The Parliament/Funkadelic discography and appreciation thread

Pre-funk > G-funk Part 1

Disclaimer: Parliament-Funkadelic is my third favorite band of all-time.

1959 APT 25036 The Parliaments - Poor Willie b/w Party Boys
1960 Flipp 100 The Parliaments - Lonely Island b/w (You Make Me Wanna) Cry

George Clinton was born in North Carolina in 1941. His family soon moved to Plainfield, NJ. He formed his doo-wop singing group, the Parliaments, in 1955.

They went through various line-up changes, but consisted of Clinton, Charles Davis, Robert Lambert, Danny Mitchell, and Grady Thomas when they recorded their first single in 1958 - Poor Willie b/w Party Boys. Released in 1959 on APT records, it failed to make an impact.

Poor Willie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1wY9eDMLzQ

Party Boys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfkPkewmKYQ

Poor Willie and Party Boys are good if average doo-wop tunes. Willie is uptempo and humorous with a reference to Bobby Freeman's Betty Lou's Got a New Pair of Shoes.

A new line-up of Clinton, Thomas, Davis, Calvin Simons, and Johnny Murray recorded their follow-up Lonely Island b/w (You Make Me Wanna) Cry. It was released by Flipp Records in 1960, and like its predecessor, it failed to make the charts.

Lonely Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6dMGbaqqbw

(You Make Me Wanna) Cry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_LNJuU-Bc

Lonely Island is a slow, melancholy ballad. Cry is something of a re-write of the Isley Brothers' Shout from the year before.

Poor Willie 3
Party Boys 2.5
Lonely Island 3.5
You Make Me Wanna Cry 2.5

 

Pre-funk > G-funk Part 2

George Clinton was soon hired as an A&R man for Motown's Jobete Music out of NYC. Over the next few years, he would write and produce various singles; regularly commuting back and forth between Detroit and the east coast. His biggest success was Our Love Is In the Pocket, the B-side for Darrell Banks' 1966 single Open the Door To Your Heart which peaked at number 27 pop and number 2 R&B.

1965 Carnival 511 The Pets - I Say Yeah b/w West Side Party
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN-0wczkN6g

1966 Golden World 42 Pat Lewis - Can't Shake It Loose
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtXrZC5cYa0

1966 Golden World 43 Theresa Lindsey - I'll Bet You
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l0cOrEluXw

1966 Marton 1001 Roy Handy - Accidental Love b/w What Did He Do
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUGQJQ26k1Y
B-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zai5urWBNqo

1966 Marton 1002 Tamala Lewis - You Won't Say Nothing b/w If You Can Stand Me
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyNjZtQ9Xo0
B-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtFzw9jwrcQ

1966 Revilot 201 Darrell Banks - Our Love Is In The Pocket
B-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XvzQuqOjlM

1968 Revilot 222 JJ Barnes - Our Love Is In The Pocket
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq1Igdv9AYs

1968 Revilot 225 JJ Barnes - So Called Friends
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tipaj4Zo3v4

1968 Revilot 226 The Holidays - All That Is Required (Is You)
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWLGYzCt4K8

1966 Ric-Tic 119 The Fantastic Four - Girl Have Pity b/w (I'm Gonna) Live Up To What She Thinks
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k0-n1_khyw
B-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wemCc7N9QM

1967 Ric-Tic 132 Flaming Embers - Hey Mama (What'cha Got Good For Daddy)
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqtEpX3r_4g

1966 Solid Hit 101 Pat Lewis - Look At What I Almost Missed
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nePcAszoU1k

1966 Solid Hit 102 Debonairs - Loving You Takes All My Time b/w Headache In My Heart
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQApayT593s
B-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrYJP6lIJKw

1967 Solid Hit 105 Pat Lewis - I'll Wait
B-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nlefOCml2E

1967 Solid Hit 110 The Fellows - Let's Make It Last
B-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lInSpKDqwh8

1966 Stephanye 334 Roy Handy - Baby That's A Groove
A-side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q7G2mbjy2g

 

Pre-funk > G-funk Part 3

1966 Golden World 46 The Parliaments - That Was My Girl b/w Heart Trouble

The Paliaments settled on a line-up of Clinton, Grady Thomas, Calvin Simon, Ray Davis, and Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins. These five would remain together thru 1977. In 1965, they recorded their third single for Golden World Records, That Was My Girl b/w Heart Trouble. Released in 1966, it flopped commercially as did their previous singles.

