SoulAlive said:

I seriously need to check out those Stone City Band albums.I believe they did 2 albums in the early 80s.

They did three albums in the early 80's:

In-N-Out (1980) (My favorite cut off it is "Strut Your Stuff")

The Boys Are Back (1981) (My favorite cut off it is the new wave punk funk remake of the Kinks hit "All Day and All Of The Night")

Out From The Shadow (1983) (My favorite cut off it is "Bad Lady")

[Edited 5/6/19 17:30pm]

SoulAlive said:

Wow! I wish all three albums could be compiled and released as a CD box set.

Yeah that would be cool, so far they only got the digital versions of those albums on Amazon, maybe one day Soul!

ReddBlitz said:

At the time, RJ was the shizzznit!!! What a brilliant and a genius of an artist he was. RJ had such a wall of sound that will forever remain a class in itself. Too bad Motown didn't fully get in behind him as much. A lot of his albums should've sold a lot more than what it did. Not to mention his protégées. [Edited 5/8/19 0:42am]

Motown has been known to downplay sells to secretly pocket the profits. They did it to Teena Marie. Not to mention how they ruined Taimak's career who had the potential to be the black Bruce Lee.

I'll never forget that magical summer of '81.So many amazing jams that summer! Rick was on top with his excellent Street Songs album."Ghetto Life" is my favorite Rick James song.

SoulAlive said:

I'll never forget that magical summer of '81.So many amazing jams that summer! Rick was on top with his excellent Street Songs album."Ghetto Life" is my favorite Rick James song.

And I was at EVERY show that hit my city on the 'Street Songs" tour. It was a VERY special summer for Rick indeed but he NEVER saw that success again.

in 1982,Rick gave the Temptations an amazingly funky comeback hit,"Standing On The Top".

check out his Bustin' Out Of L7 album....that's one of his best

Nobody ever mentions his time in The Great White Cane but there's some good songs in there.

I'm a HUGE Rick James fan; and no one ever mentions 'Glow', decent album, some great songs and an awesome title track. I always felt that it really highlighted Rick's creativity. I always felt that that song should've been a little bigger than it was.

mrpunkfunk said:

I'm a HUGE Rick James fan; and no one ever mentions 'Glow', decent album, some great songs and an awesome title track. I always felt that it really highlighted Rick's creativity. I always felt that that song should've been a little bigger than it was.

I agree,the Glow album is underrated.It's a solid album and yeah,the title track is superb.

speaking of Glow.....I just found this on Rick James' facebook page right now

“Next to GARDEN OF LOVE, GLOW may be the most underrated album of Rick James' career.” - AllMusic

On this day in 1985, Rick’s ninth studio album GLOW hit stores via Motown Records!

SoulAlive said:

There is some circulating footage from Rick’s 1981 Long Beach,CA shows.These shows are legendary and he often performed a 20-minute version of “Fire And Desire” with Teena Marie during that tour.Would be so cool if his estate could release that footage on blu-ray.

He did I was in attendance of that very show.

SoulAlive said:

speaking of Glow.....I just found this on Rick James' facebook page right now

“Next to GARDEN OF LOVE, GLOW may be the most underrated album of Rick James' career.” - AllMusic

On this day in 1985, Rick’s ninth studio album GLOW hit stores via Motown Records!

I agree. 'Garden of Love' is VERY underrated as well. Rick was just never able to really 'crossover' after the 'Thriller'/'Purple Rain' era.

SoulAlive said:

MotownSubdivision said:

SoulAlive said:

‘Street Songs’ and the “Superfreak” single were his best chances at crossing over.I don’t think he cared too much.I recall an early-80s interview where he said “I could easily do a rock album and expand my audience,but why would I abandon the funk fans who enjoy my music?”.

I always felt that way as well; we make a bigger deal out of his crossocer appeal than Rick himself did. That would have gone hand in hand with him saying he didn't want to be a token black just to land on MTV.

I still wish that he had done a 'rock' album, just to show how versitile he was as a musician. Rick saw MTV as a racist institution, and he didn't want to deal with them; I think Prince and MJ overlooked this because they understood how important it was as a platform.

Rick also got deeper into his drug addiction, and his music ultimately suffered for it. But all in all, Rick was a giant. I feel like he was very capable of maintaining his 'pop stardom' throughout the 80's and beyond; had he stayed clear headed.

I love all of his albums, but by the time he got to 'Wonderful', he was clearly not in the right headspace.

mrpunkfunk said:

MotownSubdivision said:

SoulAlive said: I always felt that way as well; we make a bigger deal out of his crossocer appeal than Rick himself did. That would have gone hand in hand with him saying he didn't want to be a token black just to land on MTV.

I still wish that he had done a 'rock' album, just to show how versitile he was as a musician. Rick saw MTV as a racist institution, and he didn't want to deal with them; I think Prince and MJ overlooked this because they understood how important it was as a platform.

Rick also got deeper into his drug addiction, and his music ultimately suffered for it. But all in all, Rick was a giant. I feel like he was very capable of maintaining his 'pop stardom' throughout the 80's and beyond; had he stayed clear headed.

I love all of his albums, but by the time he got to 'Wonderful', he was clearly not in the right headspace.

"Wonderful" which had Rick dressing like Prince(r.i.p.) was a great album. It's still in my playlist today.

mrpunkfunk said:

I remember the last time I saw Rick perform on Jun 26, 2004. Morris Day & The Time was on the same bill. It was on tour with Teena whom headlined. She had brought him on tour with her. It was obvious he wasn't doing well. He could barely get through the set. It was so heartbreaking to me

first seeing him strutting across the stage back in 1981 with Teena on the HOTTEST ticket in town "Street Songs" tour. He would be dead only two months later.

Now ALL my favorite artist from that era is gone. Prince,Teena & Rick. Only ones left that I support are Janet & D'angelo....

[Edited 5/25/19 8:33am]

[Edited 5/26/19 12:44pm]

mrpunkfunk said:

SoulAlive said:

I'll never forget that magical summer of '81.So many amazing jams that summer! Rick was on top with his excellent Street Songs album."Ghetto Life" is my favorite Rick James song.

....and don't forget Teena Marie's "It Must Be Magic", which came out around the same time as 'Street Songs'. I wore those LPs out that summer!

yep,during that summer,Teena was riding high too.Her It Must Be Magic album is excellent."Square Biz" was a massive hit! Damn,I wish I could have seen that tour.....it was the hottest ticket in town!

I remember reading an interview with Rick where he was asked about doing a rock album. He said he always wanted to "put on some jeans" and "turn the amps up" but his black audience wouldn't go for it. He probably could have had a "punk funk/rock" side project with his guitarist Tom McDermott. He's an excellent guitarist.

SoulAlive said:

I remember his 1986 album ‘The Flag’ was the first Rick James album that I was disappointed with.It seemed as if he was on autopilot.The production was so formulaic and cold.

The Flag is terrible.

I remember losing my cassette copy and not really caring if it was found or not.

RobotFix said: