I was never into books, but my love for Prince made me want to buy some, i already purchased 'The Beautiful Ones' and 'Picturing Prince'.

Any other good recommendations?

Really enjoyed the recent photo books by Randee St Nicholas, Afshin Shahidi, and Steve Parke. Found the Allen Beaulieu book ("Prince - Before the Rain") a bit disappointing as it's very repetitive.

Prince's book is obviously a must, although frustrating that he managed to write so little, because what there is of it is fascinating. Mayte's book is also great.

Per Nilsen's books are great, such as Dancemusicsexromance. Also enjoyed the Alex Hahn books.

Duane Tudahl's book about the Purple Rain sessions is essential.

Enjoyed the book by Toure, but some people hated it.

From my shelf, the ones I enjoyed:

"Posessed" by Alex Hahn

"Dancemusicsexromance" by Per Nilsen

"Prince - Inside the Music and the Masks" by Ronin Ro

"Prince" by Dave Hill

"I Would Die 4U" by Toure

"Prince - Imp of the Perverse" by Barney Hoskyns

"My Life with Prince - The Most Beautiful" by Mayte Garcia

"Prince - Chaos, Disorder and Revolution" by Jason Draper

"Prince and the Purple Rain Sessions" by Duane Tudahl

"Let's Go Crazy" by Alan Light

"My Time with Prince" by Dez Dickerson

Didn't enjoy:

"Prince" by Matt Thorne

"This Thing Called Life" by Joseph Vogel

"Dig If You Will The Picture" by Ben Greenman

There are others I've read and forgotten, and others I never bothered with, but these are the ones on my shelf.

[Edited 6/12/20 9:45am]

[Edited 6/12/20 9:46am]

Top right -> search this site -> hundreds of threads.

BartVanHemelen said:

Top right -> search this site -> hundreds of threads.

BartVanHemelen said:

Top right -> search this site -> hundreds of threads.

Great!! But we can't have a discussion on those because those threads are locked!!

I did enjoy Morris Day's book: On Time: A Princely Life in Funk.

PennyPurple said:

I did enjoy Morris Day's book: On Time: A Princely Life in Funk.

I have to say, I didn't make it 20 pages into that book. It was corny as fuck. The whole thing was c-list; the cover, the design, the interior.

Back to the list:

From my shelf, the ones I enjoyed:

"Possessed" by Alex Hahn - a must

"Dancemusicsexromance" by Per Nilsen - a must

"Prince - Inside the Music and the Masks" by Ronin Ro (no, it's abysmal and offers nothing)

"Prince" by Dave Hill - YES, a staple

"I Would Die 4U" by Toure - SORTA, good at first, then rambles a lot near the end; made good points about Gen Xers vs boomers

"Prince - Imp of the Perverse" by Barney Hoskyns - never heard of it

"My Life with Prince - The Most Beautiful" by Mayte Garcia - MUST HAVE, if I wanna hear anyone's story, it's the one he married!

"Prince - Chaos, Disorder and Revolution" by Jason Draper - never heard of it, but enjoyed Prince: Life and Times by Draper. Big coffee table book.

"Prince and the Purple Rain Sessions" by Duane Tudahl - MUST HAVE, Duane's a great gent, and cares about his projects with these books

"Let's Go Crazy" by Alan Light - not read it yet, but want to, Alan wrote great stories about Prince in the 90s

"My Time with Prince" by Dez Dickerson - not read it yet

Didn't enjoy:

"Prince" by Matt Thorne - NOt heard of it

"This Thing Called Life" by Joseph Vogel - not heard of it

"Dig If You Will The Picture" by Ben Greenman - sorta heard of it

Another to avoid is Purple Reign by Liz Jones. Most of the book is literally quoting from the Oprah interview with giving near zero credit to the Oprah episode itself. Offered no new insight to anything.

I've used DMSR so much in the past to reference dates, etc., in the back of the book.

I have a shitty PDF of The Vault which is a helpful book, if I could read it. haha

But yeah, search the site. Lots of threads and opinions, same you'll find here probably.

I have decided to buy mostly books written by people who knew him. The fan books are repetitive and soon descend into "my experiences going to his concerts".

