muleFunk said:

This is one of the best threads on this site in a long time .

It's easy to side with these side projects against Prince but lets be honest. There are 3 sides to every story. Your side,my side, and the truth.

Two sides we have not heard yet.

Bottomline here is if any of these associated artists had any juice they would have moved on and become stars without Prince.

It did not happen with any of these guys except for Jam and Lewis and they did it producing other people.

Now my question is why did Jam and Lewis fade out on the other members of the Time? They could have easily put Morris out there as the "brand name" and created a whole new concept but they did not.

Now here we are 27 and 21 years later and Jam and Lewis are has beens and they are crawling back to the band.

If you blame Prince here for being a asshole then why didn't the super producers Jam and Lewis come to the rescue?

I agree with you. I cannot believe how a name could have stopped these super incredibly talented producers from putting out a cd with the band ages ago? that is the million dollar question that nobody seems to be asking them. I'm about to watch the documentary, not sure if they addressed that but hey. I also believe there is more to the story.

^ After watching the documentary, it seemed to me that all of The Time members were off doing their own thing, mostly producing, for all these years. I think they alll did have success behind the scenes since their time with Prince. It seemed that there was such a bad taste left in their mouths from their stint with Prince that they just didn't want to do anything as a group for a while. (On the documentary they describe how the band dismantled member by member.)

The way they got back together was through their Grammy performance in 2008. Through that experience they realized that it would be nice to get together and work on something new. Glad they did even though they had to resort to a silly name.

I think they should have officially went with the name The Band Formerly Known As The Time. That way even casual fans would know who they are, which I am not sure is currently the case. But with all the press they are taking advantage of right now, hopefully even the casual fans will catch on.

Spinlight said:

oceancrayon said:

Sweetie, i beg to differ that 'The Time' and 'The Family' are any more wildly creative than 'Fdeluxe' or 'The Original 7ven'... really!?

Well, actually, yeah I think those names are genius. Genius in their simplicity, genius in their execution, and genius in their concept.

The Time & The Family aren't original names though. There's groups with those names previous to Prince's. Technically the earlier groups could have sued, like a R&B group from the 70's called Wham sued the George & Andrew Wham!. So their 1st album Fantastic was originally released under the name Wham! UK in the US.

PurpleChi said:

^ After watching the documentary, it seemed to me that all of The Time members were off doing their own thing, mostly producing, for all these years. I think they alll did have success behind the scenes since their time with Prince. It seemed that there was such a bad taste left in their mouths from their stint with Prince that they just didn't want to do anything as a group for a while. (On the documentary they describe how the band dismantled member by member.)

The way they got back together was through their Grammy performance in 2008. Through that experience they realized that it would be nice to get together and work on something new. Glad they did even though they had to resort to a silly name.

I think they should have officially went with the name The Band Formerly Known As The Time. That way even casual fans would know who they are, which I am not sure is currently the case. But with all the press they are taking advantage of right now, hopefully even the casual fans will catch on.

Yes, I just finished watching the documentary and they did address that which is kind of understandable.

muleFunk said:

This is one of the best threads on this site in a long time .

It's easy to side with these side projects against Prince but lets be honest. There are 3 sides to every story. Your side,my side, and the truth.

Two sides we have not heard yet.

Bottomline here is if any of these associated artists had any juice they would have moved on and become stars without Prince.

It did not happen with any of these guys except for Jam and Lewis and they did it producing other people.

Now my question is why did Jam and Lewis fade out on the other members of the Time? They could have easily put Morris out there as the "brand name" and created a whole new concept but they did not.

Now here we are 27 and 21 years later and Jam and Lewis are has beens and they are crawling back to the band.

If you blame Prince here for being a asshole then why didn't the super producers Jam and Lewis come to the rescue?

Jam and Lewis are not "has beens" but if you're gonna call them that,what would you call Prince (a guy who hasn't had a real 'hit' album since 1991)? Jam and Lewis still produce many artists to this day.They certainly didn't *need* to come back to this band.They could easily live off the royalties to all those hit songs they wrote for others.

wonder505 said:

muleFunk said:

This is one of the best threads on this site in a long time .

It's easy to side with these side projects against Prince but lets be honest. There are 3 sides to every story. Your side,my side, and the truth.

Two sides we have not heard yet.

Bottomline here is if any of these associated artists had any juice they would have moved on and become stars without Prince.

It did not happen with any of these guys except for Jam and Lewis and they did it producing other people.

Now my question is why did Jam and Lewis fade out on the other members of the Time? They could have easily put Morris out there as the "brand name" and created a whole new concept but they did not.

Now here we are 27 and 21 years later and Jam and Lewis are has beens and they are crawling back to the band.

If you blame Prince here for being a asshole then why didn't the super producers Jam and Lewis come to the rescue?

I agree with you. I cannot believe how a name could have stopped these super incredibly talented producers from putting out a cd with the band ages ago? that is the million dollar question that nobody seems to be asking them. I'm about to watch the documentary, not sure if they addressed that but hey. I also believe there is more to the story.

Jam and Lewis were too busy producing others and the other guys were pursuing solo careers.The new album is so great,I think it was worth the wait.

wonder505 said:

Yes, I just finished watching the documentary and they did address that which is kind of understandable.

Did you see the part where Jesse talks about Prince firing Jam and Lewis? Prince tells Jesse "You won't hear nothing from these guys ever again".I bet he regrets making that comment

SoulAlive said:

muleFunk said:

This is one of the best threads on this site in a long time .

It's easy to side with these side projects against Prince but lets be honest. There are 3 sides to every story. Your side,my side, and the truth.

Two sides we have not heard yet.

Bottomline here is if any of these associated artists had any juice they would have moved on and become stars without Prince.

It did not happen with any of these guys except for Jam and Lewis and they did it producing other people.

Now my question is why did Jam and Lewis fade out on the other members of the Time? They could have easily put Morris out there as the "brand name" and created a whole new concept but they did not.

Now here we are 27 and 21 years later and Jam and Lewis are has beens and they are crawling back to the band.

If you blame Prince here for being a asshole then why didn't the super producers Jam and Lewis come to the rescue?

Jam and Lewis are not "has beens" but if you're gonna call them that,what would you call Prince (a guy who hasn't had a real 'hit' album since 1991)? Jam and Lewis still produce many artists to this day.They certainly didn't *need* to come back to this band.They could easily live off the royalties to all those hit songs they wrote for others.

Both are has beens.

I love their music (Prince and the Time) .

If Jam and Lewis are as hot as they were in the 1980s/90s you would still be hearing about them.

muleFunk said:

SoulAlive said:

Jam and Lewis are not "has beens" but if you're gonna call them that,what would you call Prince (a guy who hasn't had a real 'hit' album since 1991)? Jam and Lewis still produce many artists to this day.They certainly didn't *need* to come back to this band.They could easily live off the royalties to all those hit songs they wrote for others.

Both are has beens.

I love their music (Prince and the Time) .

If Jam and Lewis are as hot as they were in the 1980s/90s you would still be hearing about them.

Nobody stays "hot" forever,but that's alright All that matters is that they continue to make great music.Great music will always find an audience.

SoulAlive said:

Tremolina said:

By identifying them as "the Time" you have already proven that there isn't really a life after Prince.

Not without him at least.

Slaves for life.

They will always be "The Time" to me,with or without Prince.I don't care who owns the name It's the music that will give them new life after Prince.

..

[Edited 10/20/11 12:34pm]

I agree that the music is the ONLY way for them to free themselves.

But they are still fucked.

rdhull said:

Dsoul said:

Is Prince a benevolent kind of fella who helps out friends and lovers

yes

A very simple riposte there which refuses to acknowledge Prince fucking over the freedom and prosperity of the said friends and lovers. Rod Hull EMUlating his idol in many ways.

