For a long time I was aware of the unreleased Morris Day album "Corporate World" that was originally slated for a side by side release with Graffitti Bridge. I never had much interest in it as it seemed to contain most of the same tracks as Pandemonium and the few tracks that weren't on Pan I already had.

On a whim I got Corporate World a few days ago just to give it a listen, and I was amazed to find COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (and in most cases superior) versions of almost every track.

The story goes that Prince recorded Corporate World one on one in the studio with Morris Day, just as the original three The Time albums were. The result is an album that sounds much more like the material on the first three albums (as compared to Pandemonium).

WB felt that Morris Day's presence wasn't enough for GB and wanted a full The Time re-union. So Prince, in an effort to appease the former members of The Time, gave them Corporate World and let them tinker around with it and add to the tracks as they saw fit. The results were less than stellar, because to my ears EVERY single one of Prince's compositions on CW is superior to the ones on Pandemonium.

This would make sense, as what people think of as The Time was actually just Prince being extra funk-E in the recording studio, with Morris Day adding his certain je ne sais que. While I don't fault the actual members of The Time for their live playing (and their awesome behind the curtain playing during the Vanity 6 shows), they seem to completely butcher these songs and make what was once funky as all hell a completely generic early 90's mess.

The songs on Corporate World are:

Murph Drag:The album opens with this very funky song, with Morris introducing a brand new dance that only people with money can do. A chicken scratchy guitar in the same vein as "Sex" plays through the length of the track. Morris sings some very basic lyrics about his bankroll while a sample of Morris saying "what TIME is it!" from Wild and Loose plays in the background. Whie Prince tried this sampling of phrases thing on songs like "BatDance" this is probably the most effective I've ever heard him use it.

9 Lives: Originally slated for release on Cat's album (get it......Cat......9 Lives......har har har), Morris's rendition isn't bad in my opinion. It's a Medium paced song that fits well with the rest of the material.

Donald Trump: This is where things really start taking a turn from the Pandemonium material. This version of Donald Trump contains less instrumental clutter than than the released version, especially on keyboard and drums. With less extra noise the (surprisingly) good vocal performance by Day sounds more heartfelt and tender. His best ballad since Gigolos.

Love Machine: No notable difference on this track except it's about a minute and a half longer than the GB version. The extra bit is just a repeat of the instrumental portion in the middle of the song. The extra time bogs down the middle of the song and seems to drag. This is one example where the released version is an improvement

Data Bank: This version of DataBank kicks the ass of the version on Pandemonium. This mix is much closer to the all out funk jam from Prince's original recording of Data Bank. It uses more acoustic instrumentation and sounds much more natural compared to the overworked and tinny sounding version on Pandemonium. This version of Data Bank is literally twice as good as the one that was released.

Shake!: Same as GB but a bit longer. The extra length adds nothing and it was rightly edited down.

Corporate World: An underrated song with a really great murky funk synth lead line. The song espouses building up community and fighting poverty through education and hard work. A cool dance song with a good, positive, message. This song takes a different direction for Day as up until this point on vinyl most of his songs have had a strong tongue and cheek element, where as this one seems him tackle actual problems of society.

The Latest Fashion: A completely different song than the crap fest that was on GB. The annoying "Go Morris Go Morris" chant has been removed, and instead of just reusing parts of Release It, a completely new composition is present. The song is no longer a duet between Prince and Morris, and instead is a conversation between Morris and a woman he is dumping. This song is superior to the GB version in almost every way. While this sounds like a good 80's The Time song, the released version (like much of the material on GB and Pandemonium) sounds like Prince and the Time searching desperately for a new sound that the 90's kids are going to think is hip. The released "Fashion" is Prince and Morris trying to emulate early 90's hip hop, a genre they didn't really understand.

Release It: This track is the same on both GB ond CW

My Summertime Thang: Once again their is less instrumentational clutter on the CW version, leading to a more raw, and at the same time a cleaner sounding version of the song. This version is also extended out by an additional 5 minutes, and aside from just being an awesome funk workout, also contains some funny joking with Morris, Prince and Jerome. (I understand there may be another copy of CW floating around without the extended version of this song.)

