In an age when funk was ubiquitous as an expression of Black common music, George Clinton and Parliament reigned supreme as its quintessential representatives. Wielding a uncommon mixture of unbridled, free-form musicality; an Afrofuturism ethos; a critique of the American social order; and humor, Parliament was nearly peerless throughout the pantheon of funk music.
Launched in September 1976, lower than a 12 months after the critically acclaimed and commercially profitable Mothership Connection, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein is one other masterpiece in Clinton’s canon and traveled deeper into the mythology of P-Funk. Influenced by science-fiction, George Clinton was the ringleader of an intergalactic band of house funkateers that descended upon planet Earth to “blow the cobwebs out your mind.”
The premise of Clones was this: Dr. Funkenstein’s agent, Starchild, was chargeable for carrying the funk all the way down to the mere mortals on Earth on Mothership Connection, now he’s returned to his lab to create clones to satisfy his mission.
That includes preparations by keyboardist Bernie Worell and former James Brown musical director, trombonist Fred Wesley, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein additionally enlisted a solid of virtuoso musical titans that included saxophonist Maceo Parker, bassist Bootsy Collins, Rick Gardner, guitarist Garry Shider, bassists Michael Hampton, and guitarist/lead singer Glen Goins. This incarnation of Parliament’s ensemble is arguably one essentially the most famend within the band’s historical past.
The opening salvo of the album is the haunting “Prelude,” which units the tone with this audacious pronouncement: “There in these terrestrial projects it would wait, along with its co-inhabitants of kings and pharaohs, like sleeping beauties with a kiss that would release them to multiply in the image of the chosen one: Dr. Funkenstein. And funk is its own reward.” That is the mission assertion earlier than the outer-space journey of Clones commences.
The heavy groove of “Gamin On Ya” captures the band funking at their finest. With a catchy hook and an infectious vamp over a head-nodding instrumental, “Gamin On Ya” is a tour de pressure courtesy of the Sexy Horns.
On “Children Of Production,” Parliament lays out the rationale for Funkenstein’s cloning experiments. Using the classically educated ear of keyboardist and arranger Bernie Worrell, together with Bootsy Collins’ groove-heavy, intergalactic bass strains, “Children of Production” highlighted the nuances of Parliament’s adroit musicianship, which was typically overshadowed by their bold ideas. Wesley’s free-ranging horn solos fuse with gospel-inspired three-part harmonies for a symphonic funk masterpiece.
As free-flowing, hilarious, and unorthodox as they had been, Parliament’s musical mastery was second to none. As a testomony to their enduring affect, Atlanta dynamic duo Outkast later adopted the P-funk blueprint by sampling “Children of Production” on their hit, “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.”
From begin to end, The Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein is filled with jams wherein Parliament flexed their versatility. When you thought they might fully abandon their signature, free-flowing, improvisational compositions, suppose once more.
The sultry, six-minute gradual jam titled “I’ve Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body)” reveals their romantic facet, a facet of Parliament that’s typically neglected. Whereas they had been recognized for his or her outlandish wardrobes and larger-than-life personas, when the time known as for it, P-Funk nonetheless knew the best way to get within the temper.
Following up a juggernaut like Mothership Connection was a tall order, to say the least, however Parliament was up for the duty. They refused to shrink underneath the burden of their earlier success and as a substitute, doubled down on their conceptual method by taking listeners even deeper into the P-Funk cosmology.
The Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein stays a timeless album as a result of not solely did it push the boundaries of funk and common Black music upon launch, it later grew to become a template for rap music to construct upon. From NWA to Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and numerous others, there is no such thing as a G-Funk with out P-Funk.
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