I remember when I was a kid listening to "You and I" on the radio. That song was so vibrant and energetic. Even though it had that disco female vocal intro, after that, it quickly let you know what time it was. And that was the funk. It wasn't Parliament type funk, no, it was "punk funk". And it was fun. I rushed out and bought the album. I remember looking at the album cover, digging Rick's costume. It looked like some shit my favorite band at the time, KISS would wear. And I dug that a brother would wear that kind of shit too. But really more than Rick's costume, I was digging that black Les Paul guitar he was holding. I would later get a black Les Paul copy that was identical to that one on the cover. This would serve as my first guitar. While listening to the album, I found another gem, which would be Rick's 2nd single "Mary Jane". The guitar intro to that song and then later in the middle section, sounded like nothing else to me. But also similar in vibe to the guitar intro to "Dr.Funkenstein". I loved "Mary Jane". In my mind, I would picture this girl named Mary Jane. I was just a kid, I didn't know that Mary Jane was a code. The next year, Rick broke loose with "Bustin Out Of L 7". Now, in my mind, there was no mistaking. Rick was digging my band KISS as well. Put this album cover side by side of Kiss's "Destroyer". Not only is the album's artwork in comic book style same as "Destroyer", but check Rick's pose. It's the same as Gene Simmons on "Destroyer" minus the guitar. The hot sexy women chasing Rick is similar in theme to the ladies laying at KISS's feet on the cover of KISS's "Love Gun" album. Rick would later put out a song titled "Love Gun". Rick also went on to say in interviews that he wanted to put on a rock show like KISS so black kids could see this type of show. Anyway, Rick hit hard with "Bustin' Out". The bassline was more Bootsy than "punk funk" with Bootsy's trademark envelope filter Mutron sound. But when Rick put his vocals on it, he blended P-Funk with his "punk funk" sound and it was killing! This song and album gave Rick a harder sound and image and it gave the vibe that Rick James was someone to reckon with.

Oh yes, you know I remember all this well. I never associated Rick's clothes with KISS but now that you mention it, the outfit on that first album looked very KISS inspired.

When you mentioned "Love Gun", that is from one of my favorite Rick James albums, "Fire It Up". Rick was playing the hell out of that guitar. The bass line in "Come Into My Life" absolutely blew me away. This is the track that got me hooked to Rick James.

Yes, Rick came out hard and powerful with his first album "Come Get It" in 1978. I noticed "Bustin' Out Of L Seven" and "Fire It Up" were both released in 1979. Music was not only competitive but talented back then.

It was fun watching Rick's career develop from the first album in 1978 to the massively successful 'Street Songs' in 1981.I remember his singles and albums came out VERY quickly.Every few months,it seems,he had a new album ready for release (sound familiar? LOL).In 1979,he released two albums---'Bustin Out Of L Seven' and 'Fire It Up'---but that was when record companies allowed artists to be prolific and release as much music as possible.There's even several unreleased albums that I know about...


*** a third album by The Mary Jane Girls titled 'Conversation'.Produced and written by Rick in 1986,it remains locked in the vaults.

***a second Warner Bros. album titled 'Kickin',recorded in 1989.It was the follow-up to 'Wonderful'.I think Warners rejected this project and released Rick from his deal.

***an acoustic album recorded in the late 90s,and featuring Lenny Kravitz and Rod Stewart.



Hopefully,some of this music will finally get released someday.

vainandy said:

Hell yeah, I think "Fire It Up" was a killing album and the song "Fire It Up" is one of my fave by Rick.

DavidEye said:

Well, it was standard policy in the 60's and 70's that artists HAD to at least put out 2 albums a year, plus tour, so that would explain why Rick had "Bustin Out" and "Fire It Up" in 79. Great albums.

George also said that he Parliament shows was inspired by Kiss shows, but they took it to a whole different level. I think that is my favorite Rick album cover, with the Les Paul, that is one of my favorite guitars anyway. Good observation

Meloh9 said:

Thanx

don't forget that RJ posed on the cover of throwin' down with a custom gene simmons axe bass. yeah!

fms said:

I was saving that for another thread, but cool, I'm glad u r hip 2 that as well.