If his face were anymore airbrushed, he'd be invisible.
Those images are terrifically boring. Give me a live concert DVD!
[Edited 8/6/08 9:11am]

Been debating about whether or not to post my review of the book since I managed to get a sneak peek from the publishers earlier this week (I work in the industry before anyone asks). Really don’t want to spark some good ol’ fan furore (it can get pretty nasty round here!) and, moreover, I don’t want P’s lawyers hunting me down…

Anyway, have finally caved. The org was such a useful resource last summer that I kind of feel like I owe you an overview…but without any spoilers!

Here it goes:

1) Everyone seems to be getting excited about the ‘essays’ or poems penned by Prince for this book. Don’t. With the exception of a handful of verses, this is for all intents and purposes a lyric book. The vast majority of the lyrics from Planet Earth along with the odd verse from other tracks (Question of U and Days of Wild, I seem to remember) appear throughout the book. Yes, there is original material (as far as I know) but it’s few and far between. Anyone who’s expecting a diary of sorts will be pretty disappointed.

just like the sacrifice of victor book ..i knew it

Pretty much. Think Sacrifice of Victor, Neo Manifesto, Emancipation lyric book etc and you get the idea...Hardly a page turner, in that respect.

OMG!!!! I sooooo agree! I'm glad I didn't order this book. He is photoshopped to DEATH. Prince STOP with the touch ups! Go Grey, show your wrinkles you would still be HOT!

Been debating about whether or not to post my review of the book since I managed to get a sneak peek from the publishers earlier this week (I work in the industry before anyone asks). Really don’t want to spark some good ol’ fan furore (it can get pretty nasty round here!) and, moreover, I don’t want P’s lawyers hunting me down…

Anyway, have finally caved. The org was such a useful resource last summer that I kind of feel like I owe you an overview…but without any spoilers!

Here it goes:

1) Everyone seems to be getting excited about the ‘essays’ or poems penned by Prince for this book. Don’t. With the exception of a handful of verses, this is for all intents and purposes a lyric book. The vast majority of the lyrics from Planet Earth along with the odd verse from other tracks (Question of U and Days of Wild, I seem to remember) appear throughout the book. Yes, there is original material (as far as I know) but it’s few and far between. Anyone who’s expecting a diary of sorts will be pretty disappointed.

2) Don’t seem to remember any of the pics that appear at the beginning of thread post to be in the book. The ones on Housequake are definitely authentic, as are the shots of the hotel room that appear in this thread.

Speaking of which, brace yourself for lots of (relatively pointless, IMHO) atmospheric shots of empty hotel rooms and Luton airport – it’s not like there’s a shot of Prince on every page. The photography by and large is pretty mediocre – the only standout images appear to be stills from the unreleased video for SHOE shot in Prague during the tour. Prince does not appear on every page but, when he does, he’s been really over-Photoshopped. I honestly had one flick through the pictures and I was done.

3) The CD: This is where it gets good and the set redeems itself! There are some great recordings of the Indigo aftershows in circulation but, for once, this official release beats them all. The sound quality is perfect with all the annoying drunken banter from the crowd pushed way down. Infinitely better than It Ain’t Over, the sound quality is superb and – to my ear, at least – there are no annoying overdubs!

Don’t want to get in trouble for posting the tracklist but I’m sure I can get away with saying that a fair portion of the recording appears to be taken from the ‘comedy night’ of the Indigo aftershows. There’s some priceless comic ad libbing from Prince that I really wasn’t expecting to make it onto the CD, along with a blues jam about an underhanded lover. Anyone who was there, will know the skit I’m talking about.

Elsewhere, there are two tracks with Shelby on lead vocals. Not saying she wasn’t an enjoyable part of the aftershows but I definitely would have replaced her cover songs with some of Prince’s other steller moments during those aftershows: a blistering Joy In Repetition, Party Up or Empty Room, for example. All in all, he’s handpicked a solid 15 tracks: a couple of covers, a bit of his ‘stand up’ routine, a few hits and some fan favourites. I’m sure people will bitch and moan but given the sheer volume of material he had to choose from, I think he did a pretty good job. There are also some jaw dropping solos from Josh and Renato featured on this set… The only omission from the CD, in my opinion, are a couple of tracks from the ‘power trio’ night that featured some awesome guitar work

To be perfectly honest, the book really didn’t do it for me but I’d buy the set in an instant if only to have the CD!

That’s it. Let the onslaught commence.

And please don’t message me for images or a track list – I don’t have either!