Search - Parliament :: Mothership Connection

Funkification Reaches Across Time and Space!

Gregory Bravo | Buffalo, NY United States | 06/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1980. A nine-year old boy in a suburb of an average- sized city rummages through a bunch of old LPs he finds in a box in his parents' basement. Captain and Tennille (looks boring)... Elvis' Greatest Hits (looks boring)... Whoa! What's this? A guy dressed in a weird outfit coming out of a spaceship?!?! Now this looks interesting...



He puts on the LP... and the Funkification of suburbia has begun!



He finds the grooves and the lyrics as wacked out, weird, and just plain cool, as the guy on the cover. This is like nothing he's ever heard before! It becomes one of his favorite albums ever... through the big-hair 80s, and the depressing 90s, he always returned to be re-Funkified. When he's feeling down, he goes to the Funk ("Funk can not only move, it can re-move!") When he's feeling up, he goes to the Funk... every time is a good time for P-Funk!



Thank you George, Bootsy, and the rest!



And now I KNOW it must have been the Lollipop Man who came down from the Mothership to put this album of pure chocolate gold in that box of white-bread!!!



"

THEIR BREAKTHROUGH MASTERPIECE!!

MUZIK4THAPEOPLE!! | Orlando, FL | 06/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can remember when this album was current!

It was late 1975 going into '76 and the local

radio station were I lived at the time did

something really unique, and without any other

warning but to say "In a minute, some new sounds

from Parliament!" After a long commercial break,

they just came in with "Uh-good evening!..

Uh-Do not attempt to adjust your radio,

there is nothing wrong!...."

And from the opening track..

"P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up!)

to the closing track..

"Night Of The Thumpasaurus Peoples",

it seemed as though our local radio station

had been indeed taken over by funky freaked-out,

hip, witty & urbane spaced-out extra-terrestrial

pimps of the new groove known as "P-Funk",

which was like an underground cult & revolution

with its own slang, catch phrases, etc.

much like hip-hop (definitely the renegade child

of the Funk / R&B Soul of the late 60's to mid 70's!!)

later became to this generation!



Mind you, this was before MTV, BET or VH-1,

so THE MUSIC had to be visual and original to

inspire your imagination to create your own videos!

And then of course, there was the "P-Funk Earth Tour" which took

Parliament / Funkadelic, Bootsy's Rubberband, The Brides Of Funkenstein, etc.

on the road in a lavishly outrageous stage extravaganza

that could've definitely stood along with rock acts

of the day like KISS, David Bowie, Elton John,

Alice Cooper, etc. in it's theatricality!

This album was the one that set it off for the

P-Funk dynasty and cemented their place,

albeit far too underrated today, in pop history!!

I had this on LP & 8-track in the 70's, on cassette in the 80's,

and on CD since the early 2000's!!--P-Funk Never Dies!! (-:

Again, EVERY TRACK ON HERE WAS and IS STILL BANGIN!!

"Tear The Roof Off The Sucker (Give Up The Funk!)" became their

first gold-selling single, peaking at #5 on the R&B charts and

also doing well on the pop charts as well. It became like

their anthem during concerts during the '76-'78 era, played

after the fervor following the landing of the Mothership onstage

and the arrival of Dr. Funkenstein!! (-:



I would say to any young funksta today, if you wanted

to know what the whole P-Funk thing was about,

definitely buy this one, 1976's "The Clones Of Dr.

Funkenstein", 1977's Parliament LIVE"

& "Funkentelechy v.s The Placebo Syndrome"

as well as 1978's "Motor Booty Affair"....

also their alter-ego, the more rocked-out &

anti-establishment Funkadelic and their

concurrent releases from this prolific period

1974's "Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On",

1975's "Let's Take It to The Stage", 1976's

"Tales Of Kidd Funkadelic" & "Hardcore Jollies"

and last but not least, 1978's "One Nation Under A Groove"

and you'll have it down to a science!!



Of course, you have to have the concurrent

Bootsy's Rubberband releases..1976's "Stretchin' Out",

1977's "Ahhh...The Name Is Bootsy Baby!" &

1978's "BOOTSY?" to really take it home!

Funk On Y'all!!"

We Want the Funk

Uncle Jam | Washington DC | 10/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you would ask any die hard funkateer what the best Parliament/Funkadelic album is, they would probably tell you "One Nation Under A Groove," or "Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome," but I would have ot disagree. Those 2 albums are extremely funky, but the best would have to be this lp, Mothership Connection. From beginning to end, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, and the rest of the gang blow your mind. It seems like once you start listening to "P. Funk Wants To Get Funked Up" you will understand the power of the Funk. Mothership Connection is a great song, with a hell of a bridge, "swing down, sweet chariot stop, and, let me ride!" (Later to be sampled by Dr. Dre in his song, "Let Me Ride.") All of the songs are on a whole different level from other records. Everyone knows the classic "Tear the Roof Off the Sucka," but I think that the last song, "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples" is by far the funkiest. Bootsy goes way off on this one with that bass of his. If you are thinking about buying this album, then stop thinking, and buy it. If you buy it and think it wasnt worth your money, then you dont have a pulse, because this is straight funk. Also buy the lp's that I noted on above, "One Nation ..." and "Funkentelechy..." George and the boys get way less credit than they deserve, because if it werent for him, rap and some of the modern rock wouldn't be here today, not to mention not having the great songs to dance to that they created. 5 stars outta 5. "The Bomb""