Militant said:

Listen to "Toast To The Party Girl" and then listen to "Cadillac". That might as well be two completely different bands. Then listen to "One Step". Completely different musical style again.

You can say this about many albums. Look at The Beatles White Album. Yer Blues doesn't sound like Honey Pie, which doesn't sound like Good Night, which doesn't sound like Long Long Long, which is not like Revolution 9, which is not like Helter Skelter, and so on. So I don't know what that has to do with anything.

I could only listen to Condensate one or two times, and I´ve really, really tried to get into it, but I just couldn´t.

I still listen to some songs from Pandemonium every now and then, and of course some songs from the first two albums. In my case, it has NOTHING to do with promotion or videos, or current trends, but everything to do with whether I like the music and the lyrics. And I don´t like Condensate at all.

Hopefully they will come back with a strong album and reunited and more focused one day, because I wouldn´t want Condensate (stupid name) to be the last album of The Time (or Original 7, also a stupid name).

In my opinion, they just didn´t know how to create new music while still staying true to their old style without sounding too dated.

The System on the other hand managed to do just that...their new material still has those elements that I liked about them in the first place but they do sound fresh, not stale and dated, and have managed to rejuvenate their sound while still keeping some of their old style.

Prince has tried this several times, too, but with mixed results. His new MplSound sounds nothing like the original Minneapolis Sound he created back in the early 80s...not even remotely.

KoolEaze said:

In my opinion, they just didn´t know how to create new music while still staying true to their old style without sounding too dated.

The System on the other hand managed to do just that...their new material still has those elements that I liked about them in the first place but they do sound fresh, not stale and dated, and have managed to rejuvenate their sound while still keeping some of their old style.

Agreed. "System Overload" is fantastic.

MickeyDolenz, the point is that The Time ALWAYS had a cohesive sound and style, and it's just not present on "Condensate" for the most part.

Those stats you posted are good, though. See, if Charlie Wilson, El Debarge and Ron Isley can be having hits, there's absolutely no reason why The Time/O7 can't.

I agree that this is all very subjective. More subjectively I think we can all agree that #Trendin is one of the band's weakest song ever and that Jerk Out is one of their funkest, but when it comes to comparing both albums as a whole I find the exercise extremely difficult. + Militant you, just like me, have been in love with Pandemonium for more than 20 years, how could we be objective? Maybe if we'd discovered Condensate in 2011 being teenagers and heard Pandemonium in 2031 we'd feel the opposite. I think Pandemonium is more focused, and I really think the Prince songs are an added value to it, but I can't really honestly compare.

Militant said:

MickeyDolenz, the point is that The Time ALWAYS had a cohesive sound and style, and it's just not present on "Condensate" for the most part.

Those stats you posted are good, though. See, if Charlie Wilson, El Debarge and Ron Isley can be having hits, there's absolutely no reason why The Time/O7 can't.

But the early Beatles albums had a mostly standard sound and the later ones, not so much. If they stuck with the "Yeah Yeah Yeah" style their whole career, they might not have remained popular all this time. Even Johnny Mathis & Frank Sinatra changed their sound sometimes. Technically, Fishnet & Love Is A Game is The Time. It's all the members except Monte.

.

Charlie, El, Sade, & Depeche Mode are on major labels and Sananda, The O7, The Cars, and Ratt aren't. It's like some veteran acts are on labels like KOCH, Shanachie, Alligator, and Malaco, which don't have the big money to get their acts on TV or the radio. Charlie, Ron, & El also had radio airplay, mainly on adult urban stations. Charlie gets heavy play. Lionel Richie (also on a major) promoted his album of country duets on the Home Shopping Network and appeared on country music shows. His previous few R&B/pop albums didn't do that much business. When The Eagles released Long Road Out Of Eden, they also appeared on country shows and their album was exclusively sold in Wal-Mart, which is "middle America". Some people don't realize how big and powerful the country music audience is in the US. They're the ones who have the highest ratio of actually buying the CDs, instead of downloading. Who do you think is the a lot of the audience for NASCAR and rodeos are?

Militant said:

See, if Charlie Wilson, El Debarge and Ron Isley can be having hits, there's absolutely no reason why The Time/O7 can't.

but those are solo artists.How many 80s funk bands are having alot of success these days? If Cameo,Midnight Star or Lakeside released new albums this year,how many copies do you think they would sell? There's no reason to expect that the Time/Original7 could somehow achieve big sales and airplay in today's musical climate.Even if Prince produced the album,it wouldn't make a difference.

