Is there a reason that most of Rick James' albums are out of print? As far as I know Street Songs is the only one to be reissued with extra goodies. Is there a legal hangup or does whoever owns the masters (Universal?) just not think it's worthwhile? Ever since he died I've been expecting his catalogue to get an upgrade but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I finally gave up and downloaded his (nearly) complete discography and am really loving it.

Street Songs is the only one remastered and available as Deluxe Edition, with a bonus live disc. A couple of other albums are also available on CD, but they are not remastered. Dunno when Motown is gonna wise up and start remastering his whole catalogue...

TonyVanDam said:

Yeah, I have the remastered Street Songs but I was kind of shocked to hear how good the rest of his stuff was. He kind of lost it on The Flag but other than that there's a lot of great funk on his 1978-1985 albums. Plus he always threw in a couple of great ballads.It seems very strange that there hasn't been a series of comprehensive reissues. I'm not saying that every disc needs to be a 2 cd set but there are plenty of 12" mixes that could be included as bonus tracks. Throw in some demos and/or live tracks and price them around ten bucks and I'd be happy to buy them.

rialb said:

co-sign

Rick James

Last year or so,I heard that there are plans for Deluxe Editions of Rick's albums,but I don't know when it's gonna be released.We need to put pressure on Motown/Universal to get it done.They're dragging their heels.

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Motown should be ashamed of themselves.I can't believe the way they treat their catalog.I just don't understand....why can't they remaster these CDs and get it out there??!! Rick James and The Commodores were two of their most successful artists and yet,it's nearly impossible to find their classic albums on CD!

SoulAlive said:

Man, I'd love to get Garden Of Love and Fire It Up on CD, not to mention Deluxe Editions of Come Get It and Bustin Out Of L Seven

SoulAlive said:

Cocaine is a helluva drug

FuNkeNsteiN said:

I can imagine a 2-CD Deluxe Edition of 'Throwin' Down'

SoulAlive said:

Oh and, go vote in my "Battle of the male soul vocal groups" thread

FuNkeNsteiN said:

lol,I just did!

A BOX SET.....
A "BALLADS COLLECTION".....
DELUXE EDITIONS.....
RE-MASTERS.....
MAN, MOTOWN IS FU**IN' UP!!!!!

in January 2007,Rick's business manager Ron Kramer told Billboard:

"There is more unreleased James music in the vault and I am interested in working with Universal to compile deluxe editions of the artist's back catalog"

Bring it on,then!!!!

SoulAlive said:

Sowhat said:

that would be amazing,huh? There's alot of bonus material that they could place on Disc 2....the full-length,extended version of "Standing On The Top"....the unreleased track "Big Day"....extended versions of the singles from this album...Rick's 1982 duet with Chaka Khan "Slow Dancin"....and any other goodies in the vault,from this period.


...
[Edited 2/22/08 6:23am]

SoulAlive said:

I love that song! I finally got the original version on CD on some compilation (I forget which one at the moment). I also have a remix version on a Chaka Khan dance remix CD.

Sowhat said:

Smooth Grooves Volume 9? I have that one too

SoulAlive said:

That's the one!!!!!

Sowhat said:

That's a cool compilation,huh?

There's also a 12 Inch version of "69 Times".

vainandy said:

Really? I never knew.

vainandy said:

They should throw that on there,too There might even be an extended version of "Hard To Get" in the vaults somewhere.

I used to have the 45 which was slightly different than the album version. If I recall correctly, I think I remember hearing an even longer version similar to the 45 version.

In the 1990s, I should have never given away a lot of my 45s just because I had the album. I had forgotten that some of them were different than the album. Not to mention that most of the Rick James 45s of the 1980s had an instrumental side on the back that I used to make my own remixes to.

BlaqueKnight said:

That's cold blooded to joke about Slick Rick like that. So what if he does have some rolling paper out in his memory.

Fire It Up!

BlaqueKnight said: