1990, Part 1: The Time In The Home Of All The Demons!
How Do These Things Even Happen?
In his liner notes for The Hits / The B-Sides, Prince’s former tour manager Alan Leeds called 1990 “a transitional year for Prince.” That’s a huge understatement. Despite Prince’s bullish attitude, 1990 was a rough one at Paisley Park. This isn’t to say that a lot of worthwhile material wasn’t produced and / or released during this time, but for every stratospheric high, there were some deep, dark lows as well. This year was one of the most unusual kinds of times in Prince’s life: an uneven year.
<Side Note: Most of the story I’m trying to tell this week consists of conflicting information from sources that are not to be considered objective. Just so you know.>
In early October 1987, the original lineup of The Time reunited on a one-time basis for the Minnesota Black Music Awards, and that was apparently all there was to it.
In either late 1988 or early-to-mid 1989, Morris Day sent a tape of some demos to Prince for a possible new project. It was going to be a new album by The Time, just like the old days, by Prince with Morris Day. It’s not entirely clear why Morris wanted to do another album with Prince. He had done a couple of solo albums that had got some traction, and at the time there was no guarantee that he could get either lineup of The Time together. According to Morris, at least one of those demos were accepted by Prince, and Morris went to Paisley Park and recorded and album with Prince called Corporate World.
Here are Morris Day's two solo albums after he left The Time, in case you want to check them out.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis had also started discussing the possibility of several projects with Morris. The one project all accounts agree on is a new album. Possibly it was going to be under the name The Time, or possibly a Morris Day project produced by Flyte Tyme (Jam & Lewis). Jimmy Jam has also suggested that a movie based on The Time’s antics on the road was also being developed, even to the point of Jam & Lewis bringing in a screenwriter.
And Then…
At some point – don’t ask me how – Prince got Morris, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (and possibly the rest of the original lineup of The Time) into a room at Paisley Park and pitched them a movie. Not their movie – his movie. A quasi-sequel to Purple Rain called Graffiti Bridge. Somehow, he got them to say “yes” to this. Again, do not ask me how. Really don’t. Most of the “facts” of this story are conflicting facts from conflicting sources. In this cases, it just gets skipped over. The closest thing I could find is the following excerpt from an interview with Jimmy Jam:
“’We actually brought in someone to write a screenplay. We sat and talked with a couple of screenwriters, telling them the stories we thought were funny, letting them weave a storyline around it. We were in talks with Warner Bros. to do it. The next thing you know, literally out of the blue, Prince called us for a meeting at Paisley Park. And I remember we walked in thinking it was going to be about the movie — the movie we thought we were going to do. All of sudden it turned into Graffiti Bridge, and we were like, ‘What’s Graffiti Bridge?’ Prince was like, ‘This is my movie.’ And it was, you know, this girl and a feather. [laughs] It was like, ‘No, no, no — we’ve got our own ideas for a movie.’
The Time still made a very successful album though, which includes some songs that were in the movie.
"'That’s the reason that, when everything was done, Pandemonium came out, which was basically our album. Then the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack came out, which had four of our songs on it. Just one soundtrack album probably would’ve made more sense. But it was because we were already doing our other things. We were like, ‘Okay, we’ll do your movie, Prince, but we’re still going to do our own album.’ We were already on the path to do that.”
Which is a good reason to do the album. But why do the movie? No good answer for that, but that’s a story for next week. The only reason to bring up Graffiti Bridge is to point out that the common thought among fans is that The Time reunited to make the film, but it seems more likely that the film was conceived as a Purple Rain redux because The Time were available. Had they refused to be a part of it, the film would either have been very different or possibly have fallen apart altogether.
Roll With The Groove And Fire Up The Skillet
There are some strong arguments for not even including Pandemonium in this series. It is the one album by The Time that was not, in the end, just a Prince album with someone else singing on top of it. “The Time” is the credited producer, and for once the whole band basically did earn that credit. True, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis probably did the lion’s share of the production work, (evidence: Pandemonium has five segues. Flyte Tyme did much to popularize the early 90’s obsession with overusing segues on albums – they have much to answer for) but Morris also clearly had a voice in production, as did Jesse Johnson. It seems logical to assume the rest of the band probably chimed in as well.
Additionally, The Time plays on the album extensively. There are some Prince performances on the album, but they are mostly a single instruments and a couple of backing vocals here or there – not complete songs.
I have chosen to include it, however, because so much of the material is written by Prince. As I’ll talk about in next week’s examination of Graffiti Bridge, 1990 was the biggest year of Prince’s life for reaching into the vault, sprucing up forgotten tracks and releasing them. Pandemonium features almost as much of this as Graffiti Bridge, and to be frank is usually more successful at it.
