Prince In Print

“Who eye really am only time will tell,” Prince sings on–and writes in–his newest album. He may be right. What with the name change, the excessive cosmetics and the shoe collection, Prince is by some standards bizarre enough to be dismissed as a freak. But weigh all that against his 2007 Super Bowl performance, the shelf life of his hits and his early adoption of the Internet as a vehicle for selling music, and suddenly he could be a visionary genius.

The Purple One’s first book, 21 NIGHTS (Atria; 256 pages), provides no final verdict, though it does resolve the questions, Does Prince own a lot of shirts, and what does his Bible look like? Purportedly a photographic record of his sold-out concerts in London last year, it’s actually a lush myth-making exercise. Prince consorts with sexy twins, wears fabulous coats, jewelry and sunglasses and has a game of cat and mouse with a maid. He reveals nothing, offering instead a fantasy creature: a nocturnal, poetic avatar. Is the book an attempt to get people to pay $50 for the companion CD of Princely after-hours recordings, Indigo Nights, or to elevate music to a new luxury item? As Prince might say, that’s up 2 U.