Happy 35th: The Time, WHAT TIME IS IT?
35 years ago this month, The Time released their second album, an LP which blew the sales of their self-titled debut out of the water and kept the band’s momentum going in a big way.
Produced by Morris Day and the nebulously-named Starr Company (a pseudonym for Prince), WHAT TIME IS IT? was recorded over the course of two sessions, one in January 1982 and the other in May and June 1982. The Time ended up with so much material that they didn’t need to use everything that they’d laid down, so some tracks ended up being shelved for awhile, including the song “Jerk Out,” which wouldn’t emerge until the band released PANDEMONIUM in 1990. The six songs that did make the cut, however, came together to form an album which is arguably the single best LP they ever released.
If you don’t know all of the songs by heart, you certainly know some of them, and since there are so few of them, we’ll just list ‘em all right now to remind you:
• “Wild and Loose”
• “777-9311”
• “Onedayi’mgonnabesomebody”
• “The Walk”
• “Gigolos Get Lonely Too”
• “I Don’t Wanna Leave You”
“777-9311” was the biggest hit from the album, hitting #88 on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbing all the way to #2 on the R&B Singles chart, but “The Walk” and “Gigolos Get Lonely Too” were R&B hits as well, hitting #24 and #77, respectively. Meanwhile, WHAT TIME IS IT? climbed to #26 on the Billboard 200 and to #2 on the Top Soul LPs chart, easily surpassing the band’s previous chart achievements.
Two years later, The Time would release ICE CREAM CASTLES and introduce the world to “Jungle Love.” By then, everyone knew what time it was.
