You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Mothership Connection – Parliament

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

Could Parliament be the most important band of the 1970s? Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin break down Parliament's 1975 masterpiece Mothership Connection track-by-track: Bootsy Collins bass lines that launched a thousand samples, grooves that lock you in and won't let go, and the New Orleans connection that George Clinton says started the whole thing. Plus: isolated bass and drums stems. You'll never hear Parliament the same way again.Chapters Legend:🎧 Listening to a track 🎹 Music theory breakdown 🎵 Live studio jam-------------------------------Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs:https://openstudiojazz.com/yhi-------------------------------About You'll Hear It:In this popular music series, Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.-------------------------------Sign up for the You'll Read It newsletter for little known stories about the artists you love:https://youllhearit.com/newsletter-------------------------------00:00 Parliament's Mothership Connection (1975)01:07 MASTERCLASS In Funk02:44 Who Is Parliament?07:59 🎧 "Mothership Connection"10:15 🎧 BEST Moment of 197514:48 Isolated Stems On "Mothership Connection"18:34 Influence Of Mothership Connection20:15 🎧 "Unfunky UFO"23:10 🎧 "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication"27:23 Mysticism and Meaning of Parliament33:48 🎧 "Handcuffs"35:54 🎧 "Give Up the Funk"44:13 🎧 "Night Of the Thumpasorus Peoples"46:44 Categories: Desert Island Tracks, Apex Moments, Spotify Playlist48:13 Is This the Most Important Band Of the 70s51:05 What to Listen to Next

George Clinton had just imagined a young Barack Obama in the White House with his album, Chocolate City, in April 1975. Now, just a few minutes later, what? I'm setting it up, man. I know we usually do that, but we don't need a bespoke intro for this show. We absolutely need it. We always do an introduction. This album comes with an introduction.

Good evening. Do not attempt to adjust your radio. There is nothing wrong. We have taken control as to bring you this special show. We will return it to you as soon as you are grooving. Welcome to Station W-E-F-U-N-K, better known as We Funk, or Deeper Still the Mothership Connection, home of the extraterrestrial brothers, dealers of funky music, P-Funk, Uncut Funk, the Bomb. Coming to you directly from the mothership, top of the chocolate and Milky Way,

500,000 kilowatts of P-Funk power, so kick back, dig, while we do. do it to you in your eardrums. Oh me, I'm known as Lollipop Man. Alia's the long-haired sucker. My motto is... I'm Adam Manus. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It Podcast.

Music. Explore. Brought today by Open Studio. Go to OpenStioJazz.com for... You jazz lesson needs. Now that was an introduction. Peter, I feel like our faces are going to hurt today. Stank face. From both the stankness of the faces.

and the smiling of the faces because this album is not only, and I'm talking about Parliament's Mothership Connection, 1975th, Mothership Connection. Not only is it one of the funkiest recordings of music in the history of recordings of music.

But it's also just a pure work of joy. It is so joyful this album. It is undeniably infectious. You cannot not shake your ass at least a little bit. Watch your mouth at a menace. I will not. It is so good, man.

The whole thing start to finish. It is truly a masterpiece, in my opinion. I love this album so much, man. I agree. Ditto. See above to what Adam said. It's a dance party. It's a funk masterclass, as we're going to look at. There's virtuastic funk playing from every single corner,

singing, harmonization. It's a finely tuned engineered record that we always, you know, we're having fun talking about. that. I mean, 75. That's right in our engineering wheelhouse right now. But dude, this thing, the whole thing sounds great. It's with a bunch of incredible, incredible artists. Of course, led by the one and only, truly one of one, George Clinton. Yes. But of course, Parliament, some key members, George Clinton, obviously. Glenn Goins on guitar and vocals, the legendary bassist, Bootsie Collins, who's really kind of like, in a lot of ways, the heart and soul of this.

this band, Bootsie Collins. Like, he's sort of like everything underneath that's happening is bubbling, literally bubbling underneath is coming from Bootsie's base. The, I think, most underrated keyboard player, at least on this show. Interesting. This might be the second or third time ever we've mentioned, Bernie Worell, who is maybe one of the most influential keyboard players of the past 60 years. I was going to say he's the Greg Philingames of keyboard players, but that's kind of redundant,

isn't it? Well, that's the thing is every keyboard player after him owes a lot of debit to Bernie Warrell who helped create, like, how we think about a lot of modern synthesizer sounds. He was a pioneer on that, also a very, like, accomplished musician, musician as well. Yeah. But then the horn section is ridiculous. We got to talk with the rest of the Jerome Braley. Bigfoot.

