Parliament-Funkadelic discography
Part 4: 1975-76
Funkadelic - "Let's Take It to the Stage" (1975)
This record was the introduction of guitarist Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton. With Ron Bykowski missing in action, Eddie Hazel in and out of the band (often because of legal trouble), and Gary Shider primarily holding down the rhythm, Funkadelic needed a full-time lead guitarist and found it in a seventeen year old prodigy who they discovered at a party playing Maggot Brain note for note. Let's Take It to the Stage is another classic. "Good To Your Earhole", "Stuff and Things", and "Better By the Pound" are essential hard funk with Mosson killing it on the bass. "Be My Beach" features Bootsy on guest vocals and debuts his cartoonish, Hendrix-esque style. "No, Head, No Backstage Pass" features heavy guitars and haunting vocal melodies. "Get Off Your Ass and Jam" features a scorching guitar solo throughout the entire song by some random junkie they found lurking around the studio who wanted to make a couple bucks. The title track features Clinton rapping over a funk vamp, making fun of other funk bands of the time. Although, clearly just in a good fun, this is probably one of the first diss tracks. Comedian, Andrew Dice Clay would later plagiarize Clinton's lyrics "Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet snorting some THC, along came a spider and slid right beside her and said 'what's in the bag, bitch?'". "Baby I Owe You Something Good" is a reworking of one of Clinton's songs from his Motown/doo-wop days, reworked as combination of soul, heavy metal, and gospel with a little bit of classical sprinkled in. "The Song Is Familiar" is a smooth funk ballad with phenomenal vocals and guitar work. The album ends with some avant-garde courtesy of Bernie Worrell.
5/5
Parliament - "Chocolate City" (1975)
Capitalizing on the success of Up For the Down Stroke, Parliament's follow-up utilizes the Clinton/Collins/Worrell song writing team on half of the album to great effect. Decades before Obama's election, the title track's lyrics plays with the idea of prominent African-Americans holding political power. The music is pure funk with an uncredited horn section delivering some acid jazz while Clinton narrates the story in a manner predating rap by a couple years. The majority of the album is upbeat funk reminiscent of Sly & the Family Stone. Eddie Hazel sings lead on the gospel/jazz track "Let Me Be", the album’s single ballad. The rest of the album spotlights the vocals of the Parliaments and Shider along with Bootsy's signature bass sound. The album is solid. However, outside of the title track, nothing really stands out. "Ride On" and "What Comes Funky" are both seriously good funk jams but neither are P-Funk classics. This album is more or less, Parliament developing their sound for the next few albums.
3.5/5
Parliament - "Mothership Connection" (1975)
Parliament's third record is a nearly perfect album and propelled Parliament into stadium-level rock stardom. "Give Up the Funk" was a massive hit and allowed Parliament Funkadelic to begin developing massive stage shows. For the Mothership Connection tour a space ship would land, while Clinton did a quick off stage costume change before emerging from the ship. P-Funk began using stories and concepts, developing their own mythology which was both thinly disguised social commentary but also incredibly strange and fun. The majority of the album is written by Clinton/Collins/Worrell with Shider contributing to a couple songs, new drummer, Jerome Brailey developing the beat to "Give Up the Funk", and new singer/rhythm guitarist, Glenn Goins cowriting handcuffs. Parliament added a horn section featuring former Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker who had previously played with James Brown along with jazz players, the Brecker Brothers. Every song on this record is a classic with "Handcuffs" being the only track resembling filler. Worrell's keyboards would set the templet for 90's G-Funk, with Dr. Dre famously sampling "Mothership Connection". "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" features Clinton as an interplanetary DJ narrating a tale of intergalactic musicians traveling to earth to save it from itself. There isn't much to say about this album that hasn't already been said. It is a stone cold classic and the first P-Funk album to really make its way on the Billboard charts, peaking at thirteen. This is P-Funk's biggest album and one of their best without question.