Prince was the "boss" back in the days and being the boss menas making the hard decisions. Nobody was complaining when they were touring the world or having their videos played on TV. Prince opened a lot of doors for a lot of muisicians who prbably would've never gotten as far as they have on their own. He could've gotten people deal and then left them high and dry to figure what to do next. He wrote an insane amount of material to make his friends famous and get them to where they wanted to be. None of the fanbase was crying for the proteges back in the 80's when we were jamming to Nasty Girl and Cool. Jam & Lewis got fired for missing work by the boss, perfectly reasonable. Prince was not painted as the villain back then so why is he now? Denying the bands the use of their names may not have been cool but he also laid out the blueprint for getting around it over a decade ago. The Time took 21 years to get back together and Prince wasn't keeping them apart. If it was all roses between them then they'd have cashed in on this ages ago. Morris has been doing just that with the alternate line-up. Everyone made adult decisions back then and if Prince was such a bastard then why did they hook up with him in the first place? Money? Fame? Greed? Take your pick of them. Almost every protege has a following of some degree to this day simply for having been a protege of Prince. I don't see fans of acts borne of similar situation caring about those groups(Remember Biv10).

Dsoul said:

rdhull said:

yes

A very simple riposte there which refuses to acknowledge Prince fucking over the freedom and prosperity of the said friends and lovers. Rod Hull EMUlating his idol in many ways.

You are really taking it there? Gradeschool style? This is what the org turned into from 2004? Where the fuck is Brendan, Anj, Efan, Supernova, Anx, Butterscoth Pimp, 2the9's, Calhoun Square, NuPwrSoul et. al?

Dsoul, even you know better.

HonestMan13 said:

Prince was the "boss" back in the days and being the boss menas making the hard decisions. Nobody was complaining when they were touring the world or having their videos played on TV. Prince opened a lot of doors for a lot of muisicians who prbably would've never gotten as far as they have on their own. He could've gotten people deal and then left them high and dry to figure what to do next. He wrote an insane amount of material to make his friends famous and get them to where they wanted to be. None of the fanbase was crying for the proteges back in the 80's when we were jamming to Nasty Girl and Cool. Jam & Lewis got fired for missing work by the boss, perfectly reasonable. Prince was not painted as the villain back then so why is he now? Denying the bands the use of their names may not have been cool but he also laid out the blueprint for getting around it over a decade ago. The Time took 21 years to get back together and Prince wasn't keeping them apart. If it was all roses between them then they'd have cashed in on this ages ago. Morris has been doing just that with the alternate line-up. Everyone made adult decisions back then and if Prince was such a bastard then why did they hook up with him in the first place? Money? Fame? Greed? Take your pick of them. Almost every protege has a following of some degree to this day simply for having been a protege of Prince. I don't see fans of acts borne of similar situation caring about those groups(Remember Biv10).

Didn't Morris and Jerome star in a TV show back in the early 90s?

Another thing that is not being discussed is that Morris had a cocaine problem which looks like it could have hampered his work in the mid 80's.

muleFunk said:

HonestMan13 said:

Prince was the "boss" back in the days and being the boss menas making the hard decisions. Nobody was complaining when they were touring the world or having their videos played on TV. Prince opened a lot of doors for a lot of muisicians who prbably would've never gotten as far as they have on their own. He could've gotten people deal and then left them high and dry to figure what to do next. He wrote an insane amount of material to make his friends famous and get them to where they wanted to be. None of the fanbase was crying for the proteges back in the 80's when we were jamming to Nasty Girl and Cool. Jam & Lewis got fired for missing work by the boss, perfectly reasonable. Prince was not painted as the villain back then so why is he now? Denying the bands the use of their names may not have been cool but he also laid out the blueprint for getting around it over a decade ago. The Time took 21 years to get back together and Prince wasn't keeping them apart. If it was all roses between them then they'd have cashed in on this ages ago. Morris has been doing just that with the alternate line-up. Everyone made adult decisions back then and if Prince was such a bastard then why did they hook up with him in the first place? Money? Fame? Greed? Take your pick of them. Almost every protege has a following of some degree to this day simply for having been a protege of Prince. I don't see fans of acts borne of similar situation caring about those groups(Remember Biv10).

