Customer Reviews

Tear the Roof Off: 1974-1980

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dr. Funkenstein: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love 'Da Bomb!' Bought it after an intriguing encounter with the Give Up The Funk video, and was completely hooked!

Any missteps are minor (there are some... the two albums add up to nearly 2 1/2 hours of music). But when Clinton and his mob hit the one, they really Hit The One. Awesome grooves that MAKE you dance, even if you can't (I'll reserve judgement on myself for now). Completely ruined me for all other funk (except of course JB) because it is just so visceral and magical. Nothing else comes close.

The groove speaks for itself. What doesn't get much play is George Clinton's genius for a lyric. High concept songs like Chocolate City and Funkentelechy rival in their ideas legends like Dylan and Lennon. Any many who can both write the line "You might as well pay attention because you can't afford free speech" and make it JAM is brilliant in my book.

George Clinton and his funk family Parliament Funkadelic has been around for years creating some of the funkiest grooves ever put to wax.. This collection illustrates that this band was and still is one of the funkiest bands ever.. Most of the songs on this collection is taking from 8 of their best albums from the opening P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up) taking from one of the greatest funk albums ever Mothership Connection to the closing on disc 2 Funkin For Fun this is a great musical experience.. A great introduction to those who may not be familiar with all the great music of this group.. This is a must for die hard Funk Fans .. Personal favorites: Bop Gun, Aqaua Boogie, All Your Goodies Gone, Funkentelechy, Theme From Black Hole

This compilation is pretty good for the novice
johnny-come-lately-to-da' p-funker's out there
who just want to know what the whole Parliament
thing was about!
Of course you can't really do that without
having a definitive Funkadelic comp(which hasn't
been made to my satisfaction yet!)
as well as the Bootsy's Rubberband Anthology
"Glory B, Da' Funk's On Me!"
Then...your funkin' beyond compare!!

But for the Parliament effect, this comp is
pretty cool and the booklet is great with real nice
color pics and info.
My only point of contention with this comp is
that "Night Of The Thumpasaurus Peoples" was heinously
not included on here, as well as some other incredible
album tracks from the original P-Funk albums like "Unfunky UFO" from "Mothership Connection",
"Big Footin'" from "Chocolate City",
"The Goose" from "Up For The Down Stroke",
"Gettin' Ta' Know You", a scorching funk mid-tempo
and "I've Been Watchin' You Move Your Sexy Body",
a hot slow jam that true p-funkers of that time
would all know and love!--from "The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein"
as well as "One Of Those Funky Thangs", "Liquid Sunshine"
and "Motor Booty Affair" from the album of the same
title (M.B.A.). The live version of "Gamin' On Ya!" blows
the original from "Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein" out of the
water and should have been included as also should've
"Sir Nose D' Void Offunk" from
"Funkentelechy V.S. The Placebo Syndrome".

But maybe this compilation will inspire younger generations
to go out and purchase all the great P-Funk gems and
get hip to one of the truly revolutionary, creative,
innovative and grossly underated original forces
in urban music of the last 30 yrs!
THE PARLIAFUNKADELICMENT THANG!!
It was True Genius!!

The funk, the whole funk and nothing but the funk -- the P-Funk!!! The bomb. Chocolate-coated, freaky and habit forming. It's all here, majestically captured throughout the 25 tracks of this "funk essentials" two-disc box set of Parliament classics. Parliament was the mothership pre-cursor of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as an unlimited bastion of samples for today hip hoppers.

George Clinton -- alias Doctor Funkenstein, the Atomic Dog, Long Haired Sucker or Star Child -- along with bassist supreme Bootsy Collins, keyboard whiz Bernie Worrell and the rest of the mothership fellowship proudly funk you tender and then tear the roof off the sucker. It just doesn't get any funkier than this. And for your additional pleasure, this set comes with a great 24-page colorful booklet complete with a hilarious "funk encyclopedia."

There's a simple reason thousands of rappers have stolen musical bits and pieces from Parliament tunes. The P-Funk mob possessed the "Bop Gun" that funked "Chocolate City" with a "Flash Light" that shined brightly over "One Nation Under A Groove." "Mr. Wiggles" helped your Sir Nose D'VoidofFunk "Get Up For The Downstroke" and "Do That Stuff," or something like that. Get it? You dig? Right on.

All funkiness aside, TEAR THE ROOF OFF is testament to Parliament's everlasting brilliance. Clinton's crazy entertaining antics, the dance beats, the swirling keyboards, wild horns, ticklish guitar and Bootsy's cosmic bass stylings teamed to make a musical monster unlike any the world has ever seen. The leader of this mega-ring musical circus was the inimitable George Clinton. I don't know what kind of drugs George took in the 70s, but they definitely worked. How in the world did George ever come up with lyrics about "extraterrestrial brothers, dealers in funky music, comin' to you live from the chocolate milky way?" There are many among us who believe George Clinton is an alien from another planet. They may be right. Funkin', eh.

