Color Of Success
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Album Summary
Morris Day, the flamboyant, mirror-checking, comb-sliding frontman of The Time, stepped out from behind the velvet curtain of Minneapolis royalty and delivered 'Color of Success' in 1985 on Warner Bros. Records — his debut solo statement to the world. Coming off the cultural earthquake that was Prince's 'Purple Rain' in 1984, Day had the whole nation knowing his name and loving every slick second of it. He took that momentum and poured it straight into this record, crafting something that lived deep in the Minneapolis funk tradition — that irresistible blend of smooth R&B, hard-grooving dance-funk, and the kind of suave, comedic charisma that made Morris Day unlike anyone else working in Black popular music at the time. This was a man stepping into his own spotlight, and he made sure that spotlight was perfectly lit.
Reception
- The album performed moderately on the pop charts, riding the considerable wave of Day's post-Purple Rain visibility, though it found its most natural and enthusiastic home on the R&B side of the dial.
- Critical reception landed in mixed-to-positive territory, with reviewers consistently tipping their hats to Day's undeniable charisma and the polished, precision-engineered funk production that anchored the record.
- Some critics noted a transitional quality to the album, as Day was actively carving out a solo identity distinct from The Time — a creative evolution that takes courage and deserves respect in hindsight.
Significance
- 'Color of Success' stands as one of the earliest solo declarations of independence to emerge from Prince's extended Minneapolis funk circle in the wake of Purple Rain, making it a genuine artifact of one of pop music's most fertile creative moments.
- Morris Day used this record to stake his claim as a fully realized solo entertainer, fusing R&B sophistication with a comedic, high-style persona that would leave fingerprints on later artists who understood that swagger and humor are not opposites of soul — they are part of it.
- The album reflects the mid-1980s commercial R&B landscape at a pivotal crossroads, where the Minneapolis Sound was stretching its arms wide, pulling funk, pop, and dance music into a single irresistible groove for mainstream audiences hungry for something with both style and substance.
Tracklist
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A Color Of Success —
4:11
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B Color Of Success (Instrumental Mix) —
5:11
Artist Details
Morris Day is the undeniably slick frontman of Morris Day and The Time, the Minneapolis funk outfit that rose to prominence in the early 1980s under the wing of Prince and his Paisley Park universe, bringing a sharp-dressed, mirror-gazing brand of funk and R&B that had folks losing their minds on dance floors from coast to coast. With their 1981 self-titled debut and the stone-cold grooves of tracks like Jungle Love and The Bird, The Time carved out their own irreplaceable lane — equal parts James Brown swagger, cool-cat theatrics, and Minneapolis funk precision — leaving a mark on the decade that still echoes through hip-hop, R&B, and neo-soul today. Morris Day himself became a full-blown cultural icon, his comedic charisma and undeniable cool immortalized in the 1984 film Purple Rain, cementing his place not just in music history, but in the soul of a generation that knew how to party right.
