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This is the thread we we anxiously await details on the MUTHAFUCKIN' FUNKADELIC REISSUES!

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As www.dustygroove.com seems to hint at.. but gives no specific information on what's different, nor does the Westbound records site.

I e-mailed Westbound and asked for the details.

I'll be checking my e-mail every 10 seconds.

― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

(this info having come from the "Standing vs. Maggot Brain" thread.. I thought it deserved its own thread)

― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Interesting.

The debut and 'free your mind.." are both better than 'standing on the verge..' and 'maggot brain' to me.

― Jimmy Mcnulty, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Are there funkadelic rarities collections? alternate edits/takes etC?

― BOATPEOPLEHATEFUCK (ex machina), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Free Your Mind... is superior to Maggot Brain in my opinion, too, Jimmy. I can't answer about the others, though.

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

"Are there funkadelic rarities collections? alternate edits/takes etC? "

The singles collection "Music for my Mother" has a lot of stuff - b-sides, instrumentals, etc. Great liner notes and sleeve too.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, there'd be some great stuff to pull from Music For My Mother for these, like the instrumental "Vital Juices" that was the B-side of the "Red Hot Mama" single. Basically, the Eddie Hazel guitar solo that ends "Red Hot Mama" keeps right on going for another 3-4 minutes, and that's "Vital Juices."

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

another gem is that Fuzzy Haskins (US Music) gospel track - a backwards version of that song forms the backing track of one of my favorite Funkadelic bizarre-o moments, "Eulogy and Light" (which closes "Free Your Mind...").

I'm a little wary of the reissues honestly - I don't think there's much in the vaults they haven't already released in some form or another.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I'll buy 'em, because right now the only Funkadelic I have on CD is that compilation, Motor City Madness.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

ah yeah, well they'll be great for ya then! don't get me wrong, all this stuff should be in print in deluxe-super-duper expanded editions (with the original liner notes/comic books/badges/etc) for time immemorial, as far as I'm concerned.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Free Your Mind also needs a remaster like nobody's business. Does anyone know if the Motor City Madness comp is remastered? I noticed that "Free Your Mind" sounds about a billion times better on that than it does on the original album, as far as being able to hear the damn guitar line.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i thought these have been "coming soon" for years

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Zack, I'm glad you say that about Free Your Mind. I've always thought it sounded like something potentially good hidden in murk. Never was able to truly get into it.

― southern lights, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the murk was part of it. I hope at least some murk stays.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I think you guys are wishing for a REMIXING of "Free Your Mind..." as opposed to a remastering. the weird pans, EQ freakouts, etc. are all in the mix. George's recollection of mixing that album are pretty funny (there was also some band years back who did a note-for-note cover of this album, production fluorishes and all, forget who it was). Personally, I love how the album is bathed in Space Echo-effects.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

According to the interview with Clinton in John Corbett's great book, Free Your Mind was recorded and mixed in a day! All that phasing and panning and so forth was just sort of improvised on the spot. So yeah, it might be tough to really improve the overall sound without destroying the album's character somewhat. Great album though. "Funky Dollar Bill", "Friday Night, August 14th" ... man. Heavy heavy shit.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't mind murk per se, but these mad remastering scientists have a way of using things like multiband compression and scalpel-precise applications of EQ etc. to render a kind of transparency without losing the chaos. I just always felt like the disc was lowpass-filtered, not in a good way.

― southern lights, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 22:34 (twenty-one years ago)

"Free Your Mind..." was the first Funkadelic album I ever heard, and since it was a taped copy I assumed all the fucked-up sound was a result of low-quality dubbing. Only after I got the CD did I realize how brain-meltingly great the whole thing was, I couldn't imagine anyone deliberately making a record so jarring and sprawling. As such, I rank it really highly, it definitely opened up my head a bit. I copped a decent vinyl copy after my CD died, I'm not sure how it was mastered but it sounds good to me.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...
Ace Records, which distributes Westbound, has all of the reissues listed on the front page of the website, with info on the albums and the bonus tracks (just click on an album cover).

― Jonathan (Jonathan), Sunday, 15 May 2005 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

There's also vinyl reissues, not including the bonus tracks but gatefold sleeves of the art in all their glory, for anyone interested. The S/T, Maggot Brain, Cosmic Slop and Standing... anyway. Haven't seen the others.

― Vic Funk, Sunday, 15 May 2005 12:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Dusty Groove is sold out of 'em at present, and Amazon (US) has 'em listed as expensive imports.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 15 May 2005 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...
just ordered free your mind... for 13 bucks on amazon mktplace! agh - i cant wait - i think these reissues are going to win a lot of converts over to funkadelic (from simple ignorance, that is).

― peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...
I just got the first four... Funkadelic, Free Your Mind, Maggot Brain, and America Eats Its Young... listening to the first one now.. if the rest are like this one, these reissues are as good as the recent Can reissues and the Black Sabbath Black Box reissues... CLARITY! That's the key word here so far, as far as the sound goes... I'm incredibly happy right now... (just ordered more from Amazon.. couldn't find Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On there.. hmmmm)

― donut e-go (donut), Thursday, 23 June 2005 03:43 (twenty-one years ago)

all of these have lotsa bonus tracks.. usually the singles that were released alongside the albums, including instrumental versions/takes... even America Eats Its Young was able to fit in a couple of bonus track on its single disc reissue.

― donut e-go (donut), Thursday, 23 June 2005 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry to be repetitive here.. but goddamn, these are so incredible... some of those bonus tracks are PRICELESS!

― donut e-go (donut), Friday, 24 June 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Weren't these just reissued, like, two years ago? Now with better sound and bonus tracks, is that it?

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Friday, 24 June 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

from whence did you get them?

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Friday, 24 June 2005 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

all over.. dusty groove, amazon, amazon.uk at one point, Sonic Boom in Seattle...

They're all hard to find in one spot.. you have to scavenge for them, it seems, as they've been selling really fast.

And these are strictly 2005 reissues via www.acerecords.co.uk

Josh, the ones I'm guessing you're talking about are the post 1976 Funkadelic reissues like One Nation Under A Groove, after the band left Westbound.

― donut e-go (donut), Friday, 24 June 2005 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I just got the first four as well. And agree: they sound fantastic. The bonus tracks aren't so amazing, I don't reckon (well, they're amazing, but many are just single-edits or instrumentals,) but these are really, really worth seeking out.

― Dark Horse, Friday, 24 June 2005 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"I Wanna Know If It's Good To you (instrumental)" (from Free Your Mind... and "Whole Lot Of BS" (from Maggot Brain) are EXCELLENT bonus tracks.. yeah, they're not all universally mind-blowing, but I'm really glad they're there, and they are a major reason I got the reissues..

― donut e-go (donut), Friday, 24 June 2005 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

The only one that's come for me so far is Free Your Mind. Jealousy!

― Dominique (dleone), Friday, 24 June 2005 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I reckon it's splitting hairs, D. We certainly agree these rule. (I'm glad it's not just me, frankly: sometimes with re-masters you WANT to believe they sound better. These really do.)

― dark Horse, Friday, 24 June 2005 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...
Picked up the first two, loving the remastered sound. However, I was just about to buy Standing on the Verge and Take it to the Stage and saw these two reviews (by the same dude) on Amazon. Can anyone confirm/deny?

Standing on the Verge

However, Ace must have used alternate or just plain wrong master tapes. "I'll Stay" has about 3 minutes clipped out of the end (it fades at 4 min), while "Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts" has the same amount clipped out of the beginning (most of the opening guitar solo is gone; George's speech now starts 3 min. in). On top of that, the "Sexy Ways" here is an alternate and inferior mix with different lead vocals and extra guitar noodling


Take it to the Stage

Unfortunately, the first 10 seconds or so of "Atmosphere" are cut off, so the fanfare is lost.

― Keith C (lync0), Thursday, 11 August 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

"I'll Stay" has about 3 minutes clipped out of the end (it fades at 4 min)

Say it ain't so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Thursday, 11 August 2005 13:11 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...
I just got Maggot Brain and it sounds phenomenal. As far as the cutting the track lengths, allmusic seems to agree that the track lengths were cut. How could such a decision be made?

― matt2 (matt2), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

I emailed Ace about this and they claimed the errors have been fixed.

― Keith C (lync0), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

the american version of the MB reissue has some RIDICULOUS graphic design. the UK reissues i got of FYM and s/t look great; why would westbound farm the american version out to some lame-ass design group, when they presumably had a good design in the UK?

someday, id like to read a book about this reissue process; it seems like it would be a comedy - of ERRORS.

― petesmith (plsmith), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

xpost

So the tracks should be full length now? Lord I hope so.

And OTM about the design. It really looks like some drug store "MEGA HITS OF THE 90'S" collection, all really bright neons and Scooby Doo fonts, on the cd tray insert anyway. The booklet is okay, if a touch fuzzy, as it's devoid of the "psychedelic" design of the tray card.

― matt2 (matt2), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)


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