While Pandemonium wasn't a bad album at all, a stronger final tracklist may have looked something like this:

Murph Drag

9 Lives

Donald Trump (CW version)

Pandemonium

Cooking Class

Love Machine (GB Version)

Corporate World

Data Bank (CW version)

Shake! (GB version)

The Latest Fashion (CW version)

Sexy Socialites

Jerk Out

Chocolate

Release it

My Summertime Thang (extended CW version)

Pretty Little Women

I feel like Shake!, Chocolate, The Latest Fashion would have been strong singles circa 1990' and with a proper tour this one could have really blown up. I also think this material better reflects what we fans would have expected from a Time album.

[Edited 8/20/11 17:49pm]

^-

-Good topic.

-In the song 9 Lives, it is interesting to know about the other album!

-"Standing at my door, looking mega fine!"

-"With my Bad Self!"

The only problem with that is Skillet and Blondie are the two best tracks on either album and Prince had nothing to do with them!!!

Rhastus said:

The only problem with that is Skillet and Blondie are the two best tracks on either album and Prince had nothing to do with them!!!

Agreed they are the best 2 tracks

aiden3121 said:

Rhastus said:

The only problem with that is Skillet and Blondie are the two best tracks on either album and Prince had nothing to do with them!!!

Agreed they are the best 2 tracks

Oh man! You guys and me have some serious difference in taste. Those two tracks are UNLISTENABLE to my ears

Wildboy said:

aiden3121 said:

Agreed they are the best 2 tracks

Oh man! You guys and me have some serious difference in taste. Those two tracks are UNLISTENABLE to my ears

I like it when the Time ROCK. I'll take Murph Drag and some of the alternate versions, but overall I like Pandemonium better than Corporate world. The merging of the two isn't a bad idea though

I wouldn't really call it rock as much as I'd call it really loud.

Interesting topic, but I definitely disagree. As much as I enjoyed (and still enjoy) hearing the original Corporate World tracks, I've always thought they reeked of the time period (1989, moreso than P's own tracks of the time). The Time was a funk/funk rock band. The CW tracks seem very tame and wimpy to me. P seemed like he was in limbo at that point (post-revolution, post-SOTT/Lovesexy band), trying to experiment with new sounds and beginning to follow trends (rather than setting them). The CW tracks seem very processed and poppy, rather than the more organic MPLS sound (full band sound) we had from '81 to '84. To me, other than Morris' and Jerome's voices, the majority of CW does not sound like The Time. Pulling vault material like Jerk Out, Chocolate, My Summertime Thang, Databank and adding band material/non-P tracks (Blondie, Skillet, Pandemonium, It's Your World) were the key ingredients. Blondie and Skillet gave the album some serious balls. The slightly updated vault tracks gave it the organic/less poppy sound it needed. Nah... I NEVER understand when people slag off the Pandemonium album. It was/is a great album. And, I might add, the band tracks are definitely proof that they can succeed without P.

I have never considered Pandemonium a "real" The Time album. Other than "Jerk Out" and "Chocolate" the album is a mess.

It says a LOT that the ONLY two really great standout tracks are old Prince songs. I don't know what the man was doing during his golden age to produce so many stand out tracks one after another, and why his newer work is nowhere near as good. Especially his god-awful 90's work.

Blondie and Skillet are severely overrated generic rock tracks. Good, but just barely.

Blondie was my favorite track on Pandemonium behind the title track

and Chocolate.

V10LETBLUES said:

I have never considered Pandemonium a "real" The Time album. Other than "Jerk Out" and "Chocolate" the album is a mess.

It says a LOT that the ONLY two really great standout tracks are old Prince songs. I don't know what the man was doing during his golden age to produce so many stand out tracks one after another, and why his newer work is nowhere near as good. Especially his god-awful 90's work.

Blondie and Skillet are severely overrated generic rock tracks. Good, but just barely.

What about "It's Your World","Sometimes I Get Lonely" and the title track? I think those are strong,solid tracks.

