An Ambitious, Classic Release
Mr. Richard D. Coreno | Berea, Ohio USA | 03/18/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There are few bands who would take the creative chances like Funkadelic did on its 1971 album. The band's second release highlights guitarist Eddie Hazel in songs that are more avant-garde and heavy-metal in nature, with doses of psychedelia and funky grooves.
Hazel's searing work on Maggot Brain is brilliant and arguably the finest solo put down in the studio during that guitar-laden decade in rock, with Back in Our Minds & Super Stupid equally outstanding.
Wars of Armageddon is one fine politically-charged song, while You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks, takes aim at racism in that George Clinton kind of way. The themes in both songs unfortunately resonate as strongly in news stories today as they did in the 1970s.
Can You Get to That is the gateway to the R&B and gospel influences that will mostly dominate future releases, while Bernie Worrell's keyboards drive Hit It and Quit It.
What was setting the stage for the P Funk mythology - through the freedom of funk and Mother Earth - became one of the more influential releases for metal, punk and the rock/avant-garde movement led by Brian Eno & Robert Fripp (Frippertronics).
It may not be Funkadelic at its funkiest, but it is the band stretching the boundaries of sound in one amazing album.
"
"I have tasted the maggots of the human mind/I was not offen
finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 01/13/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Okay, WTF? Seriously though, that has got to be the coolest opening line in history. And it opens arguably the coolest guitar solo in history. For ten minutes, Eddie Hazel blows Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Santana, Jimmy Page, and every other guitar hero you've had off the map. He also puts stooges like Joe Walsh and Ritchie Blackmore in their places. He gets rage, joy, tenderness, sadness, and much more outta that thing... damn...
1. Maggot Brain: 1000000/10. Have I mentined it's the best guitar solo EVER?
2. Can You Get to That: 10/10. Always liked this number, a catchy little soulful thing with great harmonies.
3. Hit It and Quit It: 10/10. Eddie Hazel strikes back, adding in ashort-but-sweet guitar solo. Good song otherwise.
4. You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks: 10/10. George Clinton's Everyday People, a statement on racism made in the way only he could make.
5. Super Stupid: 8/10. The lyrics need a bit of work, but Hazel rocks out.
6. Back in Our Minds: 6.5/10. Good message, but only an average song.
7. Wars of Armageddon: ...okay then/10. A ten minute freakout a la Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow. It's weird, all right, but a good type of weird."
