My copy arrived yesterday. Loving it so far. Great new interviews with Wendy & Lisa, Matt Fink etc and Thorne's a funny, perceptive and engaging writer IMO.

Wondered what anyone else thought?

I thought it wasn't out yet??

SONNYT said:

I thought it wasn't out yet??

Yeah, me too. But I pre-ordered it on Amazon and it turned up yesterday.

He may be a big Prince fan (see his article in the Guardian) but I was put off by the fact that all his other books have poor to average reviews.

So far I am enjoying it. He did a lot of new interviews which is something that most authors don't do. Sometimes he doesn't quote them, but he discusses what they said to him.

Looking forward to reading the entire book.

^ That's a good sign, as many of the biogs I've read of him feel just like rehashes of the same interviews and quotes and other material......

^ No but I would estimate its from 78-79, so taken around the age of 20.

madhouseman said:

So far I am enjoying it. He did a lot of new interviews which is something that most authors don't do. Sometimes he doesn't quote them, but he discusses what they said to him.

Looking forward to reading the entire book.

Please let us know how it goes.

I think the book is pretty good! It lacks the in-depth musical and lyrical analysis of similar books on the Beatles (Revolution in the Head, Ian McDonald) and Bowie (The Man who Sold the World, Peter Doggett), but is definitely one of the better books on Prince! The author has done his homework. Some of the people he has interviewed provide interesting insights.

Per

^ Wow...folx...if Per Nilsen says it's good, then it MUST be good

DMSR was excellent.

[Edited 10/5/12 4:42am]

Nice piece in the Guardian about this, see here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk...ever-heard

I've just started reading it on my Kindle and so far it's pretty great. Far better than the average bio, not in the elast because the author actually has ideas that he discusses instead of just rehashing the same old facts over and over again.

pernil said:

I think the book is pretty good! It lacks the in-depth musical and lyrical analysis of similar books on the Beatles (Revolution in the Head, Ian McDonald) and Bowie (The Man who Sold the World, Peter Doggett), but is definitely one of the better books on Prince! The author has done his homework. Some of the people he has interviewed provide interesting insights.

Per

When this book first came to light there was mention of celebrities being interviewed.

Bono being one. Any sign of this?

Few photos, not many (any?) celebrities being interviewed. It's not that type of book. It's a book about Prince's work (albums, films, etc.), so it's not a regular biography or career study. The author has interviewed quite a few people, mostly the usual people but insights from Susannah Melvoin and HM Buff, for example, are interesting. Overall, it doesn't deviate too much from information presented in Uptown, The Vault and such sources, but it's still interesting and well-written. It could have gone much deeper into musical analysis and discussion of lyrical themes in Prince's work, but I think that would require a book twice (at least) the length of this book (I'm not sure publishers would be that interested). Still, the book has many strengths and is more interesting than the average Prince bio. Per

BartVanHemelen said:

All these favourable opinions coming from some very knowledgeable folks have concinced me to by the book. What are some of the new insights and facts I might be looking forward to? Anything that really suprised you or changed your perception of Prince and his working process?

pernil said:

Few photos, not many (any?) celebrities being interviewed. It's not that type of book. It's a book about Prince's work (albums, films, etc.), so it's not a regular biography or career study. The author has interviewed quite a few people, mostly the usual people but insights from Susannah Melvoin and HM Buff, for example, are interesting. Overall, it doesn't deviate too much from information presented in Uptown, The Vault and such sources, but it's still interesting and well-written. It could have gone much deeper into musical analysis and discussion of lyrical themes in Prince's work, but I think that would require a book twice (at least) the length of this book (I'm not sure publishers would be that interested). Still, the book has many strengths and is more interesting than the average Prince bio. Per

Just had a thought. With e-books being more popular, those should start to become available in different formats. With interactive elements and on the fly updates and the like. So a a physical book could would be 300 pages, the ebook could be (based on demand) indefinitely large.

They could also be linked to other books as well. So maybe a reader of this book wants to read more about a given song, so he can pull up (for some fee) a section from the Valut.

I've read a couple of poor reviews. I suspect serious fans who know his work will enjoy it, but from what i can gather people mildly interested in P (looking to get more into him) would find it tough going as he gives his perspective on song after song. Makes for a dull read. P wouldn't allow him usage of lyrics either which can't have helped much. One review ended "It didn't even make me want to listen to Prince!"

I'm finding this book a cool and thought-provoking read. It gives pretty in-depth coverage to all of Prince's known musical output, released and unreleased, side-projects etc.

I also like how he challenges a few generally held fan views, ie. his liking of Prince's late '90s live work and the New Power Soul era live band (even though he later says this was the weakest line-up of the NPG, which kind of undermines his earlier statement).

