LP Review: Come Get It!
Released: 1978
Well this was (mostly) one helluva debut album from Rick James and his Stone City Band. The people did indeed go get this album as it was certified gold by the RIAA and Billboard magazine divined that it attained peaks of #3 R&B and #13 pop.
Come Get It! has got its share of derivative P-Funk, but which aspiring funk artist in the late 1970s wasn’t copping some style from George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell & company?
The influence is most detectable on the opening “Stone City Band, Hi!” as the playful chanted vocals are straight from a Bootsy’s Rubber Band LP. It’s a good harmless jam setting the stage for the album’s real first song, “You And I”. Its introduction gives a nod to disco with the female vocalists giving some peppy “do do do, do do dos”, peppy rhythm guitar jangling away, and peppy bongos banging away. However, it then quickly drops into some decided funk. Albeit heavily danceable funk that’s anchored by a monstrous bass (both of the guitar and synthesized variety).
I thoroughly enjoy this tune even if it overstays its welcome (8:04). Should have pulled the plug around the 4:00 mark because thereafter there are intermittently interesting instrumental solos, but the groove isn’t that good and the solos not that interesting to justify four minutes of uninterrupted vampin’ and jammin’.
Released as James’s first single, “You And I” reached #1 R&B, #3 disco, and #13 pop.
On the heels of “You And I” comes “Sexy Lady”, which is about a timeless musical subject: prostitution. The song has serious vibes from funk band Slave, albeit with less sinister bass. Of course, no band could match the sinister bass of Slave. Anyways, “Sexy Lady” also has more nods to P-Funk with helium fueled backing vocals.
Side 1 closes with James’s first ballad: “Dream Maker”. For a man with limited vocal prowess, James is able to make the most of this slow jam. And drops in some great hooks like “visions of love-making become so breath-taking”. Not content to be totally original, this song has many shades of Norman Connors’s “You Are My Starship”.
And the second side of the album opens with the unabashed disco pop of “Be My Lady”. It’s not better than these other songs, but it’s so much fun. Extra points for the breakdown that begins with James giving a shout out to his hometown: “In Buffalo, New York, we got a thing we do when we party and it goes like this…”
And now we get the album’s most famous song: “Mary Jane”. A love song about marijuana, this thing sounds like three songs stitched together. There’s the opening that’s very much rock n roll. Then there’s the main part of the song that’s mid-tempo R&B ballad. And then there’s the outro that’s reggae-lite. These pieces aren’t seamless in their transitions, but the song works in spite of that. I credit the peppy flute.
“Mary Jane” was the second single from the album: #3 R&B and #41 pop.
And now we get what is easily the album’s worst song: “Hollywood”. This overwrought ballad fully exposes James’s vocal limits, which were ably hidden on “Dream Maker”. The previous ballad had some fine backing vocals and James kept his voice within his natural range. On “Hollywood” he tries hitting some notes he can’t hit and also stretches out in areas he can’t stretch. Plus the song just drags along like a snail. I can’t emphasize enough how much it sucks.
After that dreadful marathon track—7:33 long!—the album finishes up with a reprise of “Stone City Band, Hi!” appropriately called “Stone City Band, Bye!”.
ALBUM GRADE: B-
This was a fine album with two major weak points. The second half of “You And I” dragging on too long is the first major weakness. But that’s ultimately forgivable, since the first half of the song was such a jam.
What’s unforgivable is the atrocious “Hollywood”. No redeeming value in that song at all… except that it comes at the end of the album, so you can just cut things off when it starts sullying your eardrums.
Anyways, since “Hollywood” is the only bad song here, and it is bad, and all the other tracks are at least good, this album merits a solid B-. It’s very different than the Rick James most folks know from the early 1980s, but it is still Rick James… albeit with his influences being worn heavily on his sleeve.
Song Scores
Stone City Band, Hi!: 7/10
You And I: 7/10
Sexy Lady: 7/10
Dream Maker: 7.5/10
Be My Lady: 7/10
Mary Jane: 8/10
Hollywood: 2/10