What books about Prince have you read and what books would you recommend?

try the ones written by Per Nilsen.

1 title is Days Of Wild iirc.

and also from Nilsen (not spelled Nielsen)


A Documentary
DanceMusicSexRomance


[img:$uid]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/ecnirp2004/Prince/Per%20Nilsen%20A%20Documentary%20book_zpskobr8auq.jpg[/img:$uid]


[img:$uid]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/ecnirp2004/Prince/Per%20Nilsen%20DMSR%20The%20First%20Decade%20book_zpss5haoyuk.jpg[/img:$uid]

^^ Good books...

[Edited 10/14/15 0:27am]

I'm currently reading this one

http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Inside-Music-Ronin-Ro/dp/0312383002/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444814274&sr=1-1&keywords=Prince+biography

So Nilsen guy has 2 books? How do they compare?

The Vault, if you can get it.

"DanceMusicSexRomance" by Per Nilsen is the only one worth bothering with. Ronin Ro's book is OK, but nothing new in there.

Ones to avoid:

Prince by Matt Thorne

Possessed : The Rise and Fall of Prince by Alex Hahn

A Thief In The Temple by Brian Morton

All of the above are fairly terrible,IMO.

Thizz said:

What books about Prince have you read and what books would you recommend?

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Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/938226.Possessed

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https://www.goodreads.com...ith_Prince

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https://www.goodreads.com...-it-up-2-0

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https://www.goodreads.com...ys-of-wild

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Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...858.Prince

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...-the-vault

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https://www.goodreads.com...167.Prince

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https://www.goodreads.com...ocumentary

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Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...ex_Romance

.

Militant said:

Thizz said:

I'm currently reading this one

http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Inside-Music-Ronin-Ro/dp/0312383002/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444814274&sr=1-1&keywords=Prince+biography

So Nilsen guy has 2 books? How do they compare?

.

This book isn't just an utter waste of time if you've read Prince bios like Per Nilsen's DanceMusicSexRomance and Alex Hahn's Rise And Fall; annoyingly it contains plenty of mistakes, like for instance claiming Prince was still recording tracks for The Black Album in December 1987, when that album was actually scheduled for release in the first week of that month.

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Basically it's a thinly disguised rewrite of Per Nilsen's A Documentary, combined with a number of other sources to fill in the last ten years or so. Ro's tried to convert A Documentary's factual approach into a more vivid life story, but it falls flat since he doesn't seem to grasp Prince's working habits. There's very little evidence of actual research by Ro, most of this book simply cites other books and articles and plenty of times this goes horribly wrong.

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Don't waste your time with this, invest it in the few great books there are. Hint: if Per Nilsen is involved, it is worthwhile.

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This book just seems utterly pointless to me. Ro doesn't offer any insight, he doesn't seem particularly interested in Prince.

Militant said:

Ones to avoid:

Possessed : The Rise and Fall of Prince by Alex Hahn

.

Can't have people read a book that says bad thingies about Princey, eh?

I would love to get the vault book , it seems it's the holy grail for Prince fans.

All the Per Nilsen stuff.

Militant said:

"DanceMusicSexRomance" by Per Nilsen is the only one worth bothering with. Ronin Ro's book is OK, but nothing new in there.

Ones to avoid:

Prince by Matt Thorne

Possessed : The Rise and Fall of Prince by Alex Hahn

A Thief In The Temple by Brian Morton

All of the above are fairly terrible,IMO.

"I Would Die 4 U" by Toure. This book is full of pseudo pyschoanalysis about Prince's childhood, career decisions that are supported by Prince's lyrics. There's a couple pages where Toure talks about Prince as a lover that creeped me out! The rest of the book is Toure's dimwitted pontification of his socio-political beliefs based on Prince's career.

I can't recall the name of the book I've read about him at this moment, but I read Rick James book, and it contained a lot about Prince, whom he clearly hated.

BartVanHemelen said:

Militant said:

Ones to avoid:

Possessed : The Rise and Fall of Prince by Alex Hahn

.

