Which are the best??
― meister, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 16:58 (eighteen years ago) link
Maggot Brain probably my favorite. For "Super Stupid," especially.
― dark Horse, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stoner Guy, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:13 (eighteen years ago) link
1. Maggot Brain2. s/t3. America Eats its Young4. Free Your Mind5. Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On6. Hardcore Jollies7. Let's Take It To The Stage8. Cosmic Slop
― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:14 (eighteen years ago) link
Also I suspect that Stoner Guy does not get stoned enough.
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stoner Guy, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:23 (eighteen years ago) link
all these albums are great, to varying degrees.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:24 (eighteen years ago) link
No use for anything after that. And yeah, all of the ones I listed are pretty much equally great; it's just that Standing On The Verge... has "I'll Stay," so it's #1.
― pdf (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:54 (eighteen years ago) link
2. Free your mind..
3. Maggot brain.
4. Uncle jam wants you.
5. Cosmic slop.
6. Standing on the verge of getting it on.
7. Let's take it to the stage.
8. America eats it's young.
9. One nation under a groove.
10. Hardcore jollies.
Haven't heard any of the others.
― Ellis From Die Hard, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― pdf (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:02 (eighteen years ago) link
x-post
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:02 (eighteen years ago) link
1. One Nation Under a Groove2. Electric Spanking of War Babies3. Tales of Kidd Funkadelic4. Let's Take It to the Stage5. Maggot Brain6. Standing on the Verge of Getting It On7. Hardcore Jollies8. Cosmic Slop9. Uncle Jam Wants You10. Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow11. America Eats Its Young12. Funkadelic
But I love something, or things, about every one of them.
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 01:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 02:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 02:09 (eighteen years ago) link
etc
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 02:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stoner Guy, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 10:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 10:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 10:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stoner Guy, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 11:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 11:50 (eighteen years ago) link
Funny, I just heard Maggot Brain yesterday for the first time. I thought the same thing about that opening track, god what a bore. Actually though, the rest of the album is pretty great.
uh: you and your folks = not funky? get to that = not funky? i admit the fart sounds aren't too psychedelic.
Exactly, "you and your folks" is about the dirtiest, nastiest funkiest shit I've ever heard. I love the recording on this; what's up with the drums?
― sleep (sleep), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 12:01 (eighteen years ago) link
But, "dirtiest, nastiest, funkiest shit you've ever heard?" I would describe it as weakest, lamest excuse for funk I ever heard.
― Stoner Guy, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 12:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stoner Guy, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 12:17 (eighteen years ago) link
like edd said, there's gold on every one save the last (which I listened to once back in 1979, just included it to be a dick)
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 12:32 (eighteen years ago) link
When discussing Maggot Brain, how can one possibly discount "Can You Get To That?" It's certainly my favorite on the album and honky-tonk funky like nobody's business.
― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 12:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 12:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:37 (eighteen years ago) link
1. best of the early years2. maggot brain3. standing on the verge of getting it on4. one nation under a groove5. electric spanking of war babies6. funkadelic7. osmium 8. cosmic slop9. hardcore jollies10. let's take it to the stage11. uncle jam wants you12. free your mind...and your ass will follow13. tales of kidd funkadelic14. america eats its young15. connections and disconnections
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 16:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 16:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 7 July 2005 04:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― mulllygrubbr, Thursday, 7 July 2005 11:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 7 July 2005 12:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 7 July 2005 12:07 (eighteen years ago) link
1. Maggot Brain2. Standing on the Verge of Getting It On3. One Nation Under a Groove4. Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow5. Funkadelic6. Cosmic Slop7. Electric Spanking of War Babies8. Hardcore Jollies9. Tales of Kidd Funkadelic10. America Eats Its Young11. Uncle Jam Wants You
Never heard "Let's Take It to the Stage"
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 7 July 2005 14:00 (eighteen years ago) link
Original Parliament-Funkadelic Singer Dies In N.J.
TRENTON, N.J. -- Ray Davis, a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, a flamboyant 1970s funk band whose music is considered a precursor to modern rap and hip-hop, died Tuesday from respiratory complications at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. He was 65. Davis provided bass vocals on songs such as "Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucka)," "One Nation Under A Groove" and "Flashlight." The latter two songs reached No. 1 on the R&B charts.
Under leader George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic fused R&B, jazz, gospel and rock styles combined with garish costumes and elaborate stage displays to form one of the most original bands of the 1970s.
"It started out as a doo-wop group," Clinton said in a 2003 interview at a Rhythm & Blues Foundation ceremony honoring the band. "Once we decided to change from that, we went as far as we could ... from diapers to any kind of costume that anyone might have on."