Bigfoot. The rest of the rhythm section. The drums. Everything is on the one is something that's going to be a thing. theme for every single song on here and it makes it makes you bounce it makes everything bounce off it legendary horn section macy o parker fred wesley um also michael brecker randy brecker randy brecker of the brecker brothers fame um and jill feral making some appearances on the tenor saxophone pretty incredible yeah pretty incredible and and man i love this band so much

so parliament and the sort of like uh uh uh sister band i I guess, Funkadelic. Yeah. These like two sides of the coin, the funkadelic is like the sort of like psychedelic rock, a lot of distorted, crunchy guitars and Parliament, more of the funk R&B dance side of things.

And then later Parliament Funkadelic, which was just the combination, which were pretty much the same anyway. There's been a lot of different... Due to legal reasons, these were all entirely different bands, but... I don't think it gets...

George Clinton was the constant, right? I don't think it gets much better for me around this era than this band. I mean, they went on a run the entire 70s. Yeah. That is, I think, unmatched as far as just like unbelievable banger album after banger album. Classic hits. And just, thank you, Parliament.

And then also, not only did they go on a run in terms of recording, but they're, I mean, their live performances in a number of different types of venues. You ever seen live? I've seen them several times live. Me too. Unbelievable. You opened for them. I opened for them once, one of the greatest shows I've ever seen.

Actually, the first time I saw them live was. in the early 90, like 91, I believe. It might have been 92 in New Orleans at Tipitina's on Chapitoula Street. Legendary Club is still there. And the Galactic guys actually own it, I believe, now. Talk about lineage from funk and New Orleans. We're going to talk about New Orleans, of course.

But it was such an amazing. They used to come and do these weekend shows. They'd play for like Friday and Saturday. They come in with their crazy tour buses. The shows would be three and a half, four hours long. I mean, it was the stuff of legends. In a club. It was kind of a big club.

but they did that a bunch of places I saw them at North Sea Jazz Festival in the late 90s and I mean they were they had institutionalized in a very good way this sound this show for a whole two three generations now I'm glad you mentioned New Orleans

because New Orleans has kind of an unexpected influence on this here's George talking about origins of funk I started thinking of funk as a genre as like the genre you were working in up the test of a I have to testify, and like I said, seeing Jimmy Hendricks, Cream. They did rock and roll and blues like my mother.

To me, the only genre that wasn't taken was that New Orleans version of R&B. Get out of my life moment. Lee Dorsey. Lee Dorsey, yeah. Which Alan Tucson produced. The meters are the backing band there. Isn't that fascinating, though? Like, when you hear it, you're like, oh, of course.

Yeah, right? But it's not the first thing I think of. I think of spaceships and outer space when I think of Parliament and Fondagelic. Don't necessarily go straight to like Alan Tucson. Man, let's go on to the next track. This is, I don't want to spoil any categories later. This is an important song for me. One of the great starts.

We talk about off-tempo, out-of-temple starts. We got to do it again. Yeah. We gotta do it again. We gotta hear it again, Peter. But check it out. So we talked about, she's like,

all these things where you're like, it's a very subtle thing, but like they don't just go into that thick-ass groove. There's like a little bit of this. And that's very much a meter is New Orleans thing too, right? This one live to,

Mothership Connection Live. Oh, yeah. Out of this world. Yeah. Literally. But like a whole other experience. I think she's there. Thank you.

Okay. But by the way. And then. There's a live, there's a live concert film from the 70s from this band that is like, it's on YouTube. There's like 30 of us.

I know, but like so worth checking out. Mothership connection. Yeah. Woo. It's syncopated from the beginning. Before I turn. Man, that high hat. You're talking about the bass drum sound.

Oh, that crash. Big. Crash. On the one. Everything is on the one. Every eight beats is. Oh. I love sometimes, too.

Bigfoot will just give a little space. And it is always on the one, but he's still got some of that four and. Check it out. Oh, it was an extra basser. Horins. Never been a funkier horn. So a crash symbol?

Every eight. I had. Yeah. Yes. Crash. For the glide in your strides and dip in your hip. I know. Yeah.

Well, there was all sequenced. All that stuff. Bernie War L. Man. You say sequence? No, I'm just kidding. Cut it out. Be it.

Oh, what we got over there? And like the horn... Who knows his back? I don't need the Y, all the time. Like the F-sharp 9. You know what I'm saying? D-D-D-D-D. Nacio, friend Wesley.

Yeah. Record brothers. Mothership connection. Right there. These little, there's a little... Differences. The bomb. It's pattern, pattern, pattern, pattern interruption.

But there's like four different levels that's happening. I've had to play this live a couple times. And like, did it sound like this? Getting those details is super challenging, man. Whoa, that break? Yeah, hold on. I got to back it up. I got to back it up.

