Maggot Brain

Oh, Funkadelic. This is exactly what I wanted to listen to on a Monday morning. This album is absolutely genre-defining. It's almost like George Clinton and his boys were looking at their contemporaries and saying, "Sure you can rock. Sure you got soul. Sure, you're funky? But how far are you willing to go?" And the answer was: not as far as Funkadelic. This albums pushes the boundaries of what was rock/funk/soul/psychadelic music at the time. The opening guitar riff of the album on the title track "Maggot Brain" is a face-melting. 9-minute shred worthy of Hendrix. The guitar tones on this whole album are phenominal. They range from sharply atmosheric to heart-poundinly organic. The tracks are a bit all over the place and thee album lacks cohesion but, even so, manages to work as a whole unit of expression. Much of that is due to George Clinton's peculiar lyrical contribution which, in keeping with the psycadelic/funk ethos, are sparse but pointed most of the time, highlighting culture, race, drug-addled nihilism, and sheer, pleasure-seeking, self-serving abandon.

Perfect for those of us who enjoy hallucinogenic journeys and pussy.

This is my second PFunk album in less than a week and man-oh-man. The title track alone merits its five stars, I mean, who sends a guitarist into a session and tells them to play like their mother just died? Very deep funk album that doesn't show the funky side that they will become, but this is my style.

Guitar goes whéeeeerreeaaaarrrgh

When it comes to the two-sided coin that is Parliament-Funkadelic, it appears that my preference falls heavily on the Parliament side. This was a 7 track rock album (don't let the band name fool you) clocking in at around 37 minutes of runtime. The album is bookended by two 10-minute songs, the first being one long guitar solo with minimal instrumental backing, and the last being mostly an instrumental, frenetic jam filled with tons of off-putting sound effects, including cows mooing and loud, juicy farts. Seriously. That leaves 5 tracks spanning a mere 17 minutes as the meat of the album. One of those songs has a strange metallic instrument warbling the entire song, which kind of ruins it. The remaining 4 songs were good and groovy, but this is easily the most bipolar album I've listened to so far. How do you rate an album made of only 1 star and 4 star songs? My personal enjoyment: 3/5 Did it belong on this list: 5/5

Wow! I'm blown away. This album was released a month before I was, and it kicks some serious ass. It's unmistakenly a funk album but it rocks out way more than most rock and metal albums ever did. I knew nothing of this album, had heard none of it, and now I'm a bit in love. Fantastic stuff, and that title track... oh my.

10 Albums You Actually Need To Hear Before You Die Chapter 3: Who says a funk band can’t play rock? - Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” I’ve just sat down after dropping the needle on my original, 1971 pressing of Maggot Brain. My stereo system is configured to employ Brian Eno’s 3 channel “ambient speaker system” as diagramed on the back cover of Ambient 4: On Land. Without going into too much technical detail (you can find the diagram online), you wire a third speaker to the positive connections of your left and right speaker outputs, creating a speaker that primarily plays the music that’s panned to the far right and left sides of the stereo field of your records. You place that speaker behind you, forming a triangle with your left and right speakers in front of you and, voila!, “ambient speaker system”. Or, maybe more accurately, “poor man’s surround sound.” Whatever term you want to assign it, the effect is impressive. Eddie Hazel’s guitar on the title track is enveloping, swirling around in front and behind me. His guitar sounds as though it was dipped in lysergic acid before he picked it up to play, much like the man’s brain was when he recorded this solo…or so the legend goes. If Maggot Brain was the only track on this release, that alone would be justification for a five star review. It is truly one of the greatest guitar solos ever committed to tape and, as a whole, this record cements Hazel’s legacy as one of the greatest to ever pick up the instrument. When most people think of Funkadelic, they think of Parliament-Funkadelic, they think of Mothership Connection or We Want The Funk or Flash Light and the massive success George Clinton and company had in the late 70’s. I know I did before hearing this record 20+ years ago, but don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love those records and that era of P-Funk, too. What the average music consumer doesn’t know is that Funkadelic is one the greatest rock bands to ever grace a stage: A blistering, heavy psychedelic rock band. As if that wasn’t enough, they also happen to be one the funkiest bands to ever exist on planet Earth. Now that you’ve heard this record, you’re part of the club…Feels good, doesn’t it? Go and explore the Funkadelic catalog: Standing On the Verge of Getting It On, Cosmic Slop, Hardcore Jollies, Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow, Let’s Take it to the Stage, One Nation Under a Groove…this band is so damn good. After hearing a few albums, you’ll undoubtedly slap yourself in the forehead and ask “Why hasn’t anyone told me how fucking great Funkadelic are? Why don’t more people talk about this? Where have these records been all my life? What else have I been missing out on?” This record is a life changer without a doubt, so before I go, there’s just one thing I wanna know… Can you get to that?

