and it was largely due to the Time's appearance in Purple Rain.

The Doc will break this down track by track:

1. "Ice Cream Castles"

referring to GumDrops here:

>dont like the title track on this - doesnt really fit the
>time IMO - too whimsical, more suited to the family or prince
>himself IMO, maybe even sheila e. but it doesnt seem right for
>morris day. this is the album when they got a lot rockier...
>or at least, the production got a lot rockier, like princes
>own music at the time.

The Doc used to not like this song because it really was not a "Time" track, thematically or sonically, but it's cool with him now. This joint is definitely more suited for Prince himself. This was the only video shot with the group as it was shown in Purple Rain; Morris Day even looked odd singing the song. The Doc could maybe see Jesse Johnson singing (and playing) this song, but Prince never let Jesse take center stage (more on this later). This song bears the hallmarks of Prince's "Purple Rain" and later era material, particularly in parts of the chorus (the bassline).

2. "My Drawers"

A lot of reviewers have denoted this song as The Time's shift to "rock" oriented music because of the electric guitar being featured prominently in the melody and not just as a solo piece. The Doc does believe that on this album, you hear Jesse Johnson genuinely playing here. However, this song is more "Time" like than most others on this album. If for anything, the main synth line. Definitely "Prince" but in the style he had established for The Time. The Doc's personal favorite off the album.


3. "Chili Sauce"

One word: Bullshit. Ok, let The Doc back up a little bit. This song isn't really much of a song, but a skit over some background music that might have been playing in Purple Rain (the movie). You hear Prince doing his funny "jive talker/fake Morris" voice on this track. There's nothing of note here; it's not even as funny as some of the vocal skits on the Time albums prior are, save for Morris's laughter. Time fans know the "Chili Sauce" as the sliding dance that Jimmy Jam often called for when the original line-up was still together. With a song of the same title, you'd expect something as jumpy as the B-side "Tricky" (more on that later)...but instead you get filler material. They should have renamed this song "Toast & Nutella".


4. "Jungle Love"

The album's blockbuster single and centerpiece. Nothing really much needs to be said. It's an effective dance song, but lacks some of the power of their earlier material. Jesse Johnson has a legit writing credit on this album (that was later revoked by Prince); if you've heard Jesse's solo material, this song sounds very similar to his more uptempo numbers. It was because of this song and its success that Jesse was able to broker a solo record deal with A&M soon after this album.

5. "If The Kid Can't Make You Come"

Even more bullshit. As Prince was making sure Purple Rain was fine tuned, and not as explicit as his earlier albums, this track most likely got cast off and given to The Time. The title even seems to imply Prince's character "The Kid" in Purple Rain. Maybe if this was a song hyping up the rivalry between The Kid and Morris Day instead of a lame bedroom workout on wax, this would have fared better.

6. "The Bird"

This marked the first time you actually hear the Time as they were assembled at the time, live and in stereo. An uptempo song in the vein of "Jungle Love", and still one of The Time's most popular numbers. However, the ad-libbed rough language from Morris seems to be oddly positioned in the middle of the jam, which, considering most of their songs never really went into the R-and-higher-rated category that Prince was known for (directly, anyway)...is kind of weird. The video more or less consisted of footage from Purple Rain spliced together, as was that of Jungle Love.


There was a B-Side to this song, "Tricky". One of the few pieces of recorded evidence of Morris Day's drumming ability, it's only Prince and Morris Day playing a "Time"-like groove. Morris starts to rattle off a long-winded insult at an arbitrary target. Afterward, Prince takes his place doing the "fake Morris" voice. Apparently, the song was made to taunt George Clinton. Who knows why?

While this album is notable for being the first Time album where there was considerable input from its members, there was a lot of turmoil behind the scenes. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were fired by Prince prior to the recording of this album, prompting Monte Moir to follow; they were hastily replaced by Paul "St. Paul" Peterson (later to become the lead singer of The Family), Rocky Harris (who appeared on "The Bird") but was fired as well, and was replaced by Gerry Hubbard (who appears in all the videos and Purple Rain), and Mark Cardenez (who joined Jesse Johnson's Revue with Hubbard).

The exploits of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis speak for themselves.

Prince and Morris Day were not getting along during this time; most of it stemmed from their demotion at live shows and the firing of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. It's a wonder Purple Rain was ever filmed (and Morris turned in an unforgettable performance). After a show in '84, perhaps even before Purple Rain-mania, Morris Day walked out, never to return.

This left the Time in disarray. Jesse Johnson wanted to lead The Time, Prince wanted St. Paul to take the role. Jesse wasn't pleased with that, and he was out as well. Gerry Hubbard and Mark Cardenez followed him to his new band.

This left Jerome, Jellybean, and St. Paul. Prince then took those three, Susannah Melvoin (his girlfriend at the time) and some others, and made The Family.

With all of that in perspective, it's not even a wonder why this album was lackluster. This is one of the times where high sales really did not really reflect the quality of an album; Pandemonium, the reunion album that came 6 years better was a much more enjoyable affair.