That Was My Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gllgbb01Bs

Heart Trouble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBgabzr25Kw

The few DJs that did play the song ended up flipping it - as was common practice back then, and the b-side Heart Trouble got much more (though limited) airplay. As a result, many sources (including Wikipedia) mistakenly list Heart Trouble as the A-side of the single. Heart Trouble was later covered by UK band the Eyes of Blue.

That Was My Girl and Heart Trouble sound like they came straight off the Motown assembly line and might have become hits had Gordy & Co. been promoting them.

That Was My Girl 3.5
Heart Trouble 4

1966 The Eyes of Blue - Heart Trouble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrDt8AS2Vos

 

I hate to do this, DM.
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/p-funk-album-by-album-thread.380689/#post-11045590

 

IMO there can never be too many threads about that parliafunkadelicment thang...

 

I agree!!! My only concern is you will put in a ton of work here only to have it merged with the other thread eventually like they did with my blues thread. But by all means, carry on if you wish.

 

Pre-funk > G-funk - Part 4

1967 Revilot 207 The Parliaments - (I Wanna) Testify b/w I Can Feel the Ice Melting
1967 Revilot 211 The Parliaments - All Your Goodies Are Gone b/w Don't Be Sore at Me
1967 Revilot 214 The Parliaments - Little Man b/w The Goose (That Laid the Golden Egg)
1968 Revilot 217 The Parliaments - Look At What I Almost Missed b/w What You Been Growing
1968 Revilot 223 The Parliaments - Good Old Music b/w Time
1969 Revilot 228 The Parliaments - A New Day Begins b/w I'll Wait
1969 ATCO 6675 The Parliaments - A New Day Begins b/w I'll Wait

The Parliaments moved to Revilot Records and finally hit paydirt with their 1967 single (I Wanna) Testify b/w I Can Feel the Ice Melting. Testify peaked at number 20 pop and number 3 R&B. It was the typical show biz story: just under ten years to become an overnight success.

(I Wanna) Testify (pop 20 R&B 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAR6BBQO8-k

I Can Feel the Ice Melting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8HRwrYeYpM

Testify is an excellent slice of late 60s R&B with its clean Motown-style production and gospel-tinged vocals & lyrics similar to the Impressions.

All Your Goodies Are Gone (pop 80 R&B 21)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i99tLWt5-pw

Don't Be Sore at Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIlT0r7tD_0

All Your Goodies Are Gone has a sound similar to early Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles with its haunting vocals and ominous atomshpere. Their B-sides I Can Feel the Ice Melting and Don't Be Sore At Me remind me of Ruffin/Kendricks-era Temptations.

Little Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZI88EZ-amo

The Goose (That Laid the Golden Egg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCS9MVEOTJw

While not quite as good as the two previous A-sides, Little Man has some nice rhythm guitar. Its stronger B-side The Goose has a similar feel to the earlier All Your Goodies.

Look At What I Almost Missed (pop 104)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrdxccnEqA8

What You Been Growing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjPBfVtBfBs

Look At What I Almost Missed and B-side What You Been Growing are more conventional R&B love songs, still following the Detroit-meets-Chicago vein of Testify.

Good Old Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-llFfgP5fI

Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmmUibHBywA

Good Old Music was the precusor to their Funkadelic sound with its slow groove, juicy Booker T-organ, and fuzzy guitar. B-side Time returns again to more conventional territory.

A New Day Begins (R&B 44)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZs8Hb5QKIo

I'll Wait
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiyouBe2JrM

Their final Revilot single mines that same Motown filtered through the Impressions sound. Both songs were reissued on ATCO a few months later.

I Wanna Testify 5
I Can Feel the Ice Melting 3.5
All Your Goodies Are Gone 4.5
Don't Be Sore at Me 3.5
Little Man 3
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg 4
Look At What I Almost Missed 4
What You Been Growing 3.5
Good Old Music 5
Time 3.5
A New Day Begins 3.5
I'll Wait 3.5

1968 Funkedelic 6709 Rose Williams George Clinton and the Funkedelics - Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good b/w George Clinton and the Funkedelics - Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good (Instrumental)

As we all know, during this same time period James Brown, Sly Stone, Miles Davis, and Jimi Hendrix (among others) were re-writing all the rules. One of Clinton's earliest contributions to this change was this collaboration with Rose Williams. It's a great slightly-psychedelic northern soul track with some early, fuzzed-out, Eddie Hazel guitar.

1968 Rose Williams George Clinton and the Funkedelics - Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good
https://gazfunk.wordpress.com/2011/...funkedelics-whatever-makes-my-baby-feel-good/

Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good 5

 

Although I think the original "I'll Bet You " by Theresa Lindsey is the best recording, Billy Butler covered it for Brunswick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rFFT1L7Hmk

It also appears on the first Funkadelic album, but that's getting ahead of your story.

