LP Review: Funkadelic – Maggot Brain
Nathan Pester · June 25 2017 · 01:00PM
I’ll open with a warning: Funkadelic are one of those groups who you will either love or... not love. You either get it or you don’t, and I’ll admit that although this has become one of my favourite albums, it had to grow on me. Some of you may be familiar with their 1978 floor-filler “One Nation Under A Groove”, but it’s the funk-mob’s third album, Maggot Brain, that is widely considered their magnum opus. Before we get to the content of the album I’ll give a little context to the group and album.
Detroit based funk/rock group Funkadelic was a roughly homogenised mess between 1968 and 1981, a collective of musicians led by former Motown writer George Clinton containing members of his group The Parliaments, The JBs, their friends, family, tennis partners... the latter was a joke but you get the picture. 15 members were inaugurated into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. 15. Due to contractual tomfoolery and naming issues with the record labels, Funkadelic were initially one half of Clinton’s fledgling funk empire, being the more rock originated and guitar driven group whilst Parliament, operating on a different label, were electronic and synthesiser based. Members of the two groups swapped and changed, and were effectively two separate creative arms of the same group. Clinton’s laissez-faire style of producing led to an energetic and free sound; everyone is having fun which, considering the social and political strife throughout their recording career, is nice to know. By the time we join them in 1971, the most prominent members are: George Clinton and Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins (vocals), Raymond “Tiki” Fulwood (drums), Billy “Bass” Nelson (bass…who’d have known?), Eddie Hazel (lead guitar), and Bernie Worrell (piano/ keyboard). It was with this ensemble they set out to make a psychedelic, funk, rock album.
Maggot Brain is a creative peak building on the style and grooves they established with their previous offerings, the eponymous Funkadelic, and the fantastically titled and quasi-philosophical Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow, both released in 1970. Funkadelic consisted of lengthy, psychedelic funk workouts, evidently bathed in the influence of narcotics. Free Your Mind... saw a refinement of the sound, but with it some of the energy and character of the debut may have been lost under a haze of smoke and substance abuse. Their third album was where the pieces fell into place and everything just clicked.
There are many tales about the conception of the title track, but I’m going to use just one, the one which has become more of a myth and the one which I personally like best; Clinton telling teenage lead guitarist Eddie Hazel to “play as if your mom just died. He didn’t need asking twice and produced a 10 minute long guitar solo of biblical proportions, meandering and dancing across the strings to create some of the most heartfelt licks ever committed to tape. Prog rock fans will love this one. Casual fans will return to this album only for the opener, not as an affront to the rest of the album, but to the quality of this piece. It is truly sensational.
After the lengthy guitar workout of the opener, we encounter a collection of more conventional songs but which are nonetheless still furiously dripping with the Funkadelic ident. The free and relaxed production can seem a mêlée, most notably in reference to the vocals on tracks like “Back In Our Minds", in which everyone appears to sing of the same hymn sheet but to different tunes, but the musicianship is near flawless. From the classically trained Worrell’s piano, to the thumping of Fulwood and the gurgling backdrop of Nelson, each track is masterfully performed, and have no fear fans of the title track, Hazel doesn't fade into the background, providing scorching solos and insane energy throughout; listen to “Super Stupid” and try not to be impressed. That’s my challenge for you.
I’ll admit that I haven’t been particularly objective for these tracks, but that’s because they all suffer in the same way as almost all Funkadelic pieces; if you don’t become invested in their sound, their style, their mythology then the likelihood is you will not appreciate their output. Likewise if you’re a lady or gentleman of a stern or serious disposition, it’s likely that you'll discard Funkadelic as just a bunch of blokes tripping their kahoonas off. These criticisms can also be aimed fervently at the closing track, “Wars Of Armageddon”. A social commentary? Messing around? A vehicle to exhibit Fulwood’s drumming capabilities? A musical accident? People can say what they like, and I have thought all of the above at some stage or another. The track is an attack on the Nixon administration and the state of America. It’s undoubtedly a messy track, but don’t mistake messy for bad. Messy is fun! Who doesn’t secretly love making right chaos in some form of another? Maybe my position as a teenager is making me lose my point. The point is that if you can approach this track, and indeed this album with your silly hat on, you’ll see the serious aspects and think better for it and it will amplify your enjoyment of the album. Conversely, if you wear your serious hat, you’ll only see silliness.
If you’ve read this after listening to Maggot Brain then I hope you enjoyed it, and that with this review I’ve addressed some issues and put some things into context. If you haven’t yet heard it, then I would recommend you do give it a listen... just make sure you have the right hat on.
