1998 Part 1: Have You Ever Had A Crystal Ball?
Last week I made a big deal out of how much music Prince released in 1996, at something like three hours and forty minutes. That was silly, because the total for 1998, according to my PC’s music player, just under five and a half hours. And that’s not counting the albums for Larry Graham and Chaka Kahn that were also released during ’98. So I hope it will come as no surprise that we will be sticking with 1998 for a few weeks. First up is a project that is the very definition of a mixed success, the triple album Crystal Ball.
I’d Give A Million Dollars To See You Standing At My Door
One of the problems Prince felt he had with his career when he was at Warner Bros. was that he was basically stuck with only one way to get his music to people. Now that he had no exclusive contract, he wanted to try different ways to sell his music. Emancipation had been a safe, basically middle-of-the-road approach. Apart from his conditions (owning his own master recordings, non-exclusivity, limited time terms), the deal with EMI was very similar to what he had before with WB, and if EMI hadn’t imploded from its own financial difficulties it would have been satisfactory. Now Prince wanted to try something a little more interesting.
Prince’s next project was to attempt to sell his music directly to his fans. No record company, no distributor of any kind. He saw the internet as a means to make record companies completely obsolete to artists, and he intended to test his theory. There was a blurb in the booklet for Emancipation that directed the reader to a website called thedawn, where there would be more information about a “3 CD Set of Previously Unreleased Material.”
Yes, in 1997, a well-known pop star had this as his website. image: Prince Estate
On July 7, 1997, MTV News was given the following press release, which strangely did not identify Prince as an unpronounceable symbol:
PRINCE’S “CRYSTAL BALL” ONLINE
Fans of Prince will soon be able to order a three-CD set called, “Crystal Ball,” directly from the artist, by phone or through the Internet.
Eliminating the middle man, the artist has decided to take pre-orders for the set, which features only unreleased material — although much of it has already been played in concert and bootlegged. There will be both old and new material, ten tracks of which are already listed on the Internet.
The set can be ordered through Prince’s website (www.love4oneanother.com), or through his toll-free line, 1-800-NEW-FUNK.
Note: this image shows the site from late 1999, but you get the idea. image: Prince Estate
The price and release date haven’t been revealed yet, although it’s rumored the set will go for about $50. The sound is said to fall somewhere between “Sign O’ the Times” and “The Gold Experience,” with a New Power Generation Vibe. As a special touch, some 2,500 copies of the set will be packaged to look like a crystal ball.
The artist also just finished a 12-track acoustic guitar album entitled, “The Truth.” Some 100,000 lucky fans who have either filled out flyers at the artist’s concerts or who call his 800 number, will receive copies mailed at random, when the album’s ready.
This is a screenshot of one of the interior pages of thedawn website. image: Prince Estate
Prince definitely understood the assignment. If he wanted to give a direct order box set the best possible chance of selling well, the first thing to do was to make sure it was material his most dedicated fans were sure to want. The first step to that was to make the package out of material from the vault – specifically using what would be called “Previously Bootlegged Material” on the posters and flyers for Crystal Ball. The name was chosen carefully as well. “Crystal Ball” is the name of both a song and an album that went unreleased in 1987. It was a precursor to what most people consider to be his greatest album, Sign O The Times. Simply by invoking the name, his die hard fans would be triggered. If he wanted to drive traffic to one of his many websites, he was making all the right moves so far.
The packaging was innovative. I have a version that came in a round case, although I would definitely stop far short of saying it “looks like a crystal ball.” On the other hand, I never kept my CDs in it. I live in mortal fear of scratching my CDs to the point of making them un-rippable, so I have always kept mine in jewel cases. So I’m not sure what the point of the fancy pants case was in the first place. Also, the confused release history of Crystal Ball also begs that question in other ways as well. In the meantime, Prince did begin to generate some buzz, especially among his online fan base, for this new album. And at first, that buzz was almost universally positive.
Prince On The Internet (Honeymoon Phase)
Prince had a very tumultuous, on-again, off-again relationship with the internet. This was definitely an “on” moment. I cannot find if this was actually the very first time an artist sold an album directly to consumers in this fashion, but it was certainly an early case. In fact, it was more akin to crowdfunding. Prince said the album would not go to press until 100,000 preorders had been taken. (Spoilers: Manufacturing actually began at closer to 85,000 orders)
During the course of 1997, pre-order bonuses were promised in the form of a recently-recorded album called The Truth and other, unspecified goodies. It was all a Prince production, so there was no transparency as all this went on. Nobody knew exactly what would be included, there was no hint as to exactly what the supposed innovative packaging would look like, and especially no indication when this exclusive, direct-order only set would ship.
The Crystal Ball Fiasco
Plenty of people ordered the set, although exactly how many and how quickly is difficult to say. The release was fraught to say the very least. I’m willing to admit my lack of objectivity with regard to matters relating to Prince and his music, but there is no question that this was a botched job. If you Google “The Crystal Ball Fiasco” you will get a lot of hits about the release of Crystal Ball.
There are plenty of reasons (not excuses) for these failings, but Prince being Prince did nothing to communicate any of these at the time, making the PR problem worse. It’s only with the hindsight of more than twenty years that we can really see how most of this happened.
First of all, there was the problem of this being uncharted territory. Prince and his organization were not really prepared to do this kind of undertaking, nor was there the kind of ready-made third party infrastructure that exists now. There was bound to be a whole host of unforeseen problems.
Secondly, Prince shot himself in the foot by changing the plan constantly, starting with his pie in the sky ideas about packaging. The round cases Prince wanted required handmade one ton injection molds that took four months to create – which explains some of the delay all on its own.
I Want To Be An Honest Man
Then as the process dragged on Prince changed the content of the package. First he added The Truth, which was billed as an “acoustic album” (more on that next week), and then he also tacked on Kamasutra, the music for the NPG Dance Company show (again, more on that next week). As discontent among fans began to rumble online when shipments went out, even more goodies were thrown into the boxes in an attempt to placate the fans. Sometimes a customer would receive a t-shirt (a random t-shirt, mind you), other times an Emancipation lyric book. Occasionally there would be a cassette of The War, a curious EP that will be discussed in a few weeks. The scattershot nature of all this smacks of desperation.
Up to this point, all this is annoying at worst and mostly a bit silly. (I mean, come on – a lyric book for an album you haven’t bought?) The real problems were that Prince also didn’t have the processes in place to do preorders. This sounds bizarre in 2023, but in 1997, this was completely normal. Very few major retail chains even did preorders. Preorders were mostly for video games and people didn’t even really preorder video games that much. Even a place like GameStop would only take preorders for the biggest AAA releases of the year. These days, everything can be preordered. Any kind of retail management software has the ability to do that built in or it couldn’t stay in the market. In the Bronze Age it was all being done on clay tablets, and that meant problems were bound to occur.
In addition to the obvious problems (dropped orders – someone ordered the set and it was never charged or shipped), there was the other, ultimately far more damaging error: multiple charges. Many people were getting charged twice, and in at least some cases people were charged five times for the set. These problems occurred because Prince’s retail operation was simply not competent to do what they were trying to, especially at the volume they were trying to do it.
And then there was the content of the set. Setting aside The Truth and Kamasutra which I’ve never heard any major complaints about, there were the obvious pitfalls of what happens when you open the vault. You can’t please everyone, of course, but when you have a prolific artist and his most passionate fanbase even a triple album starts to feel confining.
Everybody Wanna Take A Stand
Back on the ill-advised appearance Prince made on the Oprah Winfrey show in 1997, she asked Prince “How many more songs do you think you have in you?” He answered “One a day at least. Until I die.” We all took that deadly seriously. Plenty of us had calculators and even if you assume that he has only managed to keep up the one a day rate since, let’s say 1982, that’s still five thousand tracks. Conservatively. Tons of those have been circulated. It’s true that this was the Bronze Age, but the internet did exist and plenty of toxic forums had already sprung up in various places.
Once people start talking online fan ownership starts to develop. I’m not a huge proponent of this concept to begin with, but in cases like this it’s particularly problematic. Fan ownership is an illusion. First of all, it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between customer and retailer in a capitalist economy. Secondly, and in this case far more importantly, if there was one person on this planet who never believed in fan ownership it was Prince Rogers Nelson. Any fans who wanted to get online, wind each other up and decide what he “should” have done, or what the “smart” tracklist was going to be were doomed to disappointment. He was never going to do what you thought he should do. His whole career was built on not doing that.
Which is not to say I don’t think some of the complaints about the content were valid. There were too many remixes. I don’t count them quite the same way as the majority of the fan community. “So Dark” to me is more of a remake than a remix, but the main thrust of the complaint is valid. At the time of release I didn’t mind the remixes so much because I enjoyed them more than I do now, and also I don’t think I really understood how deep the vault went.