There's that G flat that happens. Yeah. The draw great. Man, it's so, like, you think of them going crazy on this, but it's so. Like, you think of them going crazy on this, but it's so. discipline. My face already hurts. It's my favorite moment of

1975, probably. It was also apparently Dr. Dre Snoop and a bunch of people's favorite moment. Square wave synthesizers, triangle wave. The clavinet with the wah effects.

Unbelievable. The timing on that watch. Man, I remember this coming on the radio. I thought these were two separate songs. Because they faded out before here. I bring forth to you the good time on the mothership. Frankly, was really influenced by this. I mean, the amount of genres that are influenced by this.

Yeah, man. Start y'all here And this is all So good is good to me I love about these tracks Two Peters We're not going anywhere No

Let's take our time And settle in, you know And I said they went to the bridge It's really like they go to another This page to another song Honestly I don't know of any more Life-affirming music

This music I know that sounds dramatic Oh shit But But I like I said earlier, you know, Braley, he's so disciplined in the way he's playing this pattern. But then when he mixes it up, oh. But when he does little details, you're like, oh.

Is that break? And you talk about taking like the same cord, the same material, and just stretching it out. And it's all this, it's very modal. It's all mixillidian, right? I honestly, I can't take it without just losing my mind. It's so, so good. The little details. I mean, that's the thing, too, is, like, one chord, right?

You got one chord for a long time, and you have all these little, these little, like, subtle changes that are queued in here and there, and, like, the textures that Bernie Warello is playing are so genius. And then you mentioned Jerome Bigfoot Braley, just, like, holding it down for the most part, but then just every once in a while.

Little change. Every so often he'll just put in the thing or he'll just put in a pause. Sometimes the silence that he'll put in sounds deafening. You know what I mean? It's that kind of play. Like, you know, great funk players can play,

I'm going to state the obvious here. You ready? Stay at the obvious. You know, can play in the groove, right? But there's that next level where you're stuck in the groove. Like there's nothing they can do to leave the group.

And that doesn't mean that they play the exact same pattern. It means they play 95% of the exact same pattern and then the taste making is when they change it up. It's not only like snap back at or like to, like he does a bass drum like every 16 bars or so that's a little bit different that leads back into the one, but it's like the decisions of not only how to do it,

but when to do it. It's so brilliant. With the whole rest of arrangement, with the horns. It's like all these different layers going. And it's already great if they just stay the same, but it's the little parts, the little patterns that interrupt that are just so joyful.

So in just a minute we're going to listen to just the bass, the drums, isolated, and you can hear the great Jerome Braley and Bootsy Concert. I don't know. I don't know. We're also going to listen to some people that have used this music in samples. But before we do that, Peter, I want to talk a little bit about Open Studio. I actually just recorded a lesson today. I heard it. We were talking about playing on one chord. Yeah. And so, you know, this show is sponsored by Open Studio where we teach piano lessons. And we were talking about playing on this one chord. Like, can you play like a E-flat 7, like an E-flat dominant seven chord?

Right? Yeah. So when you got just one chord for one time, and you hear this especially in like James Brown's music and in Parliament and in Sly and the Family Stone, but like you have that E flat 7. Instead of just playing like an E flat seven chord, Peter, could you play a B-flat minor triad in the first inversion over E-flat?

First inversion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we have that sound, right? That B-flat minor triad over E-flat, which is like an E-flat 7-Sus 2. Yeah. And like you'll hear great keys players a great guitarist,

take that shape up the whole step to the C minor. Right? Now put a little funk on. I put a little, just a little grease. Right?

So you just have, this is like E flat, right? We're just an E flatness here. But you can use those pairs of triads. Anyway, that's what we were talking about today on my course of the Harmony Games. If you want to check it out,

go to openstudiojazz.com. That's openstudiojazz.com for all your jazz lesson needs. Yeah, that's right. Okay, back to it. Man. Face and drums, ready? Yeah, let's do it.

Oh. So this is the bridge. Mothership Connection. Let a ride, let a ride. Ooh, the hi-hat on A-D-4? Oh, I love it. Ah. Ha.

Oh, man, that's perfect crash. Perfect craft. Everything boots he's turning. Oh. Isn't that so fun? Man, you could literally listen to this whole album of just the stems of the bass and the drums and have the time of your life.

Did you imagine if Fagan and Steeley Dan who got their hands on that band? So this is very, very... This is very interesting, right? Because we talked about this on that Steely Dan Goucho episode about how they did all these takes and all of this, like, we got to get it just right, but there's something about this, like, openness of being here.

Not that these guys weren't doing takes and getting it right, but it's just like there's a feeling of like anything can happen. Right. That is so infectious, that makes me feel so alive when I listen to these albums that I think sets Parliament. There's no other band I can think of

where you feel like anything could happen. Literally a freaking spaceship could land on the stage. No, it will. That's coming. And it will. But I mean, the thing is, too, what was so great about that, I was talking about earlier, their legendary live performances for decades

is like their actual, especially the OG recordings are like very restrained in a way. I mean, they're definitely like, compared to the live shows. Yeah, I mean, even just compared to, like, how everybody's played. Because they'll play this stuff for 30 minutes straight and, like, crazy films. It's the greatest feeling in the world.

