The Time of their lives

By Joe Brown

Thursday, July 31, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The Time is now. The place is Las Vegas.

The Strip has been the location and motivation for all kinds of showbiz resurrections, revivals and replicas. The unexpected comeback of the original lineup of The Time is one of the hottest, happiest onstage reunions this town has seen in years — it puts the fun back in funk.

Dapper, debonair, natty, snazzy, spiffy (fly, even), the seven Time-keepers are the sharpest-dressed showmen this side of “Jersey Boys.” And as they conclude their 15-show stand at the Flamingo Showroom on Saturday, after an absence of 18 years, they look and sound untouched by, well, time.

Time out

Former Prince proteges, The Time epitomized the 1980s “Minneapolis sound” that, with its snapping funk and vintage keyboard sounds, had the prints of Prince all over it. They released four albums and appeared in the 1984 Prince epic “Purple Rain.”

After the purple majesty fired keyboard player Jimmy Jam and bass player Terry Lewis in 1983 because they missed a show (they were stalled by a snowstorm), The Time frittered away. Jam and Lewis went on to become a dynamic production team with a signature sound, creating Janet Jackson’s biggest hits. Extraordinary guitarist Jesse Johnson scored big with several solo funk-rock albums. Lead singer Morris Day also went solo.

Time machine

Preening as always, comically vain frontman Day showed off a silver and black brocade jacket. “This is a pimp suit, by the way,” Day informed the Flamingo audience Tuesday night. “Las Vegas, do you like it? That’s good, because you bought it!”

His “hype man” and comic foil, crowd favorite Jerome Benton, played Day’s valet, and upstaged his “boss” at every opportunity, mirroring Day’s moves, appreciating bandmates and flirting with the audience.

Superstar producers Jam and Lewis looked at home and happy to be back with their band, which includes drummer Jellybean Johnson, “Piano Man” Monte Moir and Jesse Johnson, a baby-faced Prince doppleganger in a black frock coat and batwing shades.

Time pieces

Dusting off all the hits any Time-watcher could hope for, including “Cool,” “777-9311,” “The Walk” and “The Bird,” plus some playful rhythm workouts, the group looked loose and played tight, sounding impeccably old-school (Jam says they’re using their original ’80s keyboards) and still utterly fresh.

To ensure audience interest in a new number called “See-through,” a tribute to ladies in all hues (“What color do I like? See-through!”), Day brought on a trio of Paris-ites in sheer black teddies, who set immediately to grinding behind him and jumping up and down in high heels.

Not to be outdone, Benton prowled the audience, cherry-picking a baker’s dozen of ladies in all shapes and sizes onstage to form a chorus line. All of them were more than willing to shake it to “Ice Cream Castles,” and Benton turned a few of them 180 degrees for a booty revue. One woman, clearly one of The Time’s biggest fans (or at least one of their larger ones), grabbed Benton from behind, keeping him helplessly, hilariously captive.

The Time is a show band, and the human-scaled Flamingo Showroom is a near-perfect setting for it. The only drawback is that The Time’s set is a readymade dance party, and the Showroom is pretty much a sit-down setup. By the end of the 90-minute set, tables were pushed back and everyone was on his feet, bouncing to “Jungle Love” and shouting its unshakable “oh-ee-oh-ee-oh” hook.

Timeless

After a one-off appearance at the 50th annual Grammy Awards in February, the band members, all of them between 45 and 51, started talking about making a new album, which led to settling on Vegas as the site to stage a comeback.

“The response (to the Grammy performance) was very flattering,” says Jimmy Jam after the Flamingo show. “We had a lot of different offers to tour, but being a bit older, with everybody having families and other obligations, it was tough to get everybody to commit to a tour.” Flamingo President Don Marrandino made them an offer: Bring your families in, you can stay in one place and play the Showroom, with its old-school Vegas vibe.

Aside from enjoying the swimming pools every day, Jam says the big bonus of playing Vegas is that his three kids — a 12-year-old son and 8-year-old twins, a boy and a girl — could see every single show.

“We hadn’t played in 18 years,” he says. “My kids didn’t know that I played in a band, and I think it’s the same way with Terry’s kids and Jesse’s kids.

“Forget about Daddy,” Jam says, laughing. “My kids are Jesse Johnson fans.”

The time is right, Jam says. “Everybody’s getting along really well. And I think we all have a feeling of ‘if not now, when?’ Someone asked me the other day what are we working on, productionwise. And I said, ‘We’re doing a Time album. That’s our project now.’ We’re not looking at the fact that 18 years has passed in between; we’re approaching it as the follow-up to (their past album, in 1990) ‘Pandemonium.’ ”

Time’s up

My only regret is that I waited this long to see them. Get over there soon, while we still have The Time.