I've read some the threads about The Time. My question is should have all the members (original members) had more 2 do with the direction of The Time. 2 me, Prince was the best thing 4 them. Jesse, Jam & Lewis ruined Pandemonium 4 me. If Jam & Lewis had been The Time's producer they would have been a totally different group, not the funk group we love 2day & would Morris have been as COOL as he was? 'Fishnet', Love Is A Game' and Pandemonum minus the Prince tracks is what they would have sounded like. 'Skillet' and 'Blondie' are horrible rockers when U put them up against other rock songs. When Morris performs now, how many of the Flyte Tyme Pandemonium songs does he sing? Don't get me wrong, Flyte Tyme was the shit but should they have produced The Time?

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Though I have the utmost respect for all the members, clearly Prince knew best in this case. I've never heard Corporate World, but I'm willing to bet it's better than Pandemonium. From a fairness standpoint, you support the guys desire to produce their own album. But Prince clearly had more success with the group than they did.

BEAUGARDE said:

Well I can see we definetly have different taste in the Time thats for sure, Blondie and the Skillet are easily my favorite songs on Pandemonium and i put that more on Jesse's guitar work than anything Jam and lewis did. I'll take Chocolate, Jerk Out and Pandemonium over anything else they did in that erawith or without Prince(including the corporate world and Graffiti Bridge material)

Personally i can do with out Jam and Lewis writing or producing for the group, its obvious to me that aside from the two songs mentioned above that the Prince material is best material for the group

Well hopefully one day if any of the material ever sees the light of day we can look at the unreleased stuff that they have done with all the parties mentioned above and compare it to what we already have

Well to answer your question as to what Pandemonium songs they sing, the only two they have right now in their set is "Blondie" and "Jerk Out". Which is a treat to hear live! U have to be a true fam of The Time to appreciate those types of songs.

brothaluv said:

I don't see how you can compare the success The Time had with Prince versus without. All the singles that the Time released were written or co-written by Prince so there are no non-Prince singles to compare them to. If you are talking about the albums--the first three vs. 'Pandemonium' which had four non-Prince tracks--then 'Pandemonium did about as well as the first two if not a little better. Here are the numbers from the Billboard top 200 albums chart:

The Time - 50 (certified gold)
What Time Is It? - 26 (gold)
Ice Cream Castle - 24 (platinum)
Pandemonium - 18 (gold)

"Blondie" and "Skillet" are 2 of my favourite Time tracks easily! Would have loved a whole album in this direction.

sextonseven said:

Sextonseven (Flyte Tyme's biggest fan) how wonderful 2 hear from U my dear, do U honestly think 'Skillet', 'Blondie' or 'Pandemonium' would have done better as singles?

BEAUGARDE said:

I was responding to brotherluv's statement that Prince had more success with the Time than Jam & Lewis. I never said that the their 'Pandemonium' tracks would make better singles than "Chocolate". I just like them better than the unreleased 'Corporate World' tracks.

And I'm not Flyte Tyme's biggest fan like you believe. I don't care for most of Jimmy & Terry's work from the last ten years.

I think Prince and The Time all influenced each other. The Time would not have been the same without Prince's input but after The Time split up after "Purple Rain" and were no longer around to influence Prince, Prince's own music became much weeker than before. It works both ways.
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[Edited 11/4/05 3:10am]

It's horrible. They sold out to the current music scene.

vainandy said:

Vainandy brilliant minds think alike! I agree 100%. They need 2 feed off each other. They kept Prince on his toes and at the top of his game. I think Prince gave away alot of good material and that forced him 2 compete with himself (his other half/The Time). Some people think Prince needs The Revolution but I think he needs The Time. I would love 2 C this happen. I always thought Prince & Morris should lead sing 4 The Time. Now this would be the super group amongst supergroups!

BEAUGARDE said:

I think The Time should be Morris' group. The whole Jerome-mirror-thing wouldn't work with two lead singers. It's all about Morris being the big ladies man and center of attention on stage. Prince and Morris had that one duet on 'Graffiti Bridge' and I didn't care for it too much.

Well 'Get It Up' and 'Ice Cream Castles' are kinda like duets

vainandy said:

I agree,Jam and Lewis' recent music is crap.They use many,many samples nowadays.In the 80s,they had a distinctive "sound" that set them apart from other producers.But now,they don't sound that much different from everything else in R&B right now.

