― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 March 2003 05:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
Then one day a few years ago my buddy Dave and I were at a record store and almost shit ourselves - the music being played over the speakers was FANTASTIC - we never heard anything like it. One song was the best use of the Canon in D Major melody I'd ever heard. We asked what it was and it was
PARLIAMENT - Osmium
Though very atypical of the rest of their shit (at least the shit I've heard before and since), Osmium is one of my favorite records ever - it is beautiful - huge, unique and beautiful.
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 17 March 2003 05:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Scott Seward, Monday, 17 March 2003 05:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
the early stuff (Parliament's "Osmium", Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain", S/T, and "Free Your mind and Your ass will follow" are all fuzzed out hendrix styled acid blues funk.
the later stuff (usually after about '74) is more disco-y, funky, rubbery bass. the kinda stuff you see sample on the G-Funk hip hop albums (snoop, XClan, etc)
personally, i prefer the earlier stuff
― JasonD (JasonD), Monday, 17 March 2003 06:45 (twenty-one years ago) link
For a novice, I'd recommend starting with Funkadelic's Hardcore Jollies and Parliament's Mothership Connection, then working from there. P-Funk albums generally have great album tracks that you'd completely miss out on by sticking with singles comps.
― Vic Funk, Monday, 17 March 2003 12:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 17 March 2003 14:01 (twenty-one years ago) link
"Up for the Down Stroke" for Paliament.
I like the early Westbound stuff OK, but it isn't really what they were good at, in my opinion. Nice guitar and all but kind of boring.
It's also interesting to check out Clinton's '60s group, the Parliaments, good compilation avail. of their stuff, w/ classics like "I Wanna Testify" (covered by Parliament in '74 and also by Johnnie Taylor at Stax) and "All Your Goodies are Gone" (also re-interpreted by Parliament on "Up for the Down Stroke." The Parliaments' "Look at What I Almost Missed" is an incredible pop song, later covered by Marshall Crenshaw.
― Jess Hill (jesshill), Monday, 17 March 2003 14:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 17 March 2003 15:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
― scott m (mcd), Monday, 17 March 2003 16:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
If you're looking for the straight-up, most accessible of the Parliament records that sound like what most people consider the "Parliament sound"--i.e. the "disco-y, funky, rubbery bass kinda stuff you see sample on the G-Funk hip hop albums" that Jason D pointed out--then Funkentelechy is tough to beat. Two killer singles, hilarious dead-on concept w/ great characters and great extended jams.
And ironically, in light of the early P-Funk records, it's one of the all-time greatest acid records.
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 17 March 2003 16:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 17 March 2003 16:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
They were great at both. It really is all good.
If check out "Cosmic Slop", you will find yourself at the mid point between the two sounds.
― earlnash, Monday, 17 March 2003 17:03 (twenty-one years ago) link
heh, it does have it's country moments, and it's folky moments - "The Silent Boatman" with it's beautiful bagpipes(?!) - but seriously, "Red Hot Mama (From Louisiana)" (which someone a while ago suggested Britney should cover -GENIUS!) is so fuzzed out. it's one of their heaviest tracks.
― JasonD (JasonD), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dan (dan), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/motherpage/covers_parliament/cov-rhenium.gif
― steve k (stevek10), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― steve k (stevek10), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
b-b-but what about Maggot brain: the track (track 1)
― gaz (gaz), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
i actually have another release called Parliament "The Early Years". it has the butt-ugliest artwork i've ever seen. orange/green rainbow gradients. pictures that are stretched so that their height/ width ratios are off. but in the end, man, it's all about the music.
yeah seriously, this has to be my favorite track of theirs ever. but the sequence in question is pretty hot.
― JasonD (JasonD), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
YIKEEES!
― JasonD (JasonD), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sometimes i like to pretend i am very small and warm (ex machina), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:42 (nineteen years ago) link
I'd go with the obvious "One Nation Under" and then, actually, I say "Electric Spanking of War Babies," which is a really damn good record, perhaps underrated in the P-Funk canon. "Cosmic Slop" is the one after that; "Motor-Booty Affair" is another one.
The folks at Duke have an excellent website dissecting the records, at http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/pfunk.html
― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 08:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 09:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― JaXoN (JasonD), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 15:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dominique (dleone), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 14:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 15:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 15:15 (eighteen years ago) link
George Clinton - What the Hell is he on about?
― Keith C (lync0), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 15:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― pdf (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 15:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― pdf (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 15:56 (eighteen years ago) link
That and the TV footage of Funkadelic performing "Wars of Armegeddon" were the best parts.
― Vic Funk, Wednesday, 12 October 2005 16:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 12 October 2005 16:52 (eighteen years ago) link
Archives here:
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/GD
That's 6 hours of music to explore...
― Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Monday, 5 December 2005 16:10 (eighteen years ago) link
the ending live version of night of the thumpasorus peoples is the hookiest song ever, i think :)
― yijiao, Thursday, 22 December 2005 01:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― waldo jeffers scenario (haitch), Thursday, 22 December 2005 01:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mark Rich@rdson, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― Scik Mouthy, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― t**t, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alex in SF, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― abanana, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― abanana, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― I eat cannibals, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 02:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― ENBB, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 02:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 04:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― Bill Magill, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― Frogman Henry, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:01 (seventeen years ago) link
http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=etd_hon_theses
― you are extreme, Patti LuPone. (forksclovetofu), Monday, 20 July 2015 17:12 (eight years ago) link
I threw this list together of P-Funk and Clinton tracks.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 February 2017 17:43 (seven years ago) link
no interest in any of the spinoff act stuff?
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 February 2017 21:59 (seven years ago) link
Nice list Alfred! Please indulge me to add a few of my own favorites...
Free Alterations - From the Computer Games George Clinton solo record. Quite possibly my favorite thing he ever did.
I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody's Got a Thing - From the Funkadelic album.
Bop Gun - From Funkentelechy
Cosmic Slop (live version from Hardcore Jollies) - Completely different song than the other one, and IMHO it's far better
Red Hot Momma - From Standing On the Verge, whooo this is hot stuff
In Da Kar - Standout song from the recent Funkadelic comeback album
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:30 (seven years ago) link
'You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure'
― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:33 (seven years ago) link
The P-Funk live album ("Live: P-Funk Earth Tour) is great.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:36 (seven years ago) link
ha I remember my brother coming to visit once and asking me if I had this song and I was like "uh which one" because there are at least four officially released versions of it
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:44 (seven years ago) link
It's one of my favourite P-funk riffs!
― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:51 (seven years ago) link
"Liquid Sunshine" is so good.
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:52 (seven years ago) link
the standout track on that album imo
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:54 (seven years ago) link
Ha, I've actually had 'Liquid Sunshine' in my head today, but my favourite track on Motor Booty Affair is the title track.
― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:58 (seven years ago) link
Going to re-read the P-Funk poll thread(s), I may be some time.
― Return of the Flustered Bootle Native (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 February 2017 22:59 (seven years ago) link
Pedro Bell has left us. Truly the man.
We lost the Master Mind behind the Graphic's & Artwork of Funkadelic. Mr. Pedro Bell is an American artist and illustrator best known for his elaborate cover designs and other artwork for numerous Funkadelic and George Clinton solo albums. Thxs for yr service our brother.😲🙏 pic.twitter.com/PsD8TRxlRU— Bootsy Collins (@Bootsy_Collins) August 28, 2019
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 August 2019 02:08 (four years ago) link
Aw fuck. RIP
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 28 August 2019 02:27 (four years ago) link
I think my favorite cover is Hardcore Jollies... I just love all the purple and the composition is really dynamic. Absolutely idiosyncratic, one of a kind visuals that were just right for the music.
― the public eating of beans (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 28 August 2019 06:25 (four years ago) link
Funny that I just listened to a podcast on him 2 or 3 days agohttps://www.designfreakspodcast.com/episodes/2019/2/22/pedro-bellcomes from February this year. One of a series on art5ists mainly to do with music.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 28 August 2019 07:30 (four years ago) link
Pedro did something that is really rare imo, he made sitting down to listen to an album a real absorbing event. I can remember getting those mid-period Funkadelic albums, sitting down to listen to the album, and just poring over the liner notes and comic panels and hyper-detailed portraits and sleeve designs while listening, it was like entering another world for 35-40 minutes, not doing anything else. A proto-"multimedia" magic marker experience. From record to record there were references, running jokes, characters, recurring themes - a narrative. And not a narrative like today's where the focus is on the performer and their persona, but on this whole other weird alternate universe that mashed together horror movies, comic books, science fiction, blaxploitation, mysticism, conspiracy theories, African American lit, pornography, made-up slang, it's just so rich. There are not a lot of times I can recall where I would listen to an album and *not do anything else*, because it wasn't just an album, it had this whole other hyper-detailed (and funny!) aspect to it. Clinton got other guys later on that did their own version of this, but Bell was the originator and the best imo.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 28 August 2019 18:21 (four years ago) link
Totally agree, A+ post.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 29 August 2019 11:39 (four years ago) link
Seconded
― The Fearless Thread Killers (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 29 August 2019 12:26 (four years ago) link
H/T to Ned for sending this to my Twitter feed:
Funkadelic LP artist Pedro Bell once told me a woman, Cathy Abel, designed the official Funkadelic logo. When I shared this years ago with folks, misogynists & non-believers thought I was making ish up. Last wknd, while looking in “El-Lay”’s P-archives, look what I found (‘72)... pic.twitter.com/DMXESax2Re— DJ Soul Sister (@djsoulsister) October 7, 2019
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 8 October 2019 14:01 (four years ago) link
Cool.
― Let them eat Pfifferlinge an Schneckensauce (Tom D.), Tuesday, 8 October 2019 14:06 (four years ago) link
Saw 82 years old George Clinton and current version of Parliament Funkadelic at the Lincoln Theatre in DC . George was having fun, and the band was too. Sure I could nitpick them doing House of Pain “Jump Around “ rather than a PFunk deep cut , but George seemed into that cover . When I first saw em way back when I was bored a bit by instrumental solos , and decades later the same. One horn player did riffs from Fiddler on the Roof and Hava Nagila . But when they got funky, and the woman vocalist was singing well, and the horns, keyboard, guitars were grooving , it was one nation under a groove .
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 17 August 2023 14:46 (nine months ago) link