Which is the best book on him?

Alayali said:

Which is the best book on him?

My Time With Prince by Dez Dickerson - because it is the only one by someone who was there and has no reason to make up shit or get it wrong.

Per Nilsen's "DMSR : The First Decade".

Nothing else comes close. Meticulously researched, informative, a great read.

Militant said:

Per Nilsen's "DMSR : The First Decade".

Nothing else comes close. Meticulously researched, informative, a great read.

purplethunder3121 said:

Militant said:

Per Nilsen's "DMSR : The First Decade".

Nothing else comes close. Meticulously researched, informative, a great read.

100% THIS! ^

Militant said:

Per Nilsen's "DMSR : The First Decade".

Nothing else comes close. Meticulously researched, informative, a great read.

How is his book 'The Vault' ? not as good?

But thanks I'll buy DMSR

Militant said:

Per Nilsen's "DMSR : The First Decade".

Nothing else comes close. Meticulously researched, informative, a great read.

Agree, but I recommend all these ones too.

.

Prince a Pop Life, Dave Hill 1989 - A great 80s read and not too gossipy, he interviewed Pepe Willie and Sonny T before he was in the NPG.

Possessed, The Rise and Fall of Prince, Alex Hahn 2003 - Also a very good book, has an alternative view of Prince, a lot of disenchanted ex band members/associates and an author deeply critical of Prince's lesser moments and albums. It also had the bad luck of emerging before the 2004 Comebacks.

Days of Wild (The Vault), (The Work) Per Nilsen 1999, 2004, 2010? - Exhaustive and no nonsense biography and discography along with Studio history. Again for the fan not the generalist.

Prince, Inside the music and the Masks, Ronin Ro 2011 - Despite the few cosmetic errors that are constantly bought up by fans, this book is surprisingly good and discusses his career well, but like most Prince books, there's more focus on the pre 1993 period than later. This book is also perfect for the less seasoned and hardcore fan too.

Prince, Matt Thorne 2012 - An exhaustive biography based around his music from himself and some of his proteges, better for the hardcore fan and musicologist, than the general fan. There are no pictures and the detail can be overwhelming. Plus it is highly subjective and you may find yourself disagreeing with some of his opinions, but his knowledge of boots and unreleased music is beyond compare. This book is the definite 2nd best book after DMSR.

.

Okay books

- Barney Hoskins - Prince The Imp of the Perverse 1988 - Some good detail and cool 1980s pop bio book style with interesting shots

- Liz Jones - Slave to the Rhythm 1996/98 - A good Symbol era book.

- John Bream, Inside the Purple Reign 1984 - Purple Rain era

- Jason Draper, Chaos Disorder and Revolution 2010 - Average generalist biography

- Jason Draper, 2008 - a large book with images of Prince over the years

- Per Nilsen - Prince a Documentary 1990/93 - 2 editions that are early versions of the vault, both dated but still very good items to have. Plus they did the job back then.

.

Terrible Books (Avoid unless you are an obsessive fan)

- Steven Ivory - Prince 1984/1985? Hideous cheap paperback that has little detail and a lot of speculation, aimed at the bottom feeding Purple Rain (Only digging it because its a hit) only fan moron. The writing style is aimed at 8 year olds and people with an IQ of about 70.

- Prince and Randee St Nichols - 21 nights 2008 - Ridiculous and self indulgent photo book of Prince with girls and on stage, nothing new and a CD of dreck, this vanity item proved he should stick to making music.

- Thief in the Temple, Brian Morton mid 2000s? - Very basic and lightweight book with bizarre tertiary level gtext focus. This book skips and jumps and is deeply unsatisfying

- That book by Toure 2012? Forgot title, but this is truly terrible, nonsense about him having group sex orgies and "generations" of fans, oh lawd, this is bad, so bad I have been trying to forget for years.