Agreed. Nowadays it's blah. Back in the 80s they had that atmospheric funk thing going on. Lots reverb and kind of dark with Rhythm Nation being the darkest.

R they still producing? If so, who?

BEAUGARDE said:

Janet Jackson
Mariah Carey
Gwen Stefani
Usher

among others

Yes, there was definately a great competition there. Rick James being a thorn in his side in those days was another good thing keeping him on his toes.

Exactly. It's bad enough when people with no talent are making music but when people with real talent step down to their level, that's a damn shame.

Jimmy and Terry need their asses beat for that.

vainandy said:

I think Jam & Lewis started to change their sound with New Edition's 'Heart Break' album. Since then their music has become more conventional to the point where it now sounds like everyone else. And they will work with anyone, even Usher.

It's all about money now. Before it was about money and creative expression as well. Now it's strictly the bottom line. This holds particularly true after Flyte Time was moved to L.A.

could someone shed some more light on Corporate World.. am I right in thinking this is an unreleased Prince/Time project?

kinaldo said:

Sort of. Before it got released, the original Time members wanted in on the project so they brought their own tracks to the table which then replaced some of the original 'Corporate World' songs and the album was released as the retitled 'Pandemonium'.

kinaldo said:

In June 1989, back from video shootings to "Batdance", Prince starts to work on a new THE TIME album, entitled "Corporate World". The project started as a collaboration of Prince and Morris Day with some small input by Jerome Benton without worth mentioning. The other members of the original line-up weren't involved in the project at this time. The sessions were held at Paisley Park and lasted most of the summer. Work on the album was completed in early September 1989 and contains the following tracks: Murph drag, Nine lives, Donald Trump (black version), Love machine, Data bank, Shake!, Corporate world, The latest fashion, Release it and a reworked version of My summertime thang.

Most of the tracks were newly written and tailored for the project, except Data bank was based on a jam that was recorded with the Revolution on 17th June 1986, My summertime thang was originally recorded with Morris Day and Jesse Johnson in March 1983 for possible inclusion on "Ice Cream Castle" and Nine lives was originally recorded with Cathy 'Cat' Glover (lead vocals) and Margie Cox (background vocals) in December 1988 / January 1989 for a planned but finally aborted album by Cat.

"Corporate World" was set for release on 14th November 1989 with Nine lives planned as the first single release. However, the project was put on hold when Warner Bros. Records wanted to involve all the original members of THE TIME. The company were adamant that "Graffiti Bridge", the planned third motion picture by Prince, should feature the complete original line-up of the band, like the successful influence in the "Purple Rain" motion picture 5 years ago.

After a meeting with Prince, it was decided that Jesse Johnson, Monte Moir, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis should participate and take an active part by writing and recording new tracks for the revised album, which later was renamed to "Pandemonium". The additional recording sessions took place late 1989 - this time without much input by Prince.

Murph drag, Nine lives and Corporate world are previously unreleased, but all tracks circulating on bootlegs amongst collectors.

Murph drag is a minimalist funk number sporting a chattering "Controversy"-style rhythm guitar part and a synth providing lead lines like the Minneapolis sound. The song is about a dance only people with money can do. The title is slang for a thick roll of money, so it means that the money roll is so heavy, that it drags a man along the ground. A sample of Morris Day's "What time is it?" phrase is used frequently during the song. Candy Dulfer supplies some saxophone lines, but her contribution is not very prominent. Nine lives is a melodic pop-number with a haunting chorus sung by Margie Cox in a soulful voice and rapped verses by Morris Day. He's dreaming about a mega fine lover with a heck-a-pump body sayin' good time. Morris Day will die from the heat generated from the moment, that their eyes meet. At the end of the song he says: "This is the '90s and everybody wants a lover, a life-long lover with nine lives". Corporate world sounds like an update of Prince's electro-pop of the 1981-83 era, boasting a slightly robotic drum machine pattern and horn-like synth decorations. Some female voices, including Jana Anderson, add a multi-layered vocal to the soulful chorus. The message of this song is, that big companies should spend money to make a better world, a new-soul nation, where kids can grow up in safe. The song includes a sample of "Don't call me nigger, whitey" (1969, from Sly & the Family Stone's album "Stand!").

Peace

Purple Music

PurpleMusicCologne said:

God I miss that sound! Can't somebody talk some sense into Prince. Have him release this damn thing? Oh and btw, you guys are thorough...

brothaluv said:

It was "released"





Purple Music