the Alan Light book is also well reported
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 6 May 2016 17:32 (seven years ago) link
^this
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 May 2016 17:33 (seven years ago) link
I found the Alan Light book kind of bland, like an especially long Mojo piece. Just realized that I have the Hahn book right here, though. A friend lent it to me months ago, actually, saying that it was somewhat salacious and second-hand, but probably the best we'll get about a person like Prince.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 May 2016 17:36 (seven years ago) link
Maybe you knew more of the details already when you read the Alan Light book. I thought it created a pretty compelling narrative with lots of good quotes from and character sketches of the various parties involved.
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 May 2016 17:46 (seven years ago) link
so it's bland and well reported?
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 6 May 2016 17:50 (seven years ago) link
It's not written with any particular style or grace, no: it's, as you said, an excellent long piece of reporting.
Dance Music Sex Romance : the First Ten Years is the one I really want to read.
yup that's the one I have. just looked on Amazon and uh $500?!? wtf it's not that good.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 6 May 2016 17:51 (seven years ago) link
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 May 2016 17:56 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, there's nothing bad about it, I was just hoping for a little more life in it.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 May 2016 18:11 (seven years ago) link
I have and love the Nilsen and Matos but that Matt Thorne one starts off ok then goes off on some strange personal taste tangents (i.e. He really loves some terrible Prince music and knocks some of the straight up acknowledged great stuff) and never recovers.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 6 May 2016 18:24 (seven years ago) link
It's not written with any particular style or grace, no
So, it's a book by Alan Light, a writer who was born to be a VH1 commenting head?
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 6 May 2016 18:30 (seven years ago) link
There is also the late 80s book by Barney hoskyns, Imp of the Perverse, and a book by a guy named Ronin Ro, and the Toure book, and an academic book called Prince: The Making of a Pop Culture Phenomenon.
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Friday, 6 May 2016 18:36 (seven years ago) link
I understand the Toure book is recommended by a wide array of notables, from ?uestlove to ilxor tylerw.
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 May 2016 18:42 (seven years ago) link
also A Pop Life by Dave Hill, think this came out late 80s
― Master of Treacle, Friday, 6 May 2016 18:43 (seven years ago) link
Ronin Ro is a great, well-respected writer
― Οὖτις, Friday, 6 May 2016 19:03 (seven years ago) link
ha did i recommend the toure book? i'd say it was half good half not so good ...
― tylerw, Friday, 6 May 2016 19:22 (seven years ago) link
Oh yeah, exactly. Oh no, I have an (admittedly resistable) urge to buy Prince's "Emancipation" set!
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 May 2016 19:33 (seven years ago) link
i found the matos book kind of like zero-degree contempo rock criticism, complete with the long personal-history framing. i couldn't even finish it. :(
i've yet to read a full book on prince, but i've started a few, and none of them have been any good. :(
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:06 (seven years ago) link
Well, if you don't mind bland, competent reporting, without the rockcrit trappings then....
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:07 (seven years ago) link
xxp, i guess i did say "recommended!" anyway, yeah, i wonder who will write the definitive prince bio ...
― tylerw, Friday, 6 May 2016 20:07 (seven years ago) link
omplete with the long personal-history framing
I think you're remembering this incorrectly. The personal history he limits to a few paragraphs at the beginning and end. The rest is basic explication du texte.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:09 (seven years ago) link
it's a few pages IIRC. anyway, the explication du texte seemed kind of boilerplate to me.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:15 (seven years ago) link
i would have really liked to have read prince's memoir :(
I'd bet any amount - and i say this grudgingly and with a sad heart - that memoir would've been a giant, self censored yet self aggrandizing mess. Remember -- this was Prince. There wouldn't be any Miles Davis-type warts n' all autobio coming out of him.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:30 (seven years ago) link
yeah, probably the whole jehovah's witness thing means he would've been pretty circumspect about it all.
a memoir by prince ca. 1988, on the other hand....
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:31 (seven years ago) link
good show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L7t4q9xFA4
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:34 (seven years ago) link
I'm sure his memoir would be just as crystal clear as one by any other scrawny, song-oozing, self-mystifying Minnesotan.
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:39 (seven years ago) link
xpost Yeah both those Montreux 2009 shows are very good. The first one (early show) has a guitar solo on "Empty Room" that blows away the "While My Guitar..." one IMHO. Transcendent shit.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:47 (seven years ago) link
THIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onx3sbNRbIY&spfreload=5
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 6 May 2016 20:48 (seven years ago) link
goddamn
― ulysses, Friday, 6 May 2016 20:51 (seven years ago) link
That "While My Guitar..." solo has turned until the musical equivalent of the "Chuckles Bites the Dust" episode of The MTM Show.
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 6 May 2016 21:02 (seven years ago) link
I'm glad that "get away from my plants"/Prince magically appearing story is out there. A friend who was on a gig with the trombone player quoted in the RS article relayed the story to me a few years ago. Also talked about getting called in to do horn parts late at night and not being allowed to leave with any recordings, so Prince essentially left them alone in the studio overnight to arrange and record all their parts.
― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Friday, 6 May 2016 21:05 (seven years ago) link
Hmmm I'm 80% of the way through Lotusflow3r and I have to l say I'm quite enjoying it! It's retrogressive as hell but pretty sweet.
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Friday, 6 May 2016 21:18 (seven years ago) link
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/files/img/as/prince-slug.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 May 2016 21:53 (seven years ago) link
holy shit, he really could play anything. wow.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 6 May 2016 22:12 (seven years ago) link
His band on those Montreux videos, jesus
So much horsepower for muso phantasy
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Friday, 6 May 2016 22:36 (seven years ago) link
I saw him tour The Rainbow Children, and when I look at the crazy setlist it's like I was never there:
Rainbow ChildrenMuse 2 the PharaohXenophobiaA Case of You (Joni Mitchell cover)Mellow1+1+1 Is 3Love Rollercoaster (Ohio Players cover)The Other Side of the PillowStrange RelationshipSing a Simple Song (Sly & The Family Stone cover)La, La, La Means I Love UDidn't Cha Know? (Erykah Badu cover) (Rhonda Smith lead vocals)When You Were MineAvalancheFamily NameTake Me With URaspberry BeretThe Everlasting NowPiano set:AdoreUnder the Cherry MoonVenus de MiloOne Nite AloneFreeStarfish and CoffeeSometimes It Snows in AprilEye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U AnymoreHow Come U Don't Call Me AnymoreAnna StesiaEncore:Anna Stesia(reprise "Rise Up" (The Greatest Romance Ever Sold)
Encore:Anna Stesia(reprise "Rise Up" (The Greatest Romance Ever Sold)
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 May 2016 22:40 (seven years ago) link
fuck man, i really wish i coulda heard him do anna stesia live
― ulysses, Friday, 6 May 2016 22:46 (seven years ago) link
you can! on the one nite alone live set
which iirc is out of print :\
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 6 May 2016 23:00 (seven years ago) link
huh I have that too, wonder how much that's going for
― Οὖτις, Friday, 6 May 2016 23:06 (seven years ago) link
That Matt Thorne book does indeed take a turn for the worse pretty quickly. Also it's much harder to follow than that one well reported book upthread.
― Wrecka Stow Ralph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 7 May 2016 02:02 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98TJ6fGJH6Y
for those anna stesia fans
― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Saturday, 7 May 2016 03:30 (seven years ago) link
Thanks.
Tell you one thing I learned in the past few weeks: that Alan Leeds is a great interview subject, but I have a limited taste for his brother Eric's saxophone stylistics.
― Wrecka Stow Ralph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 7 May 2016 05:30 (seven years ago) link
the matt thorne book seemed to descend quickly into the writings of a complaining 'i know best' obsessive (ie highly personal observations and disgruntlement but not much real insight of interest as the opinions are so personal, like a very long post on prince.org), though i could be wrong as i didnt read it cover to cover.
DMSR isnt the best written, but was for a long time the most thorough and looked at his work in an in depth way that few writers did beforehand. people werent taking princes music that seriously. per nielsens documentary book was great at the time too.
the best book overall though i think is a pop life but it ends in the late 80s. examines prince the man, the music, the image, race, sex, etc.
― StillAdvance, Saturday, 7 May 2016 08:08 (seven years ago) link
The one Prince biography I remember liking the best is Liz Jones' Slave to the Rhythm: The Artist formerly known as Prince, or at least that was the most illuminating on Prince the person and not just Prince the recording artist. (The Nilsen book is good for record collectors and trainspotters, but it can get pretty boring with endless details on recording dates, instrumentation, release dates, etc.) It was published in 1997, after Emancipation, and after the death of his and Mayte's and child, so a pretty crucial and tragic time for time, and those details are included in the book (though obviously Jones had started writing it long before that).
IIRC it was the first biography written with Prince's blessing, and it includes extensive personal reviews with him, though it isn't the sort of full "in my own words" type of biography I think it was originally meant to be. (The tumult in Prince's life around the time of writing probably caused that change.) Still, of all the Prince biographies I've read it seemed to get deepest into what made him tick. Though obviously it ends before any of his latter career stuff: the JWs conversion, the internet releases era, the critical and public reapproriation of the 00s, etc. Someone would still need to write a proper book on those years.
― Tuomas, Saturday, 7 May 2016 08:33 (seven years ago) link
"so a pretty crucial and tragic time for him"
― Tuomas, Saturday, 7 May 2016 08:34 (seven years ago) link
alan leeds is brilliant; he wrote the liner notes to that series of james brown singles reissues and they are great. they should put him in charge of any prince vault releases if the legal stuff is ever worked out.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Saturday, 7 May 2016 10:09 (seven years ago) link
alan leeds is a really unlikely combo of music-business stalwart and an actually fairly brilliant music critic. it seems almost miraculous to me that someone who was james brown's tour manager would also happen to be one of the most insightful explicators of james brown's music.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Saturday, 7 May 2016 10:10 (seven years ago) link
maybe "explicator" isn't the right word but you get my drift
whitesplainer?
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 7 May 2016 11:17 (seven years ago) link