Didn't Morris and Jerome star in a TV show back in the early 90s?

Another thing that is not being discussed is that Morris had a cocaine problem which looks like it could have hampered his work in the mid 80's.

Morris did have a television show for a short time. Jerome managed to stay in bands from 1984 until 1986 moving from The Time to The Family and then to The Revolution. The cocaine is another issue that is not being brought into consideration. We all know Vanity had problems with it and Morris was using as well. Prince had to deal with all of that and still keep all 3 bands afloat somehow.

Changes were made and if people didn't like them they could've walked but some didn't. Seems like Monte was the only one with some backbone for himself. It's easy to paint Prince as the bad guy for the sake of the proteges egos but he put them, himself, the music, the Minneapolis Sound and Minnesota on the musical map.

Also keep in mind that if you must insist on Prince being the the bad guy then all of us(as fans and consumers) enabled him to be as such. I didn't hear any chants for 'Free the Time' at any concerts and nobody was telling Vanity 6 to put some clothes on!

muleFunk said:

This is one of the best threads on this site in a long time .

It's easy to side with these side projects against Prince but lets be honest. There are 3 sides to every story. Your side,my side, and the truth.

Two sides we have not heard yet.

Bottomline here is if any of these associated artists had any juice they would have moved on and become stars without Prince.

It did not happen with any of these guys except for Jam and Lewis and they did it producing other people.

Now my question is why did Jam and Lewis fade out on the other members of the Time? They could have easily put Morris out there as the "brand name" and created a whole new concept but they did not.

Now here we are 27 and 21 years later and Jam and Lewis are has beens and they are crawling back to the band.

If you blame Prince here for being a asshole then why didn't the super producers Jam and Lewis come to the rescue?

cheers, but i think the simple point being that the reason certain artists couldn't get their careers going were down to the actions of Prince. I think Bart listed some on this thread already.

HonestMan13 said:

Prince was the "boss" back in the days and being the boss menas making the hard decisions. Nobody was complaining when they were touring the world or having their videos played on TV. Prince opened a lot of doors for a lot of muisicians who prbably would've never gotten as far as they have on their own. He could've gotten people deal and then left them high and dry to figure what to do next. He wrote an insane amount of material to make his friends famous and get them to where they wanted to be. None of the fanbase was crying for the proteges back in the 80's when we were jamming to Nasty Girl and Cool. Jam & Lewis got fired for missing work by the boss, perfectly reasonable. Prince was not painted as the villain back then so why is he now? Denying the bands the use of their names may not have been cool but he also laid out the blueprint for getting around it over a decade ago. The Time took 21 years to get back together and Prince wasn't keeping them apart. If it was all roses between them then they'd have cashed in on this ages ago. Morris has been doing just that with the alternate line-up. Everyone made adult decisions back then and if Prince was such a bastard then why did they hook up with him in the first place? Money? Fame? Greed? Take your pick of them. Almost every protege has a following of some degree to this day simply for having been a protege of Prince. I don't see fans of acts borne of similar situation caring about those groups(Remember Biv10).

From the documentary it is apparent that Prince did alot of wrong to the guys, however, one thing that stood out was when Morris spoke about moving back to Minneapolis from Maryland, being broke at the time and he started hanging out with Prince alot who offered him a job to travel with him. It did seem that Prince gave them the opportunity, it may not have been a bag of roses, but he did open the door for them. All of the members spoke about their successful projects outside of the band. After the Purple Rain era, the sky was the limit for them to get together and do it again. Sorry it took 21 years, but damn this cd is so good it may have been worth the wait!

[Edited 10/24/11 7:26am]