Parliament-Funkadelic discography
Part 2: 1970-1971
Funkadelic- “Funkadelic” (1970)
Swampy country blues drenched in heavy psychedelia. The first 3 Funkadelic albums are all book ended by longer songs with shorter ones in the middle. The opening track is one long groove with George rapping as funk personified - “My name is Funkadelic, I am not of your world.” “I Bet You” was a song Clinton wrote for Motown that the Jackson 5 used. Here it is played much more psychedelic. There aren’t any bad songs but “Good Old Music”, a cover of an earlier single when they were the Parliaments and the generic electric electric blues song, “Qualify and Satisfy” are underwhelming compared to the superior tracks surrounding them. “I Got A Thing” is probably the most popular song on the album, using heavy wah-wah guitar. The highlights for me are “Music For My Mother” and the closing song “What Is Soul” which both seem to spell out what Funkadelic is all about musically and philosophically. Musically, we are hearing deep influences from the entire history of African-American music up to that point; the blues, gospel, soul, proto-rap, and rock’n’roll with the experimentation of jazz. Of course, the blues and r&b influenced the psychedelic rock of bands like Cream and Jimi Hendrix and Funkadelic is obviously influenced by these bands but making an effort to dig deeper into the roots of their sound. The philosophy spelled out in the lyrics is about nonconformity and the acceptance of others. Basically, get weird and be proud of it.
4.5/5
Funkadelic- “Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow” (1970)
The second Funkadelic album is very similar to the first in style and tone. Supposedly the whole album was recorded on lots of acid. The opening, self-titled track introduces us to new keyboardist, Bernie Worrell who is just as experimental on keys as Eddie Hazel is on guitar. Clinton continues his psychedelic guru proto-rap with “free your mind and your ass will follow, the kingdom of heaven is with in”. The opener is the strongest pat of the album. “Friday Night August the 14th” is a Hendrix-inspired rocker celebrating payday. “Funky Dollar Bill” warns us of getting too greedy about getting paid and “I Want To Know If It’s Good To You” is a sexier “I Bet You”. The closing song parodies religious themes and speaks about poverty and discrimination in society. Overall, the album is a decent follow up to the self-titled release and strong album on its own merit.
4/5
Parliament - “Osmium” (1970)
Funkadelic was basically the Parliaments with more emphasis on the whole band rather than the singers and with a style obviously more psychedelic and experimental than Motown and doo-wop. Essentially, Funkadelic was a rebranding of the Parliaments and not an entirely different band. However, with the underground success of Funkadelic on Westbound Records, a different record had expressed interest in signing the Parliaments. Clinton jumped at the opportunity and brought back the Parliaments minus the "s". Long story short, it is the same band with a different name on a different label. This version of Parliament released a handful of singles and one album within a year. Some of these singles and b-sides were later reworked as Funkadelic tracks. To make matters more confusing, this album has been released twice with the song order switched around and certain songs replaced by singles and b-sides. The rereleases are called “Rhenium” and “First Thangs”. To make matters more confusing, there are further other obscure rereleases omitting tracks and adding different mixes, but I digress. “Pussycat”, “Nothing Before Me But Thang”, “Funky Woman” and “Moonshine Heather” are pure Funkadelic except less jammy and shorter, sounding a lot like proto- punk bands of the day such as the MC5 and the Stooges only funkier. The rest of the album branches out from the Funkadelic sound, returning to the doo-wop of the Parliaments (“Automobile” later covered by NWA), country (“Little Old Country Boy”), experiments in gospel rock (“Living the Life”, “Oh Lord Why”, “Put Love In Your Life”) and even a folksy ballad with bagpipes (“Silent Boatman”). Overall, this was a chance for Funkadelic to branch out under another name as to not alienate their audience. Eventually, Funkadelic would branch out and Parliament would rebrand itself yet again so in a way this is both the first Parliament album and a forgotten Funkadelic album.
