CHAPTER 4: PAWNS

pg 54

Prince's relationship witht he members of the Time, meanwhile, had not improved greatly since the epic food fight. Against the wishes of the group members, who longed to write their own songs, Prince had recorded most of the Time's second album, What Time Is It?, on his own. Released in summer 1982, it was another success, reaching No. 2 on the Black Chart and going gold in the process. The single "777-9311," propelled by Prince's skillfull bass playing, became a modest hit. (it also created a hassle for Dez Dickerson, who had not know that his phone number was going to be used as the title of the song. When calls from strangers poured in at all hours of the night, he was forced to have it changed and circulate a new number to family and friends.) But the success of the song and album only underscored for th Time's members that they were Prince's puppets, and some began to consider quitting.

Prince, sensing resistance to his rule, tried to assert himself by complaining, without any basis whatsoever, that the Time was not performing strongly enough in concert.
"He would come in and get all over their case," remembered Roy Bennett." He would ride them heavily, and, obviously, when you're doing a great job and somone's telling you you're screwing up, you wonder, "What is this guy? What does he want?" It caused major tension.

Jam and Lewis, who unbeknownst to Prince had started doing production work for other groups on the side, wondered how long they could stand ahving their creativity sppressed. "I'm sure they felt that at some point he would loosen up the reins, but he never did," Bennett observed. "They're two very talented guys, and the last thing they wanted was to be told what to do all the time."

At what point in the 1999 tour did Prince decide to cover the Time band when Vanity 6 was on stage or was that always the case?

When did he actually drop them from the set list?

Only when he did his performances in New York & Los Angeles...

1982 photo by Allen Beaulieu seen inWax Poetics 10th Anniversay WINTER 2012 Issue 50

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