...but has anyone heard the Jungle Love demo Jesse Johnson posted on his facebook page? Great back story too.

Very cool!

"The version contain in this post is from my Teac cassette tape and recorded at my Cedar Square West Apartment 1408 Mpls, MN on a Tascam 8 Track recorder. I played Guitar (1966 Purple Mosrite), Bass Guitar (Fender Precision) Key Bass, Horns, Organ (Oberheim OB-SX)"

I love the backstory he tells. This is my fav part of the back story!.....

"We had just completed our 3rd acting class (Prince, The Time, & Vanity 6) when I nervously handed Prince a clear Teac cassette tape with gold reels inside it (those cassettes looked so cool) I state nervously because before he dug the track I composed named "Bite The Beat" for the Vanity 6 project, he had laughed quite hard at a lot of the so called musical ideas I'd given him up to said point. I should have thrown the cassette at him and ran, because I got caught off guard when he responded "Let's just go listen now" Uh oh...I'm like "a, a, ok" and we go to my car to listen. (Honda Civic with no air...in the summertime...bruh...but the custom sound system,,,Sick!) I push in cassette tape, crank the sound, and after 30 seconds Prince excitedly shouts "That's what the fuck I'm talking about!!!!!!!!!" Thank You Prince, thank you Morris Day. (Morris introduced me to Prince & Morris gave me my shot!)"

Love the way Jesse talks about these sessions, like he transported back to the moment

OldFriends4Sale said:

Love the way Jesse talks about these sessions, like he transported back to the moment

I could listen to him play guitar, sing or talk all day long!

[Edited 1/19/17 8:33am]

This is awesome. Thanks for posting, sulls!!!

This is great

nice to hear. they didn't change much did they?

So we don't loose this to Cyberspace Time


Jesse Johnson added a new video

Initial tracking took place on 26 March, 1983 at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA (the day before My Summertime Thang and Cloreen Baconskin). While reflecting on the track's history on Facebook in 2014, Jesse Johnson wrote "Jungle Love- Saved my food $ the 1999 Tour came home bought a Tascam reel to reel 8 track recorder and came up with music for JUNGLE! Prince [wrote?] every word+melody and kilted it." He later added, "I used Prince's Hohner Tele to play the rhythm guitar part ... Did the solo at a later date in LA @ Sunset Sound using the Pink G&L prototype + my fawn colored 1979 Marshall JCM 800," indicating that a second recording date took place.

Jesse Johnson was initially included in the credits when submitted for copyright in May, 1984, but after he left the band, his name was removed from the credits when the track was released.

-PrinceVault

IIRC, in Dave Hill's book Prince - A Pop Life, I remember Jesse lamenting Prince removing his production credit from Icecream Castle when Jesse decided to leave The Time. He went on to say that JL was 'his sound'. It sho' was...

OldFriends4Sale said:

Initial tracking took place on 26 March, 1983 at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA (the day before My Summertime Thang and Cloreen Baconskin). While reflecting on the track's history on Facebook in 2014, Jesse Johnson wrote "Jungle Love- Saved my food $ the 1999 Tour came home bought a Tascam reel to reel 8 track recorder and came up with music for JUNGLE! Prince [wrote?] every word+melody and kilted it." He later added, "I used Prince's Hohner Tele to play the rhythm guitar part ... Did the solo at a later date in LA @ Sunset Sound using the Pink G&L prototype + my fawn colored 1979 Marshall JCM 800," indicating that a second recording date took place.

Jesse Johnson was initially included in the credits when submitted for copyright in May, 1984, but after he left the band, his name was removed from the credits when the track was released.

-PrinceVault

I would hope P made amends about that. Listening to it, jesse came up with most of the instrumental and that amazing solo. Prince def did the rest. So good they worked on this classic together.

justAmeda said:

I love the backstory he tells. This is my fav part of the back story!.....

"We had just completed our 3rd acting class (Prince, The Time, & Vanity 6) when I nervously handed Prince a clear Teac cassette tape with gold reels inside it (those cassettes looked so cool) I state nervously because before he dug the track I composed named "Bite The Beat" for the Vanity 6 project, he had laughed quite hard at a lot of the so called musical ideas I'd given him up to said point. I should have thrown the cassette at him and ran, because I got caught off guard when he responded "Let's just go listen now" Uh oh...I'm like "a, a, ok" and we go to my car to listen. (Honda Civic with no air...in the summertime...bruh...but the custom sound system,,,Sick!) I push in cassette tape, crank the sound, and after 30 seconds Prince excitedly shouts "That's what the fuck I'm talking about!!!!!!!!!" Thank You Prince, thank you Morris Day. (Morris introduced me to Prince & Morris gave me my shot!)"

ya prince could be a cold mf'r. for those of you who don't know, he'd call jesse up and say "your album sucks" and hang up when Jesse came out with Shockadelica. How much of that was Prince's humor, a competitive thing I don't know. Prince must have had some respect for him to go to those lengths.