Born March 29, 1940, in Sumter, S.C., Davis was a member of the original Parliaments, a vocal group formed in the 1950s by Clinton while a junior high school student in Plainfield, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Web site. Other members of the group included Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins and Grady Thomas.
The group scored a top-20 pop hit in 1967 with the single "(I Wanna) Testify." In the early 1970s, Clinton changed the vocal group's name from plural to singular and also created Funkadelic, a funk band with a sound more influenced by the electric guitar. The two overlapping groups and other affiliated acts became known as "P-Funk."
Parliament-Funkadelic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 in a class that included the Jackson 5, Bee Gees, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Young Rascals and Buffalo Springfield.
Davis, who lived in Franklin Park, remained active musically in recent years, according to his son, Derrick, filling in on bass vocals with the Temptations after the death of Melvin Franklin in the mid-1990s and touring since 1998 with original P-Funk members Haskins and Thomas.
― Vic Funk, Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:13 (eighteen years ago) link
!!!And to think you consider yourself a stoner guy?!
"Maggot Brain", the song, is a curious choice for an LP opener ("Super Stupid" woulda been my choice) but still the most heavenly AND hellish wah-wah epic in history. To pretend otherwise is as fooish as describing "Can You Get To That" as "lame". Or (mis)-counting 7 songs as 8!
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:38 (eighteen years ago) link
Hell, even then, it will be tough.. I'll have to add ratings to the rankings just to state that an album five notches below is practically as good as the one above it just because almost every album is excellent but each in a different way.
Reading the liner notes to the reissues have been very eluminating. They make the Funk sound like the R&B Hawkwind, except whereas David Brock was the ringleader of a constant revolving door of occasionally talented musicians, George Clinton was the ringleader of a more rapidly rotating revolving door of consistently excellent musicians... and, of course, the drugs.
― donut e- (donut), Thursday, 7 July 2005 16:52 (eighteen years ago) link
Wow. To each his/her own I guess.
― donut e- (donut), Thursday, 7 July 2005 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link
Just a general ranking due to ineveitable fluctuations in taste. The top five have all been my "single" favourite at various times.
And I still think Stoner Guy's wrong, but I do value his term "Schoolhouse Rock-ish"! Very evocative.
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 7 July 2005 17:05 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm also very fond of the live album.
― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Wednesday, 20 July 2005 23:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 20 July 2005 23:15 (eighteen years ago) link
love them but their albums are kinda overrated... and the rockism thats meant theyre the no 1 funk(/rock) band of choice for the mainstream now is predictable but a bit irritating as it means ewf, isleys, etc arent talked about as much. but the early albums are just meandering 'were gonna go on forever just cos we CAN!' affairs, the middle period is when they tightened up but still subjected people to quite a bit of aimlessness (ie tracks like nappy dug out which just goes on and on) amidst the great tracks like better by the pound and comin round the mountain... i dont think they really hit their stride totally til one nation. their albums are checking out but most of them are pretty erratic. id say standing on the verge, lets take it to the stage and one nation are the best. dont know electric spanking well enough (although i love the title track) to comment. ive always found some of the mixing on a lot of their albums a bit weird too.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:14 (fifteen years ago) link
I admit that I prefer the chonky sprawl. Consistency is overrated frankly.
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:36 (fifteen years ago) link
That said I still find America to be just a tounch too sprawling and chonky most of the time.
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:37 (fifteen years ago) link
the album too.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:39 (fifteen years ago) link
Only thing that bugs me about this thread is the consistent devaluation of Cosmic Slop. Nobody says it's the worst or anything, but nobody seems to really take it to heart, either. Love that record, one of my all-time favorites. Admit that it's uneven, but the good stuff is so damn great! Nappy Dugout starts things off at a nice low boil, and You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure is cool, but it's really all about Side 2. Cosmic Slop = BEST EVER, No Compute is super cute, and Can't Stand the Strain is just massive. Last couple minutes = face of god, maybe the most ecstatic moment in their catalog.
― Bored American Aerospace Defense Command (BORAD) (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Most underrated: Electric Spanking.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Erraticism is teh inevitable result of a band of 30+ members trying so many different things all the time (not to mention the assload of drugs they went through.) I'm forever re-ranking them myself all the time, and today I'd put their first two much higher up than I did originally.
xpost - I TOTALLY would've recognized that discography-doppelganger if I'd seen it, abanana! Superb job of colour-matching there.
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:44 (fifteen years ago) link
another xpost - Cosmic Slop would benefit from a bit of re-sequencing, in my opinion. (And I remain convinced that "This Broken Heart" is actually a leftover Parliament track from 1970 or so.)
