{"title":"Rick James","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"collected-23","title":"Collected","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRick James\u003c\/strong\u003e, born James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (1948-2004), transformed from draft dodger to funk legend after being signed to Motown’s Gordy Records in 1978.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHis debut album \u003cem\u003eCome Get It!\u003c\/em\u003e delivered the hits \"You and I\" and \"Mary Jane\", but his 1981 masterpiece \u003cem\u003eStreet Songs\u003c\/em\u003e really cemented his legacy with \"Give It to Me Baby\" and \"Super Freak\" (later sampled in MC Hammer’s Grammy-winning U Can’t Touch This).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAll these hits, including \"Glow\", \"Loosey’s Rap\" (feat. the queen of hip hop Roxanne Shanté), \"In The Ghetto\" (with Busta Rhymes), \"Standing On the Top\" (with The Temptations) and the soulful ballad \"Ebony Eyes\" (feat. Smokey Robinson), can be found on this definitive Rick James compilation: \u003cem\u003eCollected\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Music On Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":51657033810251,"sku":"R7226-3129","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"3CD","offer_id":51657033843019,"sku":"R7226-1438","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Screenshot_2025-04-19_at_06.49.12_0872f123-882a-4f0f-bfe7-98843fc4b647.png?v=1752314127"},{"product_id":"street-songs","title":"Street Songs","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Punk funk” was a relatively unknown concept before 1981. But once Street Songs took the charts by storm that year, the world soon knew about what became Rick James’ signature style. And how. True to its name, Street Songs blends outspoken sexuality, brazen attitude, and edgy commentary amid contagious R\u0026amp;B-fueled arrangements that simultaneously aim for the hips, head, and various nether regions. And it’s never sounded better.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSourced from the original master tapes, strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents James’ platinum-certified effort in audiophile quality for the first time. Playing with crisp dynamics, lively textures, airy headroom, and revealing clarity, this collectible edition of the record that stayed at the No. 1 spot on the R\u0026amp;B Album Charts for 20 weeks invites you to get closer to music that beckons you to turn your space into a private dance floor.    \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen again, you’ll likely be so taken by how the taut bass lines, snappy rhythms, and four-on-the-floor beats — all rendered in stunning detail and with full-bodied architecture — come across with such accuracy and presence, you might stay pinned to your seat. On this pressing, the soundstaging, imaging, and lit-fuse energy of Street Songs reach new heights. Everything from the rubbery feel of the guitar lines to the depth of James’ temperature-raising vocals to the scale of the horn charts emerges as if James and his ace session crew set up in your room.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Buffalo native and his ensemble waste no time getting their message across. On the album-opening “Give It to Me Baby,” James and company lay down a mix of sleek funk and pulsing disco that practically activates the bright lights of a discotheque and stimulates the libido of anyone within earshot. Having reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul charts, the song is pure sex — and just one of the carnal delights on a record that embraces the subject as fearlessly as James does his identity.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, the most famous of James’ erotic excursions — the timeless “Super Freak” — hit No. 1 on Hot Dance Club Play charts, No. 16 on the Hot 100, and, later, No. 153 on Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 500 Songs of All Time. Bolstered by a quavering keyboard theme and electro riffs, the much-sampled track worms itself inside your muscles with smile-inducing subject matter, gliding vocals, nimble movements, a hot tenor-saxophone solo, and backing vocals by the Temptations.   The iconic Motown group isn’t the only celebrated guest artist on the Grammy-nominated Street Songs. James’ then-labelmate, Stevie Wonder, lends harmonica to the frank sociopolitical narrative on “Mr. Policeman,” a protest tune that also manages to stroll ’n’ strut via simmering organ, staggering brass accents, and James’ gritty vocal performance. In addition to contributing backing vocals on several cuts, Teena Marie turns in one of the album’s signature moments on “Fire and Desire,” a romantic old-school duet with James that impresses with smoothness, sensitivity, and smokiness.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHigh-profile colleagues aside, James remains the undisputed star, a figure whose leather-and-latex attire, braided hair, and natural swagger made him misunderstood by some in the mainstream and embraced by everyone in the know as a true original. As a testament to his magnetism and skills, his charisma and rawness seemingly seep through every note, whether on the balladic sweep of the risqué “Make Love to Me” or strident, poke-and-prod persuasion of the moonwalking “Call Me Up.”  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the closing “Below the Funk (Pass the J),” an uptempo autobiographical tale that addresses the visionary musician’s second-favorite love, the singer acknowledges his upbringing and inseparable connection with his roots — an homage to where he began and a toast to where he’s gone.  Rick James, keepin’ it real on Street Songs, still as real as it gets.      \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mobile Fidelity","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Black","offer_id":52538073219403,"sku":"R8918-9198","price":89.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":53263523905867,"sku":"RJssCDjpi1","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/rickjamestreesongs__27817.jpg?v=1750966333"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/rick-james.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}