"Let's Make It Last" also turns up here credited to Parliament. What's the connection to the Fellows single?


Of course, it will reappear in a different arrangement on Cosmic Slop.

 

George Clinton was never afraid of revisiting his songs: Testify, All Your Goodies Are Gone, The Goose, and Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good all show up in different forms on Up for the Down Stroke, Good Old Music on the first Funkadelic LP.

I've heard people confusing this Testify with the Isley Brothers' Testify from 1964, which included Jimi Hendrix. This is especially true of the Stevie Ray Vaughan cover (the link is to a live 1985 performance which transitions into Jimi's Third Stone from the Sun).

 

Not my call, but this thread seems to be much more methodical and comprehensive, similar to dmiller458's Isleys thread.

 

Their version was co-written and co-produced by George Clinton

http://cdn.discogs.com/EnC-F3nKZImu.../discogs-images/R-1897108-1250877540.jpeg.jpg

 

But the Isleys' was a continuation of a thread someone else had started.

 

But George didn't produce Billy's version. My post is limited to those that he both wrote and produced.

 

Understood, but it's interesting that someone else was already picking up on what he was doing.

 

I'm totally fine with another thread on P-Funk, I was just going by my experiences on this forum and the protocol. I got in on the other thread only towards the end so I'm down to take this from the beginning. P-Funk is one of my all time favorite bands but I've only gotten into them over the last few years or so. My true hope is that this thread is permitted to stand on it's own, fresh viewpoints from different listeners and an opportunity to run through and play their entire catalogue yet again.

 

This is way more detailed than back in the album-by-album thread, where we barely touched on this early era at all, and just mentioned some of these singles (I don't think we had this kind of knowledge on board). Please, carry on!

 

Funkadelic - Funkadelic 1970 (US 126)

1. Mommy What's A Funkadelic?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-53pFRA9IQ

2. I Bet You (US 63 R&B 22)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m794e9Z-4aw

3. Music For My Mother (R&B 50)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6h5yQVkntA

4. I Got A Thing You Got A Thing Everybody's Got A Thing (US 80 R&B 30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGVTEP0xoiw

5. Good Old Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUeHaR24f8Y

6. Qualify And Satisfy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhXsfQQOs6s

7. What Is Soul?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgPIqOh9uTU

With the success of (I Wanna) Testify, the Parliaments put together a touring band consisting of friends and acqauintances mainly from George Clinton's old Jersey stomping ground: Tiki Fulwood (drums), Eddie Hazel (guitar), Billy "Bass" Nelson (bass), Tawl Ross (guitar), and Mickey Atkins (keybords).

Following a contract dispute with Revilot Records (which quickly went bankrupt), the renamed Funkadelic signed with Westwood Records and started recording their debut album.

"If you will suck my soul, I will lick your funky emotions." With those words, they open the album; letting us know that while they are not of this world, they mean us no harm. They tried to escape their southern roots and what they thought was music for the old country folk. They were cool, but they had no groove. The Funk brought it all back home.

Musically it sets the pattern for much of the rest of the album, Dance to the Music meets Little Wing slowed down to grinding combination of funky blues and bluesy funk. Singing, scatting, spoken word, and other vocalizing drifting in and out of the mix.

I Bet You had previously been recorded by Theresa Lindsey (who helped co-write it) and by Billy Butler (Jerry's younger brother). Their verisons are both the same uptempo Detroit-meets-Chicago sound that characterized much of Clinton's 60s work. Here it becomes a showcase for stomping rhythms, alternating lead vocals, and some wailing guitar.

Music For My Mother is Herb Sparkman singing the bluesy tale of a guy traveling through a town called "keep running" Mississippi when he's transfixed by some waaaay-back yonder funk. If you ain't hooked when Sparkman start scatting a "harmonica" solo, you might as well just stop listening altogether. They round out the tune borrowing a page James Brown by letting us know that they're funk and they're proud.

I Got A Thing is a call to join together in order to help each other, featuring jittery chicken-wire guitar from Ray Monette of Rare Earth.

Clinton reworked Good Old Music from a monster slow-funk groove into an even slower monster funk groove with even juicier organ and further fuzzed-out guitar.

Qualify And Satisfy starts out with a tasty blues stomp that puts 90% of all British Blues to shame and then works it's way into not only Jimi Hendrix territory, but what sounds to me like some avant Sonny Sharrock and Sun Ra landscapes as well.

