Street Songs

Street Songs: Deluxe Edition includes four 12 inch mixes and a live bonus disc.
Personnel includes: Rick James (vocals, arranger, guitar, bass, drums, timbales, timpani, percussion); Teena Marie (vocals); Alonzo Miller (spoken vocals); Tom McDermott (guitar, percussion); Larry Hansen (violin); Daniel LeMelle (flute, alto & tenor saxophones); John Ervin (flute, trombone); Gerald Albright (flute); Cliff Ervin (piccolo, trumpet, flugelhorn); Stevie Wonder (harmonica); William Rhinehart (saxophone, background vocals); Erskine Williams (Clavinet, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards); Levi Ruffin, Jr. (OBX synthesizer, strings, background vocals); Donny Keider (vibraphone); Narada Michael Walden, Steve Price (drums); Armando Peraza (percussion); The Temptations, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, Jane't DuBois (background vocals).
Producer: Rick James.
Reissue producer: Harry Weinger.
Engineers include: Tom "Super" Flye, Rick "Port Hole" Sanchez, Bobby Brooks.
Recorded at The Record Plant, Sausalito, California; Motown/Hitsville U.S.A. Hollywood, California; The Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California between December 1980 and July 1981. Originally released on Gordy (G8-1002M1). Includes liner notes by Craig Werner.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Personnel: Rick James (vocals, arranger, guitar, bass, drums, timbales, timpani, percussion); Teena Marie (vocals); Tom McDermott (guitar, percussion); Larry Hansen (violin); Danielle, LeMelle (flute, alto & tenor saxophones); John Ervin (flute, trombone); Gerald Albright (flute); Cliff Ervin (piccolo, trumpet, flugelhorn); Roy Roper, Fernando Harkless (trumpet); Stevie Wonder (harmonica); Erskine Williams (Clavinet, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards); Levi Ruffin, Jr. (string synthesizer); Donny Keider (vibraphone); Oscar Alston (bass, percussion); Narada Michael Walden, Steve Price, Lanise Hughes (drums); Nate Hughes, Bugsy Wilcox, Armando Peraza, Raul Rekow (percussion); The Temptations, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, Janet DuBois (background vocals).
Recorded at The Record Plant, Sausalito, California and Motown Studios, Hollywood, California between December 1980 & January 1981. Originally released on Gordy (1002M-1). Includes liner notes by Craig Werner.
Although he is remembered almost as much for his legal problems and wild image as he is for his music, Rick James laid down some truly unassailable funk in the 1970s and '80s. 1981's STREET SONGS was probably his finest moment, and its 20th anniversary was celebrated by the release of this DELUXE EDITION. James pared away all the fat on this release to give us jams as transcendent as "Super Freak," "Give It To Me Baby," and "Fire and Desire," a duet with Teena Marie. Those three tracks alone should be enough to raise the disc to iconic status.
The two-disc DELUXE EDITION, however, also includes 12-inch mixes of "Super Freak" and "Give It to Me Baby," which are near-perfect extended dancefloor workouts.
The second disc presents a wealth of unreleased live material (recorded at a concert in California), which captures James and his band at the peak of their powers. Add to all this meticulously remastered sound and you have a funk classic raised to the level of perfection.