Parliament-Funkadelic discography
Part 8: 1980-81
Sweat Band - “Sweat Band” (1980)
Sweat Band was a short lived project featuring several veteran P-Funk musicians with Bootsy being the main creative force. The opener, “Hyper Space” is a stand out track. It is a mostly instrumental hard funk jam with a deep bass groove and a killer keyboard line played by Bootsy keyboardist, Razor Johnson featuring a great Michael Hampton solo. “Love Munch” is another instrumental with a Latin groove for Maceo and Fred to solo over. The album feels like a mix between Bootsy and Parlet’s more upbeat, dance oriented songs but with a heavier emphasis on the music over the vocals. The vocals are there, just not as prominent. Fairly solid record but certainly not a classic.
3.5/5
Parlet - “Play Me or Trade Me” (1980)
Parlet’s final album is their best. “Help From My Friends” is catchy as hell with Bernie killing it in the keys. Del tha Funkee Homo Sapien sampled this on “Dr. Bombay”. “Wolf Tickets” is a great, upbeat duet with Clinton. “Watch Me Do My Thing” has some more great Bernie keyboards and is extremely catchy. The title track is catchy too. The rest is decent poppy funk with the obligatory sappy ballad.
3.5/5
Parliament- “Trombipulation” (1980)
This is the final Parliament album of new material until 2018’s Medicaid Fraud Dogg. “Let’s Play House”, sampled by Digital Underground for their hit, “Humpty Hump”, is absolutely essential. The single “Agony of DeFeet” is great dance funk with a Funkadelic sounding guitar solo and really funny vocals and lyrics. The rest is just ok. Bootsy played bass, drums, and guitar on several of the songs. Parliament’s weakest album but still fairly solid.
3.5/5
Phillipe Wynne - “Wynne Jammin’” (1980)
Wynne was the lead singer of the Spinners and had sung as a guest on a few P-Funk tracks. His solo record is the second to be released on Clinton’s Uncle Jam Records. The first being Sweat Band. This has P-Funk members all over it but is less of a funk album and more of a disco and smooth soul album, complete with strings and several ballads. The highlight being a disco take on Funkadelic’s “Never Gonna Tell It”.
2/5
Bootsy - “Ultra Wave” (1980)
Bootsy lost the rights to call his band the Rubber Band due to another band having the name. This is basically a Bootsy solo record anyway as he plays bass, guitar, drums, and is the lead vocalist and primary song writer. This album is more eclectic than previous efforts. “Mug Brush” and “Fat Cat” are hard funk, “Is That My Song” borders on blues, and “F-Encounter” has that classic Knee Deep type feel. The rest is typical Bootsy/Parliament style upbeat funk like on Sweat Band and the last Parliament with a couple decent ballads at the end. Overall, it’s a solid album but not great.
3.5/5
Zapp - “Zapp” (1980)
I don’t really consider Zapp a P-Funk band but I’m including their first album. The creative force behind Zappa, Roger Troutman had been mentoring under Bootsy and even played on the upcoming Funkadelic record. This album was to be the third release on Clinton’s Uncle Jam Records but Troutman took the masters last minute and put it out on Warner Bros. This caused considerable financial damage to P-Funk. Anyway, the monster hit “More Bounce to the Ounce” came out of a completely different sounding Zapp song. Clinton took that song and spliced together and looped specific parts of it while also adding the talk box effect that Zapp became famous for, certain they had a hit in their hands. They ended up with a huge hit but the P-Funk Connection was severed. “More Bounce” and “Be Alright” are great dance numbers. Zapp went on to be one of the biggest funk bands of the 80s.
