Customer Reviews

Mothership Connection

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 mothership era 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 & commercially
successful 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!!

(Please read the comments section of this review
for an important message regarding this review!)

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!! (-:

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!!!

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"

In 1975, the Mothership touched down. Sure, there had been Parliament albums before this, but none had been remotely like this. It's a concept album, but don't let that scare you off, because the concept is funk from outer space that had been stored in the pyramids and was being retrieved by "Star Child". And the whole thing is as utterly goofball as the concept suggests. Okay, onto the music...
Things open with P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up), an excellent intro to the band's new direction if there ever was one. It's eight minutes of groove, with George (and Sir Lollipop Man, alias the long-haired sucka)'s hilarious, offhand spoken comments about how Funk can save your life - but only P-Funk, that is funk played by station WEFUNK, which of course comes from space. The next song, Mothership Connection (Starchild) is arguably the best of the bunch. Of course you can dance to it, and you'll probably end up singing along with the "swing low, sweet chariot stop and/let me ride" bridge. Hell, you might even burst out singing it randomly when it isn't playing. It's happened to me.
You don't hear much about the next three tracks, but they're all worth hearing, too. First off is the ironically funky Unfunky UFO, about saving a "dying world" from its "unfunkiness", which to me means "its lack of peace and unity" - it's amazing just what Clinton could do with the "funk" metaphor. Madcap genius, or what? Anyway, great message, even better song. Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication (The Thumps Bump), one of the coolest titles ever (its only rival being Parliament's own Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadooloop)), follows. To me, this stretches the metaphor from last tune - maybe I'm overanalyzing, but if I am I like what I'm picking up. Anyway, this is another unforgettable lost classic. Next is Handcuffs, perhaps the weakest song here, but a great tune that would've led the pack on a lesser disc. It's by far the most traditional thing here, a love (okay, sex) song not related to the concept, and a charming, clever one at that - sort of like Wizard of Finance.
Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) is anthem central. Sure, the lyrics are simple, with just a couple phrases repeated for six minutes. But it's more about the groove than the lyrics - rap would probably NOT have happened without this song, and though I wouldn't complain about that, why blame Parliament for their followers? Anyway, it's a great song - subtle horn arrangement, heavy bass, drums and keyboards (the Bernie Worrel show!), unforgettable intro sung in baritone over percussion (sound like rap to anyone?) Classic stuff. Lastly is Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples. It's hilarious, a chant that begins with "I am high/we are high...". Hilarious!
Of course, Parliament was dominated by George Clinton, but it wouldn't have happened without Bernie Worrell or Bootsy Collins. Long live George, Bernie and Bootsy, everybody's favorite utterly goofball geniuses!

Mothership Connection is the kind of acid scorched space-jam platter that can keep a party movin' (and you'd best believe I mean MOVIN'!) all night long. It's a freewheeling chunk `o funk that'll instantly vaporize any of the lame-o crap that may be polluting your record collection, and make you boogie from now clear until the end of time. The songs are structured like truly inspired jams, with George Clinton and his band of visionaries hurling interplanetary melodies and starburstin' vocals around minimalist, rhythm driven hypno-grooves. The choruses are huge, the lyrics are divine, and the bass lines are deeper than oceans. As a whole, it's a ridiculously good surge o' wicked cool psychofunk genius. Just don't forget your sunglasses!

This is funk the way it should be, as Parliament keeps the groove going strong in the original seven cuts, plus one bonus track.

Released in February 1976, the album and the single - Tear The Roof Off The Sucker - charted on both the Billboard pop (album, #13; single, #15) and black charts (album, #4; single, #5). Yes, gotta give a shout out to that music industry segregation!

With Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley adding more power to the horn section - which also featured the Becker Bros. - the trio of George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell pen three dynamite numbers; P-Funk, Mothership Connection & Give Up The Funk.

The album is also the debut of Starchild - a character based on Sun Ra's Black Noah - in the P-Funk Mythology. Starchild's life is explained further in the 1976 album, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.

Arguably the greatest Parliament album ever, you will wear out the CD before growing tired of the rhythms on Mothership Connection.

I'm by no means a funk expert. I spend most of my time listening to the likes of Rush, Porcupine Tree, and Pain of Salvation. But we all have the urge to explore and from time to time get our groove on. The Mothership is the place to do it. This was my first venture into Gearge Clinton's world and it still remains my favorite. From the opening "Do not attempt to adjust your radio," To the closing "Ga Ga Do Ga's" of Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples, This is a masterpiece. Clinton's skills as a songwriter, producer, and band leader are impressive to say the least. Through layers of vocals, horns and Bootsie's bouncing bass he guides his creation on a flawless musical journey. Philosophically he shares a great deal with the practitioners of progressive rock exploreing far and wide, relying on the virtuosity of his bandmates,incorporateing all styles he can get his hands on, and lets face it Bernie Worrell reaches stratospheres Rick Wakeman only dreamed of. The end result is a groove laden voyage to a place somewhere between Shaft and The Outer Limits. It's very strange, very out there, and very satifying.

No other funk album of this era or any other moved me the way this one did,I not only had the pleasure of seeing this tour twice during that time but also actually had the pleasure of hanging out with these guys after one of the shows!, little did I know at the time just how significant this would be, Glen Goins was my all time favorite not to mention the fact that I play guitar as well.
Mike Hampton gave me a couple of picks, I still to this day have them.

I saw the Mothership in 1976 at the San Diego Sports Arena. That concert blew me away!!! Ahh Bootsy baby. When George came down from the rafters in the Mothership it was off the charts. I think they played the whole album that night. That was the first time I had ever heard of or saw Parliment and needless to say I have been a fan ever since. Funk fans know this is the album.

This album was well ahead of it's time. This whole album was slammin'. George Clinton was definitely the man back in da day. Straight up "king of funk". George was and still is one of my music heroes. I grew up listening to all of his stuff as a youngin'. I highly recommend this cd along with some of the other Funkadelic titles. Also pick up "Parliament Live". That's my favorite live album of all time.