Do you think it's fair to call the first two Time albums "Prince Albums"? He wrote, played, sang(the guide vocal) and produced them. Why do we seperate them so and treat them as it was a group effort? You can hear P's voice in the background.

True: Morris played most of the drums on the first two, BUT THAT'S IT!

Check out Clorine Bacon Skin.....that's Morris on the skins and P on the bass.

If that's the case is it fair to call any protege album anything other than a Prince album. Of course most of the protege albums contain Prince's signature sound, but that's just the trait of any overbearing producer.

BSK3601 said:

and there you have it

did Morris really play the drums on the first two at all? i don't think that's the case.

I don't know, practically all these girl/boy singers in the charts don't actually do the music or write the songs but it's still regarded as 'their' album. It really is a lot to do with who fronts the band, nevermind the work of the backroom staff whether it be one person or a whole group of musicians.

I think with those albums were Prince did practically everything he can be regarded as a 'silent' member of the band at the very least. But to me and most people, Prince albums are those where he sings lead vocals, so I've always included Newpower Soul whatever it's credited as but not the other NPG albums.

Well, it is what it is, IMO. Prince did all the instruments, so as a "band" the 1st two Time records are mostly Prince efforts in The Time style, with Morris fronting the vocals.

mrdespues said:

Credits according to The Vault:

> First album: Recorded April 1980, except 'Oh, Baby', which was a left-over from 'Prince'.

Song writing:
- 'Cool' (Prince music/Dez lyrics)
- After High School (Dickerson - credited to Morris)
- The Stick (Lisa, credited to Prince at Library of Congress)
Everything else: Prince

Playing credits: Prince plays everything, except:
- Fink synth solos on 'Get It Up' and 'The Stick'
- Lisa (backing vox)

> What Time Is It?: Recorded Jan 1982, and May/June 1982.

Song-writing: Everything by Prince except:
- 'Wild & Loose' (Dez lyrics, Music Prince)

Playing credits: Not stated (assuming Prince is credited for all instruments).

NouveauDance said:

see i KNEW morris wasn't on drums on those two records.

i've kinda had my bubble burst knowing that fink plays the synth solos on 'get it up' tho... i was sure that was Princey.

NouveauDance said:

When I did some session work with Morris, he plainly stated that he in fact, did play drums on some of the songs on the Time albums, including the b-side "Tricky".

blackguitaristz said:

Tricky was the b-side to Jungle Love, Morris did drum on that (Didn't include it since my post was specific to the first 2 albums).


[Edited 8/2/06 8:51am]

NouveauDance said:

I can dig it! It was originally the b-side to the single "Ice Cream Castles" as well. Some of the songs Morris told me that he played drums on were "Cool", "Get It Up", "Wild and Loose" and "The Walk".

blackguitaristz said:

mrdespues said:

That was a MEAN keyboard solo!! I thought it was Prince too, big ups to the Dr.

Yeah definitely Princes but he let the Time take the limelight as

1. He reputedly owed Morris a favour for giving him part of Uptown

2. Warners was already cramping his style then, making music under a pseudonym (Jamie Starr/Starr company) gave him a chance to cut some other material and put some one else in for photos and shows. Apparently all the Time did was show up for photo shoots, the jams were in the can, and Morris came in to have his vocals overdubbed on to it.

3. It was a great way to break a band, if Prince supplied the music, The Time supplied the attitude and style, all those suits and street wise sass and filthy ass want to be jive style are all Morris Day and Cohorts.

4. The music was the more funky/street Rick James style stuff he was experimenting with, he didn't want those songs on his more explicit own albums.Kind of a Genesis thing, Phil Collins kept a lot of his soppy ballads for himself, but most of the rock went on Genesis albums.

5. It was a great way to start a music empire and mystique, u know who is Jamie Starr? Keep your fans guessing. Testing musical ideas on an audience. In this case they loved it, the Time were outselling Prince at one stage.

6. Maybe back then he realised if he didnt cut the jams now, they would become irrelevant.

7. Possibly too shy to do a streetwise inyoface song like Cool on stage, whereas Morris Day could pull it off effortlessly.
The songs have more bandwise lyrics and feel, its hard to play Get it Up or the Stick as a singles act, you need a performance to put that song on the stage, whereas Do Me Baby is definitely a more solo performance.

8. Princes attempt at band management/direction, an experiement and a vein he would return to a lot. Prince as the master of puppets, Prince the ringmaster.

I may not be right but thats possibly why he wrote those albums and that these albums are Prince records.