Prince

As any die-hard fan knows, Crystal Ball was the triple-album set Prince had planned to release in 1987, when Warner forced him to trim it to the double album Sign O' the Times. Since then, Crystal Ball had become a legendary "lost" album among Prince collectors, and many of its outtakes had circulated on bootlegs for years. So, it didn't come as a complete surprise that Prince revived the title for his own collection of outtakes, which turned out to be the first release on his independent NPG label. Any collector will quibble with the track selection, since there are literally hundreds of known Prince outtakes, and there's no way that a three-disc set could include all the best cuts. Still, this is an impressive sampler that illustrates the true depth of Prince's talents. There may be no hidden masterworks on the level of "When Doves Cry," but the music here is consistently strong and compelling. As a compiler, Prince errs by favoring latter-day recordings over his '80s studio creations, but this is a minor complaint, since he has included such legendary (at least among collectors) songs as "Dream Factory," "Movie Star," "Crucial," "Sexual Suicide," "Days of Wild," and "The Ride." Prince added a full-length album, The Truth, as the fourth disc to Crystal Ball. Taken on its own terms, The Truth is a terrific little record with a similar feel to Chaos & Disorder, but with stronger material. Purportedly, it's Prince's acoustic album, but he uses that concept to spring into the blues, tape effects, straight-ahead pop, and soul. It's a joy to hear him work in such a structured form, since it helps him focus his ideas and deliver a tight, enjoyable pop record that offers proof he hasn't lost his gifts. [The limited-edition version was only available through Prince's website, and was only three discs, with The Truth missing from the set.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide