“Where the f*** this chicken come from ? I THOUGHT I ORDERED RIBS” – Morris Day “Chocolate (Live On SNL)”

The year was 1990 when it was announced that Prince would be doing a sequel movie to “Purple Rain” called “Grafitti Bridge”. To make it even more official, Warner Bros. insisted on reuniting the original members of The Time to appear. The reunion had already started some years before when Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis produce the #1 smash “Fishnet” & the classic slow jam “Love Is A Game”  for their former leader & friend Morris Day’s 2nd album during his solo career. Though Jam & Lewis had been fired by Prince during the 1999 tour before going on to successfully change the Contemporary R&B landscape, the duo has alllllways added that trademark Minneapolis musically diverse grit that they built with The Time to each one of their Pop crossover productions showing allegiance to their roots despite having mega success. In usual Prince fashion, his royal badness began to go back to the original formula of composing tracks of already done or rehashed songs that only included Morris & Jerome’s vocals for the album which was originally named “Corporate World” (a few of them were kept on the “Pandemonium” album while some went to the soundtrack like “Shake!”, “The Latest Fashion” & my favorite “Release It” which helped me & my brother win a talent show)…but by the time Jam, Lewis & The Time’s Legendary Guitarist Jesse Johnson got involved with the songwriting & production, the album would be called “Pandemonium” which was an already different album from their TKO previous 3 album masterpieces on the fact all the members were involved. Outside of its music video performances along with Morris & Jerome stealing the show like they did in “Purple Rain”, The movie would famously flop but for the incredible Platinum soundtrack turned out to be some of Prince’s finest work & collaborations while The Time’s “Pandemonium” album would go on to be the band’s highest charting album as well as the band scoring their very 1st #1 song “Jerk Out” which brought the Funk back to the mainstream and the legendary “Pandemonium” tour was even deadlier as The Time picked up exactly where they left off like it was nothing which was a joy to us die hard Time fans & students who had longed to see the Minneapolis sound architects back in full form…and KICKIN PRINCE’S ASS AS USUAL LOL

“Pandemonium” is without a doubt the most successful Funk album of the 90’s in which the magnificent seven was able to do what many of their peers couldn’t do which was KEEP THE FUNK ALIVE..THROUGH LIVE RECORDING. The 90’s saw classic groundbreaking 70’s/80’s bands like Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & The Gang, Bar-Kays, Ohio Players, Midnight Star, The Commodores & even my P-Funk family attempting to keep up with the new keyboard sounds/trends overproduced production of that era in which thanks to A&R’s trying to convince these bands that “Funk was dead”, they created lackluster albums that had no signs of the raw musicianship that they were known for whereas the Time stayed true to the Funk-
Rock/Pop meets Contemporary R&B style they were known for but they expanded more on it through new technology filter while perfectly balancing the digital & analog with slamming tracks like “It’s Your World”, “Chocolate”, “Data Bank”, “Skillet” & “Blondie” and knew how to cater to the slow jam quiet storm element with songs like “Donald Trump (Black Version) & especially “Sometimes I Get Lonely” and of course, Morris & Jerome’s personality as well as their stage camaraderie with the other band members shined on this album too. It ultimately inspired Prince to go back to the “live band” album format which he would do a year later with “Diamond & Pearls” & years later finally admit that The Time did indeed give him a run for his money in those early days. Though the “Pandemonium” run was short, the promo TV stops for it like Arsenio Hall & Saturday Night Live remain among many of their classic still sought after performances that showed why they are still in top form even now in 2014

Lawrence Worrell