No matter which way you look at it the timing of this announcement would come off tacky. Given that some fans felt the portrayal of Prince in the first book was negative and two weeks after the tragic news, fans were still in shock and sad by his untimely passing.

http://prince.org/msg/7/43870?pr

As for the "Rise and Fall" part -- The title is certainly not a statement that he has self-destructed or has turned into an outright failure as a musician or person. But it’s fair to say that the book’s thesis or argument is that he’s not nearly as influential or important as he once was. It seems to me that he hasn’t written a truly classic song for many years, after writing so many during the 1980s. At bottom, the book is a psychological inquiry into why this has occurred.

Reading this quote, and knowing 26 years later, the author stilll has nothing to say about Prince's life in the past 26 years, yet resurrect to promote a rehash of Possess which again celebrates the 80s as if its the only thing, and cleverly leaving the "Fall" part off. Then you wonder why people feel uneasy.

Sigh..........I dont want to take anything away from the author or the fans that find this interesting and want to buy the book. I just wish, just as Prince experienced growth, the author would have taken the TIME to cover his career in its entirety. But, I guess there was no time for that. Maybe this will inspire a start.

[Edited 2/9/17 19:14pm]

wonder505 said:

wonder505 said:

No matter which way you look at it the timing of this announcement would come off tacky. Given that some fans felt the portrayal of Prince in the first book was negative and two weeks after the tragic news, fans were still in shock and sad by his untimely passing.

http://prince.org/msg/7/43870?pr

As for the "Rise and Fall" part -- The title is certainly not a statement that he has self-destructed or has turned into an outright failure as a musician or person. But it’s fair to say that the book’s thesis or argument is that he’s not nearly as influential or important as he once was. It seems to me that he hasn’t written a truly classic song for many years, after writing so many during the 1980s. At bottom, the book is a psychological inquiry into why this has occurred.

Reading this quote, and knowing 26 years later, the author stilll has nothing to say about Prince's life in the past 26 years, yet resurrect to promote a rehash of Possess which again celebrates the 80s as if its the only thing, and cleverly leaving the "Fall" part off. Then you wonder why people feel uneasy.

Sigh..........I dont want to take anything away from the author or the fans that find this interesting and want to buy the book. I just wish, just as Prince experienced growth, the author would have taken the TIME to cover his career in its entirety. But, I guess there was no time for that. Maybe this will inspire a start.

[Edited 2/9/17 19:14pm]

He's a lawyer.

laurarichardson said:

luvgirl said:

laurarichardson said:

-- I hope it inspires someone to write a better book. I think what Prince did after he left WB was remarkable he was not perfect but he had big balls and with the changes the industry has gone through what he had to say about is more timely than ever. The music industry does not care about any of that in fact they would world like it to be forgotten everything. [Edited 2/9/17 19:19pm]

I agree with this wholeheartedly! I too hope someone will have the foresight to cover the years after he left WB. Those years were something to be admired and and a part of his history that needs to be revered and respected.

It is.

E319 said:

The way I see it... After Prince passed, all of his albums and anything Prince related, including books, were being sold on Ebay for ridiculous prices. Many fans, both old and new, or even just the curious, wanted to buy a Prince biography.

In my opinion, Alex Hahn's "Possessed" was the best biography I had ever read on Prince and it was out of print and selling for hundreds of dollars on ebay and no longer available.

Everyone wants to celebrate Prince in their own way... The Revolution and The NPG are musicians... So naturally they want to perform the music they played with Prince to celebrate and honor his legacy and his wonderful work... And there are people in the Associated Artists Forum criticizing that! Same thing with Sheila E.'s tribute, The Time, Jill Jones, Paisley Park tours, etc. etc. etc.

Alex Hahn is a writer so it seems to me it would be natural for him to want to honor Prince and celebrate his legacy as a writer would... By writing about him!

Unless any of us personally know him, I don't think anyone can say they know his heart or motivations so I think these criticisms are pretty outrageous... And ESPECIALLY bringing up anything about his family (that is definitely uncalled for and crossing the line).

I personally am definitely looking forward to his new book and have already pre-ordered the paperback. I think the fact that he had already written a great biography about Prince that included many interviews with band members and associates of Prince and invested so much time in putting that together supports that he's not some guy who just showed up on the Prince scene to make a dollar after his death. I have seen books like that on Ebay by other writers but this project does not strike me as that.

Anyways, just sharing my views because it seems like the last few posts here were pretty negative and I know there are other fans who do not share these views and look forward to the book and will support Mr. Hahn's project.

Thanks very much. We appreciate your support. As well as the kind and supportive words.

wonder505 said:

No matter which way you look at it the timing of this announcement would come off tacky. Given that some fans felt the portrayal of Prince in the first book was negative and two weeks after the tragic news, fans were still in shock and sad by his untimely passing.

http://prince.org/msg/7/43870?pr

As for the "Rise and Fall" part -- The title is certainly not a statement that he has self-destructed or has turned into an outright failure as a musician or person. But it’s fair to say that the book’s thesis or argument is that he’s not nearly as influential or important as he once was. It seems to me that he hasn’t written a truly classic song for many years, after writing so many during the 1980s. At bottom, the book is a psychological inquiry into why this has occurred.

Reading this quote, and knowing 26 years later, the author stilll has nothing to say about Prince's life in the past 26 years, yet resurrect to promote a rehash of Possess which again celebrates the 80s as if its the only thing, and cleverly leaving the "Fall" part off. Then you wonder why people feel uneasy.

Sigh..........I dont want to take anything away from the author or the fans that find this interesting and want to buy the book. I just wish, just as Prince experienced growth, the author would have taken the TIME to cover his career in its entirety. But, I guess there was no time for that. Maybe this will inspire a start.

[Edited 2/9/17 19:14pm]

I've appreciated the opportunity to revisit conclusions. Clearly I think there have been some classic songs recently, and indeed throughout the 2000s.

Alex, I must apologize for bringing your beloved mother’s passing into this. My use of the term “human shield” was reprehensible. It was a profane and unfair accusation. Honestly I felt very badly about using those words even as I wrote them, which is why I added “(may they rest in peace)” to convey to you and other readers that it was not my intention to attack the memories of your departed loved ones. Anger was welling up as I was writing my post and it got the better of me. I am not making excuses for what I said, simply attempting to explain what was going on with me when I made that atrocious statement.

In May 2016 I read through your initial thread a couple of days after you had created it. I was deeply upset that you were at Prince.org to discuss book ideas, so I drafted a response to take you to task on it, but ultimately deleted my comment without posting, exited the thread and never went back for the sole reason that you had mentioned the simultaneous loss of Prince and your beloved mother on the same day, plus the passing of a grandparent. My conscience would not let me confront you when you were dealing with your own losses, so I reluctantly gave you a pass which meant forfeiting my right to stand up for Prince against what appeared to me like opportunism on your part. That struck a nerve in me as I was at that time still devastated by his death. There was nothing wrong in sharing your losses here, but by doing so up front, plus given the topic of the thread, it had the unintended effect of emotionally blackmailing me into silence and I was very resentful about that. It felt a bit like being slapped and told by the person who hit me that their stepfather used to get drunk and beat them every weekend before I have a chance to hit back. Except it wasn't me but prince who got slapped and he's not here to defend himself. This is what I had felt compelled to say in my previous post but it came out in an inflammatory way.

It's not up to me to tell you how I think you should have mourned him. Some people throw themselves into work to block pain. I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. I know you said you wanted to do something to honor Prince. But not giving his fans a reasonable amount of time in the beginning to process the pain of our loss did not appear to me to reflect your stated intentions. Maybe you and I just have very different ways of processing loss so I’m unable to see eye to eye with you on this project.

I have no issue with Laura or any other fans who volunteered or otherwise offered to help on the book…other than the free labor. Which is actually fine—and smart—in my opinion, as long as you are still planning to dedicate your book's proceeds to Prince’s favorite charity(ies). I’m not convinced this project was the most appropriate for them to volunteer for but I appreciate that they took it upon themselves to assist you in creating an accurate and full account of his life and accomplishments. I recognize their urge to connect to him through such work. There is love in that.

Your offering me a free copy of the book in PDF is appreciated. That was very classy. I’m still experiencing internal conflict about the origins of the project though, so it would not be right for me to accept the gift. I also want to feel free to share differences of opinion with you in the future, though it is my intention to be much more respectful in my communications with you from here on out.

If you are on Prince’s side, you will find me on your side. It’s that simple and I hope to see that happen one day. I don’t ask or expect you to agree with him on everything, just take into consideration he was human and meant more to some of us than you can possibly understand.

I assure you I bear no ill will toward your family and never did. I know you love your Mom. I spoke out of deeply held anger and at the core of anger is pain. I’m truly sorry that I caused you to feel additional hurt over her loss. You and your family have my belated but nonetheless heartfelt condolences on what I sincerely hope was a peaceful transition for both your beloved mother and grandmother last year.

[Edited 3/20/17 1:48am]

This book would have been a much better and less annnoying reading experince if it had been proof read. It was a bad choice not to obtain one.

