Crystal Ball/ The Truth

Publication: Hartford Courant [US]
Date: February 5, 1998
Title: "The Artist's 'Crystal Ball' Hard To Get But Easy To Enjoy"
Summary: Perhaps the hype that usually accompanies major new releases from major artists has been absent thus far in the case of Crystal Ball, the new collection from The Artist formerly known as Prince.

Publication: Jam! [Internet]
Date: February 12, 1998
Title: "New US Only Prince Release A Mixed Bag"
Summary: It's hard enough to fill a single disc with great music, let alone a multi-disc set.

Publication: Addicted To Noise [Internet]
Date: February 17, 1998
Title: "Exploring Prince's Crystal Ball"
Summary: The Artist provides a look inside his tape vault.

Publication: Minneapolis Star-Tribune [US]
Date: February 24, 1998
Title: Crystal Ball Review
Summary: This "Crystal Ball" does not look into the future; it looks backward. The multidisc set -- four CDs in stores, five via the Internet/mail-order -- is mostly a collection of Prince outtakes and leftovers, some of which have been heard in concert and widely bootlegged.

Publication: Atlanta Journal And Constitution [US]
Date: February 26, 1998
Title: "Artist's Marketing Bucks Bootleggers"
Summary: The Verdict: Listen to the "Crystal Ball" and what do you hear? The ambitious and impressive material that crowned Prince most talented of the 80's single-moniker pop stars (Michael, Madonna), and not too much of the flab (Cloreen Bacon Skin") you would expect on a CD of set-asides.

Publication: Los Angeles Times [US]

Date: March 1, 1998
Title: "The Artist's 'Crystal' Isn't Clear"
Summary: At first blush, it would be easy to dismiss "Crystal Ball" as merely the latest in a series of self-sabotaging career moves by the Artist Formerly Known as Prince. It's a four-CD set that will set you back $40 or so.

Publication: St. Paul Pioneer Press [US]
Date: March 1, 1998
Title: Crystal Ball Review
Summary: "Crystal Ball" is mostly a Prince work -- live and studio tracks winnowed from his vast vaults that date back to ``Purple Rain,'' right up to his present incarnation as the Artist.

Publication: Reuters [US]
Date: March 3, 1998
Title: Sound Bites: Album Review Package
Summary: Less than a year and a half after his bloated "Emancipation" opus, The Artist unloads another three-CD collection (available by mail order or from selected retailers) whose appeal will be mostly to aficionados.

Publication: Microsoft Music Central [Internet]
Date: March 5, 1998
Title: Crystal Ball Review
Summary: Here he goes again. This is the Artist breaking the rules while showing that, yes, he could easily play by them if he only wanted to.

Publication: Wall Of Sound [Internet]
Date: March 5, 1998
Title: Crystal Ball Review
Summary: They're hardly acts one would associate with Prince (or O(+>; The Artist Formerly Known as Prince; The Artist, or, as I prefer for simplicity's sake these days, Art).

Publication: Detroit Free Press [US]
Date: March 8, 1998
Title: "'Crystal Ball' Strategy Unclear To Prince Fans"
Summary: The boy can't help it. For all his braggadocio about sex and all his spiritual seeking, the true tabernacle-boudoir of the artist formerly known as Prince -- and currently known as erratic -- is the recording studio.

Publication: Boston Globe [US]
Date: March 10, 1998
Title: "Gazing into The Artist's 'Crystal Ball' "
Summary: His name was Prince. Now, his name is an unpronounceable glyph, and if you speak of him you're supposed to refer to him as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (TAFKAP) or, even worse, The Artist.

Publication: Now [Can]
Date: March 12-18, 1998
Title: "Crystal Ball Reveals O{+>'s Hidden Past"
Summary: Originally planned to be complete version of O{+>'s Sign O' The Times album -- which Warner insisted by chopped to a serviceable double-album length for release -- Crystal Ball turns out to be a four-disc receptacle of sundry O{+> studio outtakes from various points in his career.

Publication: The Daily Telegraph [UK]
Date: March 14, 1998
Title: "Formerly Reviews Pop CD of the Week"
Summary: Squiggle Crystal Ball (NPG/Pinnacle) OK, LET me get this straight: I shall be referring to him as Prince throughout this review, as that is his name.

Publication: New Music Express [UK]
Date: March 18, 1998
Title: Crystal Ball Review
Summary: IT'S NOT EVERYDAY DAY YOU get to draw parallels between Morrissey and The Artist but draw them we must.

Publication: Minneapolis City Pages [US]
Date: March 18, 1998
Title: "Slave to the Grind"
Summary: Credit O{+> with being prolific, of course, but also with being resourceful - enough to bankrupt his fans, in fact. More than a decade ago, Prince's 10-minute "Crystal Ball" was a wannabe epic in search of a concept album: his umpteenth ode to fucking ("crystal ball" - get it?), but with police sirens to signal the apocalypse and a string orchestra to match the size of his engorged, um, ambition. He'd considered it as the title track of a proposed three-record set in 1987, until better judgement (or Warner Bros.?) compelled him to pare the project down to the double disc Sign O' the Times.

Publication: Miami New Times [US]
Date: March 19, 1998
Title: "Ball Of Confusion"
Summary: In 1997 the Artist Formerly Known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince and Currently Known as a Pretentious Hieroglyph was lying low.

Publication: The San Diego Union Tribune [US]
Date: March 19, 1998
Title: "You Don't Need A 'Crystal Ball' To Know Prince's Album Is Bad"
Summary: NPG Records when The Artist Formerly Known As Prince is seen hawking his latest album on TV's Home Shopping Network may not be far off. In fact, it might be inevitable.

Publication: Entertainment Weekly [US]
Date: March 20, 1998
Title: Crystal Ball Review

Summary: The artist formerly known as Prince has titled his sprawling new four-disc set Crystal Ball. If the music inside accurately foretells O{+>'s future, the purple funkster's next career phase should be one wild ride.

Publication: Bergen Country Record [US]
Date: March 20, 1998
Title: "Quick Spins"
Summary: The Artist Formerly Known as Prince,"Crystal Ball" (NPG) @@@ 1/2 Consider, for a moment, the vaults at Paisley Park studios near Minneapolis, repositories of the efforts of one of the most prolific figures in pop history, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

Publication: The Courier-Journal: Louisville Scene [US]
Date: March 21, 1998
Title: "King Prince"
Summary: Look no further than the first song of this three-CD set to get a handle on the other 29.

Publication: New York Daily News [US]
Date: March 22, 1998
Title: "Prince Drops 'Crystal Ball' Artist's 4 -Disc Set Is Heavy"
Summary: It's not news that the artist everyone should still call Prince can't get enough of himself.

Publication: The London Sunday Times [UK]
Date: March 22, 1998
Title: Crystal Ball Review
Summary: OVER THE past few years, it's been easy to forget why the mere mention of Prince's name once drew sighs from the lips of music lovers.

Publication: USA Today [US]
Date: March 24, 1998
Title: "The Stones, Berry Treated to Tributes"
Summary: POP/ROCK: The Artist, Crystal Ball (# # #) -- The ex- Prince still reigns as rock's maniacally prolific king of funk on a four-CD set culled largely from his legendary vault.