Minneapolis guitarist Jesse Johnson, best known as a member of The Time, will be celebrated by Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint with a 2CD set that combines three of his solo albums for the A&M label and an assortment of extras.

The simply titled Jesse Johnson Revue / Shockadelica / Every Shade of Love + Bonus Tracks brings together Johnson's three post-Time solo efforts issued between 1985 and 1988, featuring the Billboard Hot 100 hits "Be Your Man," "I Want My Girl," "Crazay" (featuring funk legend Sly Stone) and "Love Struck." In addition to the three remastered albums, three dance mixes and two non-LP tracks (including Johnson and Stephanie Spruill's contribution to the soundtrack of 1985's The Breakfast Club) will feature on the set. Writer Charles Waring (MOJO, Record Collector, uDiscover Music) has contributed liner notes for the package.

Possessing a musical formidability that made Prince take notice was no small feat. When The Artist was coming up out of Minneapolis in the '70s and early '80s, he made sure that his rising critical and commercial tide lifted other boats in the Twin Cities - perhaps most notably The Time, the seven-man funk combo he helped assemble to write and produce additional material under the pseudonym Jamie Starr. Johnson, a Minneapolis transplant originally from Rock Island, Illinois, had played with The Time's irascible frontman Morris Day in the group Enterprise, and impressed Prince with his six-string versatility. Although Prince played nearly everything on The Time's albums, it was Johnson, alongside keyboardists Jimmy Jam and Monte Moir, bassist Terry Lewis, drummer Jellybean Johnson, that helped the songs come to life in concert, and the group's killer live act would later contribute to Prince admitting they were the only band he was ever afraid of.

Johnson survived a personnel shakeup within The Time after Jam and Lewis were fired and Moir left before cameras rolled on Prince's Purple Rain (featuring Day and company as the rival band of The Revolution at the club First Avenue), but would strike out on his own shortly thereafter. His new outfit, Jesse Johnson's Revue, featured two other former Time members (Jam and Lewis' replacements, bassist Jerry Hubbard and keyboardist Mark Cardenas) along with second guitarist Michael Baker, additional keyboardist Tim Bradley and drummer Bobby Vandell. Signing to A&M Records - a deal brokered by early Prince manager Owen Husney - Jesse Johnson's Revue was straight-ahead funk with some electronic flair that, like most of Johnson's solo work, did best on the R&B charts, where "Be Your Man," "Can You Help Me" and "I Want My Girl" all reached the Top 10.

A year later, Johnson was back without the Revue for 1986's Shockadelica, an even funkier album whose arguable highlights is "Crazay," a duet with the reclusive Sly Stone, and "Do Yourself a Favor," a track by local Minneapolis funk survivor Pepe Willie that Prince had used in his setlists from time to time. (Prince, astounded that Johnson came up with such a good title but no title track, wrote a song under that name around the same time, released as a B-side to "If I Was Your Girlfriend.") Johnson kept things grounded in Minneapolis in his backing band, retaining Baker, Bradley and Hubbard and adding a few crucial new sidemen, notably drummer Rocky Harris and guitarist/keyboardist Lloyd "Sonny" Thompson, who'd later become the bassist in Prince's New Power Generation during the '90s. Every Shade of Love, issued in 1988, would feature Johnson on most of the instruments, with a few purple-associated names in the mix (backing vocalists Sue Ann Carwell and Margie Cox, Prince's longtime string arranger Clare Fischer), and even a clavinet solo from Jeff Lorber on the track "I'm the One."

Johnson would briefly reunite with The Time's original line-up in 1990 and 2011 (when they renamed themselves The Original 7ven after a trademark dispute with Prince), and continued to record, produce and tour, most notably as a sideman for D'Angelo. After years of estrangement before Prince's death, Johnson even returned to Paisley Park in 2019 for an emotional recollection at the recording complex's annual Celebration of its founder.

This Jesse Johnson three-fer is out on Robinsongs on June 7 - what would have been Prince's 66th birthday. Pre-order it below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn a portion of qualifying purchases from the below links.)

Jesse Johnson Revue / Shockadelica / Every Shade of Love + Bonus Tracks (Robinsongs ROBIN71CDD (U.K.), 2024) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1

1. Be Your Man
2. I Want My Girl
3. She Won't Let Go
4. Just Too Much
5. Let's Have Some Fun
6. Can You Help Me
7. Special Love
8. She's a Doll
9. Change Your Mind
10. Crazay (feat. Sly Stone)
11. Baby Let's Kiss
12. A Better Way
13. Do Yourself a Favor
14. She (I Can't Resist)
15. Addiction
16. Tonite
17. Burn You Up

Disc 2

1. Black in America
2. Love Struck
3. So Misunderstood
4. I'm the One
5. Color Shock
6. Every Shade of Love
7. Everybody Wants Somebody to Love
8. I'm Just Wanting You
9. Stop-Look-Listen
10. Heart Too Hot to Hold (feat. Stephanie Spruill)
11. She (I Can't Resist) (Remix)
12. Crazay (feat. Sly Stone) (Extended Version)
13. Drive Yo Cadillac
14. Love Struck (Dance Mix)

Disc 1, Tracks 1-8 released as Jesse Johnson's Revue - A&M Records SP-5204, 1985
Disc 1, Tracks 9-17 and Disc 2, Track 1 released as Shockadelica - A&M Records SP-5122, 1986
Disc 1, Tracks 2-9 released as Every Shade of Love - A&M Records SP-5188, 1988
Disc 2, Track 10 released on The Breakfast Club (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - A&M Records SP-5045, 1985
Disc 2, Track 11 released on A&M Records 12" SP-12219, 1986
Disc 2, Track 12 released on A&M Records 12" SP-12214, 1986
Disc 2, Track 13 released on "Crazay" single - A&M Records AM 2878, 1986
Disc 2, Track 14 released on A&M Records 12" SP-12265, 1988