I personally found the info from the interviews with Wendy and Lisa (Wendy seems as frank as ever ) , Susannah Melvoin, Alan Leeds (esp his quotes on what his brother Eric thought of the Madhouse stuff) and engineers like Steve Parke and HM Buff new and quite surprising in places, especially the idea that the tracklists for the famous unreleased albums Dream Factory and Camille were not as ground in stone as I previously thought. Apparently, they were more 'work-in-progress' playlists for Prince's personal use/ consideration.

The author has his own views which I don't always agree with, but it's certainly helped re-enthuse me about Prince's music in general and to view certain eras of his output in new ways. Far more a fan's personal journey through Prince's career than a straight biography. Recommended.

Miles said:

I'm finding this book a cool and thought-provoking read. It gives pretty in-depth coverage to all of Prince's known musical output, released and unreleased, side-projects etc.

I also like how he challenges a few generally held fan views, ie. his liking of Prince's late '90s live work and the New Power Soul era live band (even though he later says this was the weakest line-up of the NPG, which kind of undermines his earlier statement).

I personally found the info from the interviews with Wendy and Lisa (Wendy seems as frank as ever ) , Susannah Melvoin, Alan Leeds (esp his quotes on what his brother Eric thought of the Madhouse stuff) and engineers like Steve Parke and HM Buff new and quite surprising in places, especially the idea that the tracklists for the famous unreleased albums Dream Factory and Camille were not as ground in stone as I previously thought. Apparently, they were more 'work-in-progress' playlists for Prince's personal use/ consideration.

The author has his own views which I don't always agree with, but it's certainly helped re-enthuse me about Prince's music in general and to view certain eras of his output in new ways. Far more a fan's personal journey through Prince's career than a straight biography. Recommended.

Sounds interesting! I do think it is a bit of a pity though, that a small group of people have been able to define the narrative to the extent that they have for so many years. Especially since these people are in the same camp. It's not that they don't have valuable information to offer, but I would like a greater number of sources with a more varied perspective.

pernil said:

Few photos, not many (any?) celebrities being interviewed. It's not that type of book. It's a book about Prince's work (albums, films, etc.), so it's not a regular biography or career study. The author has interviewed quite a few people, mostly the usual people but insights from Susannah Melvoin and HM Buff, for example, are interesting. Overall, it doesn't deviate too much from information presented in Uptown, The Vault and such sources, but it's still interesting and well-written. It could have gone much deeper into musical analysis and discussion of lyrical themes in Prince's work, but I think that would require a book twice (at least) the length of this book (I'm not sure publishers would be that interested). Still, the book has many strengths and is more interesting than the average Prince bio. Per

The author himself mentioned quotes from celebrities. Howvere, that was some time ago.

rap said:

pernil said:

Few photos, not many (any?) celebrities being interviewed. It's not that type of book. It's a book about Prince's work (albums, films, etc.), so it's not a regular biography or career study. The author has interviewed quite a few people, mostly the usual people but insights from Susannah Melvoin and HM Buff, for example, are interesting. Overall, it doesn't deviate too much from information presented in Uptown, The Vault and such sources, but it's still interesting and well-written. It could have gone much deeper into musical analysis and discussion of lyrical themes in Prince's work, but I think that would require a book twice (at least) the length of this book (I'm not sure publishers would be that interested). Still, the book has many strengths and is more interesting than the average Prince bio. Per

The author himself mentioned quotes from celebrities. Howvere, that was some time ago.

P.S. Initially it was going to be a critical essay.

Marrk said:

I've read a couple of poor reviews. I suspect serious fans who know his work will enjoy it, but from what i can gather people mildly interested in P (looking to get more into him) would find it tough going as he gives his perspective on song after song. Makes for a dull read. P wouldn't allow him usage of lyrics either which can't have helped much. One review ended "It didn't even make me want to listen to Prince!"

While I am enjoying it and learning quite a bit - there has to be a very narrow spectrum of people interested in this.

paulludvig said:

Sounds interesting! I do think it is a bit of a pity though, that a small group of people have been able to define the narrative to the extent that they have for so many years. Especially since these people are in the same camp. It's not that they don't have valuable information to offer, but I would like a greater number of sources with a more varied perspective.

The rest of them have got too much to lose. Can't afford not to receive those royalty cheques each year.

BartVanHemelen said:

paulludvig said:

Sounds interesting! I do think it is a bit of a pity though, that a small group of people have been able to define the narrative to the extent that they have for so many years. Especially since these people are in the same camp. It's not that they don't have valuable information to offer, but I would like a greater number of sources with a more varied perspective.

The rest of them have got too much to lose. Can't afford not to receive those royalty cheques each year.

Quite! But I do think it is a shame that some people are perhaps not getting the recognition they deserve because they can't afford to talk, while those who can prefer to talk about themselves.