I've ever seen Dennis Chambers with them? Yeah, out of town. Shut up. But, I mean, like, the foundation of it is very, like, it's very architectural, right, in terms of the decisions about how these pieces are. I mean, the groove is there. The funk is there. But then it's not just like, oh, we're going to groove out for 30 minutes, man. It's like, no, the stuff is put together.

And then you've created this world and you've got these hits and people. know it and these riffs and these choruses and stuff that people love. I didn't really, I don't know what your origin story with Parliament is, but I didn't really... I created the man. I didn't really get hip to them until I was probably 16 or 17. However, I had been listening to them unknowingly for a couple years before that with this. Then I'll be rolling in my six-fold. What everybody's saying.

When is the Dre Snoop? Snoop? Let a ride. Dr. Dre. Was this episode coming? The chronic episode? Come on, man. Any day you want, bro. Any day you want. Tell us in the comments if you want that.

Yeah, oh, yeah. Come on. I learned how to talk with this record. I don't know if you remember the end of this video, but they show, like, they have, like, superimposed footage of the live, of the mothership landing. Oh, wow. And you see George Clinton sing this.

And it looks like it's in the 40s or something. And that's, I think, was my very first exposure. Like, wait. What the hell is going on in this. Dr. J. I've since learned we had our great audio intern Charlie looking up different people that have used this. Did you know Wiz

company fit his finger by the way? Anyway, go ahead. Oh my God. Do you know that Wiz Khalifa did a whole, just a cover? Like straight up. Damn. All right. Oh, that's Chow. Citizens of the universe. That's gutsy. That's very gutsy. It's very gutsy.

But man, the mothership connection, I think, is just, it's one of my... You like it? It's in my... It's in my Hall of Fame for songs. It's good. Well, I know what you're... I see where this is going through Desert Island track.

Are we moving on to... Do we get a little unfunky? Man, I love... This is kind of a passed over track for some reason. I agree. This is underrated. There's always when you're at the end of the side A, there's always some question marks

if people are tuning in. This is unfunky UFO. Yeah. Oh. Nothing unfunkey about that, but... The lyrics are crazy on this. Oh. I think that's Breckertie.

Do you guys who? Brecker Brothers. I think so. Woo! Bootsie lays out some killers. Bootsie and Bernie on this are just crushing. Bernie Orell, by the way. Child Prodigy on the Keys.

Graduate of the New England Conservatory. Studying in what to Juilliard. Yeah. Unbelievable musician. They didn't learn this to Juilliard. They don't teach this to Juilliard. Check us out. Oh, fucking hell.

I don't know who this is on bone. And the fills. And that bad. Unfunky UFO. I mean, it doesn't get funkier than that, ironically. Did you know, too, that after they recorded that track? Yeah. Apparently, George and Bootsie actually saw a UFO.

That's weird. We had just finished the mothership album. That's what's weird about it. So on the way back, Bootson and I'm driving along, we're happy we don't finish the album. We're going to go to Bimini. We're going to go fishing. I listen to Bahamas.

Canada. Oh, Canada. Like a laser, like straight from the sky, clear day, and it's splattered like electricity, you know, sparks. Like two blocks away. And before I can see anything, it hits the other side of the street. It's like, bam.

Bam. And the third one... Literally saw a UFO. Yeah. after they recorded this album. The way back from recording this. I remember hearing this story. I thought that was the inspiration from this, but it was...

It happened flipside. The aliens are watching, man. Because they're in another time zone. There is no time. There is no time. There's no space. No time. And then.

I want you to, do you know what's coming up next? Do you know the song that's coming up next? I just want to just hear you try to pronounce it as all. Oh, super grovelistic prosy, funkas. Supercalifragilistic, funk. Give me the funk. Yeah.

Did you say it? Super gruevalistic. realistic prosopunctication The Bumps Bump Bump Oh That's great Oh

This is Percussions Man All that shit Why did I plan I wanted to play on this record I wanted to play on this record

Oh Oh Oh I love this So I remember listening to this record, this B-side, when shout-out, I'm not going to name any names, but I was like, I mean, I must have been like six or seven years. No, maybe I was older.

I wasn't nine or ten in the neighborhood I grew up with some older kids. And I remember this. I think it was actually this track. It was definitely on the B-side where there was some, all of a sudden we're listening. I'm like, man, this is kind of weird, but cool. I like it. I don't know.