The two Prince songs you listed are very good,but his other contributions are mediocre."Data Bank" and "My Summertime Thang" should have been left in the vault.

Blondie and Skillet wer the best tracks on Pandemonium imo. Chocolate was a weak ass second single - I remember Donnie Simpson tlaking about it with some friends at a party and was saying it was a shame cause that would sink the album. R&B #44 as a top position pretty much tells teh tale. Jerk Out was ok but that style was played out by the 90s. I think they shoulf have dropped either of the other two and they would have fared better on the charts.

" "Data Bank" and "My Summertime Thang" should have been left in the vault." - Agreed!

SoulAlive said:

The two Prince songs you listed are very good,but his other contributions are mediocre."Data Bank" and "My Summertime Thang" should have been left in the vault.

Try the versions from Corporate World as opposed to Pandemonium. They are completely different songs

Wildboy said:

SoulAlive said:

The two Prince songs you listed are very good,but his other contributions are mediocre."Data Bank" and "My Summertime Thang" should have been left in the vault.

Try the versions from Corporate World as opposed to Pandemonium. They are completely different songs

I've heard both and its as compositions they are tepid - not so much the arrangements.

SoulAlive said:

V10LETBLUES said:

I have never considered Pandemonium a "real" The Time album. Other than "Jerk Out" and "Chocolate" the album is a mess.

It says a LOT that the ONLY two really great standout tracks are old Prince songs. I don't know what the man was doing during his golden age to produce so many stand out tracks one after another, and why his newer work is nowhere near as good. Especially his god-awful 90's work.

Blondie and Skillet are severely overrated generic rock tracks. Good, but just barely.

What about "It's Your World","Sometimes I Get Lonely" and the title track? I think those are strong,solid tracks.

The two Prince songs you listed are very good,but his other contributions are mediocre."Data Bank" and "My Summertime Thang" should have been left in the vault.

I agree, these are terrible."Data Bank" and "My Summertime Thang" both should have been left in the vault.

But I do not like the other tracks either. I think "Chocolate" and "Jerk out" are the standouts. I love the live versions they did for TV shows. They are up there with their other classics with me.

Blondie and Skillet showed me where The Time wanted to go... if they weren't held in place by old Prince tracks. I see the evolution of this in Fishnet by Morris Day (which featured the rest of the band) and displays what they'd like to do. Even Jesse Johnson was disappointed in digging up the old tracks. Jerk Out was fun but light and Chocolate was dated. Neither should have been a single in my opinion.

Zannaloaf said:

Blondie and Skillet were the best tracks on Pandemonium imo. Chocolate was a weak ass second single - I remember Donnie Simpson tlaking about it with some friends at a party and was saying it was a shame cause that would sink the album. R&B #44 as a top position pretty much tells the tale. Jerk Out was ok but that style was played out by the 90s. I think they should have dropped either of the other two and they would have fared better on the charts.

I agree,"Chocolate" was a poor choice for second single.It might have worked in 1982 but by 1990,it sounded horribly out of date.I think the singles should have been:

"Jerkout"---this was a strong first single.It's an old track from the 80s but unlike "Chocolate",it actually sounded fresh and vital in 1990.

"Pandemonium"---this would have been a strong second single.In an interview before the album came out,Jimmy Jam said that it was being considered for the second single.It's too bad that they went with "Chocolate" instead.That song killed the album's momentum.

"It's Your World"---a strong jam with a powerful message.

SoulAlive said:

V10LETBLUES said:

I have never considered Pandemonium a "real" The Time album. Other than "Jerk Out" and "Chocolate" the album is a mess.

It says a LOT that the ONLY two really great standout tracks are old Prince songs. I don't know what the man was doing during his golden age to produce so many stand out tracks one after another, and why his newer work is nowhere near as good. Especially his god-awful 90's work.

Blondie and Skillet are severely overrated generic rock tracks. Good, but just barely.

What about "It's Your World","Sometimes I Get Lonely" and the title track? I think those are strong,solid tracks.

