Someone on the org once referred to Garden of Love as Rick's "fuck you" to Motown. I always LOVED this album; Summer Love and Bigtime are as good as it gets. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I like the album, but listening to it again (via the reissue), it tends to sound a bit empty and lost to me. There are some really good tracks, but it did not have any the magic that some of his previous albums had.

daPrettyman said:

I like the album, but listening to it again (via the reissue), it tends to sound a bit empty and lost to me. There are some really good tracks, but it did not have any the magic that some of his previous albums had.

actually, I think I would agree with you, if I had the album to listen to still (sniveling little rat faced theives.) But I never thought of Garden of Love as an f-u to Motown. I always thought it was more Rick's Secret Life of Plants, which was right around that time. I remember Rick being pissed like Rick would be regarding the poor sales figures for Garden. And then there was Street Songs! I think some of the power in Street Songs is a result of the abysmal failure of Garden. Rick sure had something to prove to the world and himself at that time, so he went home to Buffalo and did some old school wood shedin'! ...came up with the Street album. So - whoop, there it is! Without Garden of Love you have no Street Songs. (Is that a strech Militant?)

daPrettyman said:

I like the album, but listening to it again (via the reissue), it tends to sound a bit empty and lost to me. There are some really good tracks, but it did not have any the magic that some of his previous albums had.

I agree.It's a good album,but not a great one."Big Time" is the best thing on it.

?uestlove calls it "Rick's Sgt.Peppers moment" lol frankly I think Leroy Burggs' tune "Big Time" is the only thing memorable.

I'm, witchall on the "Big Time" opinions (esp. the 12" version).

Weird tho.......I always LOVED that little track "Gettin It On (Reprise)". Specifically the last 1:00 of the song.....Just Rick & the gang high as KITES with a geetar.

JamFanHot said:

I'm, witchall on the "Big Time" opinions (esp. the 12" version).

Weird tho.......I always LOVED that little track "Gettin It On (Reprise)". Specifically the last 1:00 of the song.....Just Rick & the gang high as KITES with a geetar.

I love that "Big Time" 12 Inch which I recently heard on youtube (and recorded it). Somebody needs to post that damn "Love Gun" 12 Inch on youtube so I can hear it and do the same.

vainandy said:

JamFanHot said:

I'm, witchall on the "Big Time" opinions (esp. the 12" version).

Weird tho.......I always LOVED that little track "Gettin It On (Reprise)". Specifically the last 1:00 of the song.....Just Rick & the gang high as KITES with a geetar.

I love that "Big Time" 12 Inch which I recently heard on youtube (and recorded it). Somebody needs to post that damn "Love Gun" 12 Inch on youtube so I can hear it and do the same.

These are officially available on cd now.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CXKPS4/ref=dm_dp_cdp?ie=UTF8&s=music

I really like the "Garden of Love" reissue.

allsmutaside said:

Someone on the org once referred to Garden of Love as Rick's "fuck you" to Motown. I always LOVED this album; Summer Love and Bigtime are as good as it gets. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Yeah Rick said it was his "Fuck You" to motown in his book "Confessions of a Superfreak".

I'm one of the rare Rick James fans that love this album also, Big Time, Mary Go Round, and Don't Give Up On Love are my favs off of it.

daPrettyman said:

vainandy said:

I love that "Big Time" 12 Inch which I recently heard on youtube (and recorded it). Somebody needs to post that damn "Love Gun" 12 Inch on youtube so I can hear it and do the same.

These are officially available on cd now.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CXKPS4/ref=dm_dp_cdp?ie=UTF8&s=music

I really like the "Garden of Love" reissue.

Those things are way too expensive just to get the 12 Inch version. I already have the albums on vinyl.

Abdul said:

allsmutaside said:

Someone on the org once referred to Garden of Love as Rick's "fuck you" to Motown. I always LOVED this album; Summer Love and Bigtime are as good as it gets. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Yeah Rick said it was his "Fuck You" to motown in his book "Confessions of a Superfreak".

He was feuding with Motown at the time and purposely delivered a less-than-brilliant album.The two sides patched things up just in time for the next album: 'Street Songs'.

SoulAlive said:

Abdul said:

Yeah Rick said it was his "Fuck You" to motown in his book "Confessions of a Superfreak".

He was feuding with Motown at the time and purposely delivered a less-than-brilliant album.The two sides patched things up just in time for the next album: 'Street Songs'.

Motown should have beat his ass for the Fire It Up album. I don't blame them for tearing into his ass.

daPrettyman said:

SoulAlive said:

He was feuding with Motown at the time and purposely delivered a less-than-brilliant album.The two sides patched things up just in time for the next album: 'Street Songs'.

Motown should have beat his ass for the Fire It Up album. I don't blame them for tearing into his ass.

lol...you don't like the 'Fire It Up' album?

SoulAlive said:

daPrettyman said:

Motown should have beat his ass for the Fire It Up album. I don't blame them for tearing into his ass.

lol...you don't like the 'Fire It Up' album?

Not really. It's not horrible, but I'll take Garden of Love anyday over that.

daPrettyman said:

SoulAlive said:

He was feuding with Motown at the time and purposely delivered a less-than-brilliant album.The two sides patched things up just in time for the next album: 'Street Songs'.

Motown should have beat his ass for the Fire It Up album. I don't blame them for tearing into his ass.

That's one of my favorite albums.

vainandy said:

daPrettyman said:

Motown should have beat his ass for the Fire It Up album. I don't blame them for tearing into his ass.

That's one of my favorite albums.

I like the music on 'Fire It Up' but I gotta admit,the lyrics are weak.Compare those lyrics to the strong songwriting that we saw on 'Street Songs'.

Guess I'm one of the few people that loves this album too. I think it's better than Fire It Up and it has a great warm sound. Big Time is the jam of course, especially the 12" version, but Mary Go Round and Gettin' It On In The Sunshine are great too!

I first heard Garden of Love last year when it was reissued by Hip-O-Select and I can honestly say that it is one of those records that didn't deserve all the scorning it got. One could mistake 85% of the record, which is comprised of mostly ballads, as completely MOR. But the whole record is a banger. Very soulful and more consistent than Fire It Up, which I wasn't completely crazy about. "Getting It On (In The Sunshine)," "Summer Love" and "Don't Give Up On Love" are just as funky as "Big Time" and "Merry-Go-Round". Overall, it's a concept album as much as Street Songs was.