p-Funk Books

mms

sometimes
Are there any books with interesting stuff on p-funk or about p-funk and george clinton ?
Anyone nose ?

thanks in advance
 

blissblogger

Well-known member
Rickey Vincent's Funk: the music, the people, and the rhythm of the one is a decent history of funk that has a lot on p-funk and hey wait a minute i never noticed this, a foreword by george clinton., so you can tell where Vincent's coming from

greg tate wrote some good stuff on Clinton et al in his essay collection the Fly Boy in the Buttermilk

there's also some good far-out stuff on P-funk (and pedro bell--did i get the name right--'s artwork) in Kodwo's More Brilliant than the Sun

also a good essay by John Corbett in his essay collection (title i forgot) which compares Clinton with Lee Perry and Sun Ra
 

mms

sometimes
thanks more brilliant than the sun is ace, i've bought it twice, lent it twice and never had it back.
i wish he would follow it up.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
all the books blissblogger recommended are the ones i was going to mention - i'd also add nelson george's 'death of rhythm and blues', the p-funk book in the 'on the record' series (chunks of the story seem to be missing but it's a really great oral history book with almost all the main players in the p-funk giving their recollections)

edit: i just remembered the (mainly reggae?) writer lloyd bradley has a george clinton biog coming out next year. not sure what it will be like as the publishing date has been put back by well over a year, but its the first authorised biog of clinton so im quite looking forward to it
 
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withnail

Active member
I've always wondered why there is such a paucity of written material on the Parliafunkadelicmant thang and James Brown. Why?
 

PeteUM

It's all grist
edit: i just remembered the (mainly reggae?) writer lloyd bradley has a george clinton biog coming out next year. not sure what it will be like as the publishing date has been put back by well over a year, but its the first authorised biog of clinton so im quite looking forward to it[/QUOTE]

I thought his Bass Culture book was particularly good, so that's good news to me.
 

mms

sometimes
withnail said:
I've always wondered why there is such a paucity of written material on the Parliafunkadelicmant thang and James Brown. Why?

yep cos its obviously hugely important but difficult for a young brit like me to put it in context , also funk and soul dont seem to be taken as seriously as rock in the main imo
 

gragy10

Veteran Lurker
gumdrops said:
all the books blissblogger recommended are the ones i was going to mention - i'd also add nelson george's 'death of rhythm and blues', the p-funk book in the 'on the record' series (chunks of the story seem to be missing but it's a really great oral history book with almost all the main players in the p-funk giving their recollections)

edit: i just remembered the (mainly reggae?) writer lloyd bradley has a george clinton biog coming out next year. not sure what it will be like as the publishing date has been put back by well over a year, but its the first authorised biog of clinton so im quite looking forward to it

I'd expext that to be pretty great based on bass culture and the fact that the writer was part of the whole p funk ensemble in the late 70's (if i remember right he's on backing vocals on the uncle jam wants you lp).
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
i dont know if he was on the uncle jam album but he was definitely on the uncle jam tour and sung on bootsy collins' sweatband album
 

henry s

Street Fighting Man
Does anybody remember Jimmy G & the Tackheads?...they were a one-off spin-off of the P-Funk empire, and had one really good LP ('84, I think)...a nice extension of the "who says a funk band can't play rock" idea...I do not believe they were related to that Tackhead Sound System thing of a couple years later...
 
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