Haven't read it yet (duh), but the back cover and the photo captions are very anti-Prince, IMHO. Which is fine, he has every right to be anti-Prince. Just thought I'd let you know, as there has been speculation about the tone of the book.

I'll keep you updated. . .

Hey, Possessed should be the next book club book! I know it's cheezy, but come on, it IS the prince.org book club.

tackam said:

Tell me why u say that.

ConsciousContact said:

I have to go, more later, but the first line from the back cover: "The problems in Prince's life had piled up to a point where not even his legendary talent, energy, and passion could resolve them. Control-the thing that possessed him most- was slipping away on any number of fronts." . . .and then goes on to talk about that alleged incident where he was found having ingested a bunch of booze and pills. . .just not clear where this is going.

Probably best to wait until I've read the book. You know the saying. But it was just my first impression.

tackam said:

That doesn't appear anti-prince to me, but we'll see..

Hell yes theres a neg slant to the book..I can smell it from here thru the computer. I smelled and when I found out who wrote it
Good olfactory bulbs

rdhull said:

it smells of rotting meatloaf...

Devil's advocate time:

...of course, Prince would NEVER do such a thing as drink, or take pills would He? People DO hit those low spots u know - it happens 2 us all, regardless of who or what we are.

Im not saying it did or didnt happen, cuz I wasnt there. But all the same, it IS a possibility. We all know some of the traumatic things He and Mayte had 2 deal with in 96/97 - IF it happened, maybe this was His way of blocking out the pain/a cry 4 help.

Whichever side of the fence u may sit on regarding this: who knows? We dont, and neither does Alex. It's all hearsay at the end of the day - and we will NEVER know...and that's exactly as it should be...

bananacologne said:

Not saying its true or not..the point is why take time to write a book with an obvious neg slant on things and little about the music..wtf? How dumb. We already know from several reports and other books that Prince isn't fucking Mary Poppins..hell even she ( Julie Andrews) flashed her tits in the move S.O. B (1981). Im not shocked to find that Prince is human..that he has some dubious traist..but we all do and why have a book just focus on that part. I have not read it yet but this is what the preliminary reports show to be what the book shows. Prince the bad person who was mean to his bands etc ( of course someone like him who is the embodiment of music as ones life example) is going to be an asshole to get his sound and music across. But does the books ever talk about the good things he has done like givcing people jobs and careers that they wouldn't have had otherwise etc..or that he must have a nice side as well since so many have been smitten with him in close as well as friendly relationships? And before anyone says "you havent read the book yet!" a quick because Im going by just what Ive "heard" just like Hahn etc is going by what he and they heard..by second and third and possibly fourth parties though.

@ RD's 'Mary Poppins' quote! That's some funny shit!

sure - I respect where u are comin from bro just throwing my 2cents in2 the pot

bananacologne said:

and I you as well its all good. I was just being devils advocate to devils advocate

Man - Im feelin the love in the org 2nite! Think i aint!

it's cool on one hand that somebody still thinks something of Prince to write a Book,but it doesn't seem like it says a whole heck of alot.also unless you have all the People He has worked with willing to talk on Him it leaves things high&dry.

mistermaxxx said:

Thats what Im sayin' , agreed. I mean his politics of perosnal and perosnality has been discussed to death. Why not a larger focus on th emusic and recording process..that's why DMSR was great as well. I mean it had interesting personal tidbits which was cool..but the music process , studio comp[osition information etc was more fascinating to me . Oh well. Im just wondering why the authgro who is supposedly such a big fan of "Prince music" wouldnt take the same route as that. It just sems funny that a lawyer who defended Uptown against prince would write a book o Prince and expect nobody to think it would be slanted. Ok even if its 50/50 ya gotta just know that writing the negative parts has got to have been ___ which in journalism...

i'm gonna have to give this book a pass. the only book about prince i'd want to read would be either one he wrote himself or hired a ghostwriter to do for him

also - in response 2 RD's post, yeah - ur right: if the book is indeed focusing more on the negative aspects, then thats kinda sucky. I wouldnt mind so much if it was at least balanced out with the points u raised above.

