August 5, 2010

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(Funkadelic - where, where, where are you, now we need you?)


Probably one of the most underrated bands in the history of Funk, or any genre of music for that matter. Funkadelic (and the sister group Parliament) were the brain children of George Clinton, whose outrageous ideas in stage presentation were second only to his incredible ideas about the music. I had the pleasure of working with George many years ago and the man was just as great as his music (which is always a relief). Truly innovative and straddling a lot of different forms at once, but doing them successfully. Their appeal, at least to me in the 70's, was they reminded me of what a lot of the progressive bands in Europe were doing at the time. And that they added Funk to the equation made it even more appealing.

They were also great at icon bashing and "screwing with perceptions", as is evidenced by this track, the immortal 1974 Jimmy's Got A Little Bit Of Bitch In Him. A band as equally at home with crafting great songs as they were taking the piss out of convention. It is probably much of the reason their music has remained timeless. Thank God.

If by some strange chance you aren't familiar with them. I urge you to go over and check their stuff out.

But don't take my word for it.

btw: check out George's site - there's a tribute to founding member Garry Shider who passed away just recently.

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