SoulAlive said:

Militant said:

See, if Charlie Wilson, El Debarge and Ron Isley can be having hits, there's absolutely no reason why The Time/O7 can't.

but those are solo artists.How many 80s funk bands are having alot of success these days? If Cameo,Midnight Star or Lakeside released new albums this year,how many copies do you think they would sell? There's no reason to expect that the Time/Original7 could somehow achieve big sales and airplay in today's musical climate.Even if Prince produced the album,it wouldn't make a difference.

What difference does it make if it's an artist or a band?

For the record, I talked to Tomi Jenkins a couple weeks back, and Cameo ARE doing a new record this year. I don't see why it can't do well.

.

[Edited 4/29/14 16:37pm]

I don't care about Prince being involved. It's kind of like The Monkees getting Don Kirshner fired and taking control over their records or The Jacksons recording the Destiny album. They're doing their own thing.

MickyDolenz said:

I don't care about Prince being involved. It's kind of like The Monkees getting Don Kirshner fired and taking control over their records or The Jacksons recording the Destiny album. They're doing their own thing.

Militant said:

SoulAlive said:

but those are solo artists.How many 80s funk bands are having alot of success these days? If Cameo,Midnight Star or Lakeside released new albums this year,how many copies do you think they would sell? There's no reason to expect that the Time/Original7 could somehow achieve big sales and airplay in today's musical climate.Even if Prince produced the album,it wouldn't make a difference.

What difference does it make if it's an artist or a band?

For the record, I talked to Tomi Jenkins a couple weeks back, and Cameo ARE doing a new record this year. I don't see why it can't do well.

It would be nice to see them just do a good album. The likelihood of it making even a

medium splash is remote at best unless they change their approach and update their

sound a little with a little promotion of course. They haven't recorded an album since 2000 Sweet Sexy Thing. While there were a few nuggets on the album it was a little dated and stale despite the appearance of rappers on 2 songs.

The Barkays had a little success with the smoothed out Grown Folks a couple of years ago

which happened to be their most successful single in 2 decades but they had to change

their approach and go after the Charlie Wilson market. They only released a 6 song EP with previously released material. They have a new single out now on ITunes called Up and Down(ballad) featuring a female vocalist. They plan to release a full studio album of new material later in the year. Artists like Cameo, Midnight Star, Barkays, etc aren't going

to be successful in 2014 releasing funk singles like they did in their heyday. It may sound good to the ears but it won't get airplay. Even Charlie Wilson stated in an interview two years ago that you can't approach music in 2012 like you did in the 80's. It wont work.

I listened to "Condensate" again last night after reading this thread, It's C.O.O.L

JediNation said:

I listened to "Condensate" again last night after reading this thread, It's C.O.O.L

Been listening to it a lot those last few days, partly thanks to this thread, it's definitely growing on me!

funkomatic said:

BTW: You can come to the same conclusion if comparing Prince's old material to his new one. Cheap copies of the past combined with less convincing attempts at sounding somewhat contemporary. So I strongly disagree that Prince's involvement would have saved this project. [Edited 5/2/14 14:22pm]

No, you can't.

Some of Prince's material in recent years is up there with the best songs he's ever made.

funkomatic said:

...and nobody takes notice of it. Poor Prince!

"3121" was a #1 album. So plenty of people took notice.

Militant said:

Lack of big promotion they didnt have Warner to back them up ya know.

Its a good album, just as good as Pandemonium. There should have been like 3 or 4 tracks left off though.

babynoz said:

Militant said:

You didn't answer my question, though.

Do you really like "Trendin" more than "Jerk Out"? and "ADYKMN" and "Lifestyle" more than "Blondie" and "Skillet"? I legitimately would like to know this.

Yes I did. I said that I prefer Condensate to Pandemonium meaning the entire album.

why is that hard for people to get?

I agree.

Militant said:

funkomatic said:

BTW: You can come to the same conclusion if comparing Prince's old material to his new one. Cheap copies of the past combined with less convincing attempts at sounding somewhat contemporary. So I strongly disagree that Prince's involvement would have saved this project. [Edited 5/2/14 14:22pm]

No, you can't.