5/5
Bootsy' Rubber Band - "Stretchin' Out in a Rubber Band" (1976)
P-Funk was becoming more than Parliament and Funkadelic. With the huge success of Mothership Connection, P-Funk was quickly becoming its own empire. Bootsy was well known for his playing with James Brown but playing with P-Funk allowed him to shine and create his own unique persona. Booty's Rubber Band was essentially the same musicians as Parliament-Funkadelic but with Bootsy along with Mudbone Cooper and P-Nut as the lead vocalists. Six of the seven songs are written by Bootsy and Clinton with other writers here and there. Every song on here is a classic, with the A Side containing the more up-tempo tracks while Side B are all about the ballads. The records helps to showcase Bootsy's incredible bass playing. However, the album is not overly indulgent musically, it also highlight's Collins and Clinton's exceptional talent at writing catchy, radio-friendly R&B such as the album's biggest hit, "I'd Rather Be With You" later covered by NWA and reworked by Childish Gambino into his hit song "Stay Woke". Outside of "I'd Rather Be With You" the stand out track for me is "Another Point of View", although "Psychobumpschool" and the title track are probably the best known. Overall, this album is a classic from beginning to the end. My only real criticism is that the second half is all ballads which can make it a bore to listen if you're not in the right frame of mind.
4/5
Funkadelic - "Tales of Kidd Funkadelic" (1976)
With Funkadelic leaving the indie label, Westbound to go major with Warner Bros starting with the last album, they were still contractually obligated to release one more of Westbound. This is that album and while you'd expect an album made to get out of a contract to kinda suck this is actually a really good record. This is the first Funkadelic album not to feature Eddie Hazel, hence the title giving tribute to Michael Hampton. Every song is a classic. The opener "Butt To Butt Recitation" plays like Black Sabbath with new-wave keyboards and funk vocals. "Let's Take It To the People" is short and catchy, at just under two minutes, with great guitar interplay between Shider and Hampton. "Undisco Kidd" and "Take Your Dead Ass Home" are the two highlights of the record and two of P-Funk's best songs. Both display Clinton on top of his game and are rap songs just before rap or hip-hop existed. "Undisco Kidd" became a live staple while "Take Your Dead Ass Home" is a dirty rap song on par with Blowfly and Dolemite. "Never Gonna Tell It" showcases Worrell's ability to write a catchy R&B while the title track shows his talent at writing avant-garde while the closer "How Do Yeaw View You?" has some of the group's best vocal melodies over funk bordering on reggae. Sandwiched between massive hit records, this record is sort of overlooked but is classic nonetheless.
4/5
Fuzzy Haskins - "A Whole Nother Thang" (1976)
A Whole Nother Thang is P-Funk singer Fuzzy Haskins' solo debut. While the record prominently features other P-Funk musicians this is truly a solo album in that Fuzzy wrote, produced, and sings lead on the whole record. Fuzzy's songs are as experimental as Parliament or Funkadelic and are a lot more "normal" funk and R&B but the album is pretty solid nonetheless. "Cookie Jar", which would later be performed live by Parliament-Funkadelic and later in the studio by Parlet, is probably the best song along with the instrumental track "Fuz and Da Boog" (co-written by Boogie Mosson). The whole album is solid and shouldn't be slept on.
3.5/5
Next up, in part 5, we take funk to heaven in 1977.
Part 4: 1975-76
This record was the introduction of guitarist Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton. With Ron Bykowski missing in action, Eddie Hazel in and out of the band (often because of legal trouble), and Gary Shider primarily holding down the rhythm, Funkadelic needed a full-time lead guitarist and found it in a seventeen year old prodigy who they discovered at a party playing Maggot Brain note for note. Let's Take It to the Stage is another classic. "Good To Your Earhole", "Stuff and Things", and "Better By the Pound" are essential hard funk with Mosson killing it on the bass. "Be My Beach" features Bootsy on guest vocals and debuts his cartoonish, Hendrix-esque style. "No, Head, No Backstage Pass" features heavy guitars and haunting vocal melodies. "Get Off Your Ass and Jam" features a scorching guitar solo throughout the entire song by some random junkie they found lurking around the studio who wanted to make a couple bucks. The title track features Clinton rapping over a funk vamp, making fun of other funk bands of the time. Although, clearly just in a good fun, this is probably one of the first diss tracks. Comedian, Andrew Dice Clay would later plagiarize Clinton's lyrics "Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet snorting some THC, along came a spider and slid right beside her and said 'what's in the bag, bitch?'". "Baby I Owe You Something Good" is a reworking of one of Clinton's songs from his Motown/doo-wop days, reworked as combination of soul, heavy metal, and gospel with a little bit of classical sprinkled in. "The Song Is Familiar" is a smooth funk ballad with phenomenal vocals and guitar work. The album ends with some avant-garde courtesy of Bernie Worrell.
