Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter Eight

My series that started in April 2007 and was last heard from that September is back! Though this time it's a little different. In all the previous entries we unearthed previously released Slick Rick releases that J-Love used for his barely mixed mix-CDs and called "Unreleased." But this time we're hit with a double LP that came out after the mix-discs (I think I prefer that term better) - it's brand new.

So, yeah, A.K.A Ricky D: The Further Adventures of Slick Rick is a just-released double Slick Rick LP featuring a boatload of rare/unreleased tracks. It comes in a picture cover (see image) and the track-listing is as follows:

A1. A LETTER
A2. CAPTAIN CAVEMAN
A3. CAN’T SHAKE US FEAT. SPECIAL K (KENNY DOPE MIX)
A4. FEELS LIKE

B1. WOMEN LOSE WEIGHT (ALCHEMIST REMIX)
B2. SLEAZY GYNACOLOGIST
B3. GAMBLING

C1. TROUBLE (J-LOVE REMIX)
C2. SAMPSON
C3. WORLD RENOWN (PETE ROCK MIX)
C4. GET A JOB

D1. IT’S A BOY (LARGE PROFESSOR REMIX)
D2. WOMEN LOSE WEIGHT (MORCHEEBA SPARE TYRE MIX)
D3. STAR TREK
D4. PRACTICE OVER AT CHILL WILL’S CRIB (1984)

So the first thing you should notice is that "Captain Caveman," "Trouble (J-Love Remix)" and "Practice Over At Chill Will's Crib (1984)" are first-time vinyl releases [edit: Whoops! Actually, the "Trouble" remix is from the earlier white label 12", so only the other two are first timers]. So, that already makes this a must-have. And, yes, these are all the full, unmixed songs... even the J-Love remix is free of J-Love's name tag being shouted all over it.

The sound quality, like the Ricky D EP, is a bit of a mixed bag. It sounds like a lot of post-production filtery-type work was put into making some of the poorer quality tracks sound clean, which makes the volume levels on stuff sound a little low or distorted. Some of the tracks sound perfectly fine (and they ALL sound better than on those mix CDs), but a couple tracks, like "Feels Like," do suffer.

Some of the titling is also borderline misleading... calling "Can't Shake Us" the "Kenny Dope Mix," while accurate (it was indeed produced by Kenny Dope), kind of suggests that this is a rare remix by Kenny Dope. But, actually, there's only one version of this song, which was always produced by Kenny Dope, and this is the exact same one that was on the original 2002 12". The same can be said for the "Pete Rock Mix" of "World Renown"... I defy you to find me a non-Pete Rock version. And just to clarify, both of the "Women Lose Weight" remixes on this album were on the original Morcheeba 12".

But the nicest surprise I found is that the "Star Trek" included here is actually the Large Professor remix that was featured on Legends 2.2; and not the original version as heard on the Ricky D EP. So rack up another exclusive for A.K.A Ricky D (and also a reason you'll need to hang onto your Ricky D EP).

Now there's still a few tracks I wish were on here, namely: "He Kills," the Marley Marl remix of "Kit, What's the Scoop?" and the unreleased version of "I Own America." And I'd've happily forgone the perfectly common stuff - like the "It's a Boy" remix, which has already been released and rereleased several times over, and the Morcheeba remixes - in their stead. But I can't pretend that I'm not very happy to finally have "Captain Caveman" and Extra P's "Star Trek" remix on wax... and that Chill Will practice session is a fun, vintage exclusive. Good times.