Publication: Bergen Country Record [US]
Date: March 20, 1998
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Title: "Quick Spins"
Reviewed By: Tom Moon

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. Every finished master and abandoned experiment is there, somewhere.

Though he has dropped previously unreleased material onto anthologies and singles, this three-CD limited-edition, authorized "bootleg"was to be the first sustained look behind the curtain, a chance to hear working versions of songs the artist rearranged later, or that never made it onto an album.

It's not the Complete Works, but slices of incredibly inventive pop-funk such as the pleading "Acknowledge Me"and the suite-like title track that don't do any damage to the legacy. There are glimpses into the artist's sex obsession, the bawdy"Hide the Bone"and the coy, beautifully phrased"Tell Me How U Want 2 B Done", and looser, more dramatic treatments of album cuts"Crucial"and"Sexual Suicide." All of it, down to the last synthesizer scrap, has something for anyone serious about late 20th century pop.

Buyer beware: There are several versions of" Crystal Ball. "If you purchase the collection via the Internet at www.newfunk.com or by phone at 800-NEW-FUNK, it comes without the 20-page booklet (which can be downloaded from the Web) but with two extra CDs: the terrific blues-tinged"acoustic"album "The Truth,"and the NPG Orchestra recording of "Kamasutra."