Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: Not too bad.
Now it all makes sense about Prince to me.
You give someone enough power and reign, don't think that they will give it up so easily. (I'm talking about the music making)
He did it ALL, and wanted ALL the credit and control.
Even though I'm sure his former band*Slaves contribute in assisting with the new music,but he didn't give credit were I believe credit was due to them.
Good-not great book. But it answered some unanswered questions, and I believe they were the most accurate taking account from those who worked and dealt with Prince and both a professional and personal level
Rating: 
Summary: Angry writer tries to get revenge
Review: Prince, and most of his people, would not talk to the author, so he relies on "unnamed sources" for the majority of his infomation. This book will bore you to tears at times, and make you laugh at the stupidity of the author at other times. He thinks Bono plays guitar for U2, and thinks Prince getting ill on wine and aspirin is a scandal. Prince is a musical genius. Just because he has not had a commercial hit for a few years, doesn't mean he hasn't written and recorded many great songs since his last "hit". He won't bow down to Clear Channel and the other radio station conglomerates, so he gets no airplay. But he still puts out great music. He still puts on a great show live, as well.
But the author - who presumably still holds a grudge against Prince for suing him over his Fanzine, Uptown - would have you believe that Prince is a has-been, whose career has been spiraling downward since Purple Rain. Prince has perservered much better than the talent-less Madonna, the freaky Michael Jackson, or most others from the late 70's/early 80's. If you are a true Prince fan, you may want to read this, just to see what Hahn has to say, but it's really not worth your time. True fans will not enjoy this book. Better to wait for a biography from a more reliable source.
Rating: 
Summary: Rise and Fall: The Larger Meaning
Review: Some Prince fans have greeted this book with howls of injured outrage, but they may not have read Oedipus Rex or Hamlet. The author has. He knows Oedipus is a powerful, important king with a fatal blind-spot, a world-shaker whose pride, wrath, and failure-to-listen lead to his fall. He knows Hamlet is a brilliant, philosophical young prince who is also a manic-obsessive, tormented by indecision, tortured by his ingrown intellect as much as by circumstance, by his ego as much as by his enemies. Thus Hahn is able to discern and reveal the universal patterns in the story of Prince. Prince zealots retort that their idol is alive and well, thank you, producing music and retaining a loyal fan base. But at his peak Prince combined the vast fame of a chart-busting pop mega-star with the critical esteem of a Miles Davis, while today, though his work continues, he is known to the general public mainly as a footnote, a man who became an unpronounceable symbol, a house-hold name who faded from view. What happened, and why? This book tells the story. Neither sensational nor humdrum, the book relies on the method of a sound investigation: patient, probing, persistent. It will appeal to a wide range of readers, from those alert to pop culture to those attuned to the universal relevance of a rise-and-fall trajectory, whether tragic or ambiguous, aware that the best and brightest of us carry in ourselves the seeds of a potential undoing. This is what gives Hahn's important book its larger resonance.
Rating:
Summary: Rave Un2 the "Enigma" Fantastic...
