Compilation · No. 1
Crystal Ball Songwriting Credits by Prince
Holds writing credit on 12 of 12 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 12 / 12 documented
Scored across the 12 tracks with documented writers, by whether Prince carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 12 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Crystal Ball gathered previously bootlegged outtakes and unreleased recordings drawn from across Prince's vault, making it a compilation of older material rather than a fresh studio project. Prince wrote and produced essentially all of it himself, with only one track carrying outside co-production. He released it completely independently through his NPG Records, selling it directly to fans by a pre-sale phone line and his website, an early example of internet direct-to-fan distribution that bypassed major labels entirely.
Released January 29, 1998, first as a limited direct-order five-disc box set and then in a four-disc retail version on March 21, 1998, Crystal Ball was built almost entirely from previously bootlegged and unreleased vault material rather than newly recorded songs. Prince produced all tracks and wrote every composition himself, drawing from recordings spanning 1983 and two concentrated periods between 1985-1986 and 1993-1996, with seven of the thirty tracks being remixes or alternate versions of previously released songs. The triple-album studio portion mirrors the structure of the preceding Emancipation: three discs of approximately fifty minutes each, and spans pop, funk, and rock across its extensive runtime. Critical reception was favorable, with AllMusic awarding three stars, Entertainment Weekly a B+, and Rolling Stone three and a half stars, recognizing the quality of the vault material being made officially available. Commercially the album reached number 62 on the Billboard 200, a modest performance reflective of its niche direct-to-consumer distribution model.