Customer Reviews

Prince: The Glory Years - A Documentary Review

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thought that this particular documentary was excellent. I've been an avid fan of Prince since I was young, and there are very few films documenting his life or his music to an acceptable standard, so it is always a nice suprise to find one. In the film there are several recognisable music experts who assess some of Prince's finest performances; there is some incredible performance footage on here too, including a lot of clips i've never seen before - and I thought i'd seen it all!
Putting the brilliant musical and analytical aspect of the dvd aside, the rest of it is pure gold as well. One of the things I liked most was that the interviews were not entirely with music professionals and experts who have studied Prince's music and career from afar (like most), but a number of them are with people who are known to be/have been very close to Prince. So on top of everything else you get a great insight into the personal life of someone who is notoriously secretive and something of an enigma. As a Prince fan, a music fan and a documentary fan I thought this dvd was class A, definately recommend it to anyone.

i dont know what some of the other reviewers are talking about....saying this is a "garbage" documentary and that it's poorly done. The only thing that it's missing is actual dialogue with Prince himself. But this is a unauthorized biography, so what do you expect? However, although unauthorized..it STILL features Prince's music, video footage, and clips of live shows. It starts with telling of his background growing up in Minneapolis, and kind of goes step by step through his career in the late 70's through the 80's & early nineties. There's in-depth commentary about each album he released during these periods from the people who were there recording it with him. I really enjoyed watching this and i can't say i've ever seen a better documentary about Prince. Every fan should definitely check this out!!

**My only problem with this doc is the terrible picture of him they put on the cover!! hahaha, couldn't they find ANYTHING better than that?? He looks bloated....is that even him?? haha

Great information and history of Prince. I enjoyed the interactive game that is a bonus feature on this DVD.

I really enjoyed this dvd and it made me laugh and cry. I am so glad I bought this dvd, it has renewed my love and interest in Prince. I also have a greater depth of understanding and appreciation of his music.

If your a Prince fan, information about the man is always at a premium and difficult to get. This DVD talks with a former band mate and sound engineers. There are some entertaining stories about how songs were created and Prince's personality and creative process. I thought it was a well done production of his "grory years."

I am the ultimate Prince fan (don't believe it, ask my wife and kids), and after loading my iPod with all of the Prince albums that it could hold, I decided to start buying the available (official) DVDs. There are exactly 9 DVDs that feature Prince as the star...1) "Purple Rain" 2) "Under The Cherry Moon" 3) "Sign O' The Times" 4) "Graffiti Bridge" 5) "Diamond & Pearls/Video Collection" 6) "The Hits Collection" 7) "Rave Un2 The Year 2000" 8) "Prince: Live At The Aladin, Las Vegas" and 9) "Prince: The Glory Years" and "Prince: In The 1980's" (which I count as one, because they are actually the same DVD with different titles and cover art). As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I am the ultimate Prince fan (which accounts for me adding this "Prince: The Glory Years" to my collection)and I guess this puts me in the category of 'completist' as well, but if you are a fan, this documentary is as essential as any other DVD in your collection. The only problem that I have with this DVD, is the false statements printed on the back cover. For example, the description on the cover claims that there is live concert footage included in this documentary. This is entirely false. The only performances on this DVD were taken directly from Prince's music videos (none of which are live). But overall, I found this DVD to be interesting, informative and occassionally entertaining (as documentaries go).

This is a great documentary video, maybe because Prince doesnt give input. I though it was going to glorify Prince in the do's that he did instead of the don'ts that he didnt' But instead critics, close friends, and musicians talk about the tracks he had to jump on to stay on the rails. Realizing he didnt stay on the same train, this guy had to jump on moving trains to moving trains. He was swimming underwater in a sea of punk rock and disco during the late 70s and held his breath for almost 8 years, thats really tough going. For the first time I actually enjoyed watching in its entirety with the facts that the critics talked about the negatives and the positives. Also the way hip hop came into mainstream and pushed Prince aside as he brought himself to hits throughout the 90's. The thing about hip hop and Prince is that hip hop was a closer live life to reality than Princes fantasy space songs, fantasy to us. Pretty little red corvett or pretty little red gunshot, which happens more often. Plus, one of the critics comments about Prince sing i wanna jack you off and how he got everyone into it--Im glad im not the type of person who can go dumfounded and start singing i wanna jack you off when where are people allowed to do this in a normal reality society, in jail. And i dont beleive the Micheal Jackson ping pong story.

Some good concert footage and interviews, but this documentary is poorly produced. This is a "B-movie" type of production.

I bought this dvd because it said there were live performances on it. Not a one. It showed clips from music videos, and the staged portions of the Sign O' The Times film, but nothing live. David Rivkin was the only really interesting interview. Everyone else was pretty much filler. Don't waste your time unless you are truly a new Prince fan. It wasn't awful, but nowhere near worth the asking price.