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Glad to be part of the #PrinceTwitterThread, which is my favourite thread on Twitter. Let me take you to The Ball.
The basic tracking of The Ball saw the light of day on my 15th birthday: 25 July 1986. Let’s listen to the song as it was released on the 2020 remaster of SOTT. https://open.spotify.com/track/2WP35MUqltteReTyupH7wY?si=F_-CdC6xQdakCczfbDhGOA
The Ball was meant to be released on the Crystal Ball album of which a lot has been mentioned by the various Purple Avengers already. It was the opening track for side 4 and segues into Joy In Repetition with crowd noises.
Prince used to tape a lot of these crowd noises so he could use them in between songs. This version doesn’t segue into Joy, but fades out at the beginning of the crowd noises.
Interesting sidenote: the crowd noises were still used to start off Joy in Repetition on the Graffiti Bridge album. Listen tot his great version.
Talking about The Ball all Prince fans point to Eye No, which was the opener of the Lovesexy album. You can listen tot his brilliant album here. https://open.spotify.com/track/22lmcBp9KjKcn4C3MAcxF6?si=mC47iAPASyq1SS8P_oL0Fw
Although Eye No reuses the music from The Ball and especially the chorus sounds similar, I noticed more differences than I thought before listening to both tracks back-to-back.
To name a few:
Eye No is without a screaming guitar in the background
Eye No has the bass thicker in the mix
Eye No has the rich production that can be heard on the entire Lovesexy album
Eye No has religious lyrics fitting the Lovesexy theme
Eye No is without a screaming guitar in the background
Eye No has the bass thicker in the mix
Eye No has the rich production that can be heard on the entire Lovesexy album
Eye No has religious lyrics fitting the Lovesexy theme
Most important similarities are the music of the chorus, the party feel of the song and the crowd noises at the end. These crowd noises are exactly the same on both tracks.
Let’s leave Eye No and focus on the Ball. The lyrics are straightforward. In the Twittere series we’ve seen a lot of great dissections of lyrics. Often a religious undertone can be found in Prince songs. To my opinion that’s not the case in The Ball.
The lyrics welcome you to the Crystal Ball. Therefore it makes sense that The Ball was left out on SOTT, since it really has to be combined with the Crystal Ball song. Having said that: this really should have been included on the 1998 Crystal Ball compilation.
Maybe Prince saw it as released because of Eye No and it wasn’t seen as an outtake anymore.
With the release on #SOTTDeluxe it’s the final track of the proposed Crystal Ball album to officially see the light of day. In verse 1 we are ordered to party and shake our bodies. When Prince start asking yo peachy stuff we know he’s not looking for extra vitamines.
In the 2nd verse we learn that couples ain’t allowed and Prince just wants to get pumped. All doubts overboard here: dancing is foreplay and Prince is ready to get down like a bull on a cow. This is all happening in the Crystal Ball. All 4 fun and fun 4 all.
Interesting in the lyrics matter is Susannah. Where SOTT is sometimes referred to as his break-up album after ditching The Revolution and his break with Susannah. The Crystal Ball Album looks as much as an ode to Susannah as Emancipation is to Mayte.
Bare in mind that Susannah was drawing her own Kama Sutra (according tot he CB lyrics) and Prince has quite a reputation with regards to his libido. Looking at a lot of songs and assuming Susannah was inspiring, they had a lot of fun.
Examples? It, Slow Love, Hot Thing, Girlfriend, Rockhard, The Ball and Adore. Need I say more?
So the lyrics might be superficial and straightforward; this is not the case with the music. It starts with the intro where we here the Bob George voice Prince refers to as “Space voice harmonizer” (thanks to @Duane_Tudahl 's liner notes in the deluxe box).
During this intro you can also hear the screaming backwards guitar. The intro brings you in party mode.
The song is dominated again by the Fairlight like many other songs during this era as perfectly explained by some fellow Avengers. Just like the Linn the Fairlight also give this song a cold funky beat present in Prince’s best songs. Some percussion make it a bit more playfull.
The bass is most fundamental in this song. It was kept for Eye no where it was loud in the mix. On The Ball it’s been mixed to the background, but if you focus on it, it really becomes hypnotyzing and it made me realize why the groove of the song is as infectious as it is.
Please let us never forget Prince ’s skills on bass.
Then we have the guitar. Also mixed to the background, but screaming to be heard. This really is a trademark of Prince. Take a very dominant guitar sound and mix it to the back. If he would have given it a more prominent place in the mix the song would have become more metal.
For the hornz we have the best hornz section ever: Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss. Besides providing their trademark hornz sounds they also join Greg Brooks, Wally Safford and (presumably) Jerome Benton in the party screams (thanks @PrinceVault )
Finally the vocals. As often multi-layered and Prince is joined by Susannah. He switches between his falsetto and his “normal” voice. No voice acrobatics needed fort his song, yet another proof that even if he keeps it simple Prince is an extraordinary vocalist.
Conclusive this isn’t one of the most outstanding tracks of this boxset. It is however damn funky and a signature track of the Crystal Ball era.
Thanks to Iron Man ( @deejayumb ) and Hulk ( @EdgarKruize ) for having me and don’t forget to read all other threads of the #PrinceTwitterThread regarding #SOTTDeluxe. Peace and B Safe. 
