Publication: Boston Globe [US]
Date: March 10, 1998
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Title: "Gazing into The Artist's 'Crystal Ball' "
Reviewed By: Jim Sullivan

Another quirky multidisc set arrives without fanfare, airplay

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.

Say this: The man can electrify a small club when he does one of his surprise gigs, and he can still pack a hockey arena on last minute's notice - and at a steep ticket price. He's arguably the pop apotheosis of artistry and entertainment, a master of genres and dazzling mood changes. And wait till next year: You're going to hear his song ''1999'' a lot. But he does make his fans work hard to spend their money. And then think about how much they've spent after the fact.

Late in 1996, The Artist released the triple CD ''Emancipation,'' which was not a bestseller. Now, he's back with ''Crystal Ball,'' another multiple-CD package that's been released without any fanfare or airplay. It's supposedly a triple CD - plus one mostly acoustic disc, ''The Truth,'' if you buy it in certain stores, plus yet another disc, instrumental ''Kamasutra,'' if you buy over the Internet or by telephone. (You can also buy the four-CD set in stores in a plastic bubble - crystal ball, get it? - package.)

So, once again, The Artist is creating a stir. But it's a quiet stir. ''Crystal Ball'' just kind of slipped out there. Said Tom Naughton, manager of the Sam Goody at Downtown Crossing: Sales are ''a little bit light - a lot of people don't know about it.'' At Tower Records last week, there was one inauspicious copy of ''Crystal Ball'' on display, its cover art looking homemade and bootlegged. That is the concept. The CDs are tagged with the word ''bootleg'' and the three main CDs of the set are songs from Prince's (yes, he was Prince then) vaults - outtakes, b-sides, jams.

The Artist is done with the machinery of major labels - remember when he proclaimed himself a ''slave?'' - so this, like ''Emancipation,'' is being released on his own NPG label. And in an odd fashion. The five-CD version of ''Crystal Ball'' is $60 (plus postage and handling) and only available at www. crystalballcd.newfunk.com or, for you old-fashioned phone types, 800-NEW-FUNK. A press release from The Artist's Paisley Park company says the four-CD pack is available in certain stores - Best Buy, Sam Goody, On Cue, Blockbuster, and others. The four-CD pack lists at $53.99 and can be had for about $40-$45, but Blockbuster manager Beth Anderson says her Massachusetts Avenue store in Boston has it for $29.99.

So what's it doing at Tower? Charlie Johnson, indie rock buyer at the Boston store explains, ''Initially, when we got word about the CD we saw Best Buy had an exclusive, so we were not going to do anything, but our vendor, Bayside Distribution, had it. They're a company that handles all sorts of different labels. There is a demand for it. It does not have a bar code - it's almost like a bootleg.''

The way most people hear new music is, of course, on the radio. Prince has ruled those waves in the past. As to The Artist now ... it doesn't look so good.

''I've just started plowing through it,'' says WBCN-FM (104.1) program director Oedipus. ''A friend bought it for me. No one serviced us [at the station]. From what I've heard so far, it doesn't sound like a rock record. It'll be played on `Nocturnal Emissions','' Oedipus's more left-field show.

Will any modern rock stations play it? ''None whatsoever,'' says Oedipus. ''If he's marketing to fans on the Internet ... there'd be very little radio airplay. There wouldn't be any coordination in terms of spins and sales. That makes it hard for a song to chart and grow and sell. He's trying to redefine, reestablish, and re-evaluate the way music is marketed, promoted, consumed, and performed. It's an experiment. More money goes into his hands and he's in much more control. But as to the momentum? How are you gonna start the momen tum?''

Radio stations depend on record companies to send them material for airplay. Regionally based promotion people follow up the shipments with their pitches. The Artist does not have a label doing that for him, though the independent Boston-based promoter, Jerry Brenner, is working the record. (Brenner did not return calls from the Globe.)

''We're not playing it,'' says WFNX-FM (101.7) program director Cruise. ''I don't know if we were even shipped a copy. 'FNX has played some of Prince's music in the past. I'm a big fan myself. I'm inclined to listen. If there's something on there that makes sense, I'd be open to it.''

But Cruise concedes that not having a record company work the album ''can be a factor. If they're promoting something, they've got someone whose job it is to put pressure on to listen to it.'' Prince used to have a home at WXKS-FM (107.9). But Kid David, assistant program director and music director, says, ''To be honest, I've had it two weeks, listened a few times, and did not find anything we could play. I was looking for good, poppy, hooky music.''

Over at WJMN-FM (94.5), assistant program director/music director Cat Collins says, ''I've skimmed through the five CDs and it's interesting, as usual - he's never put out a piece of music where you could say he's untalented - but, to be honest, I don't hear anything Jammin's interested in at this point. Prince has enough of a name so that you listen to it, but his last record, a triple-CD, was supposed to be a comeback and we played three songs and none of them worked. I'm not closing the door, but I've heard everything and there's nothing I feel comfortable playing.''