There is some validity to the complaint that the tracks don’t cover a wide enough span of time. Really what we’re talking about here are tracks recorded during 1985-86 and 1993-1996 (with one pretty rad exception). Personally, that doesn’t bother me. Those are the periods I would choose if I were cherry picking from the vault. That said, I get it if my taste doesn’t speak for the entire fan base, and it does seem like excluding tracks with The Revolution, especially from the Purple Rain period is a little odd. On the other hand, once you get into that period, those years start to overwhelm every other possibility, regardless of quality, so you do end up with deeper cuts this way. Nevertheless, it is a good argument for those with those preferences.
One thing I do find a little more dubious is the runtime complaint. The triple album had a similar breakdown to Emancipation’s rules, in this case 3 CD’s, ten tracks each, 50 minutes each. If you’re keeping count, that means technically the run time could have fit on two CDs. I’m not sure that’s as simple as the argument makes it sound. The material on the set is taken from lots of different times, styles and sources. Some of these tracks were never released because they were meant to be the centerpieces of albums that never saw the light of day. Some of them simply never fit in anywhere else. Getting it all to flow as some kind of cohesive experience didn’t work terribly well as it was, squashing it down to two CDs would have done it no favors.
Everything From A To Z
The last fan argument is the most compelling. The promotion for Crystal Ball started in 1996, just before the release of Emancipation, and it emphasized the exclusive nature of the package. You had to go to the website or call the number to get the album. That was it. There was no other way you were going to get Crystal Ball. In 1997 I had no way to get the thing, so I knew I was never going to get it. The innovative packaging! The bonus acoustic album! Never to be mine! As the first reports of shipments received started hitting the internet began rolling in during late January 1998 I genuinely believed I would simply miss out on this album. Then...
Best Buy Sunday newspaper ads. Remember these? Image: Best Buy/ Prince Estate
The news started rolling in that Crystal Ball would also be released at brick-and-mortar retail at Best Buy exclusively. The PR line out of Paisley Park was that it was not as good as the direct sale package because Kamasutra was not included. This didn’t mean much to me for two reasons. First, Kamasutra didn’t interest me as much as The Truth and secondly, for reasons I can’t recall, while during the preorder period my broke freshman undergrad ass could not scrape together fifty dollars, in March 1998, forty bucks was possible.
The round packaging designed by Steve Parke. I have one of these! Not this one, though.
However, for those who could and did jump through Prince’s hoops for that five disc version of Crystal Ball, they were not happy to find that their exclusive, superfan-only item is now going to be sold at Best Buy. And then there were deals struck for several other chains, and then it got a major wide release within just a few months. Again, all the packages only four discs, and the packaging varied. The first run of the Best Buy version had the round packaging, but every other version as far as I know had a pretty standard (for the time) square jewel case packaging.
The square jewel box packaging. Note how much less effort went into this one.
On top of the botched orders, the incredibly long time it took to get the album into customers’ hands in the first place, and the disappointment in some of the material, suddenly losing the exclusivity really burned some fans. It was the first in a long line of incidents where Prince would alienate his fans and then move on, seemingly without minding much. In hindsight, that’s not quite how it was (more on that in the coming years), but that’s certainly how it appeared at the time.
Successful Test?
"To me, Crystal Ball was a test case. I was testing the water to see if people would buy music over the internet, and whether they would be receptive to a five-CD set. Since the album was a success, it leads me to believe that the whole interactive thing offers great possibilities.”
-Prince in "Guitar World," October 1998
So many times when I quote Prince, I do it to draw attention to how untruthful he could be when it suited him. In this case, you should believe almost every word. The only thing I would give side-eye to would be “Since the album was a success.” I think that depends on your definition, but apart from that, he was being completely honest.
At the time, he saw the internet as an enormous opportunity, and he had plans to expand the scope of his online enterprise enormously, and this really was a miniscule-sized test for that in several ways beyond the obvious.
First, he was testing his set up for large numbers of online orders. Obviously, faults were discovered. Secondly, he was testing his ability to attract online traffic by moving material that would normally either be in liner notes or not be included at all to the internet. So Crystal Ball had Prince’s own inscrutable liner notes for the songs and the lyrics were posted to an online lyric book, which also offered links to his online store, etc etc. Finally, he was doing market research. How many die hard fans were really out there on the internet and how much could he charge them?
