The Time's 1981 debut album found the group of Minneapolis-based Prince affiliates in a formative stage, blending synthesizers with guitars, humor with sex, and rock with funk. This amalgam of seemingly juxtaposing elements wasn't anything incredibly innovative, particularly when one looks at '70s groups such as the Ohio Players or Funkadelic. But even if the Time are merely co-opting a '70s funk approach, they're instilling an undeniable '80s aesthetic -- more studio polish, more prominent use of synthesizer, an emphasis on vanity, and more overt sexual innuendoes. So even if this self-titled debut isn't entirely realized in terms of musical direction, the Time has no doubt stumbled onto something exciting here, particularly given the album's 1981 release date. Furthermore, with "Give It Up," they offer a fully blossomed moment of brilliance among the other five formative songs; this song in particular sums up everything wonderful and worthy of praise about the Time and why they were so influential if not popular: the group's densely layered funk riffs anchored by Terry Lewis' basslines, the dirty-minded lyrics, the catchy singalong chorus, Morris Day's quirky charisma, Jesse Johnson's manic guitar solos, the dual synthesizers, and the underlying near-mechanical drum sound. Furthermore, the song stretched itself to epic lengths, leaving plenty of time for jamming. Nothing else on this album quite compares, though "Cool" molds itself similarly, stretching itself to epic lengths. The shorter songs here aren't really that effective, particularly the ballads -- it's clear even at this point that the group's strengths lie in their instrumentation and not Morris Day's songwriting. Though this isn't a perfect album, none of the Time's small handful of albums were. "Give It Up" by itself makes this self-titled debut worth seeking out; consider the other five songs a bonus.