Parliament-Funkadelic discography
Part 9: 1982-84
William “Bootsy” Collins - “The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away” (1982)
Bootsy’s second solo album is fairly solid, mostly upbeat funk. The bass lines are killer and there’s nothing simple about them. However, I’d say the musical arrangements on here are mostly simple and straight forward funk. Besides a couple ballads, this is mid-tempo and upbeat. There aren’t any bad songs but there really isn’t any great songs either with the opener, “Shine-O Mite” being the stand out track. Oddly enough, the same year Bootsy released an absolutely killer non album single called “Body Slam”. It bears striking resemblance to “Countrackula” from this record.
3.5/5
Kiddo - “Kiddo” (1982)
Kiddo was formed by Donnie Sterling, who played bass and co-wrote for Parlet, co-wrote a few P-Funk songs, and sung occasional background vocals, even taking lead on Parliament’s “Agony of DeFeet”. Michael Hampton is also the guitarist. Fairly standard radio friendly funk in the style of Cameo or Zapp. “Tired of Looking” and “Try My Loving” are good dance songs. The rest is mostly filler. Michael Hampton’s guitar plating is subdued and he doesn’t really go off or play anything heavy. This record is mostly for completists. They put out another called “Action” in 1984. I won’t do separate review for it. More of the same.
1/5
George Clinton - “Computer Games” (1982)
Everyone knows “Atomic Dog”. In ‘82 it knocked Michael Jackson out of the #1 spot on the r&b charts, it’s been in several commercials, been sampled by countless rappers, and it’s even in a new kids movie where Clinton plays the voice of a funky troll. The story is some of the band were in the studio messing around, playing the tape of a drumbeat backwards when Clinton walks in high as hell on crack and blackout wasted. Paranoid that they’re going to record without him starts singing off the top of his head about dogs. They put it on tape and build an entire song around it and the rest is history. By the end of ‘81 Clinton dissolved Parliament, Funkadelic, and all the spin-off groups. The band never really broke up though. They were just remarketed as George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars. Many of the old crew is on this record; Eddie Hazel, Junie Morrison, Gary Shider, Bootsy, Bernie, Maceo, and many others. “Atomic Dog” wasn’t even expected to be a hit. The lead single was “Loopzilla”, Clinton’s tribute to both hip-hop DJ’s and various funk-friendly radio DJ’s. The song is connected to a previous track, “Man’s Best Friend” a bass heavy dance song dedicated to dogs with Sir Nose expressing his distaste. The title track is absolutely catchy with hilarious lyrics and the opener, “Get Dressed” is a great Parliament style song. “One Fun” and “Tots” are basically filler but are decent enough. Absolutely essential album.
5/5
P-Funk All-Stars - “Dance Floor Guerillas” (1983)
“Hydraulic Funk” and “Pumpin It Up” are classic P-Funk shoulda-been hits in the style of “Flashlight” or “Knee Deep” (while not as good as either). “Generator Pop” is decent in that style as well. “Catch A Keeper”, co-written with Sly Stone is another banger that showcases the female vocalists and “Copy Cat” is a sequel to “Atomic Dog” about cats. Although packed full of solid dance songs, the impact is weighed down by putting ballads as the 2nd and 3rd songs. The ballads are still nice, particularly “One of Those Summers” which sounds like straight r&b. “Acupuncture” has some elevator jazz sounding saxophone but it works. P-Funk All-Stars is the right name for this project because a ton of musicians play on here. It seems like each track has Clinton writing with someone different then assembling a whole different group of musicians for each song. The record still has a surprisingly good flow, despite as I mentioned, throwing 2 ballads at the beginning of what’s essentially a dance album. Very underrated.
4.5/5
P-Funk All-Stars - “Live At the Beverley Theatre Hollywood” (1983)
With a hit solo record and a new record showcasing the band, P-Funk decided to hit the road to promote their whole catalog. This was recorded from a pair of weekend residency shows for a radio station but it wasn’t officially released till 1990. This is the best P-Funk live album and shows a band at the top of their game. Dennis Chambers on drums and Skeet Curtis drive this performance, playing with so much energy adding speed to some of the normally more mid-temp numbers. Hazel, Hampton, and Blackbyrd all play lead on Maggot Brain with Maceo opening up with a flute solo. Maceo is the MC while the P-Funk Horns hold down the horn section. George and the whole band on on top of their game playing renditions of mostly hits like “Give Up the Funk”, “Atomic Dog”, “Flashlight”, and “Knee Deep”. This also has the best version of “Cosmic Slop”. Would love to hear the deep cuts from these shows if they’re out there. Fun fact: Prince claims he wrote “Erotic City” after being inspired July witnesses this live. P-Funk paid tribute back by covering it for the PCU soundtrack in the 90’s.