I’ll open with a warning: Funkadelic are one of those groups who you will either love or... not love. You either get it or you don’t, and I’ll admit that although this has become one of my favourite albums, it had to grow on me. Some of you may be familiar with their 1978 floor-filler “One Nation Under A Groove”, but it’s the funk-mob’s third album, Maggot Brain, that is widely considered their magnum opus. Before we get to the content of the album I’ll give a little context to the group and album.
Detroit based funk/rock group Funkadelic was a roughly homogenised mess between 1968 and 1981, a collective of musicians led by former Motown writer George Clinton containing members of his group The Parliaments, The JBs, their friends, family, tennis partners... the latter was a joke but you get the picture. 15 members were inaugurated into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. 15. Due to contractual tomfoolery and naming issues with the record labels, Funkadelic were initially one half of Clinton’s fledgling funk empire, being the more rock originated and guitar driven group whilst Parliament, operating on a different label, were electronic and synthesiser based. Members of the two groups swapped and changed, and were effectively two separate creative arms of the same group. Clinton’s laissez-faire style of producing led to an energetic and free sound; everyone is having fun which, considering the social and political strife throughout their recording career, is nice to know. By the time we join them in 1971, the most prominent members are: George Clinton and Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins (vocals), Raymond “Tiki” Fulwood (drums), Billy “Bass” Nelson (bass…who’d have known?), Eddie Hazel (lead guitar), and Bernie Worrell (piano/ keyboard). It was with this ensemble they set out to make a psychedelic, funk, rock album.
Maggot Brain is a creative peak building on the style and grooves they established with their previous offerings, the eponymous Funkadelic, and the fantastically titled and quasi-philosophical Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow, both released in 1970. Funkadelic consisted of lengthy, psychedelic funk workouts, evidently bathed in the influence of narcotics. Free Your Mind... saw a refinement of the sound, but with it some of the energy and character of the debut may have been lost under a haze of smoke and substance abuse. Their third album was where the pieces fell into place and everything just clicked.
There are many tales about the conception of the title track, but I’m going to use just one, the one which has become more of a myth and the one which I personally like best; Clinton telling teenage lead guitarist Eddie Hazel to “play as if your mom just died. He didn’t need asking twice and produced a 10 minute long guitar solo of biblical proportions, meandering and dancing across the strings to create some of the most heartfelt licks ever committed to tape. Prog rock fans will love this one. Casual fans will return to this album only for the opener, not as an affront to the rest of the album, but to the quality of this piece. It is truly sensational.
After the lengthy guitar workout of the opener, we encounter a collection of more conventional songs but which are nonetheless still furiously dripping with the Funkadelic ident. The free and relaxed production can seem a mêlée, most notably in reference to the vocals on tracks like “Back In Our Minds", in which everyone appears to sing of the same hymn sheet but to different tunes, but the musicianship is near flawless. From the classically trained Worrell’s piano, to the thumping of Fulwood and the gurgling backdrop of Nelson, each track is masterfully performed, and have no fear fans of the title track, Hazel doesn't fade into the background, providing scorching solos and insane energy throughout; listen to “Super Stupid” and try not to be impressed. That’s my challenge for you.
I’ll admit that I haven’t been particularly objective for these tracks, but that’s because they all suffer in the same way as almost all Funkadelic pieces; if you don’t become invested in their sound, their style, their mythology then the likelihood is you will not appreciate their output. Likewise if you’re a lady or gentleman of a stern or serious disposition, it’s likely that you'll discard Funkadelic as just a bunch of blokes tripping their kahoonas off. These criticisms can also be aimed fervently at the closing track, “Wars Of Armageddon”. A social commentary? Messing around? A vehicle to exhibit Fulwood’s drumming capabilities? A musical accident? People can say what they like, and I have thought all of the above at some stage or another. The track is an attack on the Nixon administration and the state of America. It’s undoubtedly a messy track, but don’t mistake messy for bad. Messy is fun! Who doesn’t secretly love making right chaos in some form of another? Maybe my position as a teenager is making me lose my point. The point is that if you can approach this track, and indeed this album with your silly hat on, you’ll see the serious aspects and think better for it and it will amplify your enjoyment of the album. Conversely, if you wear your serious hat, you’ll only see silliness.
If you’ve read this after listening to Maggot Brain then I hope you enjoyed it, and that with this review I’ve addressed some issues and put some things into context. If you haven’t yet heard it, then I would recommend you do give it a listen... just make sure you have the right hat on.
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