Crystal Ball is a box set by American recording artist Prince. The set includes the eponymous Crystal Ball, Prince's twentieth studio album and second triple album, which consists of "previously bootlegged" material, as well as The Truth, Prince's 21st studio album.
The box set was initially only available through direct orders by phone and internet. The direct order edition included a fifth disc, an instrumental studio album by The NPG Orchestra titled Kamasutra. Shipment of this limited edition 5-CD version started on January 29, 1998, approximately two months before the release of the 4-CD version to retail stores on March 21, 1998.
The album Crystal Ball is Prince's second triple album in succession, following Emancipation. Each of the three CDs contain ten tracks and last fifty minutes, resembling Emancipations 12-song, sixty-minute disc lengths.
In 2018, NPG Records released Crystal Ball and The Truth digitally on Spotify, iTunes, Tidal and Apple Music. In 2021, a special limited vinyl edition of The Truth was released on Record Store Day.
Crystal Ball
The album is largely made up of tracks recorded in two periods: 1985–1986 and 1993–1996. The only exception is "Cloreen Bacon Skin", recorded in March 1983. No tracks were recorded specially for this album. However, "2morrow" was recorded after the completion of his previous album, Emancipation, making Crystal Ball the first album on which it could have been included. The album contains seven remixes or alternate versions of previously released tracks: "Love Sign (Shock G's Silky Remix)", "So Dark" (a remix of "Dark"), "Tell Me How U Wanna B Done" (a remix of "The Continental"), "Interactive", "Good Love", "Get Loose" (a remix of "Loose!") and "P. Control (Remix)".
This is the first Prince album of new material to feature previously released songs, although it primarily serves as an outtakes compilation rather than a studio album as such. Prince avoided using tracks that strongly featured the Revolution, as he intended to release a companion album, Roadhouse Garden, in 1999, containing previously unreleased Prince and the Revolution material (this album remains unreleased, however).
Copyright information on the album is given as 1997. No singles were released from the album, although "Love Sign" and "P. Control" had both previously been available as promo-only singles connected to their original albums, 1-800-NEW-FUNK and The Gold Experience, respectively. Although videos for "Acknowledge Me", "Interactive" and "18 & Over" were made a few years before this release (and not connected to any albums), they were not used as promotional tools for Crystal Ball. "Days of Wild" was released as a limited-release single in 2002, using a different live version than included here.
Prince did not tour or make any TV appearances to support the album. The album reached number 62 on the Billboard 200, and number 59 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Track listing
Personnel Adapted from Benoît Clerc and Duane Tudahl
Musicians
Prince – lead vocals , rap , spoken vocals , backing vocals , beat box , electric guitar , acoustic guitar , Roland G-707 , bass , synthesizers , Ensoniq Mirage , Fairlight CMI , Prophet VS , Yamaha DX7 , piano , Fender Rhodes piano , Hammond organ , programming , Linn LM-1 , drums , percussion , finger cymbals , claps , tambourine , bells , finger snapping Susannah Melvoin – lead vocals , spoken vocals , backing vocals , recorder Wendy Melvoin – recorder Michael B. – drums , shaker Brian Gallagher – tenor saxophone Mayte – spoken vocals , backing vocals Dave Jensen, Steve Strand – trumpet Kathy Jensen – clarinet , baritone saxophone Michael B Nelson – trombone Sonny T. – bass Shock G – synthesizers Nona Gaye – lead vocals Paul Peterson – bass Ricky Peterson – synthesizers Statik – programming Tommy Barbarella – synthesizers Mr Hayes – Hammond organ Carmen Electra – spoken vocals Kirk Johnson – programming Eric Leeds – saxophone Morris Day – drums Jill Jones – backing vocals Rain Ivana – spoken vocals Mike Scott – electric guitar Orchestra
Technical
Prince – producer , recording engineer Shock G – producer , remix Ricky Peterson – producer Kirk Johnson – remix Susan Rogers – recording engineer Peggy McCreary – recording engineer Steve Durkee – recording engineer , assistant recording engineer Shane T Keller – recording engineer David "Chronic Freeze" Friedlander – recording engineer Ray Hahnfeldt – recording engineer Tom Tucker – recording engineer Hans-Martin Buff – recording engineer Steve Noonan – recording engineer Brian Poer – recording engineer , assistant recording engineer Coke Johnson – recording engineer David Ravkin – recording engineer Michael Koppelman – recording engineer Todd Herreman – assistant recording engineer Kyle Bess – assistant recording engineer Kimm James – assistant recording engineer Xanex Bess, Tom Garneau – assistant recording engineer Dave Aron, Airiq Anest – assistant recording engineer Clare Fischer – strings arrangement
Charts + Chart performance for Crystal Ball Chart (1998) Peakposition
The Truth
The Truth is the twenty-first studio album by Prince. It was released as the fourth CD in the Crystal Ball box set. The arrangements are mainly based around the acoustic guitar, augmented with elaborate production effects, multi-layered vocals, and occasional percussion and percussive effects. A CD single was released prior to the album, consisting of the record's first two tracks. In 2018, NPG Records released The Truth digitally on Spotify, iTunes, Tidal and Apple Music. In 2021, a special limited vinyl edition of The Truth was released on Record Store Day.