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:46 (fifteen years ago) link
True, but at least a couple people put it near the top. The best Cosmic Slop seems to do is to sit sadly there in the lower middle.
― Bored American Aerospace Defense Command (BORAD) (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:47 (fifteen years ago) link
That last re: Alfred and Electric Spanking. Agree with Myonga on the resequencing of CS, and that This Broken Heart woulda fit in better on Osmium.
― Bored American Aerospace Defense Command (BORAD) (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:48 (fifteen years ago) link
I think it's their fifth best album, which considering they have like a dozen good albums puts it in the upper middle for me.
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:49 (fifteen years ago) link
Hey, give me a year or two and it'll work its way into my top three! Temporarily.
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 00:52 (fifteen years ago) link
xxxxxpost - maggot brain is their most overrated album, yeah. not sure why its so popular in so many best albums ever charts. i think it was even in mojos best guitar albums ever but its when they were still trying stuff out. not worthy of quite *so* much adulation. hazel is good but he kinda overdid it (without sort of knowing what he was doing) on tracks like super stupid.
i still cant sell my funkadelic cd reissues. i keep meaning to put them on ebay cos i could do with the money but then i look at them and put them back on the shelf.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 11:26 (fifteen years ago) link
"hazel is good but he kinda overdid it (without sort of knowing what he was doing) on tracks like super stupid."
I find it hard to criticize Super Stupid. That song kills.
― Bill Magill, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 14:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, the retributive Maggot Brain slams make no sense to me. It's a great album, every bit as good as the world seems to insist, opened by one of the most stellar pieces of guitar wank in rock/funk history, followed up by Can You Get to That, which might be Clinton's most indelible pop tune. To say nothing of Hit It and Quit It, You and Your Folks..., Super Stupid and Back in Our Minds. Though I could do without Wars of Armageddon, it's probably the most musically consistent and consistently mind-blowing album in the band's catalog (this side of One Nation, anyway).
― Bored American Aerospace Defense Command (BORAD) (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 16:27 (fifteen years ago) link
^^^^yes
honestly I prefer the Wars of Armageddon version on Toys without all the sound effects+vocals slathered on top of it. Totally made me re-evaluate that song.
― There was even a brief period when I preferred Sally Forth. (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 16:36 (fifteen years ago) link
I knew you would. I told you the Toys version was amazing.
― Pfunkboy Formerly Known As... (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 16:37 (fifteen years ago) link
its always been my least favorite on Maggot Brain - too fussy or overdone or something. But stripped of its adornments the backing track is REALLY fucking heavy.
― There was even a brief period when I preferred Sally Forth. (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 16:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Maggot Brain sucks cock. My god is this piece of shit overrated. There is just no excuse for a long guitar solo as the first song on an album of 8 lame songs.
― Stoner Guy, Tuesday, July 5, 2005 1:12 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
btw i know this guy isnt around anymore but i suggest band him on principle
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 16:51 (fifteen years ago) link
What band?
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 16:59 (fifteen years ago) link
fake fictons & i
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 17:03 (fifteen years ago) link
I guess I need to hear that Toys thing...
― Bored American Aerospace Defense Command (BORAD) (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 19:26 (fifteen years ago) link
i don't think maggot brain deserves any kind of backlash, jeez. listening to that unbelievable opening track is like experiencing zeppelin or hendrix for the first time.
― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 04:46 (fifteen years ago) link
Toys is good, but it's really not that S/T or Maggot Brain trip you've been lusting for.
― Tommy The Mod Awaits The Return Of Martial Law (libcrypt), Wednesday, 1 April 2009 04:52 (fifteen years ago) link
I nominate One Nation Under A Groove for a proper backlash. That's the overrated album.
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 05:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Electric Spanking is by fucking far the most underrated Funkadelic album. That record converted me for real. Maggot Brain is prob. the most overrated - for me it just doesn't work that well as a record even though half the tracks are absolute classics. It's certainly the best of the early Funkadelic records, though I'd argue that this was a period when George Clinton was still getting his shit together. ESWOB was my favorite Funkadelic record for a long time, oddly enough, though at this point I'd say "best" is a toss up between "Standing on the Verge" and "Let's Take It to the Stage". Every Funkadelic alb is worth getting - only "Standing on the Verge" is end-to-end brilliant, but all except "Uncle Jam" are pretty great to varying degrees. And "Uncle Jam" does have the full version of "Not Just Knee Deep," even if that's about all it's got.
