Time for y’all to Space Funk!
This is a sort of compilation album of musicians who’ve played on various Bill Laswell productions on his Axiom Funk label, all released in 1995.
So it’s got good ol’ Bill. Plus Bootsy, Bernie and Brain. Not only that, but Buckethead, Sly and Robbie, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Hazel, Sly Stone, Bigfoot Brailey, Aiyb Deng, George Clinton, Fred Wesley - in fact most of the surviving (at the time!) members of the P-Funk crew.
As a result it’s funky as fuck, a bit crazy, a bit of everything, and a bit patchy as a 1.5 hour album is likely to be. But when it’s good it’s proper.
If you got faults, defects or shortcomings,
You know, like arthritis, rheumatism or migraines,
Whatever part of your body it is,
I want you to lay it on your radio, let the vibes flow through.
Funk not only moves, it can re-move, dig?
And Funk is its own reward!
If you did you wouldn’t find it. Pedantic detail, but actually being able to listen to said album may matter for this thread. Although I could quite happily give a review based on the previous benchmarks and the cover art😉.
Positive - Any album with Maggot Brain Hazel and Bootsy is OK by me. Keyboards would do Rick Wakeman proud, give that man a sequined cape.
Negative - Parliament-Funkadelic members all suffer from what I call Paul McCartney syndrome. The symptom is a marked inability to distinguish between genius and shit . Parts of the album are brilliant, other parts not so much.
I’m not bringing the fecking vinyl round to everybody’s house. YouTube will have to do!
And I did say twas a bit patchy, though I reckon the shit bits are dwarfed by the much less shit bits.
Did I mention it’s proper funky, btw?