Parliament-Funkadelic

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
which should records should I buy?

ALL OF THEM

Ok, that's my own personal goal. Get Funkadelic - Maggotbrain, Parliament - Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome, and George Clinton - Computer Games, put them on repeat and smoke weed all weekend.
 

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
Avoid: Anything into the 1980s except the George Clinton solo album I mentioned. Actually, I don't know if other people rate that one, but I like it lots.
 

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
Not to hog your thread, but that's another discography I should have downloaded before OiNK shut down.
 

petergunn

plywood violin
best of their acid records=funkadelic- free your mind and your ass will follow (i once met bernie worrell and i asked him if it was true that they recorded that record high on LSD and he said "that wasn't the only one!") Maggot Brain is good, but i really prefer "free your mind" and the self titled debut, which is some of the most primal, swampy funk ever... anyone who likes those records should cop "long burn the fire" by Mer-Dah, another similar sounding acid funk group...

i am prejudiced, b/c their freaky stuff is some of my fav music ever, but i would definitely advise you to buy all of the following:

free your mind and your ass will follow
osmium- parliament
standing on the verge of getting it on
america eats it's young
funkadelic
maggot brain

and then buy "up for the down stroke" by Parliament and "Let's Take it to the Stage" and begin to understand how a bunch of dope addled freaks became a kiddie friendly black version of KISS...

i can't pick a favorite from Parliament... from their commercial peak, "mothership connection', "clones of dr. funkenstein" and "funkentelechy vs the placebo syndrome" are all equally good... "clones of funkenstein" has less hits on it than the other two, but it might be my favorite... from Funkadelic's Warner Brothers records, "one nation under a groove" and "uncle jam's army" are my favorites...

for a newcomer, i would definitely avoid "Gloryhallastupid" and "Trombipulation" by Parliament, they are pale versions of the mid 70's stuff...
 

hopper

Well-known member
I think the P-Punk Live Earth Tour album was brilliant, my friend introduced me to them through this one, and for me it's still the best.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
early funkadelic is a bit meandering and doesnt really go anywhere but the free your mind album is def the best (and wildest) of that early batch. around 1973 clinton saw his black-psych-rock concept for funkadelic wasnt really getting him where he wanted so the band changed gears (for the better IMO) to a funkier, tighter approach. anyway, the best stuff id say is-

free your mind..
cosmic slop
standing on the verge
lets take it to the stage
one nation under a groove (junie morrison joined them here, and the songwriting was their best)

for parliament, i know everyone raves about mothership but ive never really liked it all that much - the bass is hardly audible, and the production is much, much too clean (state of the art, sure, but a bit too perfect imo). clones of dr funkenstein is more interesting IMO, the synth work on there is pretty novel, but even there, it seems like they held back a bit.

these are their best albums IMO -
osmium (quite diff from anything theyd do later on, but brilliant IMO, sort of like to parliament what a whole new thing is to sly stone)
funketelechy vs the placebo syndrome
motor booty affair

p funk earth tour is great IMO, and saves you having to wade through bootlegs where the songs go on for hours and hours (i like that sometimes, but not with every song lol), but its not really a proper live show as such - i think there was quite a bit of overdubbing and post production, and most of the songs are from their then-recent albums. the new song fantasy is reality is one of their all time best songs though, and the live version of dr funkenstein is great too.
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
Forget all these individual albums (most of which are patchy) - just cheat.

There's a Funkadelic 2LP comp called Music For Your Mother (i think), which came out about 1990. All the best stuff and the longest, most informative sleeve notes i've ever read.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Been getting more into some of the Clinton solo stuff, which I hated initially after being used to Parliament/Funkadelic. 'Do fries go with that Shake' and 'Atomic Dog' are monsters, must have sounded pretty mental to listeners when they first came out.

Dunno what album its on but 'You scared the love right out of me' is me fave Funkadelic. First two albums are amazing too, swampy as fuck...
 

dominic

Beast of Burden
you also might want to check old frankie knuckles and ron hardy mixes on-line -- as they definitely caned "pleasure principle"
 

mms

sometimes
people have pretty much covered the earlier stuff - funkentelechy vs the placebo syndrome is the best parliament lp and motor booty affair is good too.

also uncle jam by funkadelic has one side of hits.

if you can find it there is a great ep with george and sly stone but i'm not going to tell you what it's called. gotta get the 12" on that one.
 

hurricane run

Well-known member
Bootsy solo (sic) worth a listen. There's a cheap warner bros comp thats got most of the goodies I like the zillatron lp that (ughh) bill laswell released in the early 90's
 
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