Was this posted on Jesse's Facebook a few years back or was that a demo of The Bird maybe?

PeteSilas said:

justAmeda said:

I love the backstory he tells. This is my fav part of the back story!.....

"We had just completed our 3rd acting class (Prince, The Time, & Vanity 6) when I nervously handed Prince a clear Teac cassette tape with gold reels inside it (those cassettes looked so cool) I state nervously because before he dug the track I composed named "Bite The Beat" for the Vanity 6 project, he had laughed quite hard at a lot of the so called musical ideas I'd given him up to said point. I should have thrown the cassette at him and ran, because I got caught off guard when he responded "Let's just go listen now" Uh oh...I'm like "a, a, ok" and we go to my car to listen. (Honda Civic with no air...in the summertime...bruh...but the custom sound system,,,Sick!) I push in cassette tape, crank the sound, and after 30 seconds Prince excitedly shouts "That's what the fuck I'm talking about!!!!!!!!!" Thank You Prince, thank you Morris Day. (Morris introduced me to Prince & Morris gave me my shot!)"

ya prince could be a cold mf'r. for those of you who don't know, he'd call jesse up and say "your album sucks" and hang up when Jesse came out with Shockadelica. How much of that was Prince's humor, a competitive thing I don't know. Prince must have had some respect for him to go to those lengths.

ooooooo Prince had moments that I would love to choke him with my own bare hands! I really hope that was him just being humor!

justAmeda said:

PeteSilas said:

ya prince could be a cold mf'r. for those of you who don't know, he'd call jesse up and say "your album sucks" and hang up when Jesse came out with Shockadelica. How much of that was Prince's humor, a competitive thing I don't know. Prince must have had some respect for him to go to those lengths.

ooooooo Prince had moments that I would love to choke him with my own bare hands! I really hope that was him just being humor!

ya, even worse, he took jesse's song title "shockadelica" and wrote his own (great) song after telling Jesse that he should have used that word as the album title, as it is, i actually can't recall the name of that album now. I thought it was shockadelica because that's the only song I remember from his album. Oh yeah, crazay was good too. edit, i just checked, prince said the title was great and that he should have had a song named shockadelica. Maybe Prince wrote it with Jesse in mind and jesse rejected it. Either way, it comes across as a real dig at him for him to release a single of that name.

[Edited 1/19/17 16:47pm]

PeteSilas said:

justAmeda said:

ooooooo Prince had moments that I would love to choke him with my own bare hands! I really hope that was him just being humor!

ya, even worse, he took jesse's song title "shockadelica" and wrote his own (great) song after telling Jesse that he should have used that word as the album title, as it is, i actually can't recall the name of that album now. I thought it was shockadelica because that's the only song I remember from his album. Oh yeah, crazay was good too. edit, i just checked, prince said the title was great and that he should have had a song named shockadelica. Maybe Prince wrote it with Jesse in mind and jesse rejected it. Either way, it comes across as a real dig at him for him to release a single of that name.

[Edited 1/19/17 16:47pm]

Maybe that's why Jesse called P a 'Motherfucker' in the late 80s. Remember that in the British pop press back then. Maybe NME or Melody Maker.

Marrk said:

PeteSilas said:

ya, even worse, he took jesse's song title "shockadelica" and wrote his own (great) song after telling Jesse that he should have used that word as the album title, as it is, i actually can't recall the name of that album now. I thought it was shockadelica because that's the only song I remember from his album. Oh yeah, crazay was good too. edit, i just checked, prince said the title was great and that he should have had a song named shockadelica. Maybe Prince wrote it with Jesse in mind and jesse rejected it. Either way, it comes across as a real dig at him for him to release a single of that name.

[Edited 1/19/17 16:47pm]

Maybe that's why Jesse called P a 'Motherfucker' in the late 80s. Remember that in the British pop press back then. Maybe NME or Melody Maker.

never saw that. He had reason. He said a lot of things about Prince, or insinuating things. He said once that Prince fell off once the time left, insinuating, but not directly saying, that Prince ripped off stuff from them. He also said that Prince, I don't think he named him in this case either, ripped up autograph papers and screamed at fans. I used to think Jesse was a Prince copycat but, blackquitarist here on the org., straightened me out and said that Jesse brought the whole color thing and the look that Prince took to superstardom. Jesse had a bad case of Prince envy too, he was left loooking like a straight copycat when each guy undoubtedly stole from the other only Prince had more to the aritistic package than Jesse did.