4/5
Ruth Copeland- “Self Portrait” (1970)
This is a solo album by a soulful psychedelic singer named Ruth Copeland. She is very similar in vocal style to Janis Joplin. I’m including this because Funkadelic are the backing band and they co-wrote a handful of the songs. She co-wrote a couple songs on the first Parliament album as well. If you’re a huge fan of early Funkadelic do not sleep on this. However, this is a fairly minor release.
2/5
Funkadelic - "Maggot Brain" (1971)
Employing the hard psychedelia of their first two records along with the diversity of their debut as Parliament, Maggot Brain is a near perfect album. "Maggot Brain" opens the album with an introductory poem by George Clinton into a ten and a half minute instrumental. Wisely, Clinton turns down most of the instruments except for the rhythm guitar and cranks up the volume on Eddie Hazel's lead guitar, mixing it in and out of each speaker at times to create a swirling effect. This is one of the greatest guitar tracks of all-time. Period. Not because of it's complexity but because of it's soulfulness. The legend is that just before recording, Clinton told Hazel while he was tripping balls, to improv a guitar solo thinking about the death of his mother and then remembering that his mom is not dead. The result is a mournful yet hopeful piece. Interlocked with George's poem, it is like we are mourning for the loss of life on Earth yet hopeful for survival. The rest of the album is all over the place. "Can You Get To That" is folk-rock with Motown/doo-wop vocals while "Hit It & Quit It" and "You & Your Folks" are hard funk. Side B opens with "Super Stupid" combining early heavy metal (Hendrix, Budgie, Sabbath) with soulful vocals and guitar of Eddie Hazel. "Super Stupid" is the second best song after the title track. "Back In Our Minds" is a weird, trippy tune which is fun but the probably the weakest track. Finally, the album closes with "Wars of Armageddon". Clocking in at close to 10 minutes, "Wars" is an avant-garde collage of tape loops, shouted phrases, keyboard and guitar solos over a solid rhythm section. Overall, Maggot Brain is an absolute classic. Unfortunately, this is the last studio album with the original Funkadelic line-up (technically the first LP had a different keyboardist but basically original). Soon after, Billy Nelson (bass), Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross (rhythm guitar), Billy Nelson (bass), Tiki Fulwood (drums), and Eddie Hazel (guitar) would leave the following year, leaving the original Parliaments vocalists and keyboardist, Bernie Worrell to find new recruits. However, Eddie Hazel would make frequent returns, appearing at least briefly on most P-Funk albums up until his passing and Billy Nelson would rejoin briefly decades later.
5/5
Ruth Copeland - "I Am What I Am" (1971)
Copeland's second album, again featuring the original Funkadelic as the backing band and with three of the seven songs cowritten by Clinton (two are Stones covers and one co-written with Eddie Hazel). This one is slightly better than the first. "Suburban Family Lament" (music written by Eddie Hazel) is a great soulful hard rocker and it is a treat to hear Funkadelic play a cover Rolling Stones songs.
3/5
Funkadelic - "Funakdelic Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan - 12th September 1971" (1971)
Funkadelic had planned to release a live album, banking on the underground success of Maggot Brain and their growing reputation as a live act. Unfortunately, only days prior to the show, the rhythm guitarist and drummer slip. They found a guitarist to stand in and hired a new drummer but both on short notice. The result was that the set was too sloppy to release and this album was shelved until it was finally released on CD in 1996 and eventually on vinyl in 2018. Despite some set backs, this has everything you'd want out of this era of Funkadelic live; long instrumental jams, Clinton clowning between songs, different takes on previously recorded songs including an epic psychedelic version of an early Parliaments song that Parliament would again revive years later and an instrumental version of what would later become the Funkadelic song "Alice In My Fantasies". It is easy to overlook the short comings due to the fact that few live recordings of this era exist. However, one can hope that someone unearths a recording of a tighter set before the guitarist and drummer bailed.