Honestly kind of a let down. It was ok, but not great and based on the name I expected it to groove more. The lower rating reflects my failed expectations for this album

The magic that is the year 1971. I wonder if it's a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point--I just expect 1971 albums to be amazing so I make them so in my mind? Nope. Can't be that. I was slain from the opening track, with that psychedelic, apocalyptic guitar. I've rarely heard anything so soothing and hypnotic. Eddie Hazel, where did you learn to play like that? The rest of the album is pretty great, the other high point being "Super Stupid", but nothing compares to the epic opening track. It's like it opened a door to another realm. Dude's playing his guitar as if his mother had just died, just as instructed.

Now we're talking! MOTHER EARTH IS PREGNANT FOR THE THIRD TIME AND YALL DONE KNOCKED HER UP! I call this Progressive Funk and it kicks ass. This is a 9/10 album and it is so close to a full 10. Maggot Brain (the song) is a masterpiece that never gets old and the next few songs are super radio friendly. I love the bass singer in "can you get to that" - he just makes it. Where the album falls flat is back in our minds (short, forgettable filler) and Wars of Armageddon. I love wierd shit, but this song is just grating. Fart sounds, yelling, cuckoo clocks... would it have been so hard to reprise maggot brain as a closer? That would have kept it classy. So close to greatness - I end this album at Super Stupid. The bonus tracks are great, though i don't count them in this review.

I love this album. Perfect funk. Wars of Armageddon was a weird one. Experimental but I appreciate it. Fart noises haha power to the pussy

Just skip the first song

Assume this is gonna be funk & soul? Hopefully, could be good. Wow ok not wheat I was expecting. First track is mad electric guitar skillzzzz a la Clapton, second track is a like a mad country-ish soul vibe. Overall is very electric guitar heavy, kinda Hendrix-esque. It's all good, prob a 2.5, never massively been my kinda genre. Maybe 2 cos just not that arsed about it.

Ok as background music, nothing mindblowing.

OK! Rare and unexpected thing here... I LOVE this stuff!! What? I cried, laughed, and had to stop everything else I was doing simply to listen to this piece of joy. I am not certain, but pretty sure that at one point in my life I might not have given Funkadelic a listen at all, via unseen judgement of genre or whatever. Yeah, the title (and title song) has an underlying sort of yuckiness to it. But that is a trick, a ruse, and it (and the title song) are magnificent! This is pure joy! The whole album.

Kids today will never know the joy of cleaning the seeds from freshly-scored pot on the cover of this album while listening to Eddie Hazel's 10-minutes of pentatonic blues scale and wah-wah pedal bliss. After the weed had been de-seeded and bong rips passed, the rest of the album is a round-trip ticket to the planet Funk. Easy five stars.

Well: found out about the website by chance, the link came from heise.de https://www.heise.de/news/Web-Tipps-Aktiven-Tag-ein-Album-9574751.html AND WELL, registered and accessed the 1st album, how can it be that it is exactly this one "Maggot Brain by Funkadelic", heard this since 1978 (at the age of 17). Well, I'm not superstitious and assume it's a coincidence! The next few days will refute or confirm one or two assumptions, or whatever and thank YOU for this amazing offer

Great from beginning to end.

Everybody is rightfully enamored over the guitar solo on the title track (the best ever post Hendrix), but it must be mentioned how Eddie Hazel absolutely rips it again on Hit It and Quit It and then again on Super Stupid. Just an incredibly talented group of musicians, amazing production and a timeless sound all packaged together perfectly by Dr. Fukenstein, the only physician who could pull off such a creation. More power to the pussy! More pussy to the people!

Why I don't have a copy of this on vinyl is a mystery. I compare this album to a short acid trip, you definitely get taken on a journey and it is a delightful, sprawling cacophony of funk and psychedelia. Maggot Brain is another of those albums that I had never heard completely until relatively recently. It was always played at friends houses, winding down after a long night out or tracks from it made it onto mix tapes and compilations. Essential listening if only for that fact that it is pretty genre defying and doesn't easily fit into a neat category. It feels way longer than it's 36 minutes because George Clinton, Eddie Hazel and the gang fit so much music in there. I got to the end, surprised only a short amount of time had passed so I gave it a few more listens just to be sure I hadn't floated into another dimension.

This'd be a five star album for the title track alone, but the rest of the album slaps for sure. "Can You Get To That" is so strong Sleigh Bells can slap a vocal track over the top of a sample from it and produce a banger. "Hit It and Quit It" is just funk brilliance. And "Wars of Armageddon" is a brain melter of a closing track. I can definitely see that the album as a whole might be too weird for some people, but I've long thought the title track is a veritable Voight-Kampff test. If you can listen to the track "Maggot Brain" and not get the feels, then someone in a trench coat needs to come retire you. And I felt like that before finding out the backstory to the track, which only heightens its emotional impact! Fave track - "Maggot Brain", for sure, but "Hit It and Quit It" gets an honourable earwormy mention!

Awesome, and really surprised me how awesome. Hints of influence on or by an eclectic range of artists, including Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Radiohead, Lenny Kravitz, Slash, Avalanches, Royal Blood, Jamie T, and many more. I absolutely loved it, with my favourites being ... actually, all 7 tracks on the original album! An extra star for being so unexpectedly wonderful makes it my first 6 🌟 album!

