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.