4/5
Funkadelic - “The Electric Spanking of War Babies” (1981)
The title track is an absolute classic with Junie Morrison playing every instrument except for Michael Hampton shredding on lead guitar and George Clinton on lead vocals. The songs is about how the baby boomer generation is about to be “electronically spanked” by upcoming technologies and cultural shifts. Very prophetic. “Electro Cuties” is an upbeat funk rocker with Jimmy Ali killing it on bass and Clinton killing it on vocals. “Funk Gets Stronger” part 2 feature Sly Stone on vocals and keyboard along with Cynthia Robinson from the Family Stone on trumpet and is a nice sleazy funk song. “Stronger” part 1 is more psychedelic is cousins Hampton and Lige on guitar and bass along with Cynthia on trumpet and Roger on keyboards. “Shockwaves” is reggae written by Blackbyrd McKnight. “Oh I” was originally meant to be a Parliament ballad with a string section but the string section was taken out last minute and replaced with guitar solos. “Icka Prick” is dirty Blowfly-style funk. “Brettino’s Bounce” is an epic, tribal drum solo. Overall, this is a great, very underrated album.
4.5/5
Funkadelic- “Connections & Disconnections” (1981)
Funkadelic in name only, this record was put together by former P-Funk singers, Grady, Fuzzy, and Calvin in hopes of cashing in on P-Funk’s continued success and also as a middle finger to Clinton. Say what you want about Clinton’s treatment of some of the OG band members but this isn’t very good. Mostly mediocre pop funk with some decent musicianship. The drums in “You’ll Like It Too” was sampled by Eric B & Rakim and NWA.
2/5
Godmomma - “Godmomma Here” (1981)
Girl group put together by Bootsy featuring some if his background singers. Bootsy plays a lot of the instruments and does a lot of the songwriting. David Spradley plays keys and Sly Stone even pops up. Mostly funk with a little disco and a throw away ballads. Decent singers but the songs are mediocre.
2.5/5
Space Cadets - “Space Cadets” (1981)
A little known dance funk band featuring P-Funk alumni, Bernie on keys and Tyrone on drums. “Let’s Get Stoopid” is some nice old-school hip-hop mixed with funk. The rest is mostly upbeat funk, often dipping into disco but fun disco. Overall, this is just a fun dance album that doesn’t take itself incredibly seriously. Glen Goins’ brother Kevin, does a lot of the vocals. While this is a fun and very funky album, it’s still far from a classic. Still worth checking out.
3.5/5
Part 8: 1980-81
Sweat Band - “Sweat Band” (1980)
Sweat Band was a short lived project featuring several veteran P-Funk musicians with Bootsy being the main creative force. The opener, “Hyper Space” is a stand out track. It is a mostly instrumental hard funk jam with a deep bass groove and a killer keyboard line played by Bootsy keyboardist, Razor Johnson featuring a great Michael Hampton solo. “Love Munch” is another instrumental with a Latin groove for Maceo and Fred to solo over. The album feels like a mix between Bootsy and Parlet’s more upbeat, dance oriented songs but with a heavier emphasis on the music over the vocals. The vocals are there, just not as prominent. Fairly solid record but certainly not a classic.
3.5/5
Parlet - “Play Me or Trade Me” (1980)
Parlet’s final album is their best. “Help From My Friends” is catchy as hell with Bernie killing it in the keys. Del tha Funkee Homo Sapien sampled this on “Dr. Bombay”. “Wolf Tickets” is a great, upbeat duet with Clinton. “Watch Me Do My Thing” has some more great Bernie keyboards and is extremely catchy. The title track is catchy too. The rest is decent poppy funk with the obligatory sappy ballad.
3.5/5
This is the final Parliament album of new material until 2018’s Medicaid Fraud Dogg. “Let’s Play House”, sampled by Digital Underground for their hit, “Humpty Hump”, is absolutely essential. The single “Agony of DeFeet” is great dance funk with a Funkadelic sounding guitar solo and really funny vocals and lyrics. The rest is just ok. Bootsy played bass, drums, and guitar on several of the songs. Parliament’s weakest album but still fairly solid.
3.5/5
Wynne was the lead singer of the Spinners and had sung as a guest on a few P-Funk tracks. His solo record is the second to be released on Clinton’s Uncle Jam Records. The first being Sweat Band. This has P-Funk members all over it but is less of a funk album and more of a disco and smooth soul album, complete with strings and several ballads. The highlight being a disco take on Funkadelic’s “Never Gonna Tell It”.