3.5/5
Next up, in part 3, I am reviewing P-Funk albums from 1972-73
Part 2: 1970-1971
Funkadelic- “Funkadelic” (1970)
Swampy country blues drenched in heavy psychedelia. The first 3 Funkadelic albums are all book ended by longer songs with shorter ones in the middle. The opening track is one long groove with George rapping as funk personified - “My name is Funkadelic, I am not of your world.” “I Bet You” was a song Clinton wrote for Motown that the Jackson 5 used. Here it is played much more psychedelic. There aren’t any bad songs but “Good Old Music”, a cover of an earlier single when they were the Parliaments and the generic electric electric blues song, “Qualify and Satisfy” are underwhelming compared to the superior tracks surrounding them. “I Got A Thing” is probably the most popular song on the album, using heavy wah-wah guitar. The highlights for me are “Music For My Mother” and the closing song “What Is Soul” which both seem to spell out what Funkadelic is all about musically and philosophically. Musically, we are hearing deep influences from the entire history of African-American music up to that point; the blues, gospel, soul, proto-rap, and rock’n’roll with the experimentation of jazz. Of course, the blues and r&b influenced the psychedelic rock of bands like Cream and Jimi Hendrix and Funkadelic is obviously influenced by these bands but making an effort to dig deeper into the roots of their sound. The philosophy spelled out in the lyrics is about nonconformity and the acceptance of others. Basically, get weird and be proud of it.
4.5/5
Funkadelic- “Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow” (1970)
The second Funkadelic album is very similar to the first in style and tone. Supposedly the whole album was recorded on lots of acid. The opening, self-titled track introduces us to new keyboardist, Bernie Worrell who is just as experimental on keys as Eddie Hazel is on guitar. Clinton continues his psychedelic guru proto-rap with “free your mind and your ass will follow, the kingdom of heaven is with in”. The opener is the strongest pat of the album. “Friday Night August the 14th” is a Hendrix-inspired rocker celebrating payday. “Funky Dollar Bill” warns us of getting too greedy about getting paid and “I Want To Know If It’s Good To You” is a sexier “I Bet You”. The closing song parodies religious themes and speaks about poverty and discrimination in society. Overall, the album is a decent follow up to the self-titled release and strong album on its own merit.
4/5
Parliament - “Osmium” (1970)
Funkadelic was basically the Parliaments with more emphasis on the whole band rather than the singers and with a style obviously more psychedelic and experimental than Motown and doo-wop. Essentially, Funkadelic was a rebranding of the Parliaments and not an entirely different band. However, with the underground success of Funkadelic on Westbound Records, a different record had expressed interest in signing the Parliaments. Clinton jumped at the opportunity and brought back the Parliaments minus the "s". Long story short, it is the same band with a different name on a different label. This version of Parliament released a handful of singles and one album within a year. Some of these singles and b-sides were later reworked as Funkadelic tracks. To make matters more confusing, this album has been released twice with the song order switched around and certain songs replaced by singles and b-sides. The rereleases are called “Rhenium” and “First Thangs”. To make matters more confusing, there are further other obscure rereleases omitting tracks and adding different mixes, but I digress. “Pussycat”, “Nothing Before Me But Thang”, “Funky Woman” and “Moonshine Heather” are pure Funkadelic except less jammy and shorter, sounding a lot like proto- punk bands of the day such as the MC5 and the Stooges only funkier. The rest of the album branches out from the Funkadelic sound, returning to the doo-wop of the Parliaments (“Automobile” later covered by NWA), country (“Little Old Country Boy”), experiments in gospel rock (“Living the Life”, “Oh Lord Why”, “Put Love In Your Life”) and even a folksy ballad with bagpipes (“Silent Boatman”). Overall, this was a chance for Funkadelic to branch out under another name as to not alienate their audience. Eventually, Funkadelic would branch out and Parliament would rebrand itself yet again so in a way this is both the first Parliament album and a forgotten Funkadelic album.
