February Record Club - Funkadelic, "Free Your Mind..."

I caught P-Funk All-Stars in January 2019 under the (in retrospect, blatantly false) pretense that it would be Clinton’s last tour. Despite Isleta Amphitheater’s lousy acoustics, it was an entertaining enough show. Clinton, despite never once getting up from his chair, still obviously commands fealty from his young musicians these days. The newer folks only really came to life on deep cuts and could not have been more demonstrably bored running through “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker” and “Flashlight”. Meanwhile, current guitarist Blackbyrd McKnight (formerly of Hancock’s Headhunters and who Wikipedia tells me was briefly RHCP’s guitarist between Hillel Slovak and John Frusciante) had a take on “Maggot Brain” that was predictably the highlight of the evening.

I own this record even though it’s not a peak P-Funk effort in my opinion. I like my P-Funk more maximalist than this relatively straightforward rock’n’roll, be it the clown-world pileup of Funkentelechy or the hellish miasma of Standing on the Verge. That said, still plenty to enjoy. The choppy production throughout pleasantly anticipates the brutalist editing of what I consider Miles Davis’ most underrated album, 1974’s Get Up with It. The keyboard runs, including the awesome saloon piano on “Funky Dollar Bill”, were the world’s first taste of the legendary Bernie Worrell while Eddie Hazel shows why he’s the true heir to Band of Gypsys Hendrix.

While obviously P-Funk bass will always be predominantly associated with the character that is Bootsy (who wouldn’t join the Clinton Empire until 1972), Billy Nelson does this music just fine with a harder, more driving style on the 4-string. Amusingly, he appears to be credited twice on “I Wanna Know…” under different names—Billy “Bass” Nelson and William Nelson. Ernie Harris seemingly does the same on the last two tracks, which I can only assume is confirmation that there were drugs involved in making this record and/or a “I get two paychecks that way” situation.

As many reviewers have noted, there are a number of Christian themes on this album, particularly in the final track. I’m not enough of a George Clinton scholar to know whether this album, given the title, is Clinton’s attempt to break free from a dogmatic background (I do know, just two years later, he would credit the arguably Satanist Process Church of the Final Judgment in the liner notes to America Eats Its Young).

This was my first Funkadelic album, and my way into the wider world of funk* from the standpoint of rock music.

I can't separate the first three albums, really, think they're a superbly strong trio, and could've nominated any of them. I first liked this mainly for the sheer clashy dirtiness of the guitars and the general air of insanity, though I quickly came to appreciate the murderous grooves as well. All of these things are on the other albums, but they're smoothed over to a degree we don't get here.


*well, James Brown and Betty Davis, at least. And Parliament, of course.

Y’all need to get further out.