Before He Was "RICK JAMES"!........

[marv2]

He was a lead singer with the Mynah Birds out of Canada. Check this great song out with Rick James on lead:

[cozmic]

... and from the Great White Cane

[pshark]

Neil Young was also in the Mynah Birds. I have the Great White Cane lp. Really like it. I'd like to see that on cd.

parkside5252 | June 15, 2009
I've Got You In My Soul -- a tune from the near-mythic Mynah Birds sessions recorded at Motown Records studios on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan in February 1966 under the supervision of Mickey Stevenson and Jeffrey Bowen. The song features 18-year old Rick Super Freak James on vocals and Neil Young on guitar, along with future Buffalo Springfield bass player Bruce Palmer, guitarist Little Johnny Taylor and Rickman Mason on drums. This song was originally called Little Girl [[copyright BMI 1965 Decca Record Co. Ltd.) and was written by Van Morrison and recorded by Them. It remains officially unreleased and is the property of Universal Music Group. Columbia and Motown's logos are registered trademarks. Photographs copyright R. Mason, B. Lind, T. Morgan and their respective photographers. [

sandfordway | November 26, 2009
The Mynah Birds had various group members, but at the time of this recording, the line-up was Rick James, John Taylor, Bruce Palmer, Rickman Mason and Neil Young.
Rick James had joined the Navy aged 15, and had gone AWOL soon after. Thir Manager, Maury Selman told Gordy, who told James to give himself up, and when he did, he ended up spending a year in a Brroklyn Naval prison. Motown pulled the release and it had to wait till the release of "The Complete Motown Singles" series was released in 2007.

[marv2]

Great recording, never heard it before. Thanks for that Cozmic.

[marv2]

Pshark, I remember reading about the Mynah Birds recording at Motown. I believe Rick James stayed on for a while as a staff writer. We had a great thread going on the old forum about great music from out of Canada. In that thread we had a few rare pics of Rick and the Mynah Birds.

[midnightman]

Rick shows his Smokey-esque vocals here on "Go On & Cry". Rick's voice was beautiful on the ballads. And he was, what, 18, when he cut this?

[midnightman]

Rick James with the Mynah Birds.

[soulster]

Could you imagine what direction James Johnson's career would have taken had he not joined the Navy and went AWOL? What's more, could you have seen Motown branching out into psychedelic pop in the 60s, competing with Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds?

[midnightman]

^ Yeah I know right? I still wonder what convinced him to go to the Navy anyway especially when he only did that because he didn't wanna disappoint his mama [[after dropping out of high school at 15).

[soulster]

In those days, it was better to join the military than to be drafted.

[midnightman]

^ Yeah, that was another reason Rick joined the Navy...to not get drafted.

[phyl]

He was a lead singer with the Mynah Birds out of Canada. Check this great song out with Rick James on lead:

i didnt now this marv i lveanr so much from you i hope you ahd a good wkekened.

[robb_k]

"Go, On and Cry" is really nice! "It's My Time" is pretty decent, too. I never thought I'd like Rick James singing [[only because of the type of material). I'd have bought "Go On and Cry" on VIP, had it been released.

[marv2]

Thank you Phyl, I try. Yes I had a really nice Long Island/ New England weekend here. I hope you had a nice one as well.

[marv2]

"Go, On and Cry" is really nice! "It's My Time" is pretty decent, too. I never thought I'd like Rick James singing [[only because of the type of material). I'd have bought "Go On and Cry" on VIP, had it been released.

Robb K, Rick James was far more talented than most people knew. I am sure there still many of his recordings out there that we have yet to hear.

[soulster]

I hope they surface too! Rick spent lots of time in the studio.

[pshark]

Now here's a nice little jam. First time hearing this.
Don't know if this is true but I heard that RJ had mid 70's vers of YOU & I. can anybody elaborate.

[marv2]

Pshark, thanks. I hope he didn't have an earlier version of " You and I". The one that we all know from 1978 has special significance to me. He was a beast! LOL! Love me some Rick James music! We were lucky to be around when all this great stuff was new and on the air. I wonder if they have "Big Time " on Youtube?