4/5
Ruth Copeland- “Self Portrait” (1970)
This is a solo album by a soulful psychedelic singer named Ruth Copeland. She is very similar in vocal style to Janis Joplin. I’m including this because Funkadelic are the backing band and they co-wrote a handful of the songs. She co-wrote a couple songs on the first Parliament album as well. If you’re a huge fan of early Funkadelic do not sleep on this. However, this is a fairly minor release.
2/5
Funkadelic - "Maggot Brain" (1971)
Employing the hard psychedelia of their first two records along with the diversity of their debut as Parliament, Maggot Brain is a near perfect album. "Maggot Brain" opens the album with an introductory poem by George Clinton into a ten and a half minute instrumental. Wisely, Clinton turns down most of the instruments except for the rhythm guitar and cranks up the volume on Eddie Hazel's lead guitar, mixing it in and out of each speaker at times to create a swirling effect. This is one of the greatest guitar tracks of all-time. Period. Not because of it's complexity but because of it's soulfulness. The legend is that just before recording, Clinton told Hazel while he was tripping balls, to improv a guitar solo thinking about the death of his mother and then remembering that his mom is not dead. The result is a mournful yet hopeful piece. Interlocked with George's poem, it is like we are mourning for the loss of life on Earth yet hopeful for survival. The rest of the album is all over the place. "Can You Get To That" is folk-rock with Motown/doo-wop vocals while "Hit It & Quit It" and "You & Your Folks" are hard funk. Side B opens with "Super Stupid" combining early heavy metal (Hendrix, Budgie, Sabbath) with soulful vocals and guitar of Eddie Hazel. "Super Stupid" is the second best song after the title track. "Back In Our Minds" is a weird, trippy tune which is fun but the probably the weakest track. Finally, the album closes with "Wars of Armageddon". Clocking in at close to 10 minutes, "Wars" is an avant-garde collage of tape loops, shouted phrases, keyboard and guitar solos over a solid rhythm section. Overall, Maggot Brain is an absolute classic. Unfortunately, this is the last studio album with the original Funkadelic line-up (technically the first LP had a different keyboardist but basically original). Soon after, Billy Nelson (bass), Eddie Hazel, Tawl Ross (rhythm guitar), Billy Nelson (bass), Tiki Fulwood (drums), and Eddie Hazel (guitar) would leave the following year, leaving the original Parliaments vocalists and keyboardist, Bernie Worrell to find new recruits. However, Eddie Hazel would make frequent returns, appearing at least briefly on most P-Funk albums up until his passing and Billy Nelson would rejoin briefly decades later.
5/5
Ruth Copeland - "I Am What I Am" (1971)
Copeland's second album, again featuring the original Funkadelic as the backing band and with three of the seven songs cowritten by Clinton (two are Stones covers and one co-written with Eddie Hazel). This one is slightly better than the first. "Suburban Family Lament" (music written by Eddie Hazel) is a great soulful hard rocker and it is a treat to hear Funkadelic play a cover Rolling Stones songs.
3/5
Funkadelic - "Funakdelic Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan - 12th September 1971" (1971)
Funkadelic had planned to release a live album, banking on the underground success of Maggot Brain and their growing reputation as a live act. Unfortunately, only days prior to the show, the rhythm guitarist and drummer slip. They found a guitarist to stand in and hired a new drummer but both on short notice. The result was that the set was too sloppy to release and this album was shelved until it was finally released on CD in 1996 and eventually on vinyl in 2018. Despite some set backs, this has everything you'd want out of this era of Funkadelic live; long instrumental jams, Clinton clowning between songs, different takes on previously recorded songs including an epic psychedelic version of an early Parliaments song that Parliament would again revive years later and an instrumental version of what would later become the Funkadelic song "Alice In My Fantasies". It is easy to overlook the short comings due to the fact that few live recordings of this era exist. However, one can hope that someone unearths a recording of a tighter set before the guitarist and drummer bailed.
3.5/5
Next up, in part 3, I am reviewing P-Funk albums from 1972-73
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