My one exception would be Alan Light's "Let's Go Crazy" which, so far, seems to be the definitive story of the making of Purple Rain. (Yes, I've read others but this is best.)

Here's some good ones not mentioned above:
Prince/Piepenbring "The Beautiful Ones" ESSENTIAL
Owen Husney's "Famous People Who've Known Me"
Alan Beaulieu's "Prince Before The Rain"
Steve Parke's "Picturing Prince"
Afshin Shahidi's "Prince A Private View"
Robert Whitman's "Prince Pre-Fame"
Waiting for: Neal Karlen's "This Thing Called Life (due in October)

Those are from memory; if I spot more in the bookcase, I'll add to this list.

Note that my list includes several from his photographers; that's because they include great stories and were around him for several years.

Randee St Nicholas' recent photo book is good but damn, that thing is almost Prince life-sized. Too big to fit on a bookshelf; it's a coffee table all by itself.

Morris Day's book accuses Prince of stealing music from Grand Central and using them as his demos, which is clearly false because they are firmly documented as having been recorded by Prince at Sound 80 in Minneapolis.

BartVanHemelen said:

Top right -> search this site -> hundreds of threads.

Those threads are all locked though, no?

I actually think it is good to have updated conversations about the same things on occasion so that new people can add their opinions and anyone else can update their views on things such as best books since much time has passed since many of those threads

laytonian said:

I have decided to buy mostly books written by people who knew him. The fan books are repetitive and soon descend into "my experiences going to his concerts".

My one exception would be Alan Light's "Let's Go Crazy" which, so far, seems to be the definitive story of the making of Purple Rain. (Yes, I've read others but this is best.)

Here's some good ones not mentioned above:
Prince/Piepenbring "The Beautiful Ones" ESSENTIAL
Owen Husney's "Famous People Who've Known Me"
Alan Beaulieu's "Prince Before The Rain"
Steve Parke's "Picturing Prince"
Afshin Shahidi's "Prince A Private View"
Robert Whitman's "Prince Pre-Fame"
Waiting for: Neal Karlen's "This Thing Called Life (due in October)

Good to hear positive points about Alan Light's book.

Any of the photography books are going to be good. Parke, Beaulieu, Shahidi - all there for long periods of time and/or got some great pics. The stories - my god, the stories! Those are some of the most interesting.

I totally agree with the "my experiences going to his concerts." That was a shit show. I had initially contacted them about seeing Lovesexy in L.A., then thought - no way. This is my story and with no promise of any compensation I bowed out quickly. Not that I need to get paid for a concert story, but why contribute so much to a book that I have no part in otherwise? I'm a writer. I'll write my own shit. haha

The fan books are mostly rehash over and over. We all know the Central High, Bernadette, neatness, Flyte Tyme, Alexander's papers, Gayle's issues, Dez's issues, bobby being the father figure, raw chicken at a concert (?!), "he wants a movie," etc etc stories. I said a while back the only real books I wanna read are from those who were close to him, or married him. Mayte's was the first I read out of all of them. I have an eBook of Parke's book. The stores gave me great joy. I found comfort in them, actually.

TrivialPursuit said:

ForceofNature said:

BartVanHemelen said:

Top right -> search this site -> hundreds of threads.

Those threads are all locked though, no?

I actually think it is good to have updated conversations about the same things on occasion so that new people can add their opinions and anyone else can update their views on things such as best books since much time has passed since many of those threads

Plus, new books added such as Brownmark's new one...

TrivialPursuit said:

Good to hear positive points about Alan Light's book.

Any of the photography books are going to be good. Parke, Beaulieu, Shahidi - all there for long periods of time and/or got some great pics. The stories - my god, the stories! Those are some of the most interesting.

I totally agree with the "my experiences going to his concerts." That was a shit show. I had initially contacted them about seeing Lovesexy in L.A., then thought - no way. This is my story and with no promise of any compensation I bowed out quickly. Not that I need to get paid for a concert story, but why contribute so much to a book that I have no part in otherwise? I'm a writer. I'll write my own shit. haha

The fan books are mostly rehash over and over. We all know the Central High, Bernadette, neatness, Flyte Tyme, Alexander's papers, Gayle's issues, Dez's issues, bobby being the father figure, raw chicken at a concert (?!), "he wants a movie," etc etc stories. I said a while back the only real books I wanna read are from those who were close to him, or married him. Mayte's was the first I read out of all of them. I have an eBook of Parke's book. The stores gave me great joy. I found comfort in them, actually.