5/5
George Clinton - “You Shouldn’t-Nuf Bit Fish” (1983)
Clinton’s second solo album is every bit as good as the first, only it lacks that one hit to put it over the edge. The opener, “Nubian Nut” was released as a single and sees Clinton’s first foray into rap. Clinton has helped influence early hip-hop but here it is influencing him right back. “Nubian” is a fun dance number with some funky guitar by Blackbyrd at the end. “Quickie” opened with some funk-metal guitar, once again, by Blackbyrd before segwaying into some more chill funk rock about a woman who just wants a quick one night stand. The opening tracks are some of the first songs to really showcase Blackbyrd McKnight on guitar, as he typically took a backseat to Hampton or Hazel. If you’ve ever seen him live or heard his stuff with the Headhunters, you know the guy can shred. He would have more of an impact on future releases. The other single, “Let’s Dance” is a fun mix of funk, pop, and psychedelia not unlike Tom-Tom Club. There was even a cheesy, very 80s music video for this one. All 3 songs on side a very easily could have been hits. Were they just not promoted well or did they just not catch on with the general public? I don’t know but “Quickie” is definitely one of those forgotten deep cuts that needs to be heard. Side b is also good with a couple more catchy funk songs and closing with the more experimental, industrial title track with lyrics tackling nuclear technology and human greed. This record is criminally underrated and unfortunately the last really, really good P-Funk record of the 80’s.
4.5/5
Funkadelic - “By Way of the Drum” (1984)
“By Way of the Drum” was recorded in 1984 as a chance to revive Funkadelic. The record company shot it down, saying it was not what they expected and so it was shelved until finally being released in 2007. Before its release, it became a bit of a legend among P-Funk fans, being the lost Funkadelic album. Unfortunately, it’s a relatively disappointing album. While Blackbyrd McKnight is excellent on guitar, he is playing over really mediocre mid-80s funk. The overuse of drum machines really makes the album feel soulless which is a shame because some of the beats are interesting and might sound decent on live drums. The highlight is a go-go funk cover of “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream. Trey Lewd doing a cover of Slick Rick but reworking it to be about cheap beer in “Yada Dada”is interesting. A couple tracks like “Jugular” and “Freaks Bearing Gifts” are decent 80’s pop funk but are underwhelming under the Funkadelic banner. Clinton has reworked the opening song, “Nose Bleed” over the years on Dope Dogs, Shake the Gate, and even on a Snoop track. The other highlight is “Fresh Delic” which feature Blackbyrd and Hazel jamming after the Cream cover with Clinton hyping it up. This could have been better had more work put into it and more live musicians and less drum machines. Although, every few years you’d hear an interview where Clinton would discuss recording s new Funkadelic record, he wouldn’t do so until 2014. Which is a shame because in the first few times I saw P-Funk there were at least 5 guitarists on stage, all playing their asses off.
2.5/5
Next is ‘85-87.
Part 9: 1982-84
Bootsy’s second solo album is fairly solid, mostly upbeat funk. The bass lines are killer and there’s nothing simple about them. However, I’d say the musical arrangements on here are mostly simple and straight forward funk. Besides a couple ballads, this is mid-tempo and upbeat. There aren’t any bad songs but there really isn’t any great songs either with the opener, “Shine-O Mite” being the stand out track. Oddly enough, the same year Bootsy released an absolutely killer non album single called “Body Slam”. It bears striking resemblance to “Countrackula” from this record.
3.5/5
Kiddo - “Kiddo” (1982)
Kiddo was formed by Donnie Sterling, who played bass and co-wrote for Parlet, co-wrote a few P-Funk songs, and sung occasional background vocals, even taking lead on Parliament’s “Agony of DeFeet”. Michael Hampton is also the guitarist. Fairly standard radio friendly funk in the style of Cameo or Zapp. “Tired of Looking” and “Try My Loving” are good dance songs. The rest is mostly filler. Michael Hampton’s guitar plating is subdued and he doesn’t really go off or play anything heavy. This record is mostly for completists. They put out another called “Action” in 1984. I won’t do separate review for it. More of the same.
1/5
Everyone knows “Atomic Dog”. In ‘82 it knocked Michael Jackson out of the #1 spot on the r&b charts, it’s been in several commercials, been sampled by countless rappers, and it’s even in a new kids movie where Clinton plays the voice of a funky troll. The story is some of the band were in the studio messing around, playing the tape of a drumbeat backwards when Clinton walks in high as hell on crack and blackout wasted. Paranoid that they’re going to record without him starts singing off the top of his head about dogs. They put it on tape and build an entire song around it and the rest is history. By the end of ‘81 Clinton dissolved Parliament, Funkadelic, and all the spin-off groups. The band never really broke up though. They were just remarketed as George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars. Many of the old crew is on this record; Eddie Hazel, Junie Morrison, Gary Shider, Bootsy, Bernie, Maceo, and many others. “Atomic Dog” wasn’t even expected to be a hit. The lead single was “Loopzilla”, Clinton’s tribute to both hip-hop DJ’s and various funk-friendly radio DJ’s. The song is connected to a previous track, “Man’s Best Friend” a bass heavy dance song dedicated to dogs with Sir Nose expressing his distaste. The title track is absolutely catchy with hilarious lyrics and the opener, “Get Dressed” is a great Parliament style song. “One Fun” and “Tots” are basically filler but are decent enough. Absolutely essential album.
5/5
P-Funk All-Stars - “Dance Floor Guerillas” (1983)
“Hydraulic Funk” and “Pumpin It Up” are classic P-Funk shoulda-been hits in the style of “Flashlight” or “Knee Deep” (while not as good as either). “Generator Pop” is decent in that style as well. “Catch A Keeper”, co-written with Sly Stone is another banger that showcases the female vocalists and “Copy Cat” is a sequel to “Atomic Dog” about cats. Although packed full of solid dance songs, the impact is weighed down by putting ballads as the 2nd and 3rd songs. The ballads are still nice, particularly “One of Those Summers” which sounds like straight r&b. “Acupuncture” has some elevator jazz sounding saxophone but it works. P-Funk All-Stars is the right name for this project because a ton of musicians play on here. It seems like each track has Clinton writing with someone different then assembling a whole different group of musicians for each song. The record still has a surprisingly good flow, despite as I mentioned, throwing 2 ballads at the beginning of what’s essentially a dance album. Very underrated.
4.5/5
P-Funk All-Stars - “Live At the Beverley Theatre Hollywood” (1983)
With a hit solo record and a new record showcasing the band, P-Funk decided to hit the road to promote their whole catalog. This was recorded from a pair of weekend residency shows for a radio station but it wasn’t officially released till 1990. This is the best P-Funk live album and shows a band at the top of their game. Dennis Chambers on drums and Skeet Curtis drive this performance, playing with so much energy adding speed to some of the normally more mid-temp numbers. Hazel, Hampton, and Blackbyrd all play lead on Maggot Brain with Maceo opening up with a flute solo. Maceo is the MC while the P-Funk Horns hold down the horn section. George and the whole band on on top of their game playing renditions of mostly hits like “Give Up the Funk”, “Atomic Dog”, “Flashlight”, and “Knee Deep”. This also has the best version of “Cosmic Slop”. Would love to hear the deep cuts from these shows if they’re out there. Fun fact: Prince claims he wrote “Erotic City” after being inspired July witnesses this live. P-Funk paid tribute back by covering it for the PCU soundtrack in the 90’s.
5/5
George Clinton - “You Shouldn’t-Nuf Bit Fish” (1983)
Clinton’s second solo album is every bit as good as the first, only it lacks that one hit to put it over the edge. The opener, “Nubian Nut” was released as a single and sees Clinton’s first foray into rap. Clinton has helped influence early hip-hop but here it is influencing him right back. “Nubian” is a fun dance number with some funky guitar by Blackbyrd at the end. “Quickie” opened with some funk-metal guitar, once again, by Blackbyrd before segwaying into some more chill funk rock about a woman who just wants a quick one night stand. The opening tracks are some of the first songs to really showcase Blackbyrd McKnight on guitar, as he typically took a backseat to Hampton or Hazel. If you’ve ever seen him live or heard his stuff with the Headhunters, you know the guy can shred. He would have more of an impact on future releases. The other single, “Let’s Dance” is a fun mix of funk, pop, and psychedelia not unlike Tom-Tom Club. There was even a cheesy, very 80s music video for this one. All 3 songs on side a very easily could have been hits. Were they just not promoted well or did they just not catch on with the general public? I don’t know but “Quickie” is definitely one of those forgotten deep cuts that needs to be heard. Side b is also good with a couple more catchy funk songs and closing with the more experimental, industrial title track with lyrics tackling nuclear technology and human greed. This record is criminally underrated and unfortunately the last really, really good P-Funk record of the 80’s.
4.5/5
Funkadelic - “By Way of the Drum” (1984)
“By Way of the Drum” was recorded in 1984 as a chance to revive Funkadelic. The record company shot it down, saying it was not what they expected and so it was shelved until finally being released in 2007. Before its release, it became a bit of a legend among P-Funk fans, being the lost Funkadelic album. Unfortunately, it’s a relatively disappointing album. While Blackbyrd McKnight is excellent on guitar, he is playing over really mediocre mid-80s funk. The overuse of drum machines really makes the album feel soulless which is a shame because some of the beats are interesting and might sound decent on live drums. The highlight is a go-go funk cover of “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream. Trey Lewd doing a cover of Slick Rick but reworking it to be about cheap beer in “Yada Dada”is interesting. A couple tracks like “Jugular” and “Freaks Bearing Gifts” are decent 80’s pop funk but are underwhelming under the Funkadelic banner. Clinton has reworked the opening song, “Nose Bleed” over the years on Dope Dogs, Shake the Gate, and even on a Snoop track. The other highlight is “Fresh Delic” which feature Blackbyrd and Hazel jamming after the Cream cover with Clinton hyping it up. This could have been better had more work put into it and more live musicians and less drum machines. Although, every few years you’d hear an interview where Clinton would discuss recording s new Funkadelic record, he wouldn’t do so until 2014. Which is a shame because in the first few times I saw P-Funk there were at least 5 guitarists on stage, all playing their asses off.
2.5/5
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