Originally released as a bonus disc on the 1998 song-clearinghouse Crystal Ball, The Truth is an oddity in Prince's catalog -- a largely acoustic album offered as an extra on an already over-stuffed collection. The notion of an acoustic Prince album is enticing, but The Truth doesn't feel entirely realized. Sometimes the productions seem spartan and sometimes the songs do, as if Prince hasn't finished a final draft. A few songs cut through the ambling, rambling murk -- "3rd Eye" teases some mysticism, "The Other Side of the Pillow" is sprightly -- but it's a record that's better as a concept than it is as a reality.