Might the outdated funkateer nonetheless ship the products? Parliament-Funkadelic, the 70s masterfunkers, ran out of highway because the 80s arrived, caught in a visitors jam of contractual hassles, personnel issues, private issues, and overstretch. Parliament, Parlet, Funkadelic, Brides Of Funkenstein, Bootsy, Sweat Band, Philippe Wynne, the aborted undertaking with showman-guitarist Roger Troutman… there was solely a lot Uncle Jam may address. And music was transferring quick, with rap and electro trouncing funk as the youngsters’ selection, whereas even mainstream dance music was rising more and more digital. It was time to regroup, however how? George Clinton, chief of P-Funk, knew what to do. Go fishing. It gave him time to rewire his frazzled mind. Funk was addictive, as had been the substances that went with it, and so was a brand new leisure phenomenon: laptop video games. George tried them and received hooked too. If solely he may channel his new behavior into one thing productive… Hmm, these cute little synthesized tunes… what if that may very well be tied to super-heavy phunk? So his debut solo album, Laptop Video games, was born.
P-Funk by no means feared synthesizers or electronics. From the early 70s, Sly & The Household Stone, from whom Parliament-Funkadelic had drawn inspiration, had included a drum machine in its armory. The arrival of former Ohio Gamers’ keyboard boffin Junie Morrison in Funkadelic’s line-up, in 1977, delivered further synth energy. In 1982, Morrison and Clinton began determining a contemporary fusion of P-Funk and electronics. The outcomes had been funkscinating.
Returning as Parliament or Funkadelic was contractually not possible, so Clinton signed to Capitol as a solo artist. The primary fruit was the one “Loopzilla,” launched in September 1982. Whereas it was clearly P-Funk, it was additionally electronica buffed to a blinding end like a gleaming robotic. He had evidently been tuned into up to date radio: there have been extemporizations of vintage Motown hits on it, used like samples. Clinton, a hunter, had been captured by the (laptop) recreation. He referred to Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” in “Loopzilla,” and added, it’ll “drive you nuts”: appropriate. “Loopzilla” was as repetitive as a reversing truck’s warning message, and totally danceable. It was additionally an even bigger membership hit than its modest chart standing advised.
The subsequent single was “Atomic Dog.” This time the method was slower, heavier, much more electro. Its story of life as a mutt – or a human with tail-draggin’ tendencies – was potty, hilarious, and stupidly catchy. Too wack for the pop chart, it made No. 1 within the R&B checklist. Each 45s featured on Laptop Video games, unleashed on an unsuspecting world on November 5, 1982 – appropriately, Fireworks Day within the UK.
Every little thing on Laptop Video games was totally different and fashionable – but the identical. This was P-Funk up to date. Lengthy-standing followers would acknowledge the sleeve, designed by Pedro Bell. A number of the common crew had been current. However the perspective was totally different. The mad humor nonetheless rattled all through, but it surely was time to work, because the opening observe, “Get Dressed,” set backstage the place Clinton fretted about not messing up amid gags galore, made clear. “Man’s Best Friend” may have come from any of the later Funkadelic information, besides they didn’t make many singing the praises of Rover. It segued into “Loopzilla,” adopted by “Pot Sharing Tots.” A swing ballad through which one toddler romances the opposite in an harmless however scatological method, “Tots” sticks in your head like a misthrown dart.
The title observe opens with mock classical traces performed on the thinnest synthesizer setting possible, as if from a ZX Spectrum recreation; then Funkadelic spank kicks in, like one thing from Uncle Jam Desires You – solely extra brittle, like Clinton pinching Prince’s Minneapolis sound. Oh, and he additionally channels Dracula. Go determine. Time for one more smash, so “Atomic Dog” swaggers in, tail wagging and leg-shagging. Calming down, it’s adopted by a mock-reggae ballad, “Free Alterations,” through which Mr. Funk, solid as a tailor, guarantees to decorate you in love. It’s not a lot of a track, or, whether it is, it’s hidden in layers of vocals and a groove a like Donald Fagen’s “IGY” – launched a month earlier – solely extra anarchic. The closing observe, “One Fun At A Time,” is a memo to self that extra shouldn’t be finest served to extra. In an album stuffed with it.
So the Previous Funky Normal may nonetheless get down with da youngsters, regardless of being in his 40s. It’s like he was warning the hip-hoppers to return (who would chunk “Atomic Dog” to the bone with samples – simply test Snoop Dogg’s “What’s My Name?”), younger pretenders akin to Prince, and quite a few electro-poppers that he nonetheless had the funk to spare, regardless of the know-how. Laptop Video games is good at its finest, creative at its worst. Clinton knew he needed to come again robust this time, and he didn’t let a cool soul down.
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