Funkadelic – Funkadelic

Back in stock on vinyl. funkadelic’s self-titled 1969 debut may not be on the same plateau as the group’s later, all-encompassing masterpieces (‘maggot brain’, ‘cosmic slop’, etc.), but does serve as the strong foundation upon which their early 70’s masterworks were built. along with jimi hendrix’s band, funkadelic is one of the first units to inject funk with hard rock. whereas funk pioneer james brown concentrates on creating air-tight, precise grooves, funkadelic keeps things loose, raw, and groovy. drug experimentation also plays a prominent role in the band’s early work, perhaps never as evidently as on funkadelic. from the beginning, singer george clinton has been the band’s undisputed leader. he wrote or co-wrote nearly all of funkadelic’s seven tracks and also served as the album’s producer. bassist billy nelson and guitarist eddie hazel are superb instrumentalists, as heard on the slowly evolving ‘music for my mother,’ the frantic ‘i got a thing,’ and the album’s motown soul-inflected hit single ‘i bet you’ (the latter featuring great vocal interplay between all members). and the seeds for such future funkadelic epics as ‘maggot brain’ and ‘wars of armageddon’ can be traced to the album’s longest compositions, ‘mommy, what’s a funkadelic?’ and ‘good old music.’