The Time - The Time

Today (July 29th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of The Time, the self-titled debut from the famed Minneapolis band. While the cover showed the roster of the original group line-up who toured, the main people in the recording studio were Morris Day (on vocals) and Prince (on all other instruments and some vocals).

Morris Day and the Time live (6/5/16)

Sunday (6/5) was day two for us at the Belle Isle Grand Prix here in Detroit. And the threat of inclement weather was not going to deter us (and hundreds more) from seeing the performance by Morris Day and the Time. And if you even had to guess, yes we had another great spot right at the stage rails. As you'll see below, we were so close we almost could have reached out and touched the stage.

the Time - Ice Cream Castle (30th anniversary)

Today (July 2nd) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Ice Cream Castle, the third studio album from the Time. Powered by their appearance in Purple Rain, this record spent fifty-seven weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 24.

For my full review of this R&B classic, click here.

The Time - What Time Is It?

Today (August 25) marks the thirtieth anniversary of What Time Is It?, the second studio album by the Minneapolis R&B and funk group known at the Time.

Building off the momentum from their self-titled debut a year prior, the group’s 1982 effort climbed up to number 26 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 2 on the Billboard R&B Album chart. This release too followed the format laid down by their debut, placing six songs total across two sides with a mix of dance jams and ballads. Prince once more had his hand in writing all of the tracks and performing on most of the instruments.

Prince - Graffiti Bridge (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In 1990, Prince wrote, directed and starred Graffiti Bridge, the sequel to 1984's highly successful Purple Rain. The film follows the Kid (Prince) who is now a performer at his own club Glam Slam. Morris Day also returns, playing himself, as the owner of a number of clubs including Pandemonium. However, rivalry still exists between the two which culminates in a showdown between the venues. The film also stars Ingrid Chavez, Jerome Benton, the Time, Mavis Staples, Tevin Campbell, and George Clinton.

Critically, the film was panned. At the box office, it barely managed to recoup the original production cost.

The double-record soundtrack album, however, did fairly well. I went Gold in the US, the UK and Canada. It reached number 6 on the US Billboard 200 chart and the US R&B Albums chart, number 4 in Germany and the Netherlands, number 3 in New Zealand, number 2 in Norway and Switzerland, and number 1 in the UK. It also produced a number of hit singles for Prince and the other artists on the record.

the Time - Ice Cream Castle

The cosmic influence of my iPod's shuffle must be trying to tell me something. The 1984 album Ice Cream Castle by the Time has come up now two weeks in a row while playing my 1980's playlist in shuffle-by-album mode. That's a rare occurance since almost a third (5176 tunes) of my total music library is in that decade playlist. I'm thinking "someone" is telling me I should blog about this one.