I'm like one of those old like hot, like those RCA record players, you know, with the, with the frosted thing on top. And then all of a sudden I was like, wow, these older kids are, what are they smoking? Something. That was like interesting. They call it funky. I mean, I wonder if anybody can actually remember the first time they heard parliament like in the wild like that.

Yeah. I remember. Shout out to Jason Moore of U.S. Yeah. And his older brother, Jay Moore. Jay Moore and his older brother. brother Steve, RIP, Steve Moore, who had a band here in St. Louis

called the son of Star Child that I was lucky enough to be in for a while. And I would just hang out at their mom's house in New City, and we would watch Parliament videos and listen to music and learn these songs and play them for hours and hours and hours and hours. Grungy, dank rehearsal spaces off King's Highway.

So much fun, man. So before that, a little bit before, actually, right around the time of this record, Kelly Martin, the beautiful Kelly Martin. She saw them at the Checker Dome. What now? Yeah, and she went with the same kind of thing. The Purina, Checker Dome? The pure, pre-purena, I believe. Or maybe it wasn't.

Over around Oakland. Yeah, Oakland. Of course. And that was another. She said it was the first time, she said the whole place was like a contact highlight because it's an enclosed arena. She said the whole thing was just Mary Jane, you know. Man. Yeah.

Check out some bass and drums. Her babysitter took her, I think. Okay. Yeah. Check out some bass and drums on. Super gruevalistic prosop funstication. Got that envelope filter on it for that. The move, something.

The boots he used, the pedal, right? Yeah, yeah. Oh. Oh. Yeah, what is that thing? Oh, I'll have that. Man, that's some zigaboo. Bastroom pattern right there.

I'm telling you, man. Once you hear the New Orleans, you can't unhear the. you can't unhear the meters Zygaboo more or less Dr. Pretty amazing. That also, so this song

is always, I always thought it's very connected with the last song on Side B, Night of the Thumpasaurus peoples, which we'll get to.

Like the groove and the vibe and the weirdness of it, you know. That is close to my... It's kind of nice bookends on Side B. Here's a little bit, you know,

it's so funny because like I love hearing Bootsie talk about George. Bootsie Collins is a little bit of a poet, a little bit of a prophet, a little bit of a... theatrical.

Listen to Bootsie talk about George. This is so cool. The one thing that, um, that I don't even think George wants to overcome real bad is, he understands what the flesh is. And he understands that we, we are,

uh, travelers, time travelers. And he understands, that we are in these bodies and these bodies are time machines and these bodies take maintenance you know a certain maintenance you have to keep them up and he's decided like the 60s you know back in the 60s and you know like all that whole crew in the 60s you know everybody kind of decided that funk it you know I'm going for you know I love that so I can't

love that more. I can't love that more. There's something actually very like Buddhist about that. There's something very mystical about that idea. And I think you can, you can hear. I mean, this was, I don't know about you. Again, we're just talking about our own origin stories with music, but I was not sheltered, but I feel like, like, especially when I first heard this music, I was like, this is music not made for me. This is not for me. This is, and I'm not like I don't like it, but like, this was not made with, you know, a white kid in the suburbs in mine at all. Right. And, I didn't understand what was happening. Right.

But you were curious. But I was so curious and just infatuated with it. I was so amazing to me that you could even like think about music like this and connect it to our souls in a way that I had never heard. And it really opened not just my like musical taste, but my entire mind to life. I mean, and I know that, again, I'm being very hyperbolic here. But totally this was, this band means so much to me for like making me who I am, honestly. I know.

it's so important. Like we talk about different styles, different genres. But once you just get to great art, great culture, a lot of that stuff kind of just fades away, right? And that's the great thing about, even though there's certain things about,

you know, this, you know, parliament's thing that seem like, if you just go to the surface level and stop, yeah, it's not for a lot of people. Like, it's not,

like the invitation for, everybody is like once you get inside of it like once you're able to like just go up a little bit level besides oh this is weird look he's like getting oh no this isn't for me it's like but once you're curious and you do that there's so much there for everybody i was thinking about and this look this is an area i know very little about but i do know this concept of afrofuturism and how and that i don't think george clinton invented that but he tapped into that and was a big part of that story with science fiction it's a big deal from african america it's a big big deal as well.

It's like such a cool feel that I want to learn more about, but it's very much. And then the connection with the Black American church. Like there's so much, I mean, a lot of people would be like, no, this is the opposite of that. The way the songs like unfold and, I mean, even like the- There's quartet singing and the choruses. Yeah, yeah.

And P-Funk is almost like the deacon speaking, and then there's the in-between where the music's playing. So it's a fascinating cultural, you know, artifact as well, but this whole thing, like the Bootsie's talking about connecting with the future and the past, and there's something there. And also, like, even if, like, you said, like, it's just, like, anybody can look at this, almost everybody to be like, whoa, that's not meant for me or whatever. But, and yet, it's still inviting you in.