Funkadelic started the album by asking one question, and they come full circle; ending it by asking another. "What is Soul? I Don't Know!" they repeat over and over. Is soul a hamhock in your cornflakes? A joint wrapped in toilet paper? Is it chitlins foo yung? Of course not, soul is you...

Mommy What's A Funkadelic 4.5
I Bet You 5
Music For Your Mother 5
I Got A Thing 5
Good Old Music 5
Qualify And Satisfy 5
What Is Soul 4.5

Released in early 1970, Funkadelic came a full year before Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On, a year and a half before Sly's There's A Riot Goin' On, and two years before Stevie Wonder's Music of My Mind and Talking Book. My Rating? Do you really have to ask? A+ (but remember my disclaimer).

Billy Butler - I'll Bet You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rFFT1L7Hmk

 

I'm perhaps a bit biased as well, but the first Funkadelic album is a fantastic mix of funk, blues, rock, garage, soul and psychedelia. There are those that sometimes view Funkadelic's long jams as album filler but I think each one is representative as to who they were as a band, a creative, experimental juggernaut led by George Clinton. Did it all work all of the time? Well, no, but if there is another album out there that combines all of the previously mentioned attributes and executes them so well I've yet to find it. Following the stoned out haze of the opening track the band rips into one of it's coolest funky grooves with "I'll Bet You", a track that was covered by The Jackson 5, quite well, I might add. It's obvious from the get-go that this band has some serious musical chops and intuition, as evident by the tempo changes towards the end of "I'll Bet You". No brothers and sisters, this is different. The blues chanting on "Music For My Mother" and it's deep fried southern licks keeps the ball rolling until we get to the ripping funk and soul of "I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody's Got a Thing" which is a message celebrating our differences while stressing the need for tolerance and understanding, similar in theme to the Sly song, "Everyday People". "Good Old Music" opens with a slick and groovy drumbeat and this song just rips at my soul. After that we come to the bluesy stomp of "Qualify and Satisfy" which is no rote bluesy exercise at all while still keeping with the trippy Funkadelic sound. The album closes with even more stoned out weirdness of "What Is Soul". At the end of the album and by the time you get to this last song you can hear the lyric, "Loan me your funky mind and I'll play with it" you already know that Funkadelic has delivered on that promise.

Grade - A



Some bonus tracks on the remastered CD

Can't Shake It Loose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5gV9eq1t1c

As Good As I Can Feel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJtnTVdnb3Y

 

From funk to fusion, from progressive rock to heavy metal; the early 70s was a time of long jams. And compared to many of their contemporaries, there's hardly even a wasted note on their debut.

 

Parliament - Osmium 1970 (didn't chart)

1. I Call My Baby Pussycat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-jbkAHjGe0

2. Put Love In Your Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOxvOLnXwYk

3. Little Ole Country Boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFNM7nG2OUQ

4. Moonshine Heather
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqGXAPPA_KA

5. Oh Lord Why Lord/Prayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDE9QZ4YLoc

6. My Automobile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qyw4FQ-fBz4

7. There Is Nothing Before Me But Thang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwHPbcAYNyE

8. Funky Woman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJwyOUlcOok

9. Livin' The Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnOIeiL-kC4

10. The Silent Boatman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CK8KPh167g

Osmium was recorded with most of the same personnel as Funkadelic. On Funkadelic, Bernie Worrell played one only track, I Bet You. He had a much bigger role here, co-writting three of the songs and he would soon replace Mickey Atkins as a full-time band member.

Co-produced by British singer/songwriter Ruth Copeland (who contributed three songs), Osmium opens with the straight-up P-Funk of Pussycat, then moves to the poignant Put Love In Your Life, a definite highlight with its alternating vocalists, shifting tempos and guitar-keyboard workout finale.

Little Ole Country Boy is a cautionary redneck-country tale of a guy who get beaten up while spying on his cheating girlfriend. But then again, his mama did warn him not to mess around with that common cajun queen.

Moonshine Heather is a trippy funk groove with distorted vocals. Ever since her man died in the war, Heather runs a still to support her 14 kids. It's the finest corn around; so good that she's even selling it to the law.

Next up is Oh Lord Why Lord/Prayer, where baroque pop meets gospel in a heartbreaking civil rights plea every bit the equal of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready and Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come. Some might find Copeland's counterpoint vocals a distraction, I think they're a perfect contrast to male lead. Can I rate this one a 6?

Once again they have another jarring shift from the profound to the head-scratchingly corny. My Automobile start off as a jazzy singalong before going full-on hillbilly country. What starts out as a seemingly charming request for a kiss soon turns borderline misogynistic and threatening.

