Rick James - Garden of Love (1980)

Carnal enough to indicate that James' Garden of Love is a different kind to the one Blake found- rather than moral and religious limitations, he's found two dark skinned aliens with the same haircut as him and a creepy light skinned one with cornrows. And lush green! And mushrooms... Not as psych as all that'd suggest, but about as laid-back as this kind of thing can be. REAL laid-back. As much as I'm gripped by Street Songs' chaos, I'm also happy to lay back in the green and watch the warm sunset with Rick James and his aliens and their mushrooms. I mean:

This must be love that I'm goin' through
I can feel it, I can feel it
This must be love
Summer love and you
Could this be love I'm goin' through
Warm as the sun soft as the mornin' dew

how nice! Underrated and a real musical oddity- in parts Garden of Love is more folk than funk. I like it a lot

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Rick James - Street Songs (1981)

The classic one- the cover's not as mesmerizing as Bustin' Out of L Seven which recalls The Ramones' big dumb 80s period, playing Street Fighter at an arcade machine at night, Escape From New York, and The Warriors. Nor as creepy as Throwin' Down which is the end of Poltergeist II meets Mad Max by way of a creepy sexual theme park ride or laser tag. Not as confusing as Garden of Love's surreal take on reggae artwork. BUT I LOVE THOSE BOOTS. OH THE CLASSIC ONE. There's no Mary Jane or epic heartfelt Hollywood! But that doesn't matter. There's a Ghetto Life, and if that's not good enough, a Super Freak. You know what? I'd be happy with even one of them. The fact that it opens with the lesser known (actually a single, whatever) but equally strong Give It to Me Baby just makes the record all the more confident: James is gonna come back from a critical lull (Garden of Love), grabbing the listener's attention and promising he won't let go 'til his 8 tracks are over. His grip weakens (now regretting this analogy) on Mr. Policeman- not because of the message but because it's not quite as good as the ones that come before and after. The final four are solid though. The only problem might've been the seven minute Fire and Desire, but it's crazy epic and touching in its hit those high notes when you've got no more words to sing wooooooooo sugar sugar sugar-ness. His songs don't always grab me (I try to forget about his and Prince's rivalry), but there's always enough chaotic funk and sexual ridiculousness to keep me listening and saying fuck yeah I love Rick James! Street Songs! Mary Jane! Hollywood!

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