Yes. Like, it's bringing you in and said, that's okay. Just come, just come hang with us for a minute. Just come see what this is all about, you know? And I mean, hopefully. It's impossible not to get sucked in. Yeah. It's impossible not to see the perspective, your perspective, your perspective,

shift when you get sucked in. Yeah, and if you've ever been like, you know, curious about this, it's never too, like, you don't have to just be a young person. Like, this is available for you at any time. And it's just like any music, like, there's like classical music, which I love so much. We got to do a classical record here. I know we've, we haven't been. That's a Beethoven on deck for sure. Yeah. Yeah. But it's the same thing for me to a lot of people. I mean, I came up a lot in that world. But I mean, I also came up listening to this stuff. But it's like the classical world, European classical music can be there's so much pomp and circumstance surrounding it

but the music itself is like once it's the same thing you got to get past that little surface level thing and once you get inside the music there's so much humanity there that's inclusive to anybody who wants you know who's interested just let the poetry of it wash over you and by the way it's almost summer nothing feels better

you can ride in your car with some mothership connection banging with your windows down just saying yeah exactly and before we get into New Orleans I don't know if you want to do that an hour later but um We talked about it some. But the idea of like, I want to put out

Plainfield, New Jersey. I was trying to remember. I'm like, I know it was close to Newark. Where George Clinton's from. Where Jerome Braley. And a bunch of the band, I'm trying to remember everybody. Who's the guy who's singing on the next song

we're going to hear, which is, boom, boom, boom. There's Gary Shider. I know Gary Shiders from their two guitars. And Glenn Goins, yeah. Glenn Goins. Yeah, he's from.

So, like, they all, a lot of them met in George Clinton's barbershop, where he literally owned it and was doing hair and stuff. Well, we kind of skipped over this, but this whole band, Parliament, started off as the Parliament. And the background band to the Parliaments were called Funkadelic. Yeah.

So it was Parliaments and the Funkadelic. Yeah. And this is them. Yeah. Is that Glenn Goins? And this, by the way, came out of like a duop. Yeah. Circumstance.

Yeah. So it evolved into something really special. Yeah. And then, of course, George Clinton was staff writer at Motown. And I always thought, felt like that's where he got from that Motown machine, that precision, that crafting. Everybody always thought this was sloppy. I mean, musically, it's very highly crafted. This is, by the way, the fourth mention of the Motown machine. This is maybe the fourth genius that we talked about that got crafted by that

Motown. I mean, this is a record that could have, would have survived the QA meetings at Motown, right? Where they check quality assurance. They used to have that whole thing. Would Barry Gordy release this album? I don't know. I mean, it sold a lot, so you would have. That's good. All right, handcuffs is next. Yeah. Okay. Yeah And king All right

This isn't easier to decipher Listen to the kick Listen to the kick drum Now we don't know That's not how it should be This is another classic Classic pre-breakup song Right

Trying to avoid the breakup Right We talk a Fun fact about this All these BVs here When I was a kid I thought they were saying Do I have to put handcuffs on your mama?

Because, you know, in the 70s, your mama jokes are big. But they say on you, mama. Whoa. Can't say that anymore. Bob DeBozo over there, groving. Come on. I know. This is the bass player's pick here. So we got to do a little handcuffs here.

Let's break it down. That's good. You can take out the problematic lyrics. That's good. Oh All the guitars Why did they have invent a drum machine

When they had this Oh Jerome Braley On that time Come on I mean It does not get better It does not get better

Sorry Steely Dan It doesn't It just doesn't It just doesn't Well no they hit a groove I know it's different It's different But it was like yeah

I mean it's not There's other things of that All right. So, yeah, that's kind of a, that's always been sort of the outlier a little bit on there. But here's how good this album is, right? We're to the penultimate track, right?

There's two tracks left. And the second and last song would become like a wedding band staple. This is the biggest hit on there, I think. Mother's up. Mother's up the motherfucker. All this.

All right. All right. All right. All right. Man. Every party band. The mix. In America on this, masterful.

You still, as a party band, you have to have something like this. Yes. Absolutely ridiculous. That's going to come back. All the stuff Bernie's doing? Those strings, those sin strings. Oh. Randy Breckon.

Randy Breckon. And you're home playing in a wedding, man. You have no bad line. Do-Didoo. Who do you go to that harmony? The guitar is in the background. Oh, let's keep this roll. We can go right into my, if you want, my apex moment.

All right. Let's go into the apex moment. Yeah. 2.30. Oh, break it down. Oh. No keys. No keys.

Everything's on the one, man. Oh, my God. It's coming up. Bush is going to hit this baseline. He already hinted at it, but... Yeah, all those strings are so hip. Penitonic. Here we go.