Can't have people read a book that says bad thingies about Princey, eh?

Not when some of it is clearly conjecture and it's coming from a man who was involved in a legal case AGAINST Prince, no. No bias there, certainly not.

Militant said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Can't have people read a book that says bad thingies about Princey, eh?

Not when some of it is clearly conjecture and it's coming from a man who was involved in a legal case AGAINST Prince, no. No bias there, certainly not.

I didn´t want to buy that book because I had read so many bad reviews here on the org and then a very kind orger just sent me that book because he didn´t like it either so that´s how I got my copy, and I must say it´s quite a fascinating read. It does contain some huge errors in parts, and the bias, though not very obvious, is definitely there but you can also tell that Alex Hahn is or was a fan, and that he benefited a lot from having access to Per Nilsen´s and Uptown´s material.

I´d definitely recommend it to anyone who´s interested in reading a biography that is NOT like the umpteenth rehash of what´s already out there.

And it does contain some interesting interviews and tidbits that you won´t find in any of the newer biographies, plus it sheds some light on the often ignored later years in Prince´s career ( from the post Emancipation era all the way up to the One Night Alone tour).

BartVanHemelen said:

Thizz said:

What books about Prince have you read and what books would you recommend?

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/938226.Possessed

.

https://www.goodreads.com...ith_Prince

.

https://www.goodreads.com...-it-up-2-0

.

https://www.goodreads.com...ys-of-wild

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...858.Prince

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...-the-vault

.

https://www.goodreads.com...167.Prince

.

https://www.goodreads.com...ocumentary

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...ex_Romance

.

Those are some great recommendations. But, just out of curiousity...why didn´t you mention Dave Hill´s "Prince-A Pop Life" ?

Is it because it´s a bit dated or do you have issues with it? I still find it a very enjoyable read. Maybe a bit dated but very well written and with quite a lot of information for its time. And I like the fact that he interviewed Sonny Thompson before he became part of the NPG and was still doing Prince cover shows in the Twin Cities.

KingSausage said:

Alex Hahn is a Prince fan! The book is good. You people!!

Per Nilson is one nit picky Prince fan.

The Toure book was loads of fun.

Militant said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Can't have people read a book that says bad thingies about Princey, eh?

Not when some of it is clearly conjecture and it's coming from a man who was involved in a legal case AGAINST Prince, no. No bias there, certainly not.

I'll defend "Possesed".

The book is absolutely written from the point of view of a man who bears something of a grudge against Prince. There is a definite tone to the writing. I read parts of the book feeling the author had a sneer on his face at the time of writing.

However, once you're aware of that. It's actually quite an interesting read. The author seemed to have done quite a bit of research. If he wasn't a huge fan himself, someone who was, must have been involved. IIRC he did actually go out and do quite a few interviews. I think factually it's pretty accurate too.

I also enjoyed Liz Jones, Slave to the Rhythm. It's not the deepest of books but she did interview Prince.

purplethunder3121 said:

The Vault, if you can get it.

This one doesn't appear to be on Amazon or BN.com - can you give us a synopsis?

Militant said:

"DanceMusicSexRomance" by Per Nilsen is the only one worth bothering with. Ronin Ro's book is OK, but nothing new in there.

Ones to avoid:

Prince by Matt Thorne

Possessed : The Rise and Fall of Prince by Alex Hahn

A Thief In The Temple by Brian Morton

All of the above are fairly terrible,IMO.

BartVanHemelen said:

Thizz said:

What books about Prince have you read and what books would you recommend?

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com....Possessed

.

https://www.goodreads.com...ith_Prince

.

https://www.goodreads.com...-it-up-2-0

.

https://www.goodreads.com...ys-of-wild

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...858.Prince

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...-the-vault

.

https://www.goodreads.com...167.Prince

.

https://www.goodreads.com...ocumentary

.

Must-read: https://www.goodreads.com...ex_Romance

.

One of you said Possessed is a must read and the other said Possessed is one to avoid

That's a stark contrast . . what's your reasoning?