PeteSilas said:

paisleypark4 said:

certainly isn't unusual, Paul and John had a helluva rivalry going on and Paul still does. It looks ugly sometimes but it still gave us great music. Prince really didn't have competition in those days, not really, so he created his own and boy did they compete with him.

reprinted in ROCK & SOUL * APRIL 1986

THE PRINCE INTERVIEW
Mr. Purple Discusses His Movies, His Music, His Musicians
And More, More, More.

By Michael Shore

How do you feel about Jesse Johnson leaving the Time? Have you heard his album, and if so, what do you think of it?

Jesse and Morris and Jerome and Jimmy and Terry had the makings of one of the greatest R&B bands in history. I could be a little pretentious in saying that, but it's truly the way I feel. There's no one that could wreck a house like they could. I was a bit troubled by their demise, but like I said before, it's important that one's happy first and foremost. And, as far as Jesse's record goes, chocolate. You know.

OldFriends4Sale said:

reprinted in ROCK & SOUL * APRIL 1986

THE PRINCE INTERVIEW
Mr. Purple Discusses His Movies, His Music, His Musicians
And More, More, More.

By Michael Shore

How do you feel about Jesse Johnson leaving the Time? Have you heard his album, and if so, what do you think of it?

Jesse and Morris and Jerome and Jimmy and Terry had the makings of one of the greatest R&B bands in history. I could be a little pretentious in saying that, but it's truly the way I feel. There's no one that could wreck a house like they could. I was a bit troubled by their demise, but like I said before, it's important that one's happy first and foremost. And, as far as Jesse's record goes, chocolate. You know.

they really were great, I remember a fellow Prince/Time fan laugh at Prince's claim about them but they could have done much more. Prince, if nothing else, knew the business better than anyone else around him and he was almost always right about things in those days.

Marrk said:

PeteSilas said:

ya, even worse, he took jesse's song title "shockadelica" and wrote his own (great) song after telling Jesse that he should have used that word as the album title, as it is, i actually can't recall the name of that album now. I thought it was shockadelica because that's the only song I remember from his album. Oh yeah, crazay was good too. edit, i just checked, prince said the title was great and that he should have had a song named shockadelica. Maybe Prince wrote it with Jesse in mind and jesse rejected it. Either way, it comes across as a real dig at him for him to release a single of that name.

[Edited 1/19/17 16:47pm]

Maybe that's why Jesse called P a 'Motherfucker' in the late 80s. Remember that in the British pop press back then. Maybe NME or Melody Maker.

well I'm sure I would have had a few names for the purple one too! Ya know Prince was bullied as kid for different reasons and such. The media it seems most of his career pretty much bullied him a well. You would think that instead of doing others the way others had done him that would have expressed a far better attitude and personality toward others..sigh...I can only hope that we can chalk it up to him being young minded and that as he got older he regretted how he often treated others.

4. Ice Cream Castle pt 1

On 26th and 27th March 1983, during the 2nd leg of [Prince]'s "1999"-Tour, [Prince] spends two days at Hollywood Sunset Sound to work with [Morris Day] and [Jesse Johnson] on tracks for THE TIME's third album. This was the first time, that some members of band were involved in the production process. They cut Jungle love, My summertime thang and an impromptu jam entitled Cloreen bacon skin, which was only released by [Prince] on his 1998 [Crystal Ball] album. My summertime thang finally didn't make it on this release, but a re-recorded version surfaced on THE TIME's 1990 reunion album [Pandemonium].

From 14th to 22nd April 1983, the "1999"-Tour ends 4 only days before, [Prince] works with [Morris Day] and [Jesse Johnson] at Hollywood Sunset Sound again. Amongst other tracks they recorded Chili sauce, If the kid can't make you come and Chocolate. The last song didn't make it to this album too, but like My summertime thang, a reworked version turned up on the 1990 reunion album [Pandemonium].

On 19th April 1983, a song called Velvet kitty kat (sometimes also entitled as "Mink kitty kat") and on 20th April 1983, a ballad entitled My love belongs to you were recorded too. Both were previously unreleased until now.

