Search - Parliament :: Mothership Connection

Funkification Reaches Across Time and Space!

Gregory Bravo | Buffalo, NY United States | 10/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1980. A nine-year old boy in a suburb of an average- sized city rummages through a bunch of old LPs he finds in a box in his parents' basement. Captain and Tennille (looks boring)... Elvis' Greatest Hits (looks boring)... Whoa! What's this? A guy dressed in a weird outfit coming out of a spaceship?!?! Now this looks interesting...He puts on the LP... and the Funkification of suburbia has begun!He finds the grooves and the lyrics as wacked out, weird, and just plain cool, as the guy on the cover. This is like nothing he's ever heard before! It becomes one of his favorite albums ever... through the big-hair 80s, and the depressing 90s, he always returned to be re-Funkified. When he's feeling down, he goes to the Funk ("Funk can not only move, it can re-move!") When he's feeling up, he goes to the Funk... every time is a good time for P-Funk!Thank you George, Bootsy, and the rest! And now I KNOW it must have been the Lollipop Man who came down from the Mothership to put this album of pure chocolate gold in that box of white-bread!!!"

An absolute "MUST" have to qualify as a funk connoisseur

Cedric C. Carter | Asheville, North Carolina | 01/02/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought the album/LP when it first came out in 1975. I bought the CD last year SPECIFICALLY for Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples. This cut has the deepest, nastiest, funkiest BASS synthesizer lines I have ever heard. Bernie Worrell set the pace that has YET to be climaxed with his innovative minimoog bass lines. Of course, FLASHLIGHT became a signature jam for Worrell, but 'Night' set the course for what was to come later
in the history of P-Funk.When I first heard P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) on the radio in 1975 my reaction was, "What the heck is this???" Some whacked out guy talking about the "chocolate milky way", "Sir Lollipop Man, alias the long-haired sucker... my motto is..." ,
and the REST is history!!!Then they start sayin', "If you hear any noise, it's just me and the boys... hit me!" and "swing down sweet chariot stop and, let me ride". I was going out of my mind!!!Side two got even FUNKIER! This album was TOO good to be true!
Supergroove... has some of the weirdest, wackiest, yet wonderful
experiments with the capabilities of the ARP Pro-Soloist synthesizer ever recorded! Give Up the Funk is Parliament's "definitive" FUNK anthem. I remember THIS song being extremely popular among many one my white friends and it even made the local AM playlists (which was rare for an all black
funk group in the 70's). I especially liked the horn arrangements and Worrell's use of the ARP String Ensemble in this jam.The album concludes with the Thumpasorus Peoples. In 1975, my
52 year old father REALLY liked this song, especially the chanting (ga ga goo ga, ga ga goo ga... ga ga goo ga ga!!!) He thought it was kinda' neat. And as a teen, I thought it was really cool that even my dad could appreciate the FUNK!The Original "P" band that travels around doing P-Funk concerts to this day (2002) opens their show with the Thumpasorus Peoples.
If this group comes to your neighborhood GO AND SEE THEM! You will NOT be disappointed."

"Can you imagine doobiein' your funk?"

finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 10/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Up for the Down Stroke was basically a Funkadelic album, though there's nothing wrong with that. And Chocolate City was the Sly & the Family Stone reunion that sadly never happened. But it's at this point that Parliament becomes Parliament. I think this might be the finest Parliament album.



It was definitely their most influential - the high-pitched synthesizers that later became a trademark of "gangsta rap" were first heard here, and countless rappers have sampled these tracks. But what sets Parliament apart from their slavish imitators most of all is George Clinton. He strikes me as a very intelligent guy. Not just anyone can write a concept album about the power of "funk" (here a metaphor for Clinton's view of an ideal world, a world of peace, love, understanding, acceptance, dancing, sex and dope - a lot like the hippie dream, really), extended the metaphor to album length, and give it humor and a fresh, urbane attitude - all set to complex yet danceable music with equal influences in funk and jazz. And the guy's voice is so cool!



Of course, credit must also be given to my favorite keyboard player of all time, Bernie Worrell. The guy's classical and jazz training in a funk setting adds a whole new element to the songs, and if you ask me, the reason why the group's signature song, "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" was such a big hit is because of the keyboard playing. But every element of that song is perfect: Jerome Brailey's drum track is stellar, Bootsy Collins (well, either Bootsy or Boogie Mosson - both are superb bassists, though I prefer Bootsy) plays an insane bass part that serves as an additional melody of its own in addition to the backbone of rhythm and chords, and the ensemble vocals are amazing. So is Ray Davis' baritone vocal introduction. And if I had to pick a favorite Horny Horns performance, it would be the one on that song. But my favorite part of the song? The keyboards! That's what keeps the song from getting repetitive: they're so unpredictable, sometimes taking a simple harmony part, sometimes augmenting the melody, sometimes going off on little pseudo-solos of their own. It's amazing what that guy does.



And then he does it again with "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication", filled with weird percussion and the catchiest group vocal part I've ever heard, and a third time on the hilarious "Night of the Thumposorus Peoples", whose only real lyric is "I am high... we are high... I am high... we are high... am I?", before the group goes off and chants "gabagooda, gabagooba, gabagoogaga!" as Bernie goes whacko with his keyboards, summoning up the strangest tones possible. And it works tremendously. Again, kudos to the rhythm section for keeping the ultimate groove.



Now, back to George. His vocals and charismatic presence are absolutely stellar on the first two tracks. "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" shows you how much this group has changed since Chocolate City. No longer are they imitating Sly Stone - they've got their own thing now. Of course, Bernie and the rhythm section are superlative, but the real stars there are George, who delivers a laugh-a-minute rap (my favorite lyric is "can you imagine doobiein' your funk?"), and the Horny Horns, who give creative harmonic backdrop during the choruses and solo contribute fantastic solos.



And every element I adore about this album is in attendance on "Mothership Connection (Starchild)" - you've got the unbreakable groove, Bernie on synths, the Horny Horns being awesome, the ensemble vocals, George's funny raps ("Are you hip to Easter Island? The Bermuda triangle? Ha, ha!"), and my favorite moment in P-Funk history, when the song slows down and becomes absolutely beautiful, while Clinton adds a distorted vocal and the guys chant a variation on "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". There's another fantastic groove on "Unfunky U.F.O.", which despite being one of my favorite P-Funk songs still may be the weakest song on the disc (then again, since I could support every song on this album as strongest I could also call any of them the weakest - except for "Mothership Connection", that is), and "Handcuffs" is a fantastic, sweaty R&B workout. Bootsy again keeps things rolling with his jaw-dropping bass, and Glenn Goins rocks the house with his soulful vocals - listen to the way he sings "You're a sweet, fine, sexy woman...", and you'll get where I'm coming from.



I thoroughly love every song on this album. It's Parliament's best. It's the best funk album ever made. Amazing! And take note of the gigantic leap forward this is from the first two albums. I don't know how they went from being a decent R&B band to groundbreaking pioneers of the funk movement in less than a year.

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