5/5
Parliament - "Chocolate City" (1975)
Capitalizing on the success of Up For the Down Stroke, Parliament's follow-up utilizes the Clinton/Collins/Worrell song writing team on half of the album to great effect. Decades before Obama's election, the title track's lyrics plays with the idea of prominent African-Americans holding political power. The music is pure funk with an uncredited horn section delivering some acid jazz while Clinton narrates the story in a manner predating rap by a couple years. The majority of the album is upbeat funk reminiscent of Sly & the Family Stone. Eddie Hazel sings lead on the gospel/jazz track "Let Me Be", the album’s single ballad. The rest of the album spotlights the vocals of the Parliaments and Shider along with Bootsy's signature bass sound. The album is solid. However, outside of the title track, nothing really stands out. "Ride On" and "What Comes Funky" are both seriously good funk jams but neither are P-Funk classics. This album is more or less, Parliament developing their sound for the next few albums.
3.5/5
Parliament's third record is a nearly perfect album and propelled Parliament into stadium-level rock stardom. "Give Up the Funk" was a massive hit and allowed Parliament Funkadelic to begin developing massive stage shows. For the Mothership Connection tour a space ship would land, while Clinton did a quick off stage costume change before emerging from the ship. P-Funk began using stories and concepts, developing their own mythology which was both thinly disguised social commentary but also incredibly strange and fun. The majority of the album is written by Clinton/Collins/Worrell with Shider contributing to a couple songs, new drummer, Jerome Brailey developing the beat to "Give Up the Funk", and new singer/rhythm guitarist, Glenn Goins cowriting handcuffs. Parliament added a horn section featuring former Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker who had previously played with James Brown along with jazz players, the Brecker Brothers. Every song on this record is a classic with "Handcuffs" being the only track resembling filler. Worrell's keyboards would set the templet for 90's G-Funk, with Dr. Dre famously sampling "Mothership Connection". "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" features Clinton as an interplanetary DJ narrating a tale of intergalactic musicians traveling to earth to save it from itself. There isn't much to say about this album that hasn't already been said. It is a stone cold classic and the first P-Funk album to really make its way on the Billboard charts, peaking at thirteen. This is P-Funk's biggest album and one of their best without question.
5/5
P-Funk was becoming more than Parliament and Funkadelic. With the huge success of Mothership Connection, P-Funk was quickly becoming its own empire. Bootsy was well known for his playing with James Brown but playing with P-Funk allowed him to shine and create his own unique persona. Booty's Rubber Band was essentially the same musicians as Parliament-Funkadelic but with Bootsy along with Mudbone Cooper and P-Nut as the lead vocalists. Six of the seven songs are written by Bootsy and Clinton with other writers here and there. Every song on here is a classic, with the A Side containing the more up-tempo tracks while Side B are all about the ballads. The records helps to showcase Bootsy's incredible bass playing. However, the album is not overly indulgent musically, it also highlight's Collins and Clinton's exceptional talent at writing catchy, radio-friendly R&B such as the album's biggest hit, "I'd Rather Be With You" later covered by NWA and reworked by Childish Gambino into his hit song "Stay Woke". Outside of "I'd Rather Be With You" the stand out track for me is "Another Point of View", although "Psychobumpschool" and the title track are probably the best known. Overall, this album is a classic from beginning to the end. My only real criticism is that the second half is all ballads which can make it a bore to listen if you're not in the right frame of mind.