TheDigitalGardener said:

This intrigues me "It will also contain a 50-page section on the period from November 2015 through April 2016 and bring together all of the threads of what happened during that time"

Is this just a diary of those critical events or are you going deeper into his actual state of health, interviewing those closest to him during that period i.e. 3EG members, staff etc.

I wouldn't be suprised instead of releasing their own books, some of Prince's associates are going to leak some tea through these upcoming telling it all books and the most controversal ones are going to be under "my sources" so their name wouldn't be link to this tea and to avoid backlash.

But can't wait to read the book soon when I have time.

[Edited 3/20/17 9:13am]

If the rumours are true I wonder if the fact that our beloved Prince had to work through intense pain, addiction to meds & depression is acknowledged in the book? Maybe more relevant to 1996 - 2016?

Whatever the period - if it is written about it IMHO makes his legacy all the more poignant, cherrished & frankly brilliant. It's the one thought that hurts the most...the thought that he worked through phsyical pain to deliver song after song & tour after tour & invest so much time in other artists, charities etc...these are truly things worth writing about?

OperatingThetan said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

This book would have been a much better and less annnoying reading experince if it had been proof read. It was a bad choice not to obtain one.

A common problem with self-published books.

Maybe, but still, he could have got a friend to run through it or something. Or even did it himself before sending it for print.

TheDigitalGardener said:

This book would have been a much better and less annnoying reading experince if it had been proof read. It was a bad choice not to obtain one.

Hi - Many of the copy edits have been made in the editions now live on Amazon. We do regret that there were errors in the first version launched. It's been a learning experience for sure.

Just a note that I bought a hardcopy of the book, and read it. I really enjoyed it -- found it solidly researched, with a good narrative flow. It certainly didn't come across as unfairly nasty toward Prince.

-

Congrats to the authors; I know this books represents a tremendous amount of work (for not enough financial payoff!). Those of us who are interested in deepening our understanding of Prince should, I think, encourage well-researched investigations of this nature; without these kinds of works, our ability to learn will certainly be hindered!

fortuneandserendipity said:

Wowie zowie, let's hope this time it's an honest book

Right!

Most research will be done from recollections of Prince.org members.

Hahn ,

I bought your book when it first became available just as I did all of Per Nielsen's books. You know why I am upset with you and your style of journalism.

Why don't you reveal to all why you originally wrote Possessed?

LauraTiebert said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

This book would have been a much better and less annnoying reading experince if it had been proof read. It was a bad choice not to obtain one.

Hi - Many of the copy edits have been made in the editions now live on Amazon. We do regret that there were errors in the first version launched. It's been a learning experience for sure.

Ok, well thanks for replying.

As for the book itself, I enjoyed Possessed and learned a good few things. I guess this new book has come at a time when I'm not sure I need another book about that period in Prince's career. That's not your fault of course and I'm not sure what I was expecting from this new book, but I just felt it was slightly underwhelming as a whole.

Anyway it is what it is and for anyone who hasn't read any books about Prince's life I'm sure it'd be a good place to start. I've nothing against you guys or this book being published and wish you all the best.

TheDigitalGardener said:

LauraTiebert said:

Hi - Many of the copy edits have been made in the editions now live on Amazon. We do regret that there were errors in the first version launched. It's been a learning experience for sure.

Ok, well thanks for replying.

As for the book itself, I enjoyed Possessed and learned a good few things. I guess this new book has come at a time when I'm not sure I need another book about that period in Prince's career. That's not your fault of course and I'm not sure what I was expecting from this new book, but I just felt it was slightly underwhelming as a whole.

Anyway it is what it is and for anyone who hasn't read any books about Prince's life I'm sure it'd be a good place to start. I've nothing against you guys or this book being published and wish you all the best.

Sure, that makes sense - the book isn't exactly what you're looking for and that's cool. I'm sure there will eventually be one that is.

disch said:

Just a note that I bought a hardcopy of the book, and read it. I really enjoyed it -- found it solidly researched, with a good narrative flow. It certainly didn't come across as unfairly nasty toward Prince.

-

Congrats to the authors; I know this books represents a tremendous amount of work (for not enough financial payoff!). Those of us who are interested in deepening our understanding of Prince should, I think, encourage well-researched investigations of this nature; without these kinds of works, our ability to learn will certainly be hindered!

I agree, we need to encourage more research and support those efforts! What would be fantastic is seeing the younger generation come away with a better understanding of his accomplishments and legacy thanks to the research, the books, PP, etc. I for one am doing my best to indoctrinate my kids on all things Prince whenever possible!