I'd heard Funkadelic in the late 60's from older brother and his dope smoking friends. It was interesting, but I didn't really get it, being younger and less worldly. Maggot Brain didn't make much sense to me. It wasn't until "Standing on the Verge of Getting On" hit me that I began to understand that there was something deeper going on here. But life and time took me other places.

I was in the military somewhere when I first heard the "Mothership Connection" album in some PX in Asia. It was nothing less than an epiphany. Less frenetic than James, looser than ToP, with all the weirdness and depth of Funkadelic but with real production values. A watershed event in modern American Music. Grooves not only timeless, but still sampled and used today. If you want to funk, if you want to learn about the funk, if you want to feel the funk. This is the place to start. Like any souffle though, it couldn't rise forever, but while it was hot.... there was none better.

While this two-disk album is definatly worth getting as an introduction to Parliament and George Clinton, the bands finest moments come in the long jams and their ability to push the limits of funkin the less well nown tracks such as "Night of the Thumpasaurus Peoples." Like any greatest-hits album, this is great to listen to in the car, but to really feel the funk, buy Mothership Connection and Funkentelenchy vs. the Placebo Syndrome and play the entire album.

A two-CD set to get he party started right. This is a wonderful compilation of Parliament music. I was very pleased to obtain this collection as it was a very good choice of music by the group to have in a real collection. I say a real collection because this box set although only twenty songs is a Real Collection of greats. You must have this in your collection. I don't get paid for saying these things, I am a Funkhead! The early stuff with the "greats" before the Mothership crashlanded in a junkyard somewhere in the "landoflackoffunk". This set gives you a true grasp of the Parliament side of "Parliafunkadelicmentation". I only wish it had some of "Osmuim" on here--I really love "My Automobile" and "I Call My Baby Pussycat". However, this is the best collection in a box set that you'll get of the PFunk. Check out the Funkadelic 2-cd box set of their 45's "Music For My Mother":--For ya'll who are too young, a 45 is a small record bigger than a CD, smaller than a breadbox and if it is Parliament/Funkadelic, whiter than a powdered donut from being played so much.....My many thanks to the Funk Mob:Billy Bass,Eddie Hazel,Tawl Ross,Tiki Fulwood,Mickey Rivers,Bernie Worrell, Harold Beane,Tyron Lampkin, Ron Brykowsky, Gary Shider,MIke Hampton, Cordell Mosson-You can Boogie on that Bass!,Glenn Goins, The Horny Horns: Maceo Parker, Richard Griffith, Fred wesley and the other trumpeteer-Sorry, I forgot your name!, George Clinton,Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, Grady Thomas,Calvin Simon,All the ladies of the PFunk: Jeanette Washington, Dawn Silva and the rest, Jerome Brailey,Dennis Chambers-You got Flavor!,Junie Morrison,Bootsy Collins,Blackbird Mcknight, Rodney "Skeet" Curtis--You and Billy Bass by far are the Best Bass Players in the PFUNK Era!!!

What can I possibly say about Parliament? They were one of the most exciting, 70's funk bands out there. They were also famous for their far-out, sci-fi concepts and unstoppable humor not only on classic albums like Mothership Connection and Motor Booty Affair, but live on stage. The concerts were wild and who can really forget the memorial P-Funk Mothership landings? Tear The Roof Off: 1974-1980 anthologizes the band's best-known and most-sampled hits. It also captures the band's strong legacy through their 70's peak. Throughout these 2 discs, there are several 12" mixes that have never been available on CD. Disc 1 features most of their spacey, druggy, and George Clinton-drenched hits like P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up), Up For The Down Stroke, Mothership Connection, and the amazing #1 hit, Aqua Boogie. I consider disc 1 to be the strongest of the 2 discs. Disc 2 shows much of the band's decline, but it does include Flashlight, Chocolate City, and their crowning achievement and the ultimate P-Funk anthem, Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker). The package is very lavish. The booklet gives us a small insight on Parliament and George Clinton's leagcy and how they changed the face of not only funk music, but music, in general. If you're looking for one well-rounded, comprehensive collection of one of the greatest bands of all-time, Tear The Roof Off is it. If you're on a tight budget or if you need an introduction of P-Funk, you better dish out $20 bucks and buy Funked Up: The Very Best Of Parliament and the recent reissue of Mothership Connection- America's greatest sci-fi pop/R&B concept album! Overall, Tear The Roof Off: 1974-1980 is the definitive Parliament collection. A+

...without just releasing a boxed set of all the lps. Case in point, how can you put out a Parliament anthology without the following tracks: Sir Nose D'VoidofFunk, Pin the Tale on the Funky, The Thumps Bump, Night of Thumpasarus Peoples, Unfunky UFO, the Motor Booty Affair, Trombipulation. Even though these tracks do not appear here, its still a dammed funky ride thru Parliamentdom.

... the bomb. this still funked up my life .the best place to find the funk mob hits while on casablanca. although a few cuts like sir nose, i've been watching you,and others are left out. they should have omit the lame party people. for that is this cd's weakest point. but you're better off getting the entire collection. but ... right here, buy this and i guarantee you will make your your funk the p indeed.