The strange story behind Prince’s unreleased record ‘Crystal Ball’
Every good idea is only a couple of decisions away from being a bad one. Prince knew this all too well. While his experimental approach to music has produced some excellent pieces, it also resulted in a turbulent career, with songs that haven’t worked as well as he planned and tumultuous relationships with fellow musicians.
One of Prince’s musical works that is widely considered by music lovers to be a good move was his legendary double album Sign o’ The Times. However, true to the perils of innovation, if Prince had been allowed to run with his original idea, the album may well have fallen by the wayside and been considered a flop.
Before Prince could get to his classic album, he needed to pitch an idea that didn’t end up getting made. This was a colossal three-LP album set, Crystal Ball, that covered a range of musical styles, had several different contributors and was also a source of contention for members of his band, The Revolution.
Crystal Ball is the product of a range of creative ideas that Prince put forward along with band members Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. Ever since the release of his record Purple Rain, his albums have been less solo efforts and more collaborative efforts. As such, Prince, Melvoin, and Coleman were all working on songs intended to appear on The Revolution’s final album, Dream Factory.
Tension began to arise in the band as Prince appointed Wally Safford and Gregory Allen Brooks to join The Revolution. The issue with these two was that they weren’t musicians and brought new attitudes to the band that impacted the creative dynamic. Melvoin and Coleman had to be persuaded to stay in the band, but by the end of their Parade Tour, he felt slighted by most members and ended up firing everyone. Some of the songs he had worked on with Melvoin and Coleman were put on the back burner.
Other projects contributed to what would have been Crystal Ball. One was an album Prince was working on called Camille, which Prine wanted to release under the name Camille with no picture on the cover to remove himself from the album in an experiment to see if it would still sell without his name attached to it. What separated the songs he wrote for this album was that rather than using his regular vocals, he sped them up slightly.
In the meantime, Prince was also working on other music in the background. As such, over the course of three years, he had enough music for three LPs, which he planned on releasing under the name Crystal Ball. When he eventually pitched the idea to Warner Bros, they shot it down immediately, saying that three records were too much and people wouldn’t buy it.
In a bid to compromise, Prince said he would cut some songs from the album and add a duet with Sheena Easton. The album was eventually released as a double LP set and is now known as his famous offering, Sign o’ The Times.
