This is The Time. Make no mistake about it. It’s the original seven members reunited on album for the first in a long. What’s disappointing is the new name, which they apparently had to adopt because Prince, who created the band in 1981; this is their first album he has no artistic involvement in; owns the original name and doesn’t want to let them use it anymore. Now they’re The Original Seven; a change that wouldn’t be nearly as atrocious if it weren’t for the way they decided to stylize the word “Seven”. “7ven”, which to me looks like Seven Ven, makes no sense.

If, however, you can ignore that fatal flaw, the band is still “cool”. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have become perhaps my favorite music duo, thanks mainly to all the impressive songs they’ve made with Janet Jackson over the years, and lead singer Morris Day is as funny and charismatic as he ever was. He’s 54 years old now, but his girls don’t seem to age. So when the playboy partakes in a Role Play session to a relentlessly funky dance beat, the voice of the girl he’s doing it with adds to the song a pretty and sexy allure. It’s no wonder he has a problem being Faithful to just one.

One of the few songs not to or about girls is Trendin, though it is off-putting hearing these old-schoolers; who, at one point, suggest splitting the album into two sides like a cassette tape; latch-on to such a right now Twitter term. The title, as they put it, even begins with a hashtag. I guess that kind of stylization, like the spelling of the new name, comes from their quirky Prince roots. But they need to give it up and perhaps focus on making better songs. This set is fun; even the mediocre songs are funked-up with dazzling highlights; but it isn’t quite as hot as the title suggests.

my rating = 3 of 5

2011