Yes!!!!! I really dig It's Your World and Sometimes I Get Lonely! My favs from Pandemonium, which automatically puts it above Ice Cream Castles, in my opinion (the ones not listed are cool too, but they're not the first ones I always go to when I pull this album out):

Pandemonium

Jerk Out

Chocolate

It's Your World

Sometimes I Get Lonely

My Summertime Thang (great summertime drivin'/cruisin' music)

SoulAlive said:

Zannaloaf said:

Blondie and Skillet were the best tracks on Pandemonium imo. Chocolate was a weak ass second single - I remember Donnie Simpson tlaking about it with some friends at a party and was saying it was a shame cause that would sink the album. R&B #44 as a top position pretty much tells the tale. Jerk Out was ok but that style was played out by the 90s. I think they should have dropped either of the other two and they would have fared better on the charts.

I agree,"Chocolate" was a poor choice for second single.It might have worked in 1982 but by 1990,it sounded horribly out of date.I think the singles should have been:

"Jerkout"---this was a strong first single.It's an old track from the 80s but unlike "Chocolate",it actually sounded fresh and vital in 1990.

"Pandemonium"---this would have been a strong second single.In an interview before the album came out,Jimmy Jam said that it was being considered for the second single.It's too bad that they went with "Chocolate" instead.That song killed the album's momentum.

"It's Your World"---a strong jam with a powerful message.

I don't know if i agree with that, SA. It may have a little dated, but it was still FUNKY as shit with a hypnotic bassline. It's the sound that most people associate with the Minneapolis Sound that a lot of people still dig to this day (and certainly back then in 1990).

I just think they gambled with that single choice and lost. It was probably a little too similar to Jerk Out too. So, I maybe would've put that as Jerk Out's B-side and the second single be maybe Pandemonium, but Chocolate was still a very strong song choice.

The Corporate World tracks don't sound so great to me. They don't even sound like the Time, but instead are typical of the music Prince was making for himself during that period.

Pandemonium as a whole sounds a lot better. The Flyte Tyme tracks sound like classic Time and the Jesse Johnson tracks show that the time could grow, but still be themselves.

Pandemonium is the only REAL Time album because it's the only Time album where all the band members actually PERFORM on it. The previous three albums had a bunch of non-playing dudes posing on the covers.

sextonseven said:

The Corporate World tracks don't sound so great to me. They don't even sound like the Time, but instead are typical of the music Prince was making for himself during that period.

Pandemonium as a whole sounds a lot better. The Flyte Tyme tracks sound like classic Time and the Jesse Johnson tracks show that the time could grow, but still be themselves.

Pandemonium is the only REAL Time album because it's the only Time album where all the band members actually PERFORM on it. The previous three albums had a bunch of non-playing dudes posing on the covers.

Yeah, I agree. It was just like a lot of the other non-descript stuff he was laying down in the studio in those days. This was the time when you could easily see he was starting to run out of real inspiration. The Nude Tour showed this as well.

Wildboy said:

For a long time I was aware of the unreleased Morris Day album "Corporate World" that was originally slated for a side by side release with Graffitti Bridge. I never had much interest in it as it seemed to contain most of the same tracks as Pandemonium and the few tracks that weren't on Pan I already had.

On a whim I got Corporate World a few days ago just to give it a listen, and I was amazed to find COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (and in most cases superior) versions of almost every track.

The story goes that Prince recorded Corporate World one on one in the studio with Morris Day, just as the original three The Time albums were. The result is an album that sounds much more like the material on the first three albums (as compared to Pandemonium).

WB felt that Morris Day's presence wasn't enough for GB and wanted a full The Time re-union. So Prince, in an effort to appease the former members of The Time, gave them Corporate World and let them tinker around with it and add to the tracks as they saw fit. The results were less than stellar, because to my ears EVERY single one of Prince's compositions on CW is superior to the ones on Pandemonium.

This would make sense, as what people think of as The Time was actually just Prince being extra funk-E in the recording studio, with Morris Day adding his certain je ne sais que. While I don't fault the actual members of The Time for their live playing (and their awesome behind the curtain playing during the Vanity 6 shows), they seem to completely butcher these songs and make what was once funky as all hell a completely generic early 90's mess.

