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Whenever I hear about a new Prince book hitting the market, the first emotion that I feel is fear. Did the author cover my angle for my Prince book?
According to a review by The Independent, "Prince's religious journey is hardly mentioned, despite teasers."
Phew!
I read two other reviews by The Guardian and The Telegraph, and the consensus is that although the book is extremely detailed (it has 672 pages), Prince, the man, is still a mystery.
I'm hopeful that because I'm focusing on just one specific area of Prince's life, I will be able to shed just a little light on the incredible musician as a person.
I do want to commend Mr. Thorne. I know how difficult it is to cover one angle of the story; I can't imagine the hard work he had to put in to encompass Prince's whole life and career. The reveiwers said that Thorne references every Prince song, released and unreleased. The Independent notes that, unfortunately, there is an "absence of lyrical quotes, presumably for legal reasons." That is an issue that I, too, will have to deal with, but that's another blog topic...
Thorne and I both talked to Howard Bloom, but I'll bet our conversations were very different. Thorne also talked to Wendy and Lisa, which I'm sure was a terrific selling point for his publisher.
I plan to read the book eventually, but I'm wondering what I would discover that hasn't been covered by Alex Hahn or Per Nilsen. I agree that it seems to be a book for the hardcore Prince fan and perhaps not your average person who wants to learn more about a famous musician. I'm trying to reach both audiences with my book.
I definitely respect Thorne's years of research, and I'd love to chat with him one day about our experiences covering this enigmatic musician.
Will you read "Prince" by Matt Thorne?
I read similar reviews and I was hesistant to buy this book because one reviewer mentioned the lack of musical context in the book. Contrast that to people like Ian Macdonald who has provided informationfor biographies about The Beatles that include music theory (how musicians thought of chords and scales to write a song or type of instruments and amps used in the studio and onstage). Ian Macdonald is very reputable because he can talk music and that's something I'm looking for.
ReplyDeleteHi, Raka Bash. Thank you for your comment. I'm thinking that some Prince writers have tackled that angle, at least a little bit. I'll have to review my Prince books. I also like to read that type of analysis.
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