Ok, I read possessed and actually really enjoyed it. I think a lot of orgers can't get past the title (The rise and fall of Prince) and Alex does seem to have a bias towards what Prince songs or eras are best. However, that being said, I think you truly get a lot of insight on the ever elusive purple one and really learn a lot about him as a person and his character and interactions with friends, girlfriends, bandmates, and business partners as well as his recording process and music.

So i picked up DMSR, which everyone says is "great and much better than that piece of shit possessed", and i must dissagree. I found DMSR very interesting from a historical perspective, it really documents his recording career and puts things in a great chronological perspective, but i really didin't learn much about prince and found it quite dry.

I'm a fan of both books, but I really believe possessed is the more interesting read and can't get over all the haters on this site. Prince fans are so loyal that it really kills them that Alex points out a fact, there was a decling in Princes career in terms of cultural impact, significance, and comercial success.

That being said, i truly enjoyed a lot of 90's prince, but realistically, he wasn't very successful outside of his loyal hardcore fan base and the music fell on deaf ears and undeniably, the 80's records were better both artistically and comercially

I do disagree with alex about the prince comeback, i actually love musicology!

DMSR is a far better read, in my opinion. I appreciate the fact that the emphasis is on the music and not the scandal rag fodder. Though there was certainly more than enough criticism and juicy tidbits in DMSR to merit the suggestion that it's probably not something that's gonna be prominently displayed in the Prince household bookshelves anytime soon. It's not a matter of "haters" or "fams" or whatever - in my opinion, DMSR is just a better read for fans of the music.