Motown Treasures

Thanks for the responses.
Does anyone know any details about Rick James fourth and final brief stint at Motown in the 1990’s?

He recorded 4 songs at Motown after Warner Brothers didn’t work out.  These were released in 1994’s ‘Bustin’ Out - The Best Of Rick James’ - a compilation which was co-produced by Rick.

The new recordings were;
‘Serious Love (Spend The Night)’, ‘Divine Love (So Fine)’, ‘Down By Law‘ featuring Don Jagwarr, and a cover of Norman Connors ‘Starship’.

On another note, there are multiple places which state Rick James had the 1960’s alias at Motown as ‘Terry Johnson’. But Terry “Buzzy” Johnson (of The Flamingos) was brought to Motown as a songwriter/producer/solo artist by Smokey Robinson (1964-1974).

However, there is a Rick Johnson who played (additional) synthesiser on Luther Rabb’s ‘Street Angel’ album released on MCA in 1979. The album was recorded at Larrabee Sound Studios in North Hollywood and produced by Motown arranger/producer Sam F. Brown III. It featured Motown session singers, Ivory Davis and Pat Henly (Smokey Robinson’s 70’s/80’s albums), and The Street Angels guitarist, Robert Palmer, went on to record sessions for Motown recordings.

There are seemingly no other credits for Rick Johnson on other recordings. Could this have been Rick contributing on other non-Motown people’s tracks in that Stevie Wonder kind of way? 1979 was a busy year but that could be Rick playing on ‘Seattle's Disco Groovin' Tonight’ or ‘Square Dance’.

Cheers

‘Divine Love (So Fine)’ gives shout outs to the Rick James creative empire and legacy


Luther Rabb ‘Square Dance’