What Time Is It? (1982)
Despite Prince writing The Time’s first three albums, the band are such their own entity that it takes a lot for their output to make it onto these pages. 777-9311 forces its way in by brute funk force alone. The bassline is a beaut and the Linn drum pristine, but it’s the final three minutes that truly make this a Prince classic. His Stratocaster guitar solo crashes against the synths as if Shiva has started clapping along; the flame of destruction in his left hand colliding with the drum of creation in his right. The story goes that the title was Dez Dickerson’s home phone number and used without his knowledge. Predictably, the unwanted attention later forced the Revolution guitarist to change his number, but I hear nowadays if you ring those seven digits at midnight you’ll get through to the Hindu Lord of the Dance himself.