He's starting to hint at it. Give it back to the guy. Here it again. Please, Louise. Okay, I know. I hate to do this again, but we just have to get to every single one of these. So great. I'm going to skip ahead to where we just were.

Oh. Listen to Bouti here. That's what I'm saying. This whole album was just based on drum stamps. It's unbelievable. But listen to the guitar, too. Listen to what the guitar's doing. So you got one guitar just open strumming.

Yeah. Like a pow. I never noticed it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Check that out. I'm going to back it up. I'll back it up. Oh, that's so killer.

Like a big open chord. Yeah. And the other one doing the little like the chicken scratch. Oh, I want to go up to that 11th? And then Bernie Worell. Oh. Digoo-deb. Beep-bo-de-bo-dib.

I was trying to. I remember trying to find these sounds on the. Roland XP50 back in 97. Good. Wasn't happening. Yeah, he's doing so much of that great pen. Major penit. It's unbelievable, man.

It's unbelievable. There's a really cool, yeah, I know. Here's Bernie's story on joining the band. George had called my wife. Bernie Warhol. I was with Maxine Brown. Arranger, composer, too. And Bermuda.

And George called her from the Apollo. Because he had said one day when he could afford me, he called. So I had gone through college and everything then. And the call came and moved from Long Island. That's where I was staying with Maxine Brown. She's a famous R&B vocalist. And moved to Detroit and the rest of his history. We should mention, too, that Bootsie didn't come out of nowhere either.

Bootsie was in a pretty famous band. Ever heard of it? Fellas, I'm ready to get up and do my thing. Get into it, man, you know. A young Bootsie. Young Bootsie. And his brother Catfish. Yeah, on guitar. Bootsie was in James Brown's band.

Famously after James Brown fired his whole band and then hired basically the band that Bootsie and his brother Catfish had started. A bunch of young, very hip players. I'm putting it. I never really thought about it. I should have, but it's like this connection, like you take the meters, Alan Tucson, the New Orleans thing. And then you take James Brown. And then like a little bit of like,

well i mean there's there's other influences for sure i don't want to oversimplify but those two influences on george clinton who was already writing and doing motown stuff and whatever else but like crystallizing into this is like you really see the lineage and the influences and how unique it is well and then how influential idris mohammed too adrease mohammed that's that's a big influence on this kind of sound and then how influential this was which is new orleans i've heard i've heard even people like you know dave gruel of nirvana talk about how influential these albums were for him. Certainly, Michael Jackson, Prince,

here's actually Prince inducting Funkadelic into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Check this out. Let me just say something about George since he's a good friend of mine. One time he sent me a tape and says, you pee on it and then send it back to me

and I'll pee on it and then we'll see what we got. So this is what George is all about to me and mine. It's the body again, though. It's the body. It's a dying body. And 14 people singing knee deep in unison. That night I went to the studio and recorded Erotic City.

This is Erotic City. Yeah. You know, it's right there at the surface. Yeah. We got one more track on this. And 90s, early 2000 hip-hop. For sure. Yeah, so much hip-hop influence.

I mean, there's been documentaries made about it, actually. Sampling and interpolation, of course. Of course, the closer is unbelievable. The whole album. There's not a bad track on this whole album. Everything is bangor. This is maybe a perfect album as far as accomplishing what they're setting out to do. Is this the weirdest track?

This is the fartiest track on the album and the funkiest way. This is Knight of the Thumposaurus People's. First Diminish Chord of the record. Right there. We can learn that in Open Studio. No problem. Unbelievable. All that bass shit happens.

It's about to get even funnier up in the Thumposaurus is both the caveman and a space creature. Did you know that? I'm going to jump ahead a little bit. This is unreal here. Bunk Bunk, funk contrapolone. Funk contrapolone. I mean, the whole thing, you know.

If this album, if this album doesn't make you want to play bass, I don't know what album would. Like, there can't be a more satisfying bass album. It just feels unbelievable these grooves of Bootsie's laying down. Bootsie recorded so much great stuff, but like this may be, you know, and it's not like his craziest playing, but, man, it's so just, just primal and foundational and so well crafted. I mean, everything on this record.

okay this is a good one my cheeks hurt my jaw hurts feet and my whole face you're okay man I'm worn out I'm emotionally drained let's get to some categories before you I'm like a list out but I'm holy smokes let's get to some categories all right desert on the track what do you got give up the funk this is a great call

yeah yeah yeah I've got mothership connection okay another good call Star Chow you could have said anything Apex moment what do you got so that was that we played that bass line Oh and give up the funk yeah yeah yeah what you got I gotagugaugaugauga I love that

that section we just left off is one of my all-time favorite moments on any album. And the gag-go-go-go-gag-gag-gag-gag-gag I think is so beautiful. It's so beautiful. I don't know where I got this note, though. It says the mothership is both a UFO and a chariot, and the thumposaurus is both a caveman and a space creature in case you're keeping score at home.