On 18th April 1983, [Prince] called [Jimmy Jam] and [Terry Lewis] into Hollywood Sunset Sound, and told them, that they were both let go from THE TIME. The duo stays in Los Angeles at the same time and working on the S.O.S. Band project at Larrabee Studios in West Hollywood. On 16th May 1983 [Prince] appears at the 3rd annual Minnesota Music Awards at the Charlton Celebrity Room in Bloomington and was finally honored with six awards. He thanked Minneapolis for its support and ended the night with a 10-minute jam of "D.M.S.R." on borrowed equipment with a mix of members of his own band, [Morris Day], [Jesse Johnson] and Vanity 6. Later this night they performed a jam session at First Avenue in Minneapolis with [Jesse Johnson] on drums and Sue Ann Carwell singing the lead vocals. Also in May 1983 [Prince], THE TIME and Vanity 6 starts preparations for the "Purple Rain" motion picture project. A warehouse in St. Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb, was rented for band rehearsals and dancing and acting classes. [Prince] also installed most of his recording equipment and this warehouse becomes his new home studio for about 12 months. The line-up of THE TIME finally underwent some more changes. [Monte Moir] made the decision to leave the band when he heard, that [Jimmy Jam] and [Terry Lewis] had been let go by Prince. [Terry Lewis] was replaced on bass by [Rocky Harris], a local musician who knew [Jesse Johnson]. The replacements for [Jimmy Jam] and [Monte Moir] on keyboards were found in [Paul Peterson], a member of Twin-Cities first family in jazz and [Mark Cardenas], a Los Angeles native, who had been working in jazz-rock fusion circles in Minneapolis a few years before. On 4th October 1983, the new THE TIME line-up premiered live at First Avenue in Minneapolis. [Jerome Benton] introduced the show, enlisting the help of several bikini-clad models. He also did a soul-preacher routine, begging the audience for donations and passing a plate through the audience for their contributions to a charity fund. THE TIME played an 8-song set that includes two at this time previously unknown tracks - Jungle love and The bird. The concert was taped professional with a mobile recording unit and the live-version of The bird finally ended up on THE TIME's third album [Ice Cream Castle]. Despite a wildly receptive audience, this concert was filled with tension and it was obvious, that [Morris Day] was beginning to loose interest in the band. At the end of the show he stormed off the stage, bypassed the dressing room, and charged out the stagedoor to his Porsche. The confused band members remained behind for a somewhat tainted celebration. [Morris Day] was very dissatisfied with [Prince]'s firm control of THE TIME and the hand-picked additions to the band. Despite achieving a big commercial success with the previously two albums of THE TIME, he was also still seeing very little money for his work. The shooting to the "Purple Rain" motion picture starts on 1st November 1983. The new bass player [Rocky Harris] showed up late for the first day of filming and was replaced by [Prince] with [Jerry Hubbard], from a noted Twin-Cities musical family, immediately. [Morris Day] was very uncooperative and chronically late to all rehearsals and filmings. He and [Prince] hardly talked with each other during the whole shooting of the movie. At one day of filming both ended up in a real fistfight and [Jellybean Johnson] had to break it up. It was evident, that they both would soon be going their separate ways without each other.

Starting on 27th December 1983, [Prince] relocates for four months to Los Angeles for some additional shootings to the "Purple Rain" motion picture and extensive recording sessions for his own "Purple Rain" album, and a new project called Apollonia 6 at Hollywood Sunset Sound. In January 1984 he also finished the work for THE TIME's third album by recording Ice cream castles and My drawers. Tricky, that appeared as the 7inch b-side of Ice cream castles, was recorded with [Morris Day] shortly thereafter in February 1984.

On 8th June 1984, THE TIME, led by [Jesse Johnson], performed Jungle love live on the 3rd annual Minnesota Black Music Awards at the Prom Center in St. Paul. [Morris Day] wasn't present at this event and his conspicuous absence sparked rumors, that THE TIME had broken up. In late June 1984 [Morris Day] was definitely no longer interested to continuing his work with THE TIME, has moved to Santa Monica in Los Angeles (CA) and severed ties with [Prince]'s camp and his management team. Their departures weren't announced officially until after the premiere of the "Purple Rain" motion picture. Without [Morris Day], it was basically [Jesse Johnson] who leads the band. [Prince] initially wanted continue THE TIME by installing [Paul Peterson] as new frontman and lead-singer, but [Jesse Johnson] rejected this idea. After failed attempts to convince [Morris Day] to return to Minneapolis, all come to the conclusion, that THE TIME was history. [Jerry Hubbard] and [Mark Cardenas] decided to continue working solo with [Jesse Johnson]. The remaining members [Jellybean Johnson], [Jerome Benton] and [Paul Peterson] were invited by [Prince] to a meeting at his house, where he offered [Paul Peterson] to front a new band called The Family as the lead-singer. This project was later joined by [Prince]'s girlfriend Susannah Melvoin on co-lead vocals.

PeteSilas said:

Can anyone rip that audio? I need that demo in my life.

He continued "Foster Sylvers was sitting next to me ... with Peggy M. as I laid the solo. I didn't put much into it because I knew from how LOW the volume was on my solo on "My Drawers" i[t] wasn't really going to get heard very well anyway. (Unless you laid on the speakers)." Since My Drawers was recorded in January, 1984, it seems likely his solo was recorded around the same time. Jesse Johnson was initially included in the credits when submitted for copyright in May, 1984, but after he left the band, his name was removed from the credits when the track was released.