Since recently seeing Teena Marie in London doing 'Give it to Me' as tribute to Rick James I dug out Street Songs and it struck me what a fantastic combination of melody and funk Rick hit on Ghetto Life, truly magnificent and produced at the time when Prince was making Dirty Mind.

THE. JAM.

Every song on 'Street Songs' is superb."Ghetto Life" is my second favorite song on this album.

SoulAlive said:

And your fave?

clarityman said:

"Give It To Me,Baby".

Sweet track, on a sweet album!

SoulAlive said:

Agreed - and it just get's better with every listen

The first time I ever paid attention to Rick James was the summer "Street Songs" came out. I was in SC, and "Superfreak" came on the radio. I was like immediately, and my cousin Lesia teased me because I had never heard of Rick James. (I was 14 at the time- she was about 18 or 19).
I came back to NJ, and eagerly awaited the release. I was hooked! Each time I got my allowance, I'd buy one of the previous ones!
Subsequently, his albums always came out in August, so I'd get them for my birthday every year!

Love me some Rick!

'Street Songs' was Slick Rick at his best.

'Call Me Up' - YEAH!

we jammed on Rick from his first record (Come Get It)....and harder on Fire It Up.....but THIS was nuclear.....that shit was ALL over radio that summer of '81....nothing he did after that (or before) had that much electricity.

Too bad main stream pop missed the party. For those of you that weren't there.....the closest you'll get to the "feeling" & the sheer force that Rick was live...is the second disc of "Street Songs" special edition (with the live tracks from the Long Beach shows).

I thank GOD...for all that's been said bout Rick...that those got released & bear testament to what he was musically (esp live).

Amazing performer..one of the top 3 of his era....& not credited as such often enough.

JamFanHot said:

I was at that second disk show in Long beach and it was better in person. That second disk don't capture the full experience. But your right that whole summer was Rick James & Teena. It was kind of like the Purple Rain summer in 84. But more intensified.Just no video music channels. This was right before MJ hit it big & Prince....Rick paved the way for what was to come later with other black music superstars. That was the only year he was that big 81.....

I always feel this "gush" when I hear the crowd EXPLODE & Rick says "AWWWWW L.A.!!!!!".....

For SO MANY that didn't git to see em live.....SO HAPPY that shit got released....it's our ONLY testimony, y'all.....to how AWESOME Rick was as a live act. Those shows were funk bee-YOND. Into the wee hours on many dates.

the shows on that set are a primo glimpse. If you ain't hip.....worth the DL time. Rick was all that.

also...for any doubters....I have a soundbourd live set of Rick on the "Fire It Up" tour.

He was amazing. R.I.P. Rick.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Yep,the summer of '81 was Rick's heyday,he was ON FIRE that summer! 'Street Songs' was the album that everyone was into.There was something really special about that summer.Alot of R&B artists and bands released outstanding songs and albums.I'll never forget that summer!

One of my favourite songs ever
[Edited 2/16/10 2:33am]

"Ghetto Life" (album version)



"Ghetto Life"---LIVE IN GERMANY 1982

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Can you believe that "Fire And Desire" was never a single? Motown knew that it was extremely popular and getting alot of airplay already,so they didn't release it as a single because they wanted people to buy the entire album instead.This strategy worked.'Street Songs' sold around 3 million copies,if I'm not mistaken.

The album was filled with potential singles ("Call Me Up") but they made the right decision in not releasing many singles.

SoulAlive said:

Fire & Desire was too long 2 b a single. It was about 7 minutes long. That song couldn't be edited down. It wouldn't have worked.

JamFanHot said:[quote]also...for any doubters....I have a soundbourd live set of Rick on the "Fire It Up" tour.
quote]

I'd like to hear that

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

It could have. Motown was just too lazy to do it and like Soul said it
was great marketing strategy not to do it.

street song sold 7 million copies not 3. i was on this tour with the promoters at this time and i have to tell you guys it was a blast.

jackson35 said:

Wow! I bet u have some behind the scenes juicy stories.....

Cotontige said:[quote]

JamFanHot said:

It's cool.....and raw. Not as good as the infamous shows that got released on Steet Songs Deluxe....but good times. Sister Sledge opening.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

"Ghetto Life" was a single, but it didn't chart.
http://cgi.ebay.com/45rpm...334b46be49

You may be getting it confused with "Fire and Desire". It was never officially released as a single.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

It was divided into 2 parts on the 8-track and could have easily been edited for a single release. I guess it didn't matter because radio played it anyway.

daPrettyman said:

Oh ok!

Street Songs = fantastic album.

"Ghetto Life" is one of my favorite Rick tracks.

I remember seeing the 45 for "Ghetto Life" in one of the stores. Same here about the radio though...R&B radio in my area played every single song from the album except "Pass The J". Back then, radio was good at playing non-single tracks. In those days, radio didn't play hits, they made hits.

Wasn't Ghetto Life like one of the last singles
released from Street Songs.