4/5
Parliament - "The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein" (1976)
Every song on Clones is a bona fide timeless classic. Like Mothership, Clones was a massive hit, reaching the top twenty in the pop charts and peaking at number three in the R&B charts. There were no massive hit singles like "Give Up the Funk" but the album sold a ton and Parliament-Funkadelic were able to put together another stadium tour with tons of props and costumes. Clinton/Collins/Worrell are the song writing team while Clinton and Gary Shider teamed up to write the other half (along with Worrell on one of these and Glenn Goins on two). Musically, Parliament continues to innovate with their own style of funk that incorporates jazz, soul, doo-wop, psychedelic rock, and proto-rap. Thematically, Clones continues the story line of funky aliens traveling to earth to save humanity. Yet again, the science fiction theme is thinly disguised social commentary with concepts of the One and the Funk becoming bigger than the musical concepts it draws from.
5/5
Funkadelic - "Hardcore Jollies"(1976)
Hardcore Jollies is Funakdelic's major label debut. However, with Parliament and Bootsy topping the charts, Funkadelic would still be the more underground, guitar-oriented side to P-Funk. Hardcore Jollies doesn't have a bad song on it but doesn't really have any great songs either. In fact, the best track is a live version of "Cosmic Slop" that features an extended intro they would often use to open their shows (while Parliament and Funkadelic recorded as two separate entities, they performed as one band with the horn players sometimes playing on Funkadelic songs or guitar solos added to Parliament songs). Michael Hampton and Eddie Hazel both shred on guitar on this album and are featured prominently. In fact, the liner notes dedicate this album "to the guitar players of the world". The guitar soloing at the end of "Comin' Around the Mountain" and in the instrumental title track are superb. However, outside of the funky "If You Got Funk, You Got Style", the live version of "Cosmic Slop" and the upbeat soul ballad, "Soul Mate" none of the songs are really up to bar. They're still good songs, its just that Funkadelic had set the bar really high for itself and these aren't as good.
3/5
Funkadelic - "Tales of Kidd Funkadelic" (1976)
With Funkadelic leaving the indie label, Westbound to go major with Warner Bros starting with the last album, they were still contractually obligated to release one more of Westbound. This is that album and while you'd expect an album made to get out of a contract to kinda suck this is actually a really good record. This is the first Funkadelic album not to feature Eddie Hazel, hence the title giving tribute to Michael Hampton. Every song is a classic. The opener "Butt To Butt Recitation" plays like Black Sabbath with new-wave keyboards and funk vocals. "Let's Take It To the People" is short and catchy, at just under two minutes, with great guitar interplay between Shider and Hampton. "Undisco Kidd" and "Take Your Dead Ass Home" are the two highlights of the record and two of P-Funk's best songs. Both display Clinton on top of his game and are rap songs just before rap or hip-hop existed. "Undisco Kidd" became a live staple while "Take Your Dead Ass Home" is a dirty rap song on par with Blowfly and Dolemite. "Never Gonna Tell It" showcases Worrell's ability to write a catchy R&B while the title track shows his talent at writing avant-garde while the closer "How Do Yeaw View You?" has some of the group's best vocal melodies over funk bordering on reggae. Sandwiched between massive hit records, this record is sort of overlooked but is classic nonetheless.
4/5
Fuzzy Haskins - "A Whole Nother Thang" (1976)
A Whole Nother Thang is P-Funk singer Fuzzy Haskins' solo debut. While the record prominently features other P-Funk musicians this is truly a solo album in that Fuzzy wrote, produced, and sings lead on the whole record. Fuzzy's songs are as experimental as Parliament or Funkadelic and are a lot more "normal" funk and R&B but the album is pretty solid nonetheless. "Cookie Jar", which would later be performed live by Parliament-Funkadelic and later in the studio by Parlet, is probably the best song along with the instrumental track "Fuz and Da Boog" (co-written by Boogie Mosson). The whole album is solid and shouldn't be slept on.
3.5/5
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