The songs on Corporate World are:

Murph Drag:The album opens with this very funky song, with Morris introducing a brand new dance that only people with money can do. A chicken scratchy guitar in the same vein as "Sex" plays through the length of the track. Morris sings some very basic lyrics about his bankroll while a sample of Morris saying "what TIME is it!" from Wild and Loose plays in the background. Whie Prince tried this sampling of phrases thing on songs like "BatDance" this is probably the most effective I've ever heard him use it.

9 Lives: Originally slated for release on Cat's album (get it......Cat......9 Lives......har har har), Morris's rendition isn't bad in my opinion. It's a Medium paced song that fits well with the rest of the material.

Donald Trump: This is where things really start taking a turn from the Pandemonium material. This version of Donald Trump contains less instrumental clutter than than the released version, especially on keyboard and drums. With less extra noise the (surprisingly) good vocal performance by Day sounds more heartfelt and tender. His best ballad since Gigolos.

Love Machine: No notable difference on this track except it's about a minute and a half longer than the GB version. The extra bit is just a repeat of the instrumental portion in the middle of the song. The extra time bogs down the middle of the song and seems to drag. This is one example where the released version is an improvement

Data Bank: This version of DataBank kicks the ass of the version on Pandemonium. This mix is much closer to the all out funk jam from Prince's original recording of Data Bank. It uses more acoustic instrumentation and sounds much more natural compared to the overworked and tinny sounding version on Pandemonium. This version of Data Bank is literally twice as good as the one that was released.

Shake!: Same as GB but a bit longer. The extra length adds nothing and it was rightly edited down.

Corporate World: An underrated song with a really great murky funk synth lead line. The song espouses building up community and fighting poverty through education and hard work. A cool dance song with a good, positive, message. This song takes a different direction for Day as up until this point on vinyl most of his songs have had a strong tongue and cheek element, where as this one seems him tackle actual problems of society.

The Latest Fashion: A completely different song than the crap fest that was on GB. The annoying "Go Morris Go Morris" chant has been removed, and instead of just reusing parts of Release It, a completely new composition is present. The song is no longer a duet between Prince and Morris, and instead is a conversation between Morris and a woman he is dumping. This song is superior to the GB version in almost every way. While this sounds like a good 80's The Time song, the released version (like much of the material on GB and Pandemonium) sounds like Prince and the Time searching desperately for a new sound that the 90's kids are going to think is hip. The released "Fashion" is Prince and Morris trying to emulate early 90's hip hop, a genre they didn't really understand.

Release It: This track is the same on both GB ond CW

My Summertime Thang: Once again their is less instrumentational clutter on the CW version, leading to a more raw, and at the same time a cleaner sounding version of the song. This version is also extended out by an additional 5 minutes, and aside from just being an awesome funk workout, also contains some funny joking with Morris, Prince and Jerome. (I understand there may be another copy of CW floating around without the extended version of this song.)

While Pandemonium wasn't a bad album at all, a stronger final tracklist may have looked something like this:

Murph Drag

9 Lives

Donald Trump (CW version)

Pandemonium

Cooking Class

Love Machine (GB Version)

Corporate World

Data Bank (CW version)

Shake! (GB version)

The Latest Fashion (CW version)

Sexy Socialites

Jerk Out

Chocolate

Release it

My Summertime Thang (extended CW version)

Pretty Little Women

I feel like Shake!, Chocolate, The Latest Fashion would have been strong singles circa 1990' and with a proper tour this one could have really blown up. I also think this material better reflects what we fans would have expected from a Time album.

[Edited 8/20/11 17:49pm]

I would agree with you on some parts..however Blondie and It's Your World are some funky ass tracks and I could not leave those off the album. I'll take those than Shake and Release It

aiden3121 said:

Rhastus said:

The only problem with that is Skillet and Blondie are the two best tracks on either album and Prince had nothing to do with them!!!

Agreed they are the best 2 tracks

Cut 'Em Jesse!!!!!!!!

NUFF SAID!!!!!!