Parliament - The Motor Booty Affair (1978)

Damn, didn't know it was a gatefold - my old Canadian pressing wasn't... :(

I'll go with the title track, though I way prefer Mothership Connection

YOU CAN DANCE UNDERWATER AND NOT GET WET

I'M TOO COOL TO SWIM OR DANCE

Damn, Liquid Sunshine still isn't getting any love. It's a fuckin experience of a tune, of the most psychedelic in P-Funk's catalogue.

Funny story..

I went hit up this vinyl spot in Hollywood on a day off, looking for old funk LPs. Lo and behold, the owner of the shop was on the phone with George himself, talking about sales figures. Apparently George had been in the shop a day earlier, buying his own albums on vinyl (including a MBA picture disk)

Said owner then told stories of kicking it with P-Funk in the 80s and George being so trashed he forgot his wife's name...

psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop!

This is really tough - I keep thinking of reasons to vote for just about every song here, I'll have to ponder...

The bassline on "Aqua Boogie" seals it for me, but I do like the guppy claps in "Mr. Wiggles."

Maybe "Liquid Sunshine", will re-listen to the album

you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him snort coke

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I love this album, and totally unsure what I would have voted for.. 'Rumpofsteelskin', 'Aqua Boogie' (those bird calls!), 'Liquid Sunshine', the title track with that phenomenal bassline... up there with the very best of the Parliament stuff, in my humble opinion.

I've been on a bit of a Parliament binge over the last couple of days, and fucking hell... Mothership Connection, Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome and this felt like some kinda holy trinity of "the funk" ... I only wish I liked The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein as much.

same here, but including the Funkadelic and P-Funk All-Stars stuff from around then. Never loved Parliament as much as Funkadelic, but they were on a pretty amazing run then. Check some of the marathon live shows on you tube from those tours -- songs get stretched to 20-30 mins, and they never lose much intensity or groove

clones is wonderful

sound of Clones is weirdly flatter/more high end than the others and there's some reason George has given for that but I forget what it was

I generally lean more towards the Funkadelic side of P-funk than the Parliament side, and to say that Funkadelic put out some wonderful music from 1969-1975 is a bit of an understatement: Funkadelic, Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow, Maggot Brain, Cosmic Slop and Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On are all indispensable records for me, and America Eats Its Young and Let's Take It To The Stage are at the very least very good records, I think.

I do think the Funkadelic catalogue starts to get a little patchy around the time Parliament start to hit their stride circa Mothership Connection... One Nation Under A Groove is, of course, an unfuckwithable classic, and I think Uncle Jam Wants You and the underrated The Electric Spanking Of War Babies were decent. I've never been much of a fan of The Tales of Kidd Funkadelic or Hardcore Jollies, though.

I think Parliament had the edge in the latter half of the '70s, really.

xpost to Shakey:

Yeah, that's probably one of the reasons I haven't warmed to it as much as those other three, it doesn't sound as full or as powerful as those other records.

I think Parliament had the edge in the latter half of the '70s

I wouldn't really argue this point, they were the most commercially successful and as such George seemed to give those releases the most attention, but let's not forget that after '76 he was putting out a *lot* of shit, and as a result the great stuff just got spread around. Whereas before there was maybe just a couple main acts divvying up material, after '76 he's got like half a dozen.

I will try to find that explanation about Clones, it does sound different than the others imo

I think he was trying to make more of a 'pop' record. So less bass, more emphasis on vocals and brass.

it was something like that - his attempt at the Philly Soul sound? I can't find it

So maybe lacks a little bit of oomph but the songs are great though.

I have to agree with the opinion expressed early on itt about Motor Booty Affair being possibly Clinton's best production... the bottom end on this thang sounds so thick, and there's so much colourful detail throughout.

Junie certainly wasted no time in putting his fingerprints on everything when he joined the P-funk mob, did he? You can pretty much hear the effect he had when he joined when you go through the records.

He sort of did the same with Funkadelic on "Cosmic Slop", edged down the madness a notch or two, slipped in a few poppy numbers.

well sure - but it's not the material, it's the sound of the album that sounds different. maybe it's just my CD reissue.

No, it's much lighter all round, definitely, much less bottom end.

Mid-period Funkadelic still had quite a bit of madness, though!

In fact, I don't think Clinton ever got the psychedelia out of system full stop... the later Funkadelic and post-1974 Parliament sound vastly cleaner and less unhinged than something like Free Your Mind..., but the psychedelic elements never really went away completely!

A notch or two I said.

anyone ever heard Junie's mid-70s solo albums?

I've heard the odd cut, but none of 'em in full. I'll bet you Kerr's heard 'em all!

The bassline on the title track. Oh, man.

I think Junie played pretty much all the instruments on that track (including the bassline) and on several others, actually. Probably the most gifted one man band in black pop before Prince, who owes him more than a little.

He's definitely the primary instrumentalist on 'The Electric Spanking of War Babies' ... That's kinda something when you think about it, given that Parliament/Funkadelic personnel credits at one point read like a novel!

"(You're A Fish And I'm A) Water Sign" is just sublime. Wish there were more p-funk slow jams like it. "Wizard of Finance" and "Placebo Syndrome" from Funkentelechy kind of scratch the same itch.

'Wizard of Finance' is my favourite of all the Parliament slow jams!

I think Junie played pretty much all the instruments on that track (including the bassline) and on several others, actually. Probably the most gifted one man band in black pop before Prince, who owes him more than a little.

I haven't seen it, but... are you kidding me!? Late '70s P-funk wouldn't have been anywhere near the same without him!

Click on the link just posted on the RIP thread and have a look see for yourself.

'liquid sunshine' is happiness

'Rumpofsteelskin', such a fucking jam.

The title cut and "Deep" make for one helluva twosome -- threesome if I'm involved.