Let's Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain

James Brown and Stevie Nicks, new wave synthesizers and Bob Seger, Cold War and postapocalyptic art, Fellini movies and Renaissance-inspired stage clothes, and, in the end, country music, all played some role—large or small—in the creation of Prince's legendary movie and album Purple Rain, says music journalist Light. A former editor at Rolling Stone, the author begins this relatively breezy narrative the same way the song starts—that unmistakable B-flat chord. It's like an aural madeleine for Prince fans and throws them right into the last scene of the movie that draws cigarette lighters out of back pockets everywhere. In a year overflowing with digital "oral histories" and long reads about the making of specific albums, Light's book is perfectly timed to dovetail with the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain and is filled with bons mots about production, including Prince's favorite meal (spaghetti and orange juice), and what really happened in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.