Nothing Before Me But Thang is another driving slice of rockin' funk mixed with funky rock. Funky Woman is a bit of juvenile humor about a lady's stanky draws that thankfully ends right as it starts to wear out its welcome.

Mixing religion and tree hugging, Livin' the Life is pounding borderline prog with stinging guitar and melodic piano.

Finally The Silent Boatman takes us to the other side, accompanied by organ, strings, piano, and even some bagpipes thrown in for good measure. Once again, baroque and gospel combine with remarkable results.

I Call My Baby Pussycat 4
Put Love In Your Life 4.5
Little Ole Country Boy 2
Moonshine Heather 4
Oh Lord Why Lord/Prayer 5
My Automobile 2
There Is Nothing Before Me But Thang 4
Funky Woman 2.5
Livin' The Life 4.5
The Silent Boatman 4.5

Osmium has been re-released several times under different names (First Thangs, Rhenium, the Complete Invictus Recordings) with up to seven bonus tracks that were recorded in 71 and 72 during, around, and just after the time the P-Funk crew worked on Copeland's first two solo albums.

Bonus Tracks
11. Red Hot Mama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYDE9M5mYNg

12. Breakdown [stereo mix]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSsy4GTDKaQ

13. Come In Out of the Rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsP3rHs3oUI

14. Fantasy Is Reality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=807844CSp8I

15. Unfinished Instrumental
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcyZd_7Toek

16. Loose Booty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbL8rkr2HxI

17. Breakdown [mono 45 mix]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y_PmdkzxMU

Red Hot Mama is a smoking hard & heavy rocker as kick @$$ as anything that came from P-Funk's more melanin-challenged Detroit competition. Dancefloor track Breakdown hit number 30 R&B in 1971. I perfer the longer stereo mix.

Come In Out of the Rain is a rousing anthem calling for unity in turbulent times. The similarly themed Fantasy Is Reality is another touching plea for sanity in a crazy world.

Unfinished Instrumental is just that, a decent if unremarkable showcase for guitar and piano.

Loose Booty's six min intro starts out Booker T and MGs before drifting into pure prog territory; then it hits the dancefloor for some serious rump shaking. It's "I am the magnificent W-O-O-O" is copped straight from Dave and Ansel Collins' UK number one hit Double Barrel.

Red Hot Mama 5
Breakdown 4.5
Come In Out of the Rain 5
Fantasy Is Reality 4.5
Unfinished Instrumental 2.5
Loose Booty 4
Breakdown 4

Osmium sounds more Funkadelic than Parliament to these ears and it's a bizzare jumble of crazy and crude humor mixed with depth and reflection. I give the orignal a B-; with the bonus tracks, it moves into the A- range.

 

Earl Van Dyke played keys on the Funkadelic "I'll Bet You". Bernie Worrell doesn't perform on the album but he appears on the back cover.

Ruth Copeland is credited with producing Osmium but her husband Jeffrey Bowen actually did. Bowen was a rival of Clinton's and was trying to steal Funkadelic away. Which he did for a short while. "Breakdown" and "Come In Out Out Of The Rain" is Billy Nelson, Tiki Fulwood and Bernie Worrell with members of Chairmen Of The Board performing and singing. Chairmen Of The Board was a group that Bowen was writing and producing for at the time. Nelson/Fulwood/Worrell also toured with Chairmen of the Board for a little while and appeared on a couple of their singles. Bowen also used Nelson/Fulwood/Worrell with Ron Bykowski as the backing band for his wife Ruth Copeland when she toured. But that didn't last too long because she didn't want to perform and didn't come out on stage and let the band play whatever they wanted. They were opening up for Sly and the Family Stone and Sly got pissed off and kicked them off the tour.

 

I freakin' love Osmium (and the bonus cuts).

 

I must have misread the info, Wikipedia credits Worrell as playing on I Got A Thing rather than I Bet You.

 

Anyone have any insight into how British singer/songwriter Ruth Copeland got involved with P-Funk at the time of Osmium? She co-wrote "Little Ole Country Boy" and "Come in Out of the Rain" (and later "Can't Stand the Strain", maybe a couple others). P-Funk also does the backing on her first two albums, so it was a fairly substantial relationship. She always seemed like such a mismatch, and she's been so thoroughly forgotten in music history that she's barely a footnote. I do love the songs she wrote for their albums ("Come in Out of the Rain" is a masterpiece imho), but her own albums are pretty bad, except for the backing... Anyway, I've never really heard what brought her into their orbit and kept her there for a few years.

 

Fantastic album!

I've understood that this album came out before the Funkadelic album, though.