If someone put a book out that chronicled all of Prince's studio sessions (dates, who participated, etc.) would you buy it?

What sort of things would you want in it? What would be important (many interviews with associates, pictures, etc.)

Is this something that fans would like?

Just wondering.

I believe a book on Prince's studio sessions could one day replace Bibles in hotel rooms.

You mean, like The Vault published by Uptown? Do we somehow need more?

Yes, It's called "The Vault".

If you've seen THE COMPLETE BEATLES RECORDING SESSIONS by Mark Lewisohn you know the type of book I am referring to. The Vault is an amazing book, but covers a lot of ground, and not as much detail about when/where/with who many of Prince's songs were recorded or re-recorded.

There are similar books about The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and even The Monkees. Would people be interested about Prince's time in the studio?

What would be needed to make it different from The Vault?

madhouseman said:

Yes I would be more likely to buy it if Prince himself authorized it. There are too many of these hearsay books out there that you don't know to be truth or lies. I would be interested in knowing how he came up with the ideas for certain songs and what some of the lyrics actually mean. Like for example "The Cross" from the S.O.T.T album. Prince swears up and down that this is NOT a Religious Gospel song. but it has Biblical references all over it. What does the song actually mean? That's what id like in the book, But I don't expect it to happen anytime soon.(Did he authorize The Vault?)

ThePunisher said:

When has Prince said the above about 'The Cross' - or 'The Christ' as he renamed it?

As for 'The Vault', Prince didn't authorise the book.

.

Well if something like that came out i would certainly buy it.

madhouseman said:

You've expressed interest in such a work before - and also asked this question a while back, if I recall correctly?

Works of this type would mostly be of interest to hardcore Prince followers / collectors, so such a work would have to target a pretty limited audience.

.

ThePunisher said:[quote]

madhouseman said:

Nope, Prince never authorized any of the Uptown-related books.

They interviewed band-members, ex-associates and engineers - it's probably best it didn't have Prince's authorization, since he doesn't seem favourable to such open-ness about his working practices and personal life, despite Uptown's largely impartial reporting of information.

Info gets pretty sketchy after the WB years, since Prince tightening up everything at PP.

I would buy it. I have two copies of the vault!

langebleu said:

Great memory-
I think you are one of the few that noticed it. Thank you for answering this again. I am just trying to take the pulse of the fanbase and see what they think. I have tossed the idea around a few times and think it would be a great book but probably not sell much.

I agree. If Prince would put out a book, that would make the rest of us not have to worry about writing them! lol

langebleu said:

I had no idea he renamed it. Prince told Chris Rock during an interview that people call The Cross" a gospel song when actually it's not. I remember that. If I'm wrong, I'll be the first to admit it. Do you think he renamed it after he converted to J.W?

i'd buy a book by Prince talking about his recording sessions, the process of songwriting, how he came up with certain song ideas, and the meaning behind some of the lyrics and nuances in his songs

Snap said:

Now, this would be intriquing especially for novice song writers like myself. It would be interesting if one day he did teach a class a Berkley School Of Music and use this book as part of his curriculum and list it on his Syllabus.
[Edited 9/11/05 19:00pm]

ThePunisher said:

I don't recal him renaming it. Maybe, somebody can give us their spin now I may be wrong.
[Edited 9/11/05 18:59pm]

MadameS said:

he renamed the cross, the christ after his jw conversion (i think)

I would buy it and I'm not a die-hard.

Renaming 'The Cross' as 'The Christ' occurred dating back to 10 April 1998 and is directly linked to Prince's JW beliefs.

Prince performed the song at the Essence Awards, having earlier received an award and announcing that Larry Graham had helped him find 'the truth'.

The song was prefaced with a speech about 'stauros', and the word 'Cross' is replaced with 'Christ'

The same lyric replacement occurs on the Rave Un2 The Year 2000 DVD performance, and the song is listed as 'The Christ' on the DVD.

.
[Edited 9/11/05 22:34pm]

madhouseman said:

I think as long as the book provided information that isn't readily available elsewhere, and had a good sense of design, people would buy it. I know I would.

ufoclub said:

can i have one.

madhouseman said:

I think there would be a lot of 'Prince. On his own. Paisley Park'. Most artists have producers in the studio who can verify with who/what was recorded. Most times with Prince, you might have a sound engineer, but that's about it. Unless Prince himself keeps a record of what/when he recorded, the information is never gonna be available or complete anyway.

You asked this question quite a while back. I'll give the same answer:


YES!


This would be a Prince fan's dream book.

Snap said:

The problem is,I doubt that Prince will ever write a book like that.We have to settle for the Uptown books,which are extremely thorough and well-researched.

scififilmnerd said:

speaking of the vault book those bastards from uptown ripped me off because i ordered the "Vault" book since jun 7th and now its september i havent received it yet. somebody's going to get asses beat.

seems to me prince would find it all too boring to document these details himself...

good thing there's others around to do it, for those who are interested.

I'd love it if Prince gave permission to someone to meet with him several times over the course of a year, and the interviewer could just ask P to talk about specific songs - whatever he wants to say, or whatever he remembers about the inspiration, recording process etc., eventually covering all his released and unreleased work, even if it's just one paragraph about most songs (or even if he says "I don't remember much about that one at all - that was a quick knock-off" - that in itself would be revealing about some songs). Compiled with text from previous interviews, and from bandmates, sound engineers etc., along with high quality design and photoes, this could be turned into a gorgeous coffee table book, a la The Beatles Anthology. This would be as exciting to me as a true studio sessions document, since it would be straight from the horse's mouth (not that Prince is a horse...).

Maybe Alan Light or someone could do the coffee table idea above. It would need to be someone Prince respects as a legitimate music writer, not (and this is nothing personal) a Prince-only writer from Uptown. Who would be a good choice? Perhaps we could approach some possible authors and pitch the idea.

booyah said:

x 400