― thewufs, Monday, 30 May 2011 06:50 (twelve years ago) link
That's a good assessment of their work although I haven't really clicked with Electric Spanking but I know a lot of people really rate it, I should give it another go. I always thought Computer Games was a much better album. I do agree that Maggot Brain is a bit overrated, it's a good album but I think they have a few albums that are better and more interesting. Completely agree that Standing on the verge and Let's Take it to the Stage are both up there.
I'd rank their 70's output like this.
1.Standing on the Verge of Getting it on2.One Nation Under a Groove3.Let's Take it to the Stage4.Funkadelic5.Uncle Jam Wants You6.Maggot Brain7.Cosmic Slop8.Hardcore Jollies9.Electric Spanking10.America Eats It's Young11.Tales of Kid Funkadelic
― Kitchen Person, Monday, 30 May 2011 13:40 (twelve years ago) link
Haven't heard Free Your Mind.
Electric Spanking would be fourth or fifth for me.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 May 2011 13:44 (twelve years ago) link
Not a ranking, but just a celebration of Let's Take It to the Stage, by me:
http://thequietus.com/articles/18221-funkadelic-lets-take-it-to-the-stage-review-anniversary-2
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 July 2015 16:09 (eight years ago) link
nice
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 July 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
So let's get off my ass and jam!
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 17 September 2018 01:40 (five years ago) link
I've got a CDR with Maggot Brain and the US (United Soul) record that was done as a early spinoff of Funkadelic that I have been listening to for the last couple of weeks.
That US Music with Funkadelic is not a bunch of outtakes, it's real good if you haven't heard it and love the early LPs. "Rat Kiss the Cat on the Navel" is up there with the best acid guitar tracks they ever did.
― earlnash, Monday, 17 September 2018 02:09 (five years ago) link
I refuse to accept that “funner” is a word
― Οὖτις, Monday, 17 September 2018 02:12 (five years ago) link
Funner is not a fucking word and we who know better have to fight back on this whenever and however we can
― Josefa, Monday, 17 September 2018 02:20 (five years ago) link
That's a typo, not sure how that made my cut.
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 17 September 2018 02:28 (five years ago) link
I fought my own war against an adult who breathes oxygen using "picky" to describe her (non-allergic) eating habits ("Just admit, 'I'm an unadventurous eater'").
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 17 September 2018 02:29 (five years ago) link
Great stuff
― Ross, Monday, 17 September 2018 16:45 (five years ago) link
Standing On the Verge of Getting It On used to be underrated but not so much anymore, I don't think. It helps that it's energy really never flags and all the different things Funkadelic did best are well-represented - the anthem, the spacey guitar epic, the goofy joke, the sex jam etc.
I would've given more love to the mid-period albums (Cosmic Slop>Standing on the Verge>Let's Take it to the Stage>Hardcore Jollies>Tales of Kidd Funkadelic), but that's just what I return to most these days.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 17 September 2018 19:36 (five years ago) link
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, April 1, 2009 1:03 AM (nine years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Been revisiting all of these albums chronologically and I totally agree with this
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 7 March 2019 16:04 (five years ago) link
it's still great, it's just not a top 5 funkadelic album. grooveallegiance and the title track are two of the best they've ever done.
― voodoo chili, Thursday, 7 March 2019 16:38 (five years ago) link
Yeah agree ‘One Nation’ is over rated...’Let’s take it to the stage’ is the unloved child
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:27 (five years ago) link
One of many. Cosmic Slop also doesn't get nearly enough love, which has always baffled me
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:31 (five years ago) link
cosmic slop is my favorite p-funk record, i think
― voodoo chili, Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:38 (five years ago) link
Speaking of ignored, on the underrated tip is "Electric Spanking of War Babies", and "Tales of Kidd Funkadelic" is pretty great for a contractual obligation filler.
― pippin drives a lambo through the gates of isengard (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 7 March 2019 17:54 (five years ago) link
"One Nation" is not overrated and "Grooveallegiance" is the worst track on it!
― The Vangelis of Dating (Tom D.), Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:43 (five years ago) link
One Nation is maybe *slightly* overrated, but still great. Also Groovallegiance is the BEST track on it wtf. So uplifting. Let's Take It to the Stage is def my favorite Funkadelic album these days tho. Tales of Kidd and Cosmic Slop being the most underrated.
There's a tidal wave of mysticism surging through our jet-age generation...
― J. Sam, Thursday, 7 March 2019 18:52 (five years ago) link
one nation has cholly and who says a funk band - both super bangers.
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:28 (five years ago) link
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Thursday, March 7, 2019
Christgau, Eddy, and several other critics rate the latter fairly high.
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:35 (five years ago) link
unloved child or unloved kidd?
― J. Sam, Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:39 (five years ago) link
neglected starchild
― J. Sam, Thursday, 7 March 2019 19:43 (five years ago) link