Here's what the online lyric book looked like. In 1998 this was mind-blowing. image: Prince Estate
And there were other little touches as well, including alternative album art you could print yourself for people who didn’t want to keep their discs in the round case (which I still use because it’s better), and he also had a feedback card online that asked for what you would like him to do next, with choices that included Crystal Ball II. Spoiler alert: I didn’t bother to try and track down the card, because none of those choices were ever released. He did the same thing several more times in the next 15 years. None of those choices were ever released either, because he was never going to do what his fans thought he should do. Ever.
The better version of the square album art. Image: Prince Estate
NOTE: The album is currently available on Tidal and several other streaming services and online retailers. It has not been released on physical media since the initial 1998 run.
Tracklist
Disc 1
Crystal Ball
Originally recorded over several months in 1986, it was going to be on the abandoned album Dream Factory, then it was considered as the centerpiece of a completely different album called Crystal Ball, but that evolved into Sign O The Times. In 1998 this was an unreleased track, however, in 2020 a drastically edited version did appear on the Super Deluxe release of SOT. This is the original ten and a half minute monster. Everything is by Prince except for Susannah Melvoin’s background vocal’s and Clare Fischer’s orchestral arrangement. It’s still a great track, and it kind of blew my mind when I first heard it. What else was in the vault and what possible reason did Prince have for keeping it there?
Dream Factory
Recorded from Thanksgiving weekend 1985 through sometime in Spring 1986, this was going to be part of the next Prince and The Revolution album until Prince disbanded The Revolution leaving this and several other projects unfinished. The original tracks were recorded in the Washington Avenue warehouse, and after so long not hearing that sound quality, it definitely sounds like it was recorded in a big metal room. These first two songs were considered legendary in the fan community and probably worth the price of admission all on their own. Bootlegs of this song in particular are said to have sounded awful, and it’s not hard to hear why. Imagine a bootleg cassette of this being copied a few times, and it would sound like it was underwater pretty quickly.
Acknowledge Me
Originally recorded in late 1993, this was part of the large batch of songs that went into Come, Exodus and The Gold Experience. A video was shot and included as part of “The Beautiful Experience” TV special. It was not included on any known configuration of Come, but tracks were recorded with Sonny T.’s lead vocals for possible inclusion on Exodus, and Prince’s version definitely was on a couple of TGE configurations. In the end, though, it’s not hard to see why it got cut. It’s not as strong as the material that ended up on the albums. For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, it has always sounded like a Bobby Brown b-side to me. Nothing wrong with it, I just understand why it didn’t make the cut originally.
Rippopgodazippa
Also recorded at about the same time as “Acknowledge Me.” This one is reggae flavored, so it’s not going to be my cup of tea. The horn arrangement is pretty rad, though. This is based on a groove Michael B. and Sonny T. came up with, though they’re uncredited. It’s unknown whether this was ever seriously considered for an album. It is outside the style for anything that he was putting together at the time. It does fit in well here, at least, so it’s good that it found a home.
Love Sign (Shock G’s Silky Remix)
As has been noted, there are too many remixes on the album. That said, my preferred remedy would be to simply add more tracks rather than remove these remixes and replace them, especially when you get stuff like this. The remix is a chill re-imagining of the track by Digital Underground mastermind the late Shock G. There is a sample here of “DMSR” that is also used to excellent effect.
Hide The Bone
Better than the title would make you think. This is another collaboration between Prince and the team of Brenda Lee Eager and Hilliard Wilson. The liner notes suggest that Prince may have radically altered the lyrics they gave him before recording. This was a band recording with Michael B., Sonny T. and Tommy Barbarella.
2morrow
This was recorded in November 1996, at a time when Mayte had asked Prince to record less than he had before. He made an appearance on the radio on November 20, 1996 promoting Emancipation, and in the process premiered this track as well, claiming thanks to this “studio rehab” this was the only track he had completed since he had finished the album. It’s a light-hearted funky song, and if this album had produced any singles, there’s no doubt this would have been one of them.
So Dark
This is often considered a remix, but it seems to be more of a remake to me. In any case, I do prefer the version found on Come. This one feels, especially now, more like an R & B track from 1998. The original had a more timeless feel to it, and the horns were more front and center in the mix, which is where I prefer them.
