Free Your Mind... A chronological Introduction to ParliamentFunkadelic Part 1

...or "A chronological ParliaFunkadelicment Thang"
aka. "Cosmic slop by any other name: An ounce of P-Funk"

If there was only one post in this blog it would be this.

It dawned on me the other day, that maybe all the music I own could be fundamentally reduced down to Funkadelic. It’s always what you need.

They wrote the book on psychedelia, funk and everything in between. And they still remain more unsung than they should. They're by no stretch of the imagination totally unsung, but considering what they did, they should be right up there with our established "classic" acts.

There’s politics in there - blues, soul, sex, sweat, redemption, wisdom, bad jokes, good jokes, danger ... all wrapped up inside heavy on-the-one funk, heavy rock, deranged psychedelia, gospel, blues ....

Have the sublime and the ridiculous ever co-existed so closely together in modern music before?

Has any other band rocked so hard while still funking? Or funked so hard while still rocking?

Just the opening 2 tracks from Maggot Brain say almost everything you need to know, “Maggot Brain” going into into the short “Can You Get to that”.

Words really are redundant and ineffective for preparing you for this. If you already know it, there may be a couple of oddments you my not have (Fish, Chips & Sweat direct from the 7” etc...) if you don’t know it I almost envy you. How did you get this far without Funkadelic/Parliament? I wanna know …

Parts 1 & 2 focus on the work under the name Funkadelic from 1969 – 1975. Part 3 fills in the gaps and focuses on Parliament from the early releases to the late 70s

Part 1 HERE. Play loud.

Disk 1:
01. "Can't Shake It Loose"
02. "As Good As I Can Feel"
Both recorded 1969, scheduled for single release. From the essential 45s compilation “music for my mother”.
03. "I'll Bet You"
Single version of the track from the “Funkadelic” album 1970, collected on the essential 45s compilation “music for my mother”.
04. "I Got A Thing, You Got A Thing, Everybody Got A Thing"
From the 1970 album “Funkadelic”
05. "Fish, Chips And Sweat"
B’side of the single "I Got A Thing, You Got A Thing, Everybody Got A Thing" 1970
06. "Funky Dollar Bill"
Alternate mix of track from the album “Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow” 1970. From the essential 45s compilation “music for my mother”.
07. “Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow”
08. “I Wanna know if it’s good for you”
Both from the 1970 album “Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow”
09. "You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks"
Extended version of track from the album “Maggot Brain” 1971. From the essential 45s compilation “music for my mother”.
10. “Alice in My Fantasies” [live]
11. “I Call My Baby Pussycat” [live]
Both from the live album “Funkadelic Live - Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan 1971”
11. “Maggot Brain”
12. “Can You Get to That”
Both from the album “Maggot Brain” 1971


(part 2 coming soon .... )

Various - Jukebox at Eric's Vol 1: Rock 'N' Roll [1981]

Back in the early 80s I was playing 5-a-side football. What else is a footy obsessed kid going to do?
As it happens I was decent as well, I was captain, but I didn’t have “it” - not enough to make the grade, but that’s another story for another time.
The coach of the team was a rather cool chap called Alan Brown. A loyal Evertonian, massive Cramps fan and a frequenter of a club called Eric’s in Liverpool. He used to tell me & my best friend Dominic (best position: Left back) various tales of weird and wonderful sounds and goings on there; Jayne/Wayne County, The Doctors of Madness, The Cramps, Iggy etc…
On Alan’s lapel resided a huge silver badge for his favourite band - Dr Feelgood. I last ran into him in the early 90s, and my dad ran into him a few times too. I hope he’s doing well wherever he is.

Anyway, here’s a compilation dating from 1981 of stuff based on the contents of Eric’s Jukebox. It’s a cracking compilation even if you’ve never heard of the place. You really need this!

Get it HERE, as they say.

Tracklist:
A1. Duke Mitchell – The Lion
A2. The Rays – Elevator Operator
A3. Shelby R. Smith – Jim Dandy Handyman
A4. The Playboys – Jungle Fever
A5. Billy Prager – Do It Bop
A6. Big Al Downing – Georgia Slop
A7. The Frogmen – Underwater
A8. Tommy Blake – F-Olding Money
B1. Jackie Lowell – Rocket Trip
B2. Sonny Russell – 50 Megatons
B3. The Catalinas – The Catalina Push
B4. Bobby Day – Three Young Rebs From Georgia
B5. Lamar Morris – The Fugitive
B6. The Wailers – Shanghaied
B7. Bobby Lee Trammell – New Dance In France
B8. Ray Sharpe – Monkey's Uncle

Black Sabbath - Behind the Wall of Spock

Have you got a hole in your life that needs more Black Sabbath? Haven't we all?

I've never had time for post-Ozzy Sabbath, so this 1975 live recording is just the ticket. I'm told that this is a recording from the Sabotage Tour and was from the The Asbury Convention Hall, N.J. on 6th August. But I like to retain a healthy dose of scepticism about most things, so a pinch of salt may be needed with those details.

As a reasonably long time fan of Sabbath, since picking up their vinyl back in the mid/late 80s, It does seem somewhat strange that they've been "back in" these last few years. A good thing I say, but strange.

Ozzy tends to get the props, but you have to credit them all really. The amazing loose/heavy/tight black country grooves laid down by Bill Ward, Geezer Butler's Bass sitting fat and heavy like a genetic cross of Bootsy and Entwistle (OK I went to far there ...) and Iommi. The SG. The frown (thanks Nigel). The beard topiary. Those Riffs. Legend. His riffing took what had gone before, stripped it down, battered it and deep fried it with chips. All echoing the sound of heavy black country industrialisation, while the smell of rough shag tobacco, brown ale, patchouli and bad rehearsal rooms permeates. However, by the time of this bootleg, early smell of weed and amphetamine had given way to cocaine and things spinning out of control, culminating in Ozzy leaving. In many people's eyes, the end. Of course, Ozzy's vocals cannot be ignored - nothing else would have done the job. Like a wide-eyed soul boy in Primal Scream therapy. Or something.

I always liked pulling out Master of Reality, Paranoid or Sabbath Bloody Sabbath back in the post-rave back-to-mine sessions. It was quite often met with disbelief, but who's laughing now...?!!

Back in the days when I was deafening myself playing records to people in night clubs (ploughing my own furrow of techno, in case you ask), I remember someone asking what a track was. I handed him a sleeve and some minutes later he was still squinting at the hard-to-read print. This inspired me to take various "dummy" sleeves out with me in the trusty record bag, among those was always a few Sabbath sleeves, as well as Leonard Cohen and various others. It was always a pleasure watching people absorbing these mysterious sleeves and I like to think that maybe just one of them became acquinted with the work of Iommi and co. or any of the other things. Or did I just like taking the p*ss? Hmm...

Get this dose of Sabbath HERE

It looks something about like this:
Disk 1:
1. Supertzar/Introduction/Killing Yourself To Live
2. Hole In The Sky
3. Snowblind
4. Symptom Of The Universe
5. War Pigs
6. Megalomania
7. Sabbra Cadabra
8. Jam / Guitar Solo
9. Drum Solo / Jam
10. Supernaut
11. Iron Man
Disk 2:
1. Orchid / Guitar Solo / Rock'n'roll Doctor / Don't Start (Too Late)
2. Black Sabbath
3. Spiral Architect
4. Embryo / Children Of The Grave
5. Paranoid