What a surprise to see one of my favorite artists being featured by yourselves this month! I am so thrilled to see footage of Sir Rick James I had never seen before! My dad bought 'Street songs' LP in 1981 and from that point onwards I was captivated and hooked by Rick James. I was amazed when reading the backs of his LP's when growing up as he was able to play a range of instruments (clavinet/bass/keyboards/guitars/percussion/harmonica etc, and he gave me music to listen to that was a major deviation from the norm. He gave me some serious punk funk music that has so influenced my musical tastes ever since. He was one of a few artists who played funk, soul and rock in the way that he did and played a wicked rock guitar. He wrote, produced and arranged his music and had artists like 'The Stone City Band', 'The Doo-RaGs' 'The Mary Jane Girls', 'Teena Marie', and 'Val Young' who he also wrote, produced and arranged music for! His backing vocalists included the Pointer Sisters, 'The Colored Girls', and Maxine and Julia Walters! They were brilliant! Tracks like 'Bustin' Out', 'Cop 'N' Blow', 'Hard to get', '69 times', 'Love Gun', 'Come into my life', 'Call me up', 'Pass the joint' and 'Little Runaway' were some of his best work. When I was young listening to his music, my innocence did not enable me to recognise the sexual explicitness of his music, but as I got older, I understood it and embraced it, similar to how I embraced the explicit nature of Marvin Gaye's/Leon Ware's music. I was so in love with Rick James it was unbelievable to my friends and family. "He looks like a weirdo" they wold say and laugh. They were ready for him though. I was listening to 'Bustin'out of L seven' Lp in 1981 when all my friends were listening to Benny Hill, Rod Stewart and Bay City Roller songs (UK Top 40 pop songs).
The lyric that always used to crack me up was in the song "Pass the joint' when he said something like '...they call me a faggot, and me and all my women laugh, HA! HA! HA!' That just says so much about him! I thank Rick James for his confidence, his honesty, his flamboyance and for being outspoken, in interviews and on wax!
For highlighting Sir Rick James on your website, I salute you Sir! I truly miss him.
Peven Everett, keep playing that rock guitar in your tunes broth cos I love it!
I have just spent the last 2 hours watching old skool videos of some awesome artists from the link you have on this page. Although I thought I had watched all of the videos and interviews already, on a number of different occasions, this evening I thought, let me just have another watch of some Rick James. However, to my amazement I found other videos that I had not noticed there before!
Ms Teena Marie! I love this woman with a passion! I had not ever seen old footage of her before so this has been an eventful evening for me after a horrible day at work. The Howard Hewitt and Lady T duet was amazing! Lady T just dominated the stage with her performances! I saw her in concert in London in the early 90's and she was on point! All hail the queen!
And to watch some old skool GAP BAND was absolutely brilliant! Now that is a show I would have loved to have been at! I wonder if they still do concerts because they were intoxicating live!
So, to conclude, I just want to say thanks for compiling these videos and interviews (for me!) as there is a lot of footage there and you could have spent the time boozing it up at the pub, or something!!! (This is a joke!) You selected the artists I spent a lot of my childhood listening too, so I thank you.
Your time and extreme effort, to put all of this together, has been greatly appreciated! You have had me dancing and singing for the last 2 hours! I have been bustin' some serious moves in my living room!
My mum always says, that the good you, will always come back to you! I hope it comes back to you three fold!! Thanks for putting a huge smile on my face as I feel replenished. All I need to do now is listen me some Sir Peven and I am good to go! What a lovely end to a crap day at work. Bye Bye!
3 comments:
WHAT A GREAT SURPRISE!!
What a surprise to see one of my favorite artists being featured by yourselves this month! I am so thrilled to see footage of Sir Rick James I had never seen before! My dad bought 'Street songs' LP in 1981 and from that point onwards I was captivated and hooked by Rick James. I was amazed when reading the backs of his LP's when growing up as he was able to play a range of instruments (clavinet/bass/keyboards/guitars/percussion/harmonica etc, and he gave me music to listen to that was a major deviation from the norm. He gave me some serious punk funk music that has so influenced my musical tastes ever since. He was one of a few artists who played funk, soul and rock in the way that he did and played a wicked rock guitar. He wrote, produced and arranged his music and had artists like 'The Stone City Band', 'The Doo-RaGs' 'The Mary Jane Girls', 'Teena Marie', and 'Val Young' who he also wrote, produced and arranged music for! His backing vocalists included the Pointer Sisters, 'The Colored Girls', and Maxine and Julia Walters! They were brilliant! Tracks like 'Bustin' Out', 'Cop 'N' Blow', 'Hard to get', '69 times', 'Love Gun', 'Come into my life', 'Call me up', 'Pass the joint' and 'Little Runaway' were some of his best work. When I was young listening to his music, my innocence did not enable me to recognise the sexual explicitness of his music, but as I got older, I understood it and embraced it, similar to how I embraced the explicit nature of Marvin Gaye's/Leon Ware's music. I was so in love with Rick James it was unbelievable to my friends and family. "He looks like a weirdo" they wold say and laugh. They were ready for him though. I was listening to 'Bustin'out of L seven' Lp in 1981 when all my friends were listening to Benny Hill, Rod Stewart and Bay City Roller songs (UK Top 40 pop songs).
The lyric that always used to crack me up was in the song "Pass the joint' when he said something like '...they call me a faggot, and me and all my women laugh, HA! HA! HA!' That just says so much about him! I thank Rick James for his confidence, his honesty, his flamboyance and for being outspoken, in interviews and on wax!
For highlighting Sir Rick James on your website, I salute you Sir! I truly miss him.
Peven Everett, keep playing that rock guitar in your tunes broth cos I love it!
Madame X
2Pac's words remain REAL AND TRUE to this day. I miss him.
Madame X
Good evening to one and all,
I have just spent the last 2 hours watching old skool videos of some awesome artists from the link you have on this page. Although I thought I had watched all of the videos and interviews already, on a number of different occasions, this evening I thought, let me just have another watch of some Rick James. However, to my amazement I found other videos that I had not noticed there before!
Ms Teena Marie! I love this woman with a passion! I had not ever seen old footage of her before so this has been an eventful evening for me after a horrible day at work. The Howard Hewitt and Lady T duet was amazing! Lady T just dominated the stage with her performances! I saw her in concert in London in the early 90's and she was on point! All hail the queen!
And to watch some old skool GAP BAND was absolutely brilliant! Now that is a show I would have loved to have been at! I wonder if they still do concerts because they were intoxicating live!
So, to conclude, I just want to say thanks for compiling these videos and interviews (for me!) as there is a lot of footage there and you could have spent the time boozing it up at the pub, or something!!! (This is a joke!) You selected the artists I spent a lot of my childhood listening too, so I thank you.
Your time and extreme effort, to put all of this together, has been greatly appreciated! You have had me dancing and singing for the last 2 hours! I have been bustin' some serious moves in my living room!
My mum always says, that the good you, will always come back to you! I hope it comes back to you three fold!! Thanks for putting a huge smile on my face as I feel replenished. All I need to do now is listen me some Sir Peven and I am good to go! What a lovely end to a crap day at work. Bye Bye!
Remain true and positive...One love
M X
Post a Comment