Book Review: Prince: Life and Times by Jason Draper

The enigmatic musician Prince is one of those legendary performers that continue to re-invent himself. He's of the same ilk as David Bowie, Madonna, and at one point Michael Jackson. To capture Prince in pictures isn't hard, given the many tours he's done throughout the last three decades. But to accurately paint Prince in words is another challenge all together. Well, Prince: Life and Times almost got it all right.

Written by Jason Draper, a music journalist who also wrote Led Zepplin Revealed, Prince: Life and Times tries to chronologically map Prince's musical roots from before the infamous Warner Brothers contract that made him the youngest producer in label history at age 19, to the debut of Planet Earth in 2008. A majority of Draper's tidbits and information are things that hardcore Prince fans like me already knew, but there are some enlightening moments. The many quotes by musicians who have played with him aren't always favorable, but seem to be accurate in their descriptions of Prince and even how Prince has described himself in past interviews: a hard worker, very demanding, always thinking musically. He's willing to sacrifice everything for his vision, even if it means girlfriends, lawyers or money. The dynamics among Prince, his protégés and fellow musicians like Morris Day and Miles Davis were more expansive than I originally thought. I didn't know the whole story behind the Time/Revolution food fight. I especially enjoyed the references to director Kevin Smith's encounter with Prince. I would recommend watching him tell the story on YouTube after reading it in Life and Times.

The layout of this book is stunning, beginning with the velvety cover adorned with the infamous "glyph" symbol. The photos inside are well worth the price of the book on their own. They span Prince's many moods, but a vast majority of the pictures are of the man himself on stage living up every minute and seemingly smiling at every note coming from his stage. Include in Life and Times are several gatefolds that give a fairly accurate timeline of major Prince eras, from his 94 East days through the Revolution and up to this year's version of the New Power Generation.

I do have objections to the editing. There are several typos and misnomers abound in Life and Times. Draper inaccurately names one of Prince's former clubs "Grand Slam" and then later calls it by the proper name, Glam Slam. The book does a great job of putting in anecdotes within the layout of each chapter, only to repeat the same information in future pages. There are moments where I feel Draper wrote this at 6^th grade level whereas this is a book about a very adult figure. The typos combined with the language choice sometimes make me question the credibility of the anecdotes. He is also an editor for RecordCollector Magazine, so I did expect a little more out of his writing. Maybe I'm harsh, but I don't want to feel like I'm reading a book that I could have easily written, given the time.

If you decide to buy Prince: Life and Times and you are a longtime Prince fan, you won't be too disappointed but you won't be overjoyed, either. However, this book makes for excellent coffee table viewing and a great introduction to new fans of His Royal Badness.