I've heard Morris played the drums, and I also heard people say that The Time had more power over thei production of their second album etc...

The drum style of the second lp sounds different than the first. And is also different from when Prince used to play drums on Dirty Mind and Prince.

Jesse Johnson I believe contributed more on the 2nd album. Not the time as a whole.. Morris Day Jesse Johnson & Prince

I am pretty sure the first album was ALL prince with Morris coming in late with lead overs.

opps maybe not

http://princevault.com/in...:_The_Time

http://princevault.com/index.php/Album:_What_Time_Is_It%3F

But still it was mostly all prince with Morris on vocals for the first 2. And like many of the side bands prince gave credit on the sleeve to people for things they did not do.

[Edited 12/23/10 11:13am]

All Prince, except for certain tracks from the Pandemonium LP and Wild And Loose off of What Time Is It.

From The Vault:

Prince’s first side project to reach the public was The Time. The group’s self-titled debut album lists Morris Day (lead vocals), Jesse Johnson (guitar), Monte Moir and Jimmy Jam Harris (keyboard), Terry Lewis (bass), and Jellybean Johnson (drums) as the band members. The production credit is shared by Morris Day and Jamie Starr, who had been introduced as an engineer on Dirty Mind. Neither record nor sleeve contain any songwriting credits. Still, the music bore all the hallmarks of Prince’s synth-laden “Minneapolis sound” and it didn’t take long before stories began circulating in the press that Prince was behind the project: writing the tunes, playing most instruments, and producing the album, only drafting Day to sing over his own vocals.

Prince’s involvement in The Time album was strongly denied by the band and Day, who claimed credit for creating the group and

shaping its slick look and “cool” attitude. He was only willing to admit that Prince had offered guidance on the album. Jamie Starr, Day explained, was really an engineer who lived and worked in Minneapolis, while Steve Fargnoli did his best to support the story by pointing out in interviews

that Jamie was hard to get hold of because he was a “reclusive maniac.” The truth was, of course, that Jamie Starr was Prince

in disguise and The Time was very much Prince’s musical creation. The pseudonym enabled him to distance himself from the

project so it would stand or fall on its own, allowing the group to establish its own identity.

______________

Despite the fact that The Time had become a strong live working unit, the band’s second album, What Time Is It?, was in all essentials conceived and recorded by Prince. The Starr Company is listed as the producer of the album. Prince isn’t credited on the album but he wrote all the six tracks, barring “Wild And Loose,” which was a collaboration with Dez Dickerson (who wrote the lyrics). By this time, The Time members wanted to contribute more to the music and they were becoming increasingly frustrated by Prince’s firm control over the group. Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Monte Moir had started writing songs of their own and were beginning to contemplate independent careers. Following the Controversy tour, Jam and Lewis had gone to Los Angeles to collaborate on their own material, which they felt didn’t quite fit the image or sound of The Time, as they considered the band to be more of a vehicle for Morris Day. Prince was opposed to their outside production work, which he felt detracted from their commitment to The Time. Sessions for What Time Is It? began in Prince’s home studio and at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, in January 1982, after the first leg of the Controversy tour (“Gigolos Get Lonely Too,” “The Walk,” “Wild And Loose”). The remaining tracks were taped in the home studio in May and June 1982 (“777-9311,” “Onedayi’mgonnabesomebody,” “I Don’t Wanna Leave You”).

______________

Prince’s next project was an album with The Time, Corporate World. He worked on the album throughout the summer, finishing it in early September 1989. The track listing was: “Murph Drag” / “Nine Lives” / “Donald Trump (Black Version)”/ “Love Machine” / “Data Bank” / “Shake!” / “Corporate World” / “The Latest Fashion” / “Release It” / “My Summertime Thang.” Several of the songs existed prior to the sessions.

“Data Bank” was loosely based on a jam that was taped with The Revolution in 1986. Four of the tracks were updated vault items: “Murph Drag” was recorded in late 1988 or early 1989, “My Summertime Thang” was a leftover from Ice Cream Castle sessions in 1983, “The Latest Fashion” was tracked in April 1987 and was originally intended for Dale Bozzio, and “Nine Lives” was fi rst recorded for use by Cat in early 1989.

Corporate World was set for release on November 14th 1989, with “Nine Lives” planned as the first single, but it was halted when Warner Bros. wanted to involve the original Time members. After a meeting with Prince, it was decided that Jesse Johnson, Monte Moir, Terry Lewis, and Jimmy Jam would participate and take an active part by writing and recording new tracks for a revised album, which became Pandemonium. Thus, another batch of songs was recorded later in 1989 and in 1990, this time without Prince’s involvement. The Time members decided to keep “Data Bank,” “My Summertime Thang,” and “Donald Trump (Black Version)” from Corporate World. In addition, they chose two vault items, “Chocolate” from 1983 and “Jerk Out,” which had been considered for both What Time Is It? and Mazarati. Four of the seven discarded Corporate World tracks survived to Graffiti Bridge: “The Latest Fashion,” “Release It,” “Love Machine,” and “Shake!” The remaining Corporate World tracks are still unreleased: “Murph Drag,” “Corporate World,” and “Nine Lives.”

Later facts gleaned from insiders and offered up on PrinceVault is going to be the best source available, as older The Vault book may contain now-erroneous, or unknown at the time information.

I wish it was none coz it's all crap

how one man came up with soooooooooooo much good stuff still amazes me

as a musician and songwriter-when i get a tune that really works-it kinda makes the next one a bit more daunting to start-like a how do i top that. Man obviously P dosen't have the same problem-in the 80 he must've reeled em' out in his sleep

amazing

lets not even dignify the post above mine with a response-this is a cool thread-no room for baiters

on the first album and most of the second and third (if not pretty much all), morris played drums whislt prince played bass, live in the studio, and they laid down the basic tracks, then prince recorded the rest of the instruments and morris put down the lead vocals. it has been said that jesse put some guitar on the second and third albums. i think pandemonium was also mostly prince, but it's drum machines instead of real drums, so perhaps prince on most if not all instruments and morris on vocals

jcurley said:

I wish it was none coz it's all crap

Really?!

jcurley said:

I wish it was none coz it's all crap

The hell?...

The Unreleased original configuration of Corporate World (inc the unreleased tracks) are on this fine release.

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/TheTime-CorporateWorld-front-4DaFunk.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/MMikeyBee/TheTime-CorporateWorld-back-4DaFunk.jpg[/img:$uid]

ok, so now it's to be understood that Morris did play drums atleast on the songs with live drumming

Either Jesse Johnson is playing on the albums, or Prince is changing his style to fit the project. Cause even though it sounds like something he could have done, it seems a bit over the top over played at times, which is not normal for Prince on record.

I'm also interrested in the Andre Cymone part when it comes to The Time, since he did have songs like Trouble on his first record that seems to be that mr cool funk of the time. And to my knowledge, I know I've seen someone say that he he came up with the concept of The Time and Vanity 6. Shoot me if I'm wrong. But it's rather interesting since he didn't have a solo record deal with columbia yet, and had to wait out his plans until he was done as Prince bassist.

I've always believed that a huge part of Prince genuis is his perfect memory. Him being able to divide the pieces in music, remember all parts, and put them together with no problem. Him hearing a melody somebody else did, then perfecting it and have a fully produced song the day after containing that melody.