Movie Star
Originally recorded in 1986 as a demo for The Time, and it shows. He and Morris Day were not really in contact at the time, so it’s unknown why he decided to record a song for him. Prince also never sent it to Morris for consideration. He did, on the other hand, send it to Miles Davis, who played it live several times in 1987 and 1988. You can find the Miles Davis version on The Complete Miles At Montreux or on a broadcast recorded at the Roman Amphitheatre Caesarea in Israel, originally broadcast by the Israel Broadcasting Authority. The Montreux recordings are probably easier to come by, though.
Tell Me How U Want 2 Be Done
Despite the name, this is actually a remix by Kirk Johnson of the second section of “The Continental.” This one is a particular bone of contention among fans. First of all, if Crystal Ball is supposed to be entirely composed of “previously unreleased” material, then this track should not be here. This remix appeared as the second half of the track “Kirk J’s B Sides Remix” released as the b-side of “Purple Medley” in 1995. In fact, that version of the track is 3:47 to this version’s 3:16. If anything, this is a truncated version of previously released material. And it’s definitely another remix. Come on now, Prince. "Previously bootlegged" my ass. You know anybody bootlegging your music already has the "Purple Medley" EP.
Disc 2
Interactive
Recorded in June 1993 at Paisley Park, this was originally released in edited form as part of “Interactive” Prince’s CD-ROM…game? FMV thing? Anyway, you could also play the disc in regular CD players, so again, “previously unreleased” is a pretty dubious label for this, but unlike the last track, this version is superior, so at least it has that going for it. This is a full band performance Michael B. on drums, Sonny T. on bass, Tommy Barbarella on keys with Morris Hayes on second keys and Mayte providing backing vocals. The intro is grating to me, but the guitar solo is worth waiting for.
Da Bang
It is assumed Prince recorded this in the Spring of 1995. There is nothing else of substance known about this track beyond what Prince chose to put in the liner notes:
“Cool little track about no one. Bored in L.A., the Artist in the studio, recorded and mixed this little ditty in one day, rode around in a limo and heard it back 32 times.”
And again, you have to wonder: how many other days was he just bored in the studio if this is what happens?
Calhoun Square
Recorded June 15th, 1993 with the full NPG plus Morris Hayes. This was written as a kind of theme song for his store in Minneapolis. In a few years he would begin dusting this song off occasionally and playing it live, where it never failed to kill.
What’s My Name
I ran across a weird little fact about this song when putting this essay together. This song was recorded in May 1993, and the liner notes even mention his frustration with people “using the name Prince.” I always thought he meant the question to refer to the symbol, but apparently he originally was talking about “Prince.” Which didn’t stop him from using the song on a “Paisley Park Hotline” in 1993 to get information about Prince’s new name. If you called the number, part of this song played. And that’s it.
It's a full band performance of the NPG on this one as well, and the song slaps despite the pretentious premise. Sonny T. is a particular standout.
Crucial
This song, in a way, also appears on SOT Super Deluxe. On September 13th, 1986 Prince recorded “Crucial” at his home studio. That version was worked on, overdubbed, and eventually got orchestrations by Clare Fischer and was vaulted until 2020. Two days later, on the 15th, Prince went back and re-recorded all the vocals with almost totally different lyrics. For whatever reason, that version, which never got any more attention in the 80’s, ended up on Crystal Ball. For the record, the other version is better, primarily because Prince was right the first time on his lyrical choices.
An Honest Man
There are apparently two versions of this song, one is longer and has a full band arrangement performed by The Revolution. Prince later recorded this a capella vocal version probably as an intro or segue. As he was leaning away from Revolution-heavy material on this set, this was the version that made it in. It does have the same quality that “For You” had, and it’s interesting that he could still create such an atmosphere any time he wanted.
Sexual Suicide
I understand how this song got cut from any projects it was considered for. It has such an idiosyncratic sound and the beat (taught to Prince by Sheila E) is so off kilter that it’s not going to fit in nicely with anything you put it next to that it was doomed to be shelved. Even here it’s between a short a capella vocal performance and a long, improvised studio jam. Since it wouldn't fit in well in any other place, thank God for this project, because “Sexual Suicide” is an almighty banger.