Some of Prince's material in recent years is up there with the best songs he's ever made.

No it is not.

Sorry, but that is so not the case by most anyone but Prince fans perspective. It's all opinions here. A number one album does not mean good material anymore. I could list the number one albums for the past year as case in point but sure you get that.

Militant said:

SoulAlive said:

but those are solo artists.How many 80s funk bands are having alot of success these days? If Cameo,Midnight Star or Lakeside released new albums this year,how many copies do you think they would sell? There's no reason to expect that the Time/Original7 could somehow achieve big sales and airplay in today's musical climate.Even if Prince produced the album,it wouldn't make a difference.

What difference does it make if it's an artist or a band?

For the record, I talked to Tomi Jenkins a couple weeks back, and Cameo ARE doing a new record this year. I don't see why it can't do well.

the difference is that....funk bands from the 80s do not sell alot of copies of their recent albums.Show me an example of an 80s funk band who had had a successful 'new' album in recent years.It's good news that Cameo is coming back with a new album,but if you think it's gonna do well in these days,you're sadly mistaken.

SoulAlive said:

Militant said:

What difference does it make if it's an artist or a band?

For the record, I talked to Tomi Jenkins a couple weeks back, and Cameo ARE doing a new record this year. I don't see why it can't do well.

the difference is that....funk bands from the 80s do not sell alot of copies of their recent albums.Show me an example of an 80s funk band who had had a successful 'new' album in recent years.It's good news that Cameo is coming back with a new album,but if you think it's gonna do well in these days,you're sadly mistaken.

The only ope for TO7 was Jam & Lewis, famous hitmakers, but have they even had so many hits in 2000's and 2010's? It may be the case I really don't know, just that I haven't heard their name being associated with a famous R&B song/album in a looooong while.

Condensate is a great disc. There are a few clunkers on it, but the last half of the CD is excellent. Ok, so it doesn't sound like Pandemonium... which was released 20 years earlier... ok. That is a good thing.

The album tanked becuase people didn't know about it, it wasn't THE TIME and honestly, the touring band of Morris Day and The Time has taken the air out of the brand. The only people who really know the details of the two bands are Prince mega-fans.

I wish they'd do another one, but they won't. Like Jesse, I wish they'd decided to tour. It deserved more press.

Watch the documentary that came with the CD. Pretty cool stuff.

The Time or O73N without Prince, is like The Revolution recording an album without Prince. Its just not going to work. They need the wizard that created it all behind them. Now with Prince getting his masters back, it will b interesting 2 c what he would do with those early "The Time" albums. Since none of "The Time" members didn't create them in the first place...They r really Prince albums.

Eye would like Prince to remove the Morris overdubs off of them. Release them in its original form..

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

The Time or O73N without Prince, is like The Revolution recording an album without Prince. Its just not going to work. They need the wizard that created it all behind them. Now with Prince getting his masters back, it will b interesting 2 c what he would do with those early "The Time" albums. Since none of "The Time" members didn't create them in the first place...They r really Prince albums.

Eye would like Prince to remove the Morris overdubs off of them. Release them in its original form..

Sheesh.. dude. Climb down off of Prince's jock for a sec. Would you also like Prince to replace Morris's drums and Lisa Coleman's keyboards as well? What about Dez Dickerson's 777-9311? Would you like that removed in favor of a Prince composition? Do you want Vanity's vocals replaced, with maybe Andy Allo reading a selection from The Watchtower? I could name dozens more examples of what Prince didn't do on those records, but my point is you take azz-kissing fandom to a whole new level of delusion. Give Morris, Dez, Lisa, and Jesse SOME credit. I thought you were all hearts and giggles for TEAMJESSE? Now Jesse can't get credit for his tracks, huh?

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

The Time or O73N without Prince, is like The Revolution recording an album without Prince. Its just not going to work.

Jesse confirmed what was done on the "Ice Cream Castles" album, that included his tracks. The earlier albums he gave Prince credit 4. Only "The Stick"' used lyrics from an idea from Lisa. The rest was created from scratch by Prince with Morris voice overdubbed. Whether Morris played drums or Lisa played a bit keyboard doesn't matter. PRINCE created the BLUEPRINT!

MickyDolenz said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

The Time or O73N without Prince, is like The Revolution recording an album without Prince. Its just not going to work.