Steve Parke's photo book is the best, IMO, due to the combination of his detailed stories and photos. "LIttle Water Fountains" makes me smile every time, picturing Prince carrying gigantic red plastic cups of smoothie while walking in slippers.
Afshin's photo's always run together for me (was he really tall or what, because Price is always looking up at him?)
I'd like to see a more detailed book about creating the Purple Rain film. Light's is good but there has to be more out there.
I can't wait for Neal Karlen's book. He may have the longest history with P.

Don't even bother with Diamonds and Curlz by his 'hairdresser' Kim.

PennyPurple said:

Don't even bother with Diamonds and Curlz by his 'hairdresser' Kim.

purplethunder3121 said:

PennyPurple said:

Don't even bother with Diamonds and Curlz by his 'hairdresser' Kim.

D.S.M.R and Prince: A Documentary by Nielsen were the best books written on the man.

Possessed by Hahn is a hit piece done in retaliation for Prince suing Uptown and Hahn trying to recoup expenses. A lot of hearsay is in that book.

Prince and the Purple Rain Sessions" by Duane Tudahl - Damn good book. 3rd best written.

Let's Go Crazy by Alan Light is a great book along with The Gold Experience by JHim Walsh is a good book.

Neo Manifesto.

PennyPurple said:

Don't even bother with Diamonds and Curlz by his 'hairdresser' Kim.

You just had to say it, didn't ya?

TrivialPursuit said:

PennyPurple said:

Don't even bother with Diamonds and Curlz by his 'hairdresser' Kim.

You just had to say it, didn't ya?

PennyPurple said:

Plenty of good books mentioned.

However, please, at all costs, avoid "Prince" by Mick Wall.

It's the poorest written book i've ever come across in any genre. Inaccurate, poorly writted, stock images with incorrect titles. It's so bad I wouldn't even use it as firelighter.

PennyPurple said:

BartVanHemelen said:

Top right -> search this site -> hundreds of threads.

Great!! But we can't have a discussion on those because those threads are locked!!

.

Oh please. Don't even pretend that book threads are popular.

laytonian said:

My one exception would be Alan Light's "Let's Go Crazy" which, so far, seems to be the definitive story of the making of Purple Rain.

.

Oh please. That book has barely ONE PAGE on the music, yet finds time for an entire chapter of "Alan Light remenisces about seeing the movie in the cinema", something you claim to abhor in books.

.

Light was so lazy he barely bothered to re-interview the same old people as usual and got the same old stories, and in the end had to hastily insert the actual reporting done by Minneapolis media who did bother to find previously unheard voices.

purplethunder3121 said:

ForceofNature said:

Those threads are all locked though, no?

I actually think it is good to have updated conversations about the same things on occasion so that new people can add their opinions and anyone else can update their views on things such as best books since much time has passed since many of those threads

Plus, new books added such as Brownmark's new one...

.

Then start of the thread with links to previous threads and a list of books that have appeared since then (and perhaps post links to those threads as well). At least show some effort instead of demanding to be spoonfed.

muleFunk said:

Possessed by Hahn is a hit piece done in retaliation for Prince suing Uptown and Hahn trying to recoup expenses.

.

Utter nonsense.

.

This ridiculous notion that Prince books are such a goldmine...

TrivialPursuit said:

The fan books are mostly rehash over and over. We all know the Central High, Bernadette, neatness, Flyte Tyme, Alexander's papers, Gayle's issues, Dez's issues, bobby being the father figure, raw chicken at a concert (?!), "he wants a movie," etc etc stories.

.

And yet Alex Hahn and Laura Tiebert's "The Rise of Prince 1958-1988" offers plenty of new stories and insight about those early years, and attempts to debunk much of the mythology.

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https://www.goodreads.com...-of-prince

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