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
album is enticing, but
doesn't feel entirely realized. Sometimes the productions seem spartan and sometimes the songs do, as if
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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine