Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will POLL: The P-Funk Nominations and Voting Thread

TS: You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure vs. Do That Stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AvmgYHguWk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-7y57s1DdQ

Haha, I never noticed those (obvious, I now realize) similarities!

Been listening to a lot of these records and holy shit, they really knew how to write a lot of different types of songs. I don't think P-Funk gets enough credit for how diverse the sounds on some of these records are.

Love this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGJXKd_BMvY

last verse always gets a lol from me:

Well, suddenly as she laid there, mouth wide open, wig half off, snoring,
Breath smelling like a 1948 Buick
I was sick with the guilties, and she smiled in her sleep
As if to say, "All looks are not alike, all holes are not a crack."

there's always at least one cut per Funkadelic record that bears little to no relation to the other songs on the album, and I always loved this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4xhujni4uM

I am soooo behind on my P-Funk; I have maybe 12-15 albums, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.

Not exactly their finest hour that one! (xp)

I realised I was seriously struggling when I drew up an initial list of 50-60 tracks and there was not a single one from "Motor Booty Affair". I'm frightened to listen to some of the spinoff albums in case that complicates things even further.

Need a Parliament song with bagpipes on it? Of course you do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CK8KPh167g

First time I noticed what the bass drum was doing in this, I said out loud to the stereo, "WHAT IS HAPPENING?!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSsy4GTDKaQ

Silent Boatman also not their finest hour haha

I'm not really into the Ruth Copeland stuff

Speaking of Osmium, is there a consensus pick between the "Red Hot Mama"s? I can see a case being made for either, but I prefer the SOTEOGIO version.

hey guys dig Eddie Hazel playing electric banjo for Bonnie Pointer (at around 2:00):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye9zM5_Do9Q

xp

fwiw I would also like to point out that the Temptations and Chairmen of the Board stuff featuring Hazel/Nelson/Fulwood and other P-Funk dudes are eligible, some great tracks on those records

for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_UxlayuJpk

and of course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVFUr66Xk1c

(this one is a cover of an obscure Sly Stone-penned Stone Flower records single)

This is gonna be the Jacksons poll all over for me. I voted for one Motown-era MJ track and the rest were disco and post.

Love this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlXe2cqLekI

This is gonna be the Jacksons poll all over for me. I voted for one Motown-era MJ track and the rest were disco and post.

I expect there's going to be a sizable split in the balloting between those that favor the earlier/rougher/weirder pre-'76 stuff and those that prefer the more rubbery/dancier/disco-ier post-'76 material. Personally I like it all but it seems like plenty of other people have cutoff points

I'll be voting for a healthy mixture of both pre-'76 and post-'76 stuff. I prefer to look at the Parliament-Funkadelic that way instead of it being like "this is a Parliament record" or "this is a Funkadelic record".

the bands morphed a lot over time - for some reason I feel like the departure of Fuzzy, Calvin and Grady is maybe the most dramatic break, when those guys go the records do become a bit more alike. There is not that much difference between the various acts' late 70s/early 80s outputs, stylistically.

we need a George Clinton poll at some point, for I'm listening to "Double Oh Oh" for the 99935th time and dancing out of my constrictions.

just seeing this for the first time now lol Billy Barty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4_fYiKUqDU

Speaking of Osmium, is there a consensus pick between the "Red Hot Mama"s? I can see a case being made for either, but I prefer the SOTEOGIO version.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, October 31, 2014 6:20 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I prefer the Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On version too, although I love the intro on the other version.

yeah the earlier version is lacking a certain something

the bands morphed a lot over time - for some reason I feel like the departure of Fuzzy, Calvin and Grady is maybe the most dramatic break, when those guys go the records do become a bit more alike. There is not that much difference between the various acts' late 70s/early 80s outputs, stylistically.

― Οὖτις, Friday, October 31, 2014 8:59 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, definitely agree. You've just reminded me of the existence of Connections & Disconnections, actually... don't think I'm going to be voting for anything from that record, somehow.

Haven't had a chance to start digging into my listening yet but just wanted to say thanks for the great responses upthread (and continuing) on listening! Really stoked for this.

Think I've got my Top 2 nailed down, just got, er, all the rest to work out.

Think I'll be able to manage a 30-track ballot - it's going to be heavy on singles and the earlier Funkadelic stuff.

I've drawn up a list, but fuck knows at this stage what I'm going to put at #1... or indeed which order I'm going to put the tracks in. That's the killer part.

One thing I will say for these chaps, they know how to pick a title track.

Definitely know my fave track...but the rest..in a ranked order...jeez..don't know if three weeks is long enough...

Is it too late for a side poll? "Best album title" might be a good one.

One thing I will say for these chaps, they know how to pick a title track.

was gonna say, you can make a great mixtape using either title tracks or first tracks

tbh I think the preponderance of certain songs that will appear on virtually everyone's ballots make the top 3 or so a foregone conclusion. beyond that I really have no idea however.

I'm going to make a formal request about the format of ballots, cuz this is going to be pretty complicated and I would like to make my job as simple as possible now that I'm setting up the spreadsheet. Please, if possible, submit your ballots either in a table with the following columns, in this order, or separated by tabs.

Artist Song Rank

Order doesn't matter since I will be sorting things anyway, but having these three pieces of information in that order will be most helpful.
thx

this one is going to be v v high on my ballot, bottom end bangs so hard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_-xdv2yx8M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emWmHIIHuYE

^ This one's definitely going to be high up on mine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E4Om8Fqh4Y

^ and some Quazar is definitely going to be in there!

FUNK! FUNK! FUNK!

Y'know, I was thinking the other day that a great pub quiz question would be "how many times is the word 'funk' used in the entirety of the P-Funk discography"? That's the great thing about P-Funk, they never let you forget what genre of music you're listening to.

idly wondering if anyone's ever asked any of the Doobie Brothers how they feel/felt about getting dissed in "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)"

Yeah, that's a good question. Same with "James Clown", "Earth, Hot Air & No Fire", "Fool & The Gang", "Sloofus" and "Slick & The Family Brick"...

another random note: I have always wondered what is up with The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein as a whole and whether it's just the late 80s/early 90s CD reissue mastering that makes it sound so thin compared to other albums in the catalog...? Is this just me? This album has always sounded weaker than the others to me. There's great stuff on it, but the low end is kinda lifeless.

No, it's definitely not just you, it definitely sounds thinner to my ears compared to Mothership Connection and Funkentelechy, whereas those albums sound much fatter on the bottom end to me. I remember reading that Clinton himself was never quite happy with the way The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein came out? Motor Booty Affair sounds absolutely phenomenal though... I had that on last night on the headphones, and production-wise it's just superb!

this is diggin fairly deep but man does this version slay the album version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IzaJ0E4eng

You Shouldn't-Nuf Bit Fish >>>> Computer Games.

I'd say both albums each have three tracks I like a lot and then a bunch I don't care about

Wondering how George's new book is (cowritten with a New Yorker writer)? He's been making the rounds on the East coast doing signings and interviews (several NYC ones and an NPR one online and on Jimmy fallon)

haven't read it yet but it's on my want list

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBAF3NNYAW4

OOOO WHO WAS THAT?