Track listing
Personnel Adapted from Benoît Clerc
Musicians
Prince – lead vocals , whistles , backing vocals , beat box , electric guitar , acoustic guitar , bass , synthesizers , Hammond organ , piano , drums , finger snapping , percussion Rhonda Smith – bass Kat Dyson – backing vocals , percussion David "Fingers" Haynes – drums Kirk Johnson – backing vocals , percussion , programming Mike Scott – electric guitar
Technical
Prince – producer Hans-Martin Buff – recording engineer
Charts + Chart performance for The Truth Chart (2021) Peakposition
Kamasutra
Kamasutra is an instrumental studio album by The NPG Orchestra. It was first released on cassette on February 14, 1997, and later in the limited edition Crystal Ball box set as the fifth CD on January 29, 1998, by NPG Records. The album was written to be played during Prince's wedding to Mayte Garcia in 1996. The tracks range in style from classical music, jazz and experimentations with various sounds. For example, the track "Cutz" uses the sound of scissors snipping as its basis. Another track, "The Plan", was previewed in an excerpt on the 1996 3-CD set Emancipation.
Track listing
Personnel Adapted from Benoît Clerc
Musicians
Prince – synthesizers, Synclavier, piano, sound effects Murray Adler, Israel Baker, Bette Byers, Russel Cantor, Isabelle Daskoff, Yvette Deveraux, Assa Drori, Pamela Gates, Edward P Greene Jr, Norma Leonard, Robert Lezin, Yoko Matsuda, Calabria McChesney, Donald Palmer, James V Ross, Gladys Secunda, Harry Scorzo, Harry Shirinian, Benjamin Simon, Ross Shub, Robert Sushel, Marshall Daniel Thomason, Anita A. Thompson, Pam Tomkins Mari Tsumura, Gerald Vinci, Francine Walsh – violin Marilyn Baker, Suzanna Giordano, Peter Hatch, Margot MacLaine, Jorge Moraga, Carole Mukogawa, Nancy Roth, Herschel Wise – viola Leslie Benedict, Alexander Iles, Andrew M Martin, Michael B Nelson, Morris Repass – trombone Charles Boito, Jon Christopher Clarke, Don Shelton – clarinet Dennis Budimir, John J Mitchell, John F Reilly – guitar Larry Bunker – percussion, vibraphone Robert D Carr, Lisa Edelstein, David Randall Stone, James R Walker – flute Charles A Coker, Jenice Rosen – bassoon Douglas Davis, Marie Fera, Judith Johnson, Anne Karam, Raymond Kelley, Frederick Seykora, Cécilia Tsan – cello David Duke, Marilyn Johnson, Joseph Meyer, Yvonne Suzette Moriaty – horn Árni Egilsson, James David Hughart, Morton Klanfer – double bass Brent Fischer, Richard Hamilton, Richard Mitchell – unknown Brian Gallagher – tenor saxophone C Terry Harrington, Daniel L Higgins, Eric Leeds, Jack Nimitz – saxophone Dave Jensen, Steve Strand – trumpet Kathy Jensen – baritone saxophone Gayle Levant – harp John Ranieri – piano, saxophone, flute Robert Tricarico – oboe
Technical
Prince – producer Steve Durkee, Arne Frager, Ray Hahnfeldt, Shane T Keller, Larry Mah – recording engineer Clare Fischer – orchestral arrangement, conductor
References
External links Crystal Ball online booklet