957 Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (1971)

 957 Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (1971)

Studio Album - Psychedelic Rock



About the Act:

Funkadelic were an American Funk/Psychedelic Rock band fronted by George Clinton, and strongly related to his other band Parliament. They existed from 1968 to 1982, and were involved in the development of the Funk sound which had been pioneered by James Brown a few years earlier.  The histories of Funkadelic and Parliament are somewhat entwined, but Funkadelic, at least initially, had a harder Rock sound, quite psychedelic, and influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone.  They released 13 studio albums and a further 3 have been released after their dissolution.


About the Album:

This was the third studio album by Funkadelic, and the last before a major shift in personnel, also before a shift towards more actual Funk.


My History with this Album:

I have had a copy for a while, but didn't remember it at all well, I think I possibly only listened to it once previously.


Review:

If you think this is going to be an album of Funk you will be in for a surprise. It's not. It is a weird, hard to define sound which is best described as Psychedelic Rock. Don't get me wrong, there are elements of Funk here, but it is dominated by fuzzed-up guitars, curious, dirty grooves, sound effects and clips, and some very odd production.  The first track (Maggot Brain) for example is ten minutes of Hendrix-like guitar solo. The band has been brought way down in the mix so you can hardly hear them and a plethora of echo and reverb effects are brought into play. It is soulful and mournful.  Track 2 starts with blues acoustic guitar, and is a bit more like a funk track. Track 3 has a guitar-based groove with bits where a beat is dropped (and at one point, half a beat is dropped). Apart from the fact that the singing is obviously soul-inspired, the music is actually more like a Led Zepellin song, or some heavy metal.  Track 4 is more like a Funk groove again, but the bass and drums sound like they have been recorded in the basement of a parking garage. Track 5 is back to heavy metal, even more so than track 3. Track 6 is a fairly straightforward soul/R&B track, dominated by the use of a "flexatone", a percussion instrument which can change pitch mid-note like a cross between a triangle and a swanee whistle. It's an odd sound. Track 6 is the weirdest of all, it is an extended groove, a bit like an afrobeat track, with some amazing drumming, over which has been overdubbed an entire library of sound effects. And some speech.

The whole thing is disjointed, surprising, fascinating, and a head-trip. There may have been substances involved (I don't think this is libellous, two of the band members left after this album as a result of drug issues.) It's like a brain dump which was later made more psychedelic through production, but the raw talent comes through, and there is a kind of overall frisson to it. (Reviewers like to use pretentious words, so I thought I would give it a try).

Quite enjoyable, some of it is not safe for work, children or your granny to listen to.


7.2/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5p9GTYAPSgc5C1ck9ZbnMk

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21sP7orRS3c

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggot_Brain


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