Cloreen Bacon Skin
This is either going to be your thing or it isn’t, and if it isn’t I can completely understand. This is the oldest track on the album, from a long recording session in March of 1983 at Sunset Sound. When Prince and Morris Day would create music for The Time, often they would end up just goofing around in the studio. Sometimes it would be late at night and they would be punchy when this happened, and Prince would start doing characters to make Morris laugh and maybe throw him of the beat on his drums. This is fifteen minutes of Prince on bass and Morris Day on drums while Prince rambles into a microphone about his wife Cloreen. I think it’s amazing, but it is perfectly understandable if you want to skip this nonsense.
Good Love
This, again, skirts the definition of “previously unreleased.” This song was on the soundtrack for “Bright Lights, Big City.” This version of the track was not. Some parts were cut, but the overall song is longer. It’s still a great song. One of these days I have to see the movie.
Strays Of The World
This is Prince doing his best Andrew Lloyd Webber impersonation. While his slap-fight with Warner Bros was at its slappiest, Prince thought one way to get music released was via Broadway. This was a song intended for one possible musical. Nothing came of any of these ideas. I have to think that was basically for the best, even if this song is pretty good as far as melodramatic Prince ballads go, the fact is creating a musical that is any good would have required Prince to be awfully collaborative in ways he usually was not too keen on.
Disc 3
Days of Wild
This song was bumped from The Gold Experience to make room for other songs. I’ve always had a suspicion that he cut this one for “P. Control,” and if so, what a waste. He hauled out this song a lot over the years. He released another live version several years from now, and it remained in the repertoire of every version of the NPG from here on. “P. Control,” needless to say, did not. It does bear saying that there is a problematic lyric, which won’t seem like one at first: “A woman every day should be thanked / Not disrespected, not raped or spanked/ (here it comes) And if a woman ever said I did…” And I’m just going to stop there. Because anything he says before or after that doesn’t count, does it? Way to trip over your own dick, dude. Which sucks, because apart from that, the song rocks. This version is from the show on December 9th, 1995 at Paisley Park.
Last Heart
Recorded on January 12th, 1986 at Sunset Sound, the liner notes say Prince actually recorded this as a demo, always intending to have another run at it, but it never happened for whatever reason. The lyrics and arrangement does have a “first pass” kind of feel to it, like the song was looking for something to distinguish itself.
Poom Poom
This is another “bored in the studio” song, this time at Paisley Park. It’s weird that I like this song, which Prince did just to keep himself busy and with no purpose in mind other than that, better than the prior track, which made it to at least a couple of versions of Dream Factory.
She Gave Her Angels
This was originally intended for an album of children’s music which Prince lost interest in (for obvious reasons). It was recorded in the Spring of 1996 and originally premiered on Prince’s “Muppets Tonight” appearance at Prince’s request as an unacknowledged tribute to his son.
18 & Over
A remix of “Come” from the Summer of 1994, it was also going to be used on several projects, including a Madhouse album. What more can I say about it? It’s good – it’s a good remix of a good song, but that’s about it.
The Ride
A live track from the early morning of October 29th, 1995, this is probably my favorite released version of this song. Nice and loud guitar solos, well sung (for a blues) and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Also, like almost every other "live" track Prince released, it has been trimmed and massaged with studio overdubs, but what else can we expect?
Get Loose
A remix of “Loose!” Can’t think of a song that needs a remix less, but who couldn’t use more of that song?
P. Control (Remix)
In fact, this is the full version of the club mix available on The Versace Experience. At the time, that was limited to a few hundred cassettes, so I’m fine with labelling that “previously unreleased” for our purposes here. Again -good remix of a good song, provided you like the song, that is.
Make Your Mama Happy
Recorded in August of 1986, this is Prince in full Sly Stone mode, and it is fantastic. “Make Your Mama Happy” hits on all cylinders the way a lot of these unreleased songs don’t. Can’t see it finding a home on a regular album, but the song as an entity unto itself is almost perfect.
Goodbye
Originally recorded in December 1991, it was picked up again in 1994 and revamped several more times. The original title was “(Excuse Me Is This) Goodbye” and it was going to be on Emancipation, but Prince wanted that album to be relentlessly positive, so this song had to be cut. The liner notes say it was replaced by “The Holy River” but who can say if that’s actually true or not. Like every album that ends with a song like this it feels a little cheezy. But whatever, it worked for the Beatles more than once.
NEXT WEEK: Only two albums! The bonus albums from this set will be covered, and we’ll have a look at Prince’s ballet Kamasutra and his <side eye> acoustic guitar album The Truth!
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