UB Celebrates ‘Jesse Johnson’s Revue’ 40th Anniversary
There Was Literally No Other Album Like It Before.
This year, one of the greatest albums ever recorded, “Jesse Johnson’s Revue,” a staple of the Minneapolis Sound, will celebrate it’s 40th Anniversary.
“Jesse Johnson’s Revue” was an album, where there was literally no other album like it before then.
There had been groundbreaking albums such as “Thriller” and “Purple Rain” the year before. However the amount of musicianship displayed on “Jesse Johnson’s Revue” was unmatched!
The album was an exceptional debut album, from a singer/songwriter and musician.
With everything from the production, the live instrumentation, the hooks, melodies, arrangements and vocals. The album still stands the test of time, and sounds just as good today.
Jesse Johnson was born in Rock Island, Illinois, but cut his musical teeth in East St. Louis, Ill & St. Louis, Mo.
He started playing guitar and taught himself to play by listening to recordings of Funkadelic, B.B. King, Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, just to name a few of his favorites.
Jesse credits various biker bars and nightclubs around the Midwest that provided the canvas for him to hone his craft and develop his unique style of guitar playing and blending of musical genres.
It was in one of those many bars & clubs, that a promoter took notice of the guitarist and suggested he venture to Minneapolis, MN, which was in the midst of becoming a musical hotbed for major record company A&R reps. Taking up residence at the local downtown MPLS YMCA (April 1981), he eventually joined the local band “Enterprise” which included an unknown Morris Day on drums and Sueann Carwell on lead vocals. It was Morris who orchestrated Jesse’s first meeting with the legendary Prince.
Prince was in the midst of recording an album for Morris and was in search of a musical counter part to complete the duo that was originally named: “The Nerve” (The first mastered vinyl refs actually read, “The Nerve”, but the name was already taken. That’s how “The Time” name came to be.)
When Jesse offered to audition, Prince responded: “No need, Morris speaks highly of your playing and I feel your look will work perfectly for this project I’m developing.”
Jesse Johnson on the other hand, really didn’t know what to think, for he had not a clue who Prince was at that time. It’s early 1981 and Jesse was fresh out of a local Iowa rock & roll band, “P i lot” and was coming from a small Midwest town, (Ridgeview, Iowa) with a Population less than 32,000 and was lacking exposure to R&B radio stations. Iowa at the time was mostly comprised of classic rock stations.
Being a season player was one thing, and that, surely, Jesse Johnson was, but playing guitar in The Time, a national act provided the guitarist unimaginable opportunities such as: Signing to WB Records, a successful charting record, selling Gold status, worldwide notoriety, performing to large audiences worldwide, and most importantly learning how to craft and record songs.
However Jesse left The Time after finishing “Purple Rain” and The Time’s “Ice Cream Castles” to pursue a solo career.
Jesse Johnson‘s first published work was “Bite The Beat” by Vanity 6.
His early songwriting development, can be heard in compositions he co-wrote with Prince such as: The Time’s, “The Bird” “Ice Cream Castles” and “If The Kid”.
During that time, Jesse Johnson also wrote and produced the song “Fast Girls” for Janet Jackson. The song was the second single released from her sophomore album “Dream Street.” Janet had been a huge fan of Jesse and The Time, since attending a concert when she was a teen with her mother.
Janet continued to collaborate with members of The Time; Monte Moore and of course Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
With the help and guidance of manager Owen Husney, Jesse Johnson dove into producing and writing his first solo album for A&M Records, entitled “Jesse Johnson’s Revue.”
The album was released on February 11th, 1985 via A&M Records.
His solo efforts proved to be another successful move. “Jesse Johnson’s Revue” produced three Top 10 singles, “Be Your Man”, “Can You Help Me” and “I Want My Girl.”
The album went Gold and peaked at #43 on the Billboard 200 and at #8 on the Billboard R&B chart.
The three singles that were released, “Be Your Man”, “Can You Help Me” and “I Want My Girl,” were without a doubt the albums strongest songs. Another thing, they got right!
The video for the lead single “Be Your Man,” starts off like a movie with the guys arriving in the Pink Cadillac.
With the choreography steps while they’re playing the instruments, the Jheri curls, just the whole clip.
The following video release “I Want My Girl,” really led off like a theatrical film, with a single-camera production.
A The Time reunion album, also to be released on A&M was in the works during that era. Which was to also include a tour, and a film.
But Jesse Johnson didn’t seem enthused at the time as he was promoting his debut album; “A Time reunion is not something to dream about,” he told Billboard at the time. “I don’t miss The Time that much. I listen to the sound checks and the unreleased material, so I have The Time anytime I want. I think if we came together now we’d be a great band. I was one of the few guys in the band to write for the Time. I wrote “Jungle Love” and played all the instruments on the track. Prince had another tune called “Jungle Love” that wasn’t happening. He took the title and lyric to that song and put them over my groove. I would consider doing [the reunion], but only if my thing is successful.”
That reunion album didn’t happen and went on to release the Platinum “Shockadelica” the following year and “Every Shade of Love” in 1988, which reached Gold status.
In 1990, all of the original members of The Time finally reunited for the album “Pandemonium.”
Jesse honored the late great Prince at the Prince Celebration 2019, he stated after: “The first time I was in Paisley Park, Prince ran up to me and whispered “Man I’m glad someone else is here that can dress. He showed me all around his building, it was amazing and I told him he did a great job.” Jesse went on to say; “He was most proud of his sound stage and stated if he had $10 -11million more he could have made the ceiling move like Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios.”
Take A Trip Down Memory Lane With “Jesse Johnson’s Revue!”
