What Time Is It
Junking '70s-funk cliches for a stripped-down sound (keyboards and synthesizers replaced the horns) built around a hard-rockin' guitar and a tougher-than-tough rhythm section--all topped off with a heapin' helping of humor--this Minneapolis-based sextet was once the best funk band in the land.  This second LP is the best single album from the act, which soon imploded, owing to an over-abundance of talent. Bug-eyed vocalist Morris Day and guitarist Jesse Johnson went on to semi-successful solo careers; keyboardist Jimmy Jam and bassist Terry Lewis became a mega-platinum writing/production team (Janet Jackson, most notably); drummer extraordinaire Jellybean Johnson and keyboardist Monte Moir were the other members. Co-produced by Day and Jamie Starr (a.k.a. Prince), this six-song 1982 effort sports three wall-rattling party-starters: the self-explantory "Wild and Loose," the tongue-in-cheek dance tune "The Walk," and the still-percolating, knotty-but-nice rhythms of "777-9311."  Toss in a "New Wave"-style rocker, a droll take on the obligatory love-man ballad, and the band's straight-faced answer to the titular question ("Time to fix your clock!") is O-B-V-I-O-U-S.--Don Waller