2/5
Bootsy lost the rights to call his band the Rubber Band due to another band having the name. This is basically a Bootsy solo record anyway as he plays bass, guitar, drums, and is the lead vocalist and primary song writer. This album is more eclectic than previous efforts. “Mug Brush” and “Fat Cat” are hard funk, “Is That My Song” borders on blues, and “F-Encounter” has that classic Knee Deep type feel. The rest is typical Bootsy/Parliament style upbeat funk like on Sweat Band and the last Parliament with a couple decent ballads at the end. Overall, it’s a solid album but not great.
3.5/5
Zapp - “Zapp” (1980)
I don’t really consider Zapp a P-Funk band but I’m including their first album. The creative force behind Zappa, Roger Troutman had been mentoring under Bootsy and even played on the upcoming Funkadelic record. This album was to be the third release on Clinton’s Uncle Jam Records but Troutman took the masters last minute and put it out on Warner Bros. This caused considerable financial damage to P-Funk. Anyway, the monster hit “More Bounce to the Ounce” came out of a completely different sounding Zapp song. Clinton took that song and spliced together and looped specific parts of it while also adding the talk box effect that Zapp became famous for, certain they had a hit in their hands. They ended up with a huge hit but the P-Funk Connection was severed. “More Bounce” and “Be Alright” are great dance numbers. Zapp went on to be one of the biggest funk bands of the 80s.
4/5
The title track is an absolute classic with Junie Morrison playing every instrument except for Michael Hampton shredding on lead guitar and George Clinton on lead vocals. The songs is about how the baby boomer generation is about to be “electronically spanked” by upcoming technologies and cultural shifts. Very prophetic. “Electro Cuties” is an upbeat funk rocker with Jimmy Ali killing it on bass and Clinton killing it on vocals. “Funk Gets Stronger” part 2 feature Sly Stone on vocals and keyboard along with Cynthia Robinson from the Family Stone on trumpet and is a nice sleazy funk song. “Stronger” part 1 is more psychedelic is cousins Hampton and Lige on guitar and bass along with Cynthia on trumpet and Roger on keyboards. “Shockwaves” is reggae written by Blackbyrd McKnight. “Oh I” was originally meant to be a Parliament ballad with a string section but the string section was taken out last minute and replaced with guitar solos. “Icka Prick” is dirty Blowfly-style funk. “Brettino’s Bounce” is an epic, tribal drum solo. Overall, this is a great, very underrated album.
4.5/5
Funkadelic- “Connections & Disconnections” (1981)
Funkadelic in name only, this record was put together by former P-Funk singers, Grady, Fuzzy, and Calvin in hopes of cashing in on P-Funk’s continued success and also as a middle finger to Clinton. Say what you want about Clinton’s treatment of some of the OG band members but this isn’t very good. Mostly mediocre pop funk with some decent musicianship. The drums in “You’ll Like It Too” was sampled by Eric B & Rakim and NWA.
2/5
Godmomma - “Godmomma Here” (1981)
Girl group put together by Bootsy featuring some if his background singers. Bootsy plays a lot of the instruments and does a lot of the songwriting. David Spradley plays keys and Sly Stone even pops up. Mostly funk with a little disco and a throw away ballads. Decent singers but the songs are mediocre.
2.5/5
A little known dance funk band featuring P-Funk alumni, Bernie on keys and Tyrone on drums. “Let’s Get Stoopid” is some nice old-school hip-hop mixed with funk. The rest is mostly upbeat funk, often dipping into disco but fun disco. Overall, this is just a fun dance album that doesn’t take itself incredibly seriously. Glen Goins’ brother Kevin, does a lot of the vocals. While this is a fun and very funky album, it’s still far from a classic. Still worth checking out.
3.5/5
Next up is 82-84!
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