So the actual mothership itself is from the 1951 sci-fi film the day the earth stood still. Did you know that? No. I've visited it though. I've not touched it. The one on the cover is from that film. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Well, the one that they used on the tour was I saw it at the Smithsonian, the African American Museum in D.C.

I think that's a replica. That's a replica. Of their stage one. It's called replica. Replica. Yeah. Okay, so that's Apexpo. What's your bespoke playlist? On the one. And you put some prints on there, you put some James Brown on there, and everything's okay. I mean, this is corny.

Maurice stay on the time. Yeah, for sure. I got to give me the real funk. Yeah, it's corny. Quibble bits. Can't, you know, we miss every shot that we don't take, Brian. Okay, so now our new category here is quibble bits slash hot takes. Because if you don't have a quibble bit, which oftentimes we don't, because we're listening

to like, you know, all-timer albums here. Yeah. You can have a hot take. And my hot take is, this is the most important band of the 70s. There's a lot of bands in the Sevenths. Oh, I like the way you looked at me as you said that. It was both with a stern disposition, confidence, but a little bit of inquisitiveness as well.

We're talking bands. There's a lot of bands, right, in the 70s. You still got to look at it. Can we focus it on it? Let me cook. All right, you got, obviously, you got like, you got 70s hard rock bands, right? You got like, Led Zeppelin. You know what I mean?

That's an important band. No, Steve's an artist, right? Okay. But you do have. Headhunters. Sure, I'll allow it. You've got Steely Dan. Are they a band, though?

That's a band. That's technically a band. Reddit. But you also have Earthwind and Fire. That's an important band. You know? Yeah. You've got some other, yeah. You've got a lot of bands. Keith Jared. The band. Keith Jared. Solo piano. That's a band. That's not a band. Peter? No, that's not a band.

Oscar Peterson Trio was still kicking it. Okay. Okay. But I am going to put it out there. I got one more. I got two more for you. Hold up. Parliament and Funkadelic. As a two-headed monster is the most important band in 1970s. Fight me. Fight me. I'm not going to fight you. I'm going to throw out two other bands. Okay. And you're going to be surprised that I'm going to say these. Queen?

Great Ben. No doubt. Led Zeppelin. I already said Led Zeppelin. Oh, you did? Okay. Gotcha. Okay.

I'm not going to fight you. More important. So that's your quibble bit. That's my hot take. That's your hot take. Right. Quibble bit slash hot take. I have a quibble bit.

What you got? Is this too funky? Yes. Or is that a hot take? That's a hot take. Nibometer. I got a five. Oh, I got a five.

Perfect. So how snoby is it on a scale of one to ten? Is one being not snobby at all? and 10 being snobby. I am going to put this one out of five because it is obviously you are going to dance, but there is

a George Clinton with high heel knee high, sparkly, silver boots coming out, crotch first of a spaceship and it is... How snobby is it? Are you saying that makes it snobby or accessible?

I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, that's why I went five. I was like, I can't pull up I know. Super sloppy. It's a perfect spot, actually. Is it better than inner visions? No.

I agree. Okuchamance, what do you got? I'm going nine. And I'm very close to a 10 on this one, but I reserve, I mean, it's very close to a 10. You know what is a 10 is this font. The font is unbelievable.

The font of the logo of Parliament. It is unbelievable. And the font of mothership connection. And the colors. And then there's a good gravy spaceship in the whole thing. It's very, very close to me. This is one I was ready.

You look at the front, because, you know, the front he's coming. And he's in Newark. He's in Newark. Yeah, he's chilling. It plays for New Jersey. It's so good.

Yeah. Up next, what do you got? I mean, I got meters. Looka Pi Pi. That particular record was an early one for the meters, 1969. So it's interesting because it's... Can I play a little bit?

I'm going to play a little longer. No, I got you. Oh, you're going to play it on there? Because I'm about to play mine on the system. Okay. So you can get to it first. Oh, here's mine. Yo.

This is mood control. Yo! Oh! Sam, you might as well pay attention. Wait, what is that? Mine is their 1977, Parliament's 1977 album Funkadeliki and the Placebo Syndrome, and that's the track Funkinteliki. That is...

Lucky Pi Pi, obviously. Great call. They're both good calls. You could also put any of the early prints would be a grade after this. I can barely hear it. No worry. It's on your iPhones.

Okay, all right. Sam is in there. Sam is in there scowling at you right now. just so you know. Yeah, he said good. Peter, he said thumbs up. This was a freaking blast, man. Thank you so much.

High five. Okay. I wanted to be weird with it because we're in a weird, this is a weird. Until next time. You'll hear it.