Anyone familiar with this author or his book? It's titled: "Prince: All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track". I'm wondering is this guy is credible?

If it's just his opinions / reviews of each song, I have no interest. All that matters to me is whether I like or dislike a particular song. However, if he gives insight into the inspiration or production of each song, I could find that valuable, so long as the guy has his facts straight.

According to one review, it goes through his entire canon up to the Estate's release of W2A

https://www.amazon.com/Pr...op?ie=UTF8

lurker316 said:

Anyone familiar with this author or his book? It's titled: "Prince: All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track". I'm wondering is this guy is credible?

If it's just his opinions / reviews of each song, I have no interest. All that matters to me is whether I like or dislike a particular song. However, if he gives insight into the inspiration or production of each song, I could find that valuable, so long as the guy has his facts straight.

According to one review, it goes through his entire canon up to the Estate's release of W2A

https://www.amazon.com/Pr...op?ie=UTF8

Great plug on the book. It looks sickkk! I just preordered one. Thannk you!

Yeah I have it.

60 Euro's.

Not worth bying.

There are books like that about Bowie and many others (written by him too i believe).

Just another shit book.

Lay out is shit.

Its fucking heavy.

Was dissapointed when i opened it.

Expected a bit more insight.

Every short info with every song is something we don't need.

Most fans know what the song is like and honestly i expected something completely different than just a discription of the song, instruments, how good or bad he thinks it is. Although he never thing it's bad, so even worse.

[Edited 11/7/22 1:22am]

This book is just a shove-out by Benoit Clerc who has also created similar fanbooks like:
"David Bowie - All the Music"
"Queen - All The Music".
I guarantee you that NONE of those books, ESPECIALLY the Prince book, contain "all the music."

You will learn nothing new unless you've never read another book on Prince. Lots and lots of already-published photos.

I wish people would quit buying things like this, similar to the People magazine "Prince" that comes out twice a year at checkstands.

laytonian said:

This book is just a shove-out by Benoit Clerc who has also created similar fanbooks like:
"David Bowie - All the Music"
"Queen - All The Music".
I guarantee you that NONE of those books, ESPECIALLY the Prince book, contain "all the music."

You will learn nothing new unless you've never read another book on Prince. Lots and lots of already-published photos.

I wish people would quit buying things like this, similar to the People magazine "Prince" that comes out twice a year at checkstands.

Ha! That is funny about People magazine

But I disagree with you guys.

Most people aren't sick deranged fans like us and don't know most of the info in this book.

I didn't know, for example, that Prince kicked studio execs out of the studio when they suggested he add a bass ine to "Crazy You."

I like the lay-out too.

I'm a fan of the book... just my 2 cents

Spirituality said:

He was fervently anti-bassline in the first part of his career. Then when he'd use it he'd often play the lines higher up in the frets and mix it with the treble higher than the actual bass frequencies... YouTube reactors are always like "what is that instrument?" on basslines like "If I Was Your Girlfriend" or "Pop Life" because they were so trebely/higher up in the frets than the way basslines are traditionally used.

Here's Miles Davis talking about it:

https://youtu.be/FETPaGyPNKI?t=163

[Edited 11/8/22 19:28pm]

laytonian said:

This book arrived at my door in October, I knew absolutely nothing about it. I have a friend who work in publishing and knows that I am a huge Prince fan. Even though I’m the kind of fan who wants everything I can get on cd and vinyl when possible (if needed even on cassette or digital if only format available), books of this nature wouldn’t be something I would have purchased myself at the cover price. That said, I have really enjoyed flipping through the book, remembering songs I might have forgotten about for a bit. There are many songs that Prince wrote for others unmentioned in the book, though there are a few listed that I am completely unfamiliar with.

My favorite thing about the book is that anyone who comes over, they pick it up from my coffee table and with an astonished look they start peeking around that 600+ page tome. I tell them to let me know if something sounds interesting and I can most likely queue it up next to listen to.

Espio said:

I ended up getting the book and like it. Though I have one nit-pick over its inconsisten structure. It's minor, but I'm obsessive about consistent organization so it nags at me...

Throughout the albums from the '80s, Clerc skipped all of the b-sides except Alexa de Paris and Love or $. However, he eventually listed all of those missing b-sides when he catalogued the released of The Hits/The B-Sides. I figured he just didn't want to list them twice, so he put off mentioing them until they were re-released with the greatest hits package. (Obvious Alexa and Love or $ got their own entries because they weren't included on The Hits.)

However, he took a different approach with the standalone songs Pince released via his music club in the late '90s / early '00s. With those, he listed them on their released dates, and then noted them a second time when he go to The Chocolate Invasion and the Slaughterhouse.

I'm not saying one approach is right and one is wrong -- I'm just saying he should have approached them both the same way. Either:

1.) Put their full listing on their standalone released date and then briefly mention them on their re-release in a compliation (as he did with the internet singles); or

2.) Skip their initial standalone releases and provide the full listing when they were re-released as a compiliation (as he did with the b-side).

Also, I could quite make out the logic behind which associated artists songs he cited (which he called "collaborations") and which he didn't. For example, a few Sheila E and Time songs were highlighted, but most weren't. Was he picking only those songs with an explcit album credit to Prince???