Review: The epitomy of the classic "rock star", Prince has seemingly taken an inspired career and turned it into a sort of ironic mystery...author Alex Hahn presents this theory using an amazing access to personal subjects and un-released music to destroy the mystique and bring Prince into the general public's eye for all to scrutinize. What we find is a sort of mini-demagogue who remains brilliant musically, but suffers from many years of petulant behavior to systematically reduce his faithful following and, unfortunately, become nothing more than a cult figure. Back in 1985, however, the thought of Prince being anything but a major musical influence and icon would be inconceivable...this was following the final push to superstardom that "Purple Rain", the record and movie, provided and the country/music industry was agog at what the next Prince project might be. Of course, the underwhelming and self-aggrandizing "Around the World in a Day" was the next release and this started the downward spiral that continues to this day. Author Hahn attempts to analyze this with "Possessed" and he brings it off with an amazing balance...remaining true to his literary responsibilites, he paints a realistic and forthcoming picture of the tortured musician. At once brilliant in the conceiving and performing of cutting edge music while at the same time displaying a curious bewilderment at the ever changing face of popular music, Prince remains the mystery that he so fervently relishes and in the process has virtually destroyed any fan base that could resurrect his career. A stunningly comprehensive biography, Hahn shows the entire Prince career from his childhood up to and including the 2001 release of "The Rainbow Children". Riding the emotional and psychological roller-coaster that was Prince, we see the meteoric rise and subsequent demise of this influential artist and also the human waste he laid as a side product...his (Prince's) treatment of "friends and associates" is disturbing and speakes to (in my opinion) a lingering psychosis. Conversely, Hahn, again using amazing access to unreleased recorded material, shows Prince to be prolific and brilliant in his conception of and performance of many major turns in his musicianship. Indeed, the few unreleased tracks that I have personally heard would make for a great album and it's hard to conceive that this level of great music is still "in the vault". Hahn covers all the important episodes in this star-crossed career...even sharing some new information that former "hard-core" fans never knew...the homosexual relationship of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman was new to me and I was a fan at the inception of the "Revolution"...the interaction of fellow musicians and subsequent denial of artistic credit (i.e. Rosie Gaines and Melvoin) is part of this afore mentioned disturbing psychotic behavior and was also a surprise to me. What astounded me the most, however, was the continued denial on the part of Prince towards the burgeoning rate of change in the popular music world and his denail of this fact. He continued to think that he was one record away from the "Purple Rain" type of mega-stardom and Hahn presents this part of the story in sober terms...I certainly felt the frustration that most fans assuredly went through and this feeling is the most prevelant throughout this work. Time and again, a new idea or initiative was started by Prince, only to be reduced or disintegrated by the ever-present "haughtiness" that only served to limit his career growth and is something that he continues to pay for in his musical standing today. Hahn does serve the music fan well, however, with his many reviews of some of Prince's classic music...he raves about "Controversy", "1999", "Sign O the Times" and, of course "Purple Rain". Some of the later works ("Graffiti Bridge", "Lovesexy" and "Emancipation") that I thought were pure genius were sort of described as episodic and partly rationalized into the spiraling downward turn in Prince's career and music...unfairly, I felt, but an opinion that I respected given the depth of Hahn's research. Closing out the book is an impressive discography of all Prince's works and his part assisitance in others (Bangles, Stevie Nicks, Sheena Easton...etc). Whether you love him or hate him...or even if you're just a popular music fan in general, you'd do well to read about the rise and fall of Prince in this book. A more interesting story you won't find (yes even given the latest Michael Jackson fiascos) and a story that has you at once criticising and conversely hoping for a more fortunate outcome, Alex Hahn is to be commended for a comprehensive, scholarly and entertaining look at one of Rock's remianing mysteries. I recommend this book very highly.
Rating:
Summary: From someone who has been around the Paisley Camp..
Review: This book hits things right on the nail. From someone who has personally been around the Prince Camp (1994-2001) as a fan and supporter with the hope that Prince would pull out of his self destructive pattern, this is the book to get. The only downside of this writing is that everything couldn't get covered. There was much more hell than this book has reported. Nothing mentions the relationship between Prince and Sheena Easton. None of you know about the many winter jams Prince invited us to that were held at Paisley that found fans waiting for 2+ hours outside in below zero weather. He could have let people inside to get warm until the show started, most of the time it was only 50 to 60 people and we were all regulars, they knew us. People don't know how Revlon offered Prince a deal to promote a perfume around "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and he turned it down feeling he could do better with his own brand which was "Get Wild" that ultimately bombed. The treatment of his staff and fans is stuff of legend. We all put him where his is but I challenge any of you who are not of female gender to get close enough to him to say 'hello'. He will not acknowledge your jester, kindness is not in him. "What's with the Ocean" is his term for any hiss he may hear in a recording session, believe me engineers caught hell. I'm saying all this not to put Prince down but to confirm this book as being a truthful depiction of the life and times of this music legend. I for one am not getting paid a cent but it's great to finally see someone tell it like it really happened. Too many times we want to make people into what we want them to be and refuse to acknowledge the truth. Stars build fancy propaganda around themselves that's totally false. Prince has serious problems emotionally even though he is a wonderful artist. And anyone who has been around him to witness his actions first hand has a truly amazing story to tell you, I personally could go on and on. It's really scary the kind of people we choose to look up to and follow. This book is a must have for anyone wanting to know the truth of how things started and got to the point they are today in Prince's life. Get this book....
