What Time Is It?

The Time

Warner Brothers, 1982

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_%28band%29

REVIEW BY: Mark Millan

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/12/2009

Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minneapolis in the late ‘50s, would have to be the hardest working man in pop music, bar none.  Since his debut release For You in 1978, he has released in excess of thirty-five studio albums, though not all were credited to him.  When Warner Bros. signed Prince in the late ‘70s, there was a clause in his contract that allowed him to sign any artist he desired and record them. 

It was largely unprecedented at the time, but such was the quality of Prince’s demos that Warner Bros. were not going to let him slip through their fingers in what was back then an extremely competitive market with plenty of willing labels ready to cater to Prince’s wishes.  Of course, some of Prince’s prodigies were as forgettable as “their” music, but others, however, enjoyed major success both in the charts and as live acts. 

Arguably the most successful and best of the bunch was The Time, formed by Prince using remnants of his old Minneapolis cohorts Flyte Time.  The new line-up consisted of Jimmy Jam, Jellybean Johnson, Jesse Johnson, Monte Moir, and Terry Lewis on all things funk. 

Joining them was one of pop’s most charismatic frontmen in Morris Day, a childhood pal of Prince’s.  Jack of all trades Jerome Benton was recruited to act as Day’s comic foil for the live shows, which quickly became legendary once these boys got out on the road.  Rumor has it at one point The Time were such a show stopping force that Prince dropped them from his own 1999 tour in fear of being upstaged every night. 

The fierce competition between Prince and his posse was mainly born out of The Time’s frustration at not being able to record their own albums.  All of the music on The Time’s LP’s was actually written, performed, mixed and produced by the Purple One himself.  Day was even forced to strictly follow Prince’s guide lead (and backing) vocals.my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

It is hard to identify What Time Is It? and all of The Time’s records as anything other than Prince albums ,but Day did a fantastic job stamping his authority all over these songs, and when it came to playing live, nobody outshone The Time -- nobody.  This particular album is the pinnacle of the fight for power within the Minneapolis stables that by now included Vanity 6, the all-girl singing trio that was having their own battle with His Purpleness for creative control.  After the success of The Time’s self-titled debut album, it appears Prince took extra care on this disc in crafting his songs to better suit the smooth tones of Day’s voice.

The album kicks off with a seven and a half minute explosion of funk and R&B.  “Wild And Loose” is one of The Time’s finest moments, and as with the album as a whole, really exemplified the “Minneapolis sound” of screeching synthesizers and punchy horns.  The opener leads straight into “777-9311,” which according to Prince, boasts one of his best bass lines ever.  The song is a perfect vehicle for the band and is just about as funky as Prince ever got; his awesome guitar solo is testament to that.

“Onedayi’mgonnabesomebody” follows and is the closest thing to Prince’s solo sound to be found here.  Lyrically talking about his desire to one day be rich and successful, it’s an up-tempo, funky beat that screeches to a halt with the proclamation, “We don’t like New Wave.” 

“The Walk” is the most fun track on the album and quickly became a staple of all Time shows.  A poppy R&B groove follows the marching-like bass line to become the most straight pop song on the record.  The crazy factor is turned way up, however, with the band members’ vocal performance. References to tight jeans, not liking policeman and television makes for lots of fun at least.

“Gigolos Get Lonely, Too” is a love song of sorts and best shows off Day’s unique, romantic voice.  Although restricted to sounding too much like Prince, he manages to stamp his own sound on this one and it’s easily his best vocal performance on the album.  “I Don’t Wanna Leave You” closes the disc out with an understated funk groove that remains constant throughout the track until the awesome synth break/solo about halfway through.  This cut again features some fantastic harmonizing between Day and Prince.

The wonderfully curious thing about this album is that it’s twice as funky as anything Prince was releasing (as himself) at the time; the same can be said about Vanity 6’s debut, also released in 1982.  The recording of this album immediately preceded that of what I consider to be Prince’s best album, 1999, which was released shortly after What Time Is It?.  Coupled with his next releases -- another back-to-back effort with his own Purple Rain and The Time’s Ice Cream Castles, both released in mid ‘84 -- it’s fair to say that at this point of his career, Prince was an undeniable force at the height of his powers. 

This remains one of Prince’s greatest efforts and a reminder of his extraordinary talents.  It also serves as The Time’s finest moment in their colorful history and one of funk music’s best albums of all time.

Rating: A

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