How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent?

George Clinton | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 6, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: THE C KUNSPYRUH
• ASIN: B000AHJ8U6
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,489 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent? is a bit of all things P-Funk: past, present, and future. Newcomers like Kendra Foster and George''s granddaughter Sativa ride alongside tracks credited to George Clinton, the P-Funk All Stars, Funkadelic, and Parliament with old friends like Bernie Worrell and Cordell ""Boogie"" Mosson returning on some tracks. Prince and Bobby Womack both get guest spots, and there''s even an appearance by the original Parliaments! There''s a bit of hip-hop, hard rock, doo wop, and straight-up rock & roll, and of course, lots of hard funk. ""Bounce 2 This"" could be an outtake off Computer Games, with Bernie''s synth leading the way. Funkadelic''s ""Because/Last Time Zone"" combines the Beatles tune with a new track that looks back to ""Eulogy and Light"" (which is actually quoted verbatim in ""Paradigm,"" the Prince collaboration). ""Never Ending Love"" has some nice electric sitar from Blackbyrd McKnight, while ""Viagra"" (both credited to Funkadelic) is a hard rock guitar fest built on a wicked Lige Curry bassline... All in all, How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent? is somewhere between a sampler of the Clinton universe and a phone call from an old friend telling you what he''s been up to. It isn''t the place to start your Clinton/Parliafunkadelicment Thang collection, but it''s a welcome addition after too long away."" ~ Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aging Ageless Funk, September 13, 2005

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent? (Audio CD)

George Clinton and some of his longstanding P.Funk cronies are now senior citizens, and the grown children and even grandchildren of some of the Mobsters are now Mobsters themselves. George and the Gang are still hard after all these years, but this lengthy and languid release shows them merging into the slow lane on the funk freeway. At more than two and half hours of mostly laidback workouts from a variety of All-Stars (supposedly recorded over a long period to boot), there's a bit too much to this package, and the long songs tend to repeat their grooves rather than work them into a frenzy. The low point is "I Can Dance," which repeatedly loops the basic riff from the old Funkadelic song "Nappy Dugout" for fifteen sleep-inducing minutes. Ballads such as "U Can Depend on Me" or "Never Ending Love" suffer from a lack or urgency and personality as well.

But there are still plenty of slammin' tracks in this release, stemming from George's immortal quest for new sounds. Ever since the late 70's, P.Funk tracks have generally sounded cluttered and busy as George tried to cram as many Funkateers into the studio as space or technology would allow. But here, many of the songs are refreshingly sparse and groove-oriented, good examples being "Su Su Su" and the delightfully nasty "Something Stank." There is also a great amount of genre experimentation here, at a level not heard since the early Funkadelic discs. This includes the smooth reggae of "Inhale Slow," rollicking jazz/blues in an expansive cover of "Whole Lotta Shakin'," and weird techno doo-wop in a cover of "Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight" which reunites four of the five original Parliaments. And the Mob shows it can still rock out with metallic precision in the guitarful "Viagra." In a great variety of ways, this release shows that George and the P.Funk All-Stars are getting old, but they'll continue to be the funkiest fogies you ever did see. [~doomsdayer520~]

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funkadelic Rocks!, October 21, 2005

By 

George H. Darden "Funk Historian" (Chocolate City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent? (Audio CD)

How late do you have 2BB4UR Absent? Not sure, but but what we do know is that this new double CD from the Parliament-Funkadelic Funk Mob is right on time! George Clinton's voice is stronger than it has been in many years and the band is crankin'. This CD features George's son and his grand daughter also. Looks like they will carry on the "freak" tradition. I would have preferred one great focused Funkadelic CD but I guess George was trying to please all of his new post "Jerry Garcia" fans on this one. You have your R&B grooves, your Belita Woods vocals and even a 15 minute loop of the classic Funkadelic jam "Nappy Nugout". Although Prince also rocks on the CD, I would have liked more funky rock n roll guitarisms from Mike Hampton and Garry Shider.

Something "stank" and I want some!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars George is back, October 19, 2005

By 

Karl Bulman (London, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent? (Audio CD)

This is a real return to form and a decent snapshot of where PFunk is in 2005. There are some real standout tracks here but considering how many tracks there are, there's surprisingly little filler (unfortunately that doesn't mean no filler, but there are few pfunk albums without a couple of over-indulgent tracks).
It's been possible for a few years to get tracks by some of the artists on here (if you dig around hard enough) e.g. Kendra Foster, Sativa and Trey Lewd have all had solo projects out (including some of the songs on here) but the tracks produced for this album are all much stronger.
George has also changed his own approach a bit here, not draughting in loads of rap/R&B stars and mostly relying on the current members of the touring Funk Mob. He hasn't overproduced this album and this leads to simpler and better tracks.
My personal favourite is 'Sexy Side of You'. Really catchy, can't get the chorus out of my head, it's a slice of old school PFunk. But there's plenty for everyone here, no matter what your preferred pfunk style is. It's also more accessible to all than some recent albums and if you've not bought a pfunk album before then this could be a decent starting point. (But if this is your starting point, go straight back out there and buy Parliament's 'Chocolate City' and Funkadelic's 'Let's Take it to the Stage' afterwards.)