Eric Leeds - Times Squared

This is the last of the lossless side-project posts I'm going to be doing here at The Unheard Music, although there will be others at There Are No Kings as that site gets rolling. In fact, I'm hoping to post a little something next week there to start the machines a little early. There will also be an announcement regarding the complete content of the Ridiculously Deluxe Edition of Sign O' The Times sometime next week. It'll probably appear at T.A.N.K. but it'll be here for certain. That post will also contain details as to what I have and some assistance I may be asking regarding the Homemade Deluxe Editions. For now though, Eric Leeds' first solo album, which is really anything but.

Times Squared started life as another Madhouse album. Prince requested that Eric assemble tracks from the vault for a third Madhouse album, one that would be released in place of the already finished 1988 version of 24, and so Eric entered that dimly lit recess of audio secrecy on a mission of recovery! (I'm aiming for dramatic in that last sentence, just in case you didn't notice! :) ) The album Eric assembled was to be named 26 although it may have featured eleven tracks. Prince liked the album and intended to release it, though he felt it seemed more like an Eric Leeds solo album so he told Eric to give the album and tracks proper names for a first solo release.

Despite the album receiving a solo performer credit, it was anything but the work of one man. Prince received writing credits on nine of the songs, Eric on eight, with Levi Seacer Jr. and Sheila E. also receiving credits for tracks two through four. Sheila played drums on several of the tracks and Levi played bass, while Prince played guitars, drums, keyboards and anything else that fancied him. On paper it definitely looked like a Madhouse album, albeit with far more honest credits. It didn't sound like Madhouse though, at least not in the general way that the three Madhouse albums from the eighties did. The grooves were a bit more relaxed and there was a more varied sound throughout, including Sheila's Latin percussion and Prince's synth-heavy production.

Times Squared went nowhere of course, just like most Paisley Park releases despite some push from Warners. It's understandable that Warner Bros. weren't necessarily interested in the "enfant terrible" and his releases, but whatever they did for Eric it would never have been enough. Soft instrumental jazz is simply not big enough in the US to propel a record to the top of the charts, not unless your name is Kenny G. Eric did release one more solo album via Paisley Park, the ironically named Things Left Unsaid. It's worth noting that despite it being released on Paisley Park, Prince only wrote one song for it, making it more of a solo effort on Eric's part than his actual first solo album ever was.


Eric Leeds - Times Squared

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FLAC Part 2

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01 Lines
02 Andorra
03 Night Owl
04 Overnight, Every Night
05 Cape Horn
06 Little Rock
07 Easy Does It
08 The Dopamine Rush
09 Kenya
10 Times Squared
11 Once Upon A Time