I just finished the book and I must say it is an interesting read. Prince has so many gag orders against those who were close to him, that I'm sure many of those "reliable sources" could still face legal action for speaking on occurances that happened 20 years ago. I can honestly say that this book isn't for the die-hards who don't like to hear the negativity. Most die-hards only are only concerned with the music anyway and not his personal life. These are the people who should stick with anything written by Per Nilsen for musical detailed accounts. I fault the author with the constant "One source says..." or "according to a very reliable source" in the book. He doesn't gain very much credibility for that. But this is a TRUE biography. This book does portray Prince as a control-freak. But many of us already know that. But that underlying theme of the book ties in with the highs and lows of his career. It really answers the question, "Why isn't Prince as popular today with new fans and older fans as his 80s musical peers Madonna and Springsteen are?"

Pass on this book...unless u need to
hear very sparce info u haven't heard before (which ain't much).

Mostly an extremely watered down DMSR.

chickengrease said:

I think the die hards are intersted in his music and life as well ..but they want to see a balance or else it seems tainted. Just like most die hards probably dont want a puff piece either. It isnt that they dont want to hear any negativity ( but when thats all one prints its gets tawdry and the writing imo is questionable).At least thas how I feel.



greattt



Now that makes more sense then "the fall".."as popular" is and has nothing to do with a lot of things and yet it does. We all know why he isn't as popular though.

I've been saying it all along. And taken a beating 4 it 2!!

I would say that this book is a currently a good beginner's guide to Prince. For someone who likes the music and has always wanted to know a little more about the man. The book probably doesn't offer any new info to fans like us on the org and therefore it would probably come across as a fluff piece to many here. But would give a beginner an insight to Prince's work ethic. The only reason Prince would never have a biography published as insightful as ... let's say Marvin Gaye's Divided Soul is because he issues gag orders to anyone who knows what torments him as an artist. We all use Per Nilsen's texts as bibles, per se, because he researched the music strictly and primarily detailed Prince's discography. But I definitely wouldn't pass this book over just because the author attempts to decipher who got screwed literally and physically by Prince.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 10 15:08:38 PDT 2003 by chickengrease]

Let me just clarify that I'm not a fawning 'fam' and I don't necessarily mind that this book isn't a 'fam' book written for the purpose of kissing Prince's ass. I think he probably IS a control freak, and that's probably part of why he's so good at what he does. I just thought it notable that the thing they put on the back cover was a bit of sensationalist tabloid gossip.

So far, I've read the first few chapters, and they chronicle the first couple of years of his carreer. I wasn't a fan until the late 90s, so it's interesting for me to read this stuff, and I'm enjoying the book.

All I know is that people like Morri Day refused to be interviewed (and we know he was upset by Prince once)...

the book shows one thing for sure: we don't know shit about Prince's private life... It proves how this man closed his private garden to others and that's how I like it...

possessed? in the mail? what kind of bizarre witchcraft is that?! christ, i already wear a tin-foil helmet to keep the government from controling my mind through radio waves. are you telling me that i'm going to have to stop collecint the mail too?

AaronSuperior said:

just may be, aaron...

voo-doo junk mail, ooo...

AaronSuperior said:

Sounds like something I would post, Aaron. Jeez I must be an arsehole

fuck it I'm buyin it

JAMIESTARR said:

I won't.Life will go on regardless.

Don't put money in this loser of an authors pocket!

chickengrease said:

Look, I'm gonna explain something: sometimes journalists come accross something that they know is probably true, but that can't be verified because the other sources ain't talking. And sometimes they do talk -- but off the record. Then you face a dilemma: are you gonna print this, or are you gonna keep it to yourself. Without having read the book (apparently amazon.co.uk hasn't received it yet), I'd guess that some of those "rumors" are in fact stories that are probably, very likely true, but no oen is willign to come forward and put his ass on the line.

A good example is the "Larry & Prince vs. Wendy & Lisa" thing. It is phrased in such a way that Prince can't really blame someone or sue someone over it, but that doesn't make it any less true. I'm simply guessing here, but I know that if I was told something as outrageous as that, I wouldn't hold it back but I would look for a way to report on it without getting anyone in trouble, especially not the sources.

The unfortunate result of this is that you end up with stories with a lot of words in them that can be used to dismiss the story as "rumors" or worse.

I've seen this many times: that tabloid-like stories that were once dismissed as outright lies turned out to be pretty close to the truth.

klaatu said:

Morris has got a lot to lose by talking too much.