Parliament and the Horny Horns
Reviewed on this page:
I Wanna Testify - Rhenium - Up For The Down
Stroke - Chocolate City - Mothership Connection - Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein - Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome - A Blow For Me, A Toot To You - P-Funk Earth Tour - Motor Booty Affair - Gloryhallastoopid - Say Blow By Blow Backwards - Trombipulation - TheFinalBlow - The
Bomb
If you didn't come here from our main P-Funk
page, you should probably go take a look.
 I Wanna Testify (recorded 1967-9, released 1994)
Detroit soul, from textbook to experimental; some
of the songs kick ("What You Been Growing," the title song) but
mainly this record is of value only for documenting the infancy of
the Funk Mob. (DBW)
 Rhenium (recorded 1970-2, released 1992)
This collects the Osmium album originally released in 1970
together with singles released around the same time. (First
Thangs (1994) covers the same period and includes a couple of
extra tracks, but I don't have it so I can't review it.) It's a
fascinating bunch of songs, covering various rock, R&B, even
country and classical styles - nothing like the sound of the later Parliament
albums, the closest comparison is Funkadelic's America Eats Its
Young. Where the experiments work ("Moonshine Heather") the
results are amazing; elsewhere they crank out smoking rock tracks
("Funky Woman") including two later redone by Funkadelic: "Red Hot
Mama" and "Pussy" - they also do a moving version of Pachelbel's Canon, of all things, retitled "Oh Lord Why Lord."
The listed producer (with Clinton) is Ruth Copeland, but apparently
she didn't contribute aside from penning "The Silent Boatman" - the other producer was really her husband,
Jeffrey Bowen, moonlighting from Motown.
(DBW)
Up For The Down Stroke (1974)
The
first record after years of legal trouble prevented Clinton from
releasing records under the Parliament name. The title track
unleashes a new brand of funk on the world. The rest of the album
is mostly padded out with remakes of earlier Parliaments singles,
from outstanding ("Testify," "The Goose") to pointless ("All Your
Goodies Are Gone"). (DBW)
 Chocolate City (1975)
The Mothership really takes off here, from the title track, with
chanted choruses, hilarious off-the-cuff lyrics, fat bass,
breathtaking horn riffs, jazzy keyboards. The first side keeps up
the pace with more Bootsy & Bernie collaborations ("Together,"
"What Comes Funky," "Ride On"); side two drags a bit (the painful
ballad "I Misjudged You"). (DBW)
 Mothership Connection (1975)
Finally, a concept album that doesn't take itself seriously: funk
from outer space. The opening "P. Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)"
shows off the empathic musicianship of the band members, backing
another brilliant Clinton monologue; the title track switches from
a headbanging groove to churchy incantation. Clinton and company
hit the pop chart for the first time since 1967 with the anthemic
"Give Up The Funk," which spotlights Jerome Brailey on drums and
Bernie Worrell's squiggly keyboards; the album closes with the
appropriately-named monster groove "Night Of The Thumpasaurus
Peoples." A goldmine for future generations of samplers. (DBW)
 Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein (1976)
Why change a winning game? Another concept album packed with
classic tunes, including the good-time title song, the single "Do
That Stuff" and Clinton's best-ever love song (the propulsive
"Gettin' To Know You"). There are some minor tunes ("Everything Is
On The One," "Funkin' For Fun") but they're still fun. (DBW)
 Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome (1977)
The most coherent and enjoyable Parliament
thang of all, as Clinton takes aim at the purveyors of "placebo"
disco and funk, and shoots them with the "Bop Gun." The best-known
Parliament tune ("Flashlight") is here, plus a couple of the most
amazing extended grooves I've ever heard: "Funkentelechy" and "Sir
Nose D'Voidoffunk." Both mix off-kilter pop-culture references with
fantastic bass lines and jaw-dropping transitions. "Bop Gun" is
just as good, with gospel-style vocals and precision rhythm guitar
work, and there's also the wonderful mock-Motown love song "Wizard
of Finance" (one of the only tracks not to feature Bootsy on bass,
but Skeet Curtis more than takes up the slack). (DBW)
A Blow For Me, A Toot To You (Horny Horns: 1977)
The first release from the Horny Horns is
relentless tuneful funk, mostly instrumental. The best grooves are
the title track and "Fourplay"; "Between Two Sheets" is fun, and
sounds like a Bootsy's Rubber Band outtake. The remake of "Up For
The Down Stroke" doesn't excite me, and the slow album closer
"Peace Fugue" doesn't move me. But it's worth checking out if only
to listen to some master musicians at their most relaxed. (DBW)
P-Funk Earth Tour Live (1977)
Documents one of the great live bands at the peak of their game,
but doesn't really capture the sweaty excitement of an actual P-Funk show. The 15-minute version of "Dr. Funkenstein" particularly
doesn't come across well on record: Bernie and Hampton noodle
endlessly. The show's at its most interesting when they crossbreed
songs, like when Hampton's playing the lead line from "If You Got
Funk You Got Style" while the rest of the band is playing "Give Up
The Funk" and the singers are doing "Get Off Your Ass and Jam." A
couple of studio tracks including a remake of the Funkadelic song
"Fantasy Is Reality" pad out the double album; the only new song
worthy of note is "This Is The Way We Funk With You," with a
splendid, piano-led riff. (DBW)
Motor Booty Affair (1978)
Another batch of intoxicating funk, this time set underwater.
"Rumpofsteelskin" is a Bootsy tour-de-force and one of the best
chanting records ever; the single "Aquaboogie" is driven by
stomping rhythm guitar and Bernie's pyrotechnics. On "One Of Those
Funky Things" Clinton throws in every production trick he can come
up with; "Deep" is inspired chaos lyrically, over a fascinating
backing track. Only the two slow numbers, "Water Sign" and "Liquid
Sunshine," are short of perfection -- and they're still real good.
(DBW)
Gloryhallastoopid (1979)
Half of Uncle Jam plus half of this record would have been
the album of the year; instead we have great tracks ("Color Me
Funky," "Pin The Tail On The Funky") together with too-long funk
workouts ("The Freeze (Sizzleanmean)") and a terrible disco song
("Party People") George would have sneered at had anybody else
released it. (DBW)
Say Blow By Blow Backwards (Horny Horns: 1979)
This isn't as consistent as their debut, but "Half
A Man" and "We Came To Funk Ya" are as funky as anything you're
going to come across, and the title track shows off Fred Wesley's
remarkable trombone techique. (DBW)
 Trombipulation (1980)
The Bomb fizzles out on Parliament's last LP; the concept is
depressing (funk has been vanquished throughout the world) and the
grooves don't improve matters, except for the fine "New Doo
Review," propelled by new arrival Lige Curry on bass. If you don't
know what "trombipulation" means (I didn't), go look it up. Who
says music isn't educational? (DBW)
The Final Blow (Horny Horns: recorded 1980, released 1994)
It's not hard to see why this was left in the can so long. Running
out of quality material, the Horns resort to a cover of "Standin'
On The Verge" and a number of overlong, routine solo vehicles.
(DBW)
Parliament's also featured on Greatest Hits Live, released 1993.
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