Rating:
Summary: Enquiring Minds Want to Know?
Review: This is a book full of tabloid journalism. Very few Prince associates were willing to go on record to tell their stories, but that doesn't slow Mr. Hahn down any at all. He proceeds to report rumor as fact, citing certain unnamed sources offering us a sensationalist view of Prince as an [odd one] who has sabatoged his own career and abused everyone he has encountered. If you believe everything you read in tabloids this book is for you. If you want to learn more about the real Prince, that's a book yet to be written.
Rating:
Summary: I thought it could be better!
Review: Though the research is great, the writing isn't. There needed to be more editing on many parts of the book. The information is great but a lot of Prince die-hard fans(like me) already know his biography except for the later years. As for the later years of Prince I wanted more info especially in his marriages. I think the author was afraid to be labeled as a "tabloid" writer and didn't dwelve more into how his view of women and the lack of showing emotion hurt his 1st marriage. And some typos in the book as his older half(or step) brother Alfred and then his name is incorrectly turned into "Albert". Though there are fantastic reading moments in the book, also great research and marvelous insightful moments in Prince's life that many fans may have not known. However, it's an average to mediocre completion. It could had been done better and also I wish the pictures in the book were in color too!
Rating: 
Summary: average but at least the Guy wrote on Prince
Review: to be honest there are only a handful of Books on Prince that are even halfway interesting.I give the Author Props for taking the time to write on a Cat that while is a Musical Genius,Legend&One of the Greatest Artists in Studio&Live of All-Time, has also for quite a while been a Has-Been&Hit-Less.if it wasn't for the fact that Prince can still Hang with anyone Live on Stage He would be basically Be written off.this Book doesn't balance Prince the Artists enough&His work as it does digging into Prince's Life&whatnot.nothing new here.I give the Author Props for writing on Prince because unlike 20-15&even 10 Years back I don't see the long line to get a Book out on Him.I agree with the title from the Commerical Prime&Peak Situation&also everybody who blows up also takes a dive with a New Genration&Era of Musicial Ears.Prince these days is in the same boat as Michael Jackson minus the Issues even though MJ can still Pull some Hits&Hit with a Album but Image has taken a Major beating&also these Cats played a different brand of the Music Game.but anyway at least somebody still cares to write on Prince? I still dig His Old Stuff&always will.the Best Book on Prince though is Per Nilsen's "DMSR" the first Decade 78-88 when prince truly Mattered&reached His full Music Zenith for Me&My Ears.
Rating:
Summary: Frustrating
Review: What's disappointing is that you don't find out what drove Prince during his creative peak, much less why he lost that spark/passion. What you do learn is that Prince appears to be a selfish, egotistical, ungrateful etc. person. That's driven home over and over again through this book, almost to the point of obsession. Since the author appeared to have great access to sources, it's unfortunate not to get better insights into the making of Prince's great songs.
Rating:
Summary: Possessed.
Review: While it tends to paint a rather unattractive picture of the reclusive genius/Svengali, this biography is a real page turner and is a must have for all serious Prince fans. The detailed information on his creative process (all of his studio LP's up to "The Rainbow Children" are discussed in depth)and his struggle from an unstable childhood in Minneapolis to superstardom is an inspiration and will keep you turning pages for hours. This is a great book for music/entertainment junkies and manages to be truthful, a bit gossipy but never sinks to the level of tabloid trash. A Good Read for the diehard fan or the casual admirer.
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