Okay so I finally got to hear this track!

Pretty cool.

Did Prince play the guitar solo or was that Jesse Johnson?

Pretty awesome solo.

I'm sure someone can tell me...

It's Prince.

DavidEye said:

woo hoo! GREAT solo. some of the most unrestrained playing i've heard EVER, Prince or anyone else.

Prince. That's why I state over and over and over... my signature:

The time's album credits Jesse Johnson.
According to rumour, the album is all
Prince and Morris Day. To support the
Prince and Morris theory, take a listen
to the guitar solo for the song "Lady Cab driver"
which I believe appears on the album 1999. The guitar
appears to have been played by the same individual...the
only difference is the length of the solos.

GGDeVille said:

it actually does sound a lot like jesse johnson, but I have a feeling it could be Prince imitating Jesse's style....it's unusually beligerant for a solo by Prince...Prince is usually more refined...and I don't think the solo in Lady Cab Driver bears much resemblance to this solo....the LCD solo is more esoteric and this is more straight-forward rocking out, a la Jesse.....so it's either Jesse or Prince impersonating Jesse.

my

All of the Time's first 3 albums were straight Prince. Morris came into the studio and Prince switched out his vocals with Day's.

Prince's guitar solo on 777-9311, was simply Prince branching out with a different sound that he felt he couldn't get away with on his records... hence the whole reason for creating "The Time."

Prince gave a tape to Jesse, and said, " you play pretty good on this one".

Isn't anybody bummed that when you want to polay to song as stand out alone, you miss the first beat of the song?

gooeythehamster said:

this seems to be a big dilemma for you gooey as you've mentioned it twice now....

...i got this track somewhere where it had been fixed up with the beat intact.

mrdespues said:

Probably my version, hehehe.
It's big on Kazaa

gooeythehamster said:

the hub.

Jesse played on the third album

GGDeVille said:

oh hell yes, i was thinking this a while back how lady cab driver's guitar solo sounded similar to 777-9311.

mrdespues said:

I know 4 a fact that it's Prince. When I did some recording with Andre and Morris back in 95, this came up. They told me point blank that it was P. Prince was imitating Jessie to show Jessie that P could play like him. That's why P is using a whammy bar during the solo. Because Jessie used that a lot and still does. The lead is very cool, the sound of it more than the playing.

Blackguitaristz,

We can always count on you for some cool JJ, Andre Cymone stories

Does 'dre still play all the instruments, too? Does Jesse play out at all? BTW, did you check out that site with the snippet of Jesse playing that flame-shaped guitar?

Rhastus said:

Thanks man for interjecting that fact. As far as the solo in 777-9311 goes, that one was a tough call for me for the the longest. Does it sound like Jesse? Yeah! Though I had to accept that Prince more than likely recorded the solo, since it had been firmly established
that the"band" didn't play on anything featured on the first two Time albums.


The term "beligerant" was used to describe the solo in an earlier post. What exactly is a beligerant guitar solo? I do find it interestng that Prince was able to cop Jesse's vibe.
As far as guitar playing goes the two of them are miles apart stylisticly.

kstrat said:

U couldn't be more true. P and Jessie had a little thing going on as far as who could play better. So that's why P tried 2 "ape" Jessie's style a little on that cut.

blackguitaristz said:

Man, no wonder The Time broke up before their third album was released. Can you imagine Jesse telling his friends, "Yeah, I got a few albums out with my group, The Time, but I don't play on any of them..." WTF???

I wonder if Jellybean played anything at all (on record) the entire time he was employed by Prince (between The Time and The Family).

JesseDezz said:

Yeah, I saw the clip with Jessie. I liked the the shape of the guitar myself. Yeah, Andre is old school. He can play basically everything P does. He's just not the musician P is, that's all. But Andre can get down.

MrDespues, I keep pondering your statement in the Prince vs Jesse on 777.9311 guitar
solo and could not grasp a clear understanding of what you meant in term's of Prince's
guitar playing...more esoteric on the song "Lady Cab Driver".
Teach me you Jedi ways o' noble one. But seriously, I'm impressed by
you web site and do feel as if you have the skills to speak on this!

GGD