5-CD packaging issued with the original release. The track listing for Volume II was this time voted by fans during the June 2000 Prince: A Celebration open-house week at Paisley Park. The release, however, failed to materialise and the project was shelved. The 17 songs chosen out of a shortlist of 22 were: 3 Nigs Watchin’ A Kung Fu Movie, Adonis & Bathsheba*, American Jam, Electric Intercourse*, Everybody Want What They Don’t Got*, Evolsidog, Girl O’ My Dreams, Eye Wonder, Katrina’s Paper Dolls*, Kiss [Xtended], Love And Sex*, Lust U Always, Others Here With Us, Strange Way Of Saying Eye Love U, Turn It Up*, U’re All Eye Want* and Xtraloveable.

*Released in later compilation projects.

Performers

Vocals / all instr: Prince
Keyboards: Tommby Barbarella ^{Ripopgodazippa, Hide The Bone, Interactive, Calhoun Square, Strays Of The World, Days Of Wild and The Ride}; Morris Hayes ^{Interactive, Calhoun Square, What's My Name, Strays Of The World, Days Of Wild and The Ride}
Guitar: Mike Scott ^{18 & Over}
Drums: Michael B ^{Ripopgodazippa, Hide The Bone, Interactive, Calhoun Square, What’s My Name, Strays Of The World, Days Of Wild and The Ride}; Morris Day ^{Cloreen Bacon Skin}
Programming: Kirk Johnson ^{18 & Over}
Bass Guitar: Sonny T ^{Ripopgodazippa, Hide The Bone, Interactive, Calhoun Square, What’s My Name, Strays Of The World, Days Of Wild and The Ride}
Saxophone: Eric Leeds ^{Sexual Suicide, Last Heart and Make Your Mama Happy}
Baritone sax: Kathy Jensen ^{Ripopgodazippa}
Tenor sax: Brian Gallagher ^{Ripopgodazippa}
Trumpet: Steve Strand ^{Ripopgodazippa}; Dave Jensen ^{Ripopgodazippa}
Trombone: Michael B. Nelson ^{Ripopgodazippa}
Orchestration: Clare Fischer ^{Goodbye and Crystal Ball}

Data

Production

Prince love symbol

Label

NPG Records

Distribution

NPG Records

Cover/Design

Steve Parke, Steffen Bieker and Alice Männl

Released

26 years ago on 29 January 1998

Running Time

2:29:10

US Chart Peak

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Prince Album

#20

Orig. Format

Tracklist

Disk 1

Crystal Ball [feat. Susannah Melvoin] (10:26) ^{1 & 3}
Dream Factory [feat. Susannah Melvoin] (3:06) ¹
Acknowledge Me [feat. Boni Boyer, Cat and Sheila E] (5:26) ⁴
Ripopgodazippa (4:38) ⁴
Lovesign [Shock G's Silky Remix] [duet with Nona Gaye] (3:52)
Hide The Bone (5:03) ⁴
2morrow (4:13)
So Dark (5:13) ⁴
Movie Star [feat. Wendy Melvoin] (4:25) ¹
Tell Me How U Wanna B Done [feat. Carmen Electra] (3:14)

Running Time: 49 min, 43 sec

Disk 2

Interactive
Interactive(1994)
[feat. Mayte] (3:01)
Da Bang (3:19)
Calhoun Square (4:46) ⁴
What's My Name (3:03) ⁴
Crucial (5:05)
An Honest Man (1:12)
Sexual Suicide (3:39) ¹
Cloreen Bacon Skin (15:36)
Good Love
Bright Lights, Big City(1988)
(4:55) ²
Strays Of The World (5:06)

Running Time: 49 min, 48 sec

Disk 3

Days Of Wild [Live, 9 December 1995] (9:18) ⁴
Last Heart (3:00) ¹
Poom Poom (3:42)
She Gave Her Angles (3:51)
18 & Over (5:40)
The Ride [Live, 29 October 1995] (5:12)
Get Loose (3:30) ⁴
P. Control [Remix] (5:59)
Make Your Mamma Happy [feat. Susannah Melvoin] (4:00)
Goodbye (4:34)

Running Time: 49 min, 41 sec

¹ Intended for release on the aborted album Dream Factory (1987).
² Intended for release on the aborted album Camille (1987).
³ Intended for release on the aborted album Crystal Ball (1986).
⁴ Intended for release on the aborted album The Dawn (1994).

Singles from Crystal Ball

Crystal Ball produced no singles.

Crystal Ball – review

After clearing out his horde of new stuff for Emancipation, Prince turned to the vault for the less commercial material to put out on his newly launched and pioneering NPG Music Club website. Rather than hunt out B-sides and music owned by Warner Brothers, Prince cobbled together a triple LP chock full of unreleased tracks, versions and demos, known only to shady bootleggers. Everything is out of vault, even the album’s title Crystal Ball bears the original name earmarked for the Sign O’ The Times. The best here is what was snipped from Come: Interactive, Days Of Wild and Acknowledge Me. There is reworked stuff too in the form of Love Sign and So Dark. But there is much to maintain interest across its three disks – Dream Factory, Hide The Bone and The Ride. Great bass lines of 18 And Over and Poom Poom give it great mix. It all makes for enviable hearing for most bands, longing for album tracks half as good as these outtakes at their disposal. If anything Crystal Ball demonstrates how good even Prince’s second rate music is. More releases like these will put the bootleggers out of business – let’s hope the Estate will take note.