This is the essential Rick James' hits collection to obtain. It contains the hottest jams that catapulted him to R&B's bad-boy funkster status in the late 70's and 80's ! James could mix funk, soul, R&B, pop-rock to create what would later be tagged as punk-funk (Superfreak)! Take notice that there is hardly ,if not at all, any of his post late 80's or early 90's material; that's because the material he later put out was nowhere near the high quality his earlier output produced. Whether that was due to his personal addiction problems or burn out from the music industry or all of the above he remains as a pioneering artist in taking the average old school funk and crossing over into funk-rock (effortlessly) ! His work with the Mary Jane Girls was incredible as well as his writing and dueting with Teena Marie (first white lady of funk & soul) ! While Prince may have outsold James with regards to record sales back in the early 80's it was also James' strong and often deep vocals that could never be mistaken for the Purple One's thin and often Diana Ross-ian pipes! Prince may have been pop's royalty (or was that Michael Jackson?) but Rick James sung and spoke to the person from the ghetto to the suburbs and the big city and beyond !

Yes, also put in my vote for his underrated 1985 Motown release Glow to be reissued (bonus tracks even or alternates). I,too, owned Glow on tape format years ago;the cassette wore out and I never found the title again ! The best tracks were Glow and Moonchild...

this is a Full Version of Rick James at His Overall Funky Best.Rick hasn't gotten His Full Due as a Artist&Producer.His Jams still Sound like they dropped Last Tuesday.Rick always rocked a House Party."Mary Jane" still a Wicked Bass line that never lets up."Super Freak" which is one of the Baddest Jams over the past 20-25 Years.long Version here of "Standing on The Top" with the Great Temptations.His Stone City Band bringing the Grooves up as well.if you are just starting out on what to get by Rick James this is a Great Place to start.you get a Solid Overview on a Cat that always brought the Flavor to a Jam!!!

First of all,it's about time the people at Motown/Univeral saw fit to include "Come Into My Life" and "When Love Is Gone" from the "Fire It Up" album.Up until now,A sub par concert version of CIML is available on the anniversary version of "Street Songs" CD and WLIG was out of print.The "Bustin' Out" anthology from '94 treated them both like nuclear waste.As such,that collection [stunk].Now back to the real deal.If you have kids,younger siblings or anyone that thinks "Super Freak" is the only song RJ ever made then insist,no demand that they listen to this collection.All of the hits are here,with a few essential album tracks as well at least one track from each of his Motown albums circa 1978-1988.Until Motown/Universal or somebody releases the original studio albums (who cares about bonus tracks just don't edit the songs) this is without a doubt the best compilation on the market.I HIGHLY recommend this one.

This cd has all the hits on it. From Mary Jane to SuperFreak to Give It To Me Baby, this contains all his best music and it reminds me exactly how great he was. If you are a fan of funk and of Rick, then this is for you. Even now, all of the songs are still tight and this is an enjoyable cd to blast out of the car or anywhere really. I love it.

I am a huge fan of the king of punk funk and have 2 copies of the original 2002 pressing of Rick James Anthology. I purchased a second sealed copy last year for my collection after realizing that Rick's Anthology was out of print. If you are a rock or funk fan, do yourself and pick this compilation up!!

My only wish is that Rick's out of print classic catalog will be remastered and reissued soon. Let's hope that the Anthology re-issue is only the first in a series of Rick James re-issues.