Tracklist
Dreamland
There is a certain kind of early 90’s R&B excess that you can tell we’re going to be subjected to when an album starts with a three minute segue. As Morris would say, “Oh Lord…”
Pandemonium
If you’ve ever wondered what The Time would sound like with no input whatsoever from Prince, this is it. And it’s pretty damn good. It certainly helps that everybody in this band is at the very top of their game, and that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are in the band, but still. The only thing that holds this track back is that this song definitely sounds like it is a dance track from 1990, and it is almost 2023. It’s the audio equivalent of watching a Dr. Who episode from 1973. If you can get past the way the sets wobble when the actors bump into them, there’s plenty to like.
Sexy Socialites
Another segue. The groove from “Jerk Out” with some bad acting.
Jerk Out
Here’s a good example of how 1989-1990 tended to go at Paisley Park. This song was first recorded in 1981 by Prince alone at his Kiowa Trail home studio (remember that place?). It was originally going to be on The Time’s second album, but for whatever reason, was shelved. When Corporate World was (also) shelved, Jam & Lewis asked Prince if they could go spelunking in the vault for some of the good stuff they remembered from back in the day. Since that was exactly what Prince was doing at the time, he was happy to let them delve as deep as they liked. “Jerk Out” was one of the songs they were specifically looking for.
Some of the original tracks from 1981 are still present in the released 1990 version, but it was also extensively re-worked by The Time with no other input from Prince. Lyrics were changed, edited and / or cut, instrumental sections were altered as well. That said, it does still sound like a song Prince recorded in 1981. Does that say something about the song or the band? I can’t decide. I mean, it’s definitely a dance hall hit from 1981, so at least there’s that. Plus, Jesse Johnson tears up the guitar solo.
Yount
A segue. Pronounced “yown’t”
Blondie
This one is an odd duck. I have a feeling this was mostly written by Jesse Johnson, given the guitar-forward nature of the song, with assistance from Jam & Lewis. It reminds me a lot of the random “rock” songs Fishbone would throw onto their albums from time to time. See: their cover of “Freddie’s Dead.”
Donald Trump (Black Version)
This song plays very differently now.
This is one of the few tracks recorded in the old style of The Time: Prince wrote and recorded it with just Morris in 1989 when they were still putting together Corporate World.
Chocolate
This is another track pulled up from the depths of the vault. This was recorded just after the 1999 tour ended. It’s Prince, Wendy, Lisa and Jill Jones with Morris’ vocals overdubbed. I’m glad they found this one, it’s funky as hell.
Cooking Class
A segue of Morris and Jerome talking about food?
Skillet
This one is in the same vein as “Blondie,” although since the lyrics are less of a cheap joke, it’s a better song. Still, it doesn’t feel like the same band. I suspect on this one and “Blondie” Jesse took over the band for a minute. Perhaps the “Skillet” had too many cooks.
It’s Your World
Apart from the rough gear change from the prior song, this one is pretty good. Definitely sounds like The Time. There are some more of those wobbly sets, but still. Seriously, it sounds like a Bobby Brown B-side.
Sometimes I Get Lonely
Of the two ballads on the album, while this one is the least unique, it is also the best. I mean, the bar is pretty low since the other one has as its core concept Donald J. Trump.
Data Bank
This one should have been a single. It was originally recorded with the Revolution in 1986, then re-recorded in 1989 with just Prince and Morris. It’s a fantastic song with a stomping, robotic beat that should have gotten more attention.
My Summertime Thang
I’m not sure there is another situation like this one in Prince’s discography. This song was the other main target of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis when they went into the vault. It was also the one song Prince tried to balk at. He had his eye on the backing tracks for another purpose (more on that next week). Somehow, Jam & Lewis talked Prince into letting them use the song as originally intended on their album while he kept the tracks for his purposes. It’s a good song in either form.
Pretty Little Women
The last segue features a tipsy Morris crash his car and wander off into the woods singing “Kansas City.” Not sure what else to say about that.
Singles
Jerk Out
This is actually The Time’s biggest hit. As Morris Day will be the first to tell you, not their most remembered hit, but their highest charting hit. We are now into the realm of bizarre remixes and hour-long CD singles. I hope y’all appreciate how much time some of this stuff is gonna take. Luckily, this one only has one real remix. Jerk Out (Sexy Mix) has the pre-set House drums you’d expect and an awkwardly flown-in sample of Prince’s rhythm guitar from “Controversy.” I mean, if that’s you’re thing, that’s cool, I guess.
Chocolate
The remixes here are pretty much in the same vein as you get on “Jerk Out” minus the awkward Prince samples. Hard to top the raggedy ass-funk of the original.
At the end of the day, The Time could not actually hold it together much beyond a few TV appearances promoting “Pandemonium.” There have been a few attempts to re-form the band over the years, but it never seems to stick. Morris is out there releasing singles here and there, and to be honest, they’re definitely worth checking out. He’s matured well.
NEXT WEEK: Awww yeah! Pumping the Big Noise in the 90’s! (for better or worse)
Comments