[Edited 10/14/15 12:48pm]

Noodled24 said:

Militant said:

Not when some of it is clearly conjecture and it's coming from a man who was involved in a legal case AGAINST Prince, no. No bias there, certainly not.

I'll defend "Possesed".

The book is absolutely written from the point of view of a man who bears something of a grudge against Prince. There is a definite tone to the writing. I read parts of the book feeling the author had a sneer on his face at the time of writing.

This is indefensible to me and it's why I don't recommend Hahn's book to anyone.

Per Nilsen's writing on Prince is the best because he sticks to facts, and delves into those facts to provide depth and context to a very detailed degree.

Oh, and OP - you won't find a copy of "The Vault" anywhere. It's out of print, and when it appears on eBay every now and then it goes for large sums.

For the record - Alex Hahn admitted himself, in an org post, that his book "relied heavily on Per Nilsen's work"..... so why not go straight for the facts, without all the conjecture and tabloid crap in Hahn's book, by simply reading Per's own books.

Militant said:

Noodled24 said:

I'll defend "Possesed".

The book is absolutely written from the point of view of a man who bears something of a grudge against Prince. There is a definite tone to the writing. I read parts of the book feeling the author had a sneer on his face at the time of writing.

This is indefensible to me and it's why I don't recommend Hahn's book to anyone.

Per Nilsen's writing on Prince is the best because he sticks to facts, and delves into those facts to provide depth and context to a very detailed degree.

Oh, and OP - you won't find a copy of "The Vault" anywhere. It's out of print, and when it appears on eBay every now and then it goes for large sums.

For the record - Alex Hahn admitted himself, in an org post, that his book "relied heavily on Per Nilsen's work"..... so why not go straight for the facts, without all the conjecture and tabloid crap in Hahn's book, by simply reading Per's own books.

Per Nilson is the go-to guy for Prince information from the past. I was lucky to obtain a copy of the Vault for fairly cheap. Could have bought a copy from Mr. Nilson, but that's another story.

Militant said:

Noodled24 said:

I'll defend "Possesed".

The book is absolutely written from the point of view of a man who bears something of a grudge against Prince. There is a definite tone to the writing. I read parts of the book feeling the author had a sneer on his face at the time of writing.

This is indefensible to me and it's why I don't recommend Hahn's book to anyone.

Per Nilsen's writing on Prince is the best because he sticks to facts, and delves into those facts to provide depth and context to a very detailed degree.

For the record - Alex Hahn admitted himself, in an org post, that his book "relied heavily on Per Nilsen's work"..... so why not go straight for the facts, without all the conjecture and tabloid crap in Hahn's book, by simply reading Per's own books.

Fair enough. It doesn't bother me because I think it's mentioned in the foreword about what happned with Uptown.

I imagine much of the "early years" probably was based on Per Nelsons book. However Hahn's book covers the 90s in a fair amount of depth too. Moreso than most other books I've read.

Upon furthering my search it appears that there's more books about Prince than Tupac . . growing up I read every single published book on Tupac. A more recent one came out that I didn't read but browsing through it, I felt like I could've done a better job of writing it - it seemed like a reiteration

What do you guys think of Inside the Music and the Masks? By Ronin Ro

I would like to get my hands on that Vault book . . at 700 pages I have a lot of stuff to read before I can get to it but I would like to secure it for my collection

[Edited 10/14/15 14:52pm]

Thizz said:

Upon furthering my search it appears that there's more books about Prince than Tupac . . growing up I read every single published book on Tupac. A more recent one came out that I didn't read but browsing through it, I felt like I could've done a better job of writing it - it seemed like a reiteration

What do you guys think of Inside the Music and the Masks? By Ronin Ro

I would like to get my hands on that Vault book . . at 700 pages I have a lot of stuff to read before I can get to it but I would like to secure it for my collection

[Edited 10/14/15 14:52pm]

HUH!!?

Why would THAT be a surprise (or a comparison) to you???