Crystal Ball | The Truth | Kamasutra

20 years into his career as a recording artist, Prince reached a monumental milestone with his five-disc release, Crystal Ball. It was the first time he’d released an album of his music completely independently — offering the album directly to his fans via a pre-sale phone line, 1-800-NEW-FUNK, and his website love4oneanother.com — and the first time he distributed CDs to other outlets through his own NPG Records, without the support of any major label.

After years of lamenting the slow-drip pace of releases by the commercial recording industry, Prince was finally free to share as much music as he wanted, as quickly as he wanted. Using his website to gauge interest from his worldwide network of supporters, he decided to release an unprecedented triple-album, the long-awaited Crystal Ball, accompanied by two additional releases, the acoustic-leaning The Truth and an instrumental album from the NPG Orchestra, Kamasutra. (The expanded edition was only available online and through phone pre-orders; when the CD was made available in stores, it was slimmed down to a four-CD set, including Crystal Ball and The Truth.)

Crystal Ball was the second triple-album that Prince released in succession, and he had already started teasing the release of Crystal Ball online around the time of 1996’s three-CD-set Emancipation. Each CD contained 10 tracks and ran almost exactly 50 minutes, and pulled from a back catalog of unreleased recordings and alternate versions of songs that spanned from 1983 to 1996, offering listeners the opportunity to travel through time and experience music from his legendary vault.

In addition to the five albums of music, Crystal Ball came with detailed liner notes written by Prince himself that offer a rare glimpse into his creative process and memories. “The song ‘Crystal Ball’ was written in a deepbluefunk depression as Prince pondered his future in a music business that had become more business than music,” he wrote about the title track, while songs like “PoomPoom” had more lighthearted backstories: “Never intended 4 any album, just a funny track 2 make a female laugh.”

Both the retail version of Crystal Ball and the direct-order presale version each came with the album The Truth, widely regarded as one of Prince’s most underappreciated hidden gems. The Truth was the first Prince album to be labeled “acoustic,” though it does contain electronic instruments and elements, and it gave listeners an unprecedented chance to hear his songwriting and voice in a stripped-down presentation.

Those who ordered Crystal Ball directly from NPG Records via 1-800-NEW-FUNK or love4oneanother.com were also given an instrumental album, Kamasutra, that Prince recorded with what he called the NPG Orchestra: saxophonist Eric Leeds, the NPG Hornz (Michael B. Nelson, Kathy Jensen, Dave Jensen, Brian Gallagher and Steve Strand), and longtime collaborator Clare Fischer’s orchestra. It is the only album credited to the NPG Orchestra.