A year after Hendrix's death, this album brims with his influence. A combination of funk, acid rock, experimental music, and psychedelia, Maggot Brain is both accessible and transgressive in a way that only George Clinton can be. The musicianship on this album is unimpeachable.

This album is dripping with vibe. They slap, the bang. There’s funk, there’s hendrix, there’s jamming, theirs weird trancelike whiny guitar. Every song moves me on a particular way which is what a 5 needs to do. I worry the mysterious heroin addict Jesus like guitar player has taken over the story of this album. I get what the Armageddon song is doing with all the sound effects, but it’s a little annoying, just okay the jam, the farts brought be back. Here’s to farts and heroin Jesus. 5.

Listen to this one again

Holy Schneikies, that is some truly mind-melting guitar work!! I had been introduced to the guitar solo on the title track by a brilliant guitar teacher, and it still sends me on a journey every time I hear it. The whole album is a beautiful, jarring, dark journey into the abyss and somehow lets us escape. Barely. What a masterpiece.

The guitarist is so clearly inspired by Hendrix, Super Stupid is essentially him doing an impression of Jimi. Not as accomplished as Jimi on the guitar, but who is? I really liked this album. It was way more interesting and varied than I'd anticipated, so much so I feel I need a second listen to get my head around it properly. The self indulgent moments go both ways for me (guess that'll be the drugs). Sometimes it meanders into weirdness eg Wars of Armageddon, but some of the improv is great eg title track. No doubt these guys are legendary and influential and have been sampled by almost everyone in hip hop. But it's also a sick album. 9/10

Loved it. Thought the long jams were fun to get lost in and the shorter tunes equally great! Officially converted to not being happy with the rating system as it's way to restrictive. Another album I wish I could give 4.5 to...but I can't. Seeing as I went up last time, I'll do the same here.

Yo! this was a great fucking album! I've never heard of this band, but while this is a late review, thoroughly enjoyed this album! I mean, man, just the first track alone, though long, was fucking insanely amazing with it's guitar, that it set a high bar, but the album delivered. I snap bought this album, and will suggest this to anyone that needs something to listen to.

Sabbath followed by this album is by far the best back-to-back yet. Another absolute classic. "Maggot Brain" is probably my favorite guitar solo of all time. So damn good.

I literally listen to this album at least once a week

This album slaps!

Pure genius

Classic album!

Funking funktastic

Already own this one

true classic

Having owned it for years, my mind still can’t encompass this record, but anything with such patently, deliberately weird decisions in production, instrumentation, rhythm and profanity is worth another visit to.

Man... I love old school funk. So much soul and pushing so many boundaries. Honestly, I could do without Maggot Brain. It sounded to me like 9 minutes of an introduction. I kept waiting for the song to start, but everything afterward was excellent. Highlight was the mixed meter on Hit It and Quit It. So groovy and good.

Another day, Another weird album. Maggot Brain was really weird and probably the weirdest album i have looked at so far, especially with that last song (Yes, i know I say this is the weirdest album i have looked at with a lot of these albums but I'm being serious this time) However, It was still a fun listen. It was really funky and had some good usage of all of their instruments. It's a weird but really good album. Best Song: Hit It And Quit It Worst Song: Can You Get To That

I have to be honest - funk isn't my thing; I don't know why, it just isn't. That said, Maggot Brain's gritty blues production quality and experimentalism won me over from the start. Listening to it makes me feel the same way that watching Evil Dead 2 makes me feel - just a dirty good time. With Eddie Hazel tearing off lead guitar riffs, it's almost like The Mothers with a message, and I'm actually now wondering if Zappa didn't try to replicate the Funkadelic sound with Napoleon Murphy Brock as Clinton and himself as Hazel. Really great album - a wonderful surprise.

Best tof! Erg funky

Cover art is on another level! Thealbum is not as funky only as you would be expect. Some Hendrix's vibes goin on here and there

16.12.23 Parliaments big brothers band

I was gonna rate this highly due to the first half, then the album finishes with fart noises

This was interesting to hear *once*; a shame as I was quite excited upon reading about it, doesn't live up to its description unfortunately

The opener leaves me with the question why don´t switch directly to an Hendrix-album. The middle-section (tracks 2-6) is nice and groovy. The last song again quite weird... After the first look at the cover and some reviews I had high expectations on this album. Unfortunately they were not matched. Definitely not my every-day-choise. 2,5

i was looking forward to this but it just didn’t do it for me

forgettable funk album. no offensive but won't listen again

No es lo que parece

Last song goes a bit off the rails but great album!

The first half of this album is impeccable, and the second half ain't too bad either. The title/opening track is killer, despite consisting essentially of an extended guitar solo with a two-chord muted bass arpeggio underneath. It's soulful, full of expression, and it sounds great. Any ten-plus-minute song that keeps you mesmerised the entire time is impressive in its own right, and the fact that it makes up almost a third of this album has to be acknowledged. (The first third of a (relatively) mainstream album being flawless psychedelic guitar noodling? Insanity!) The album closer, Wars Of Armageddon, is essentially a brasher and more texturally crowded version of the first track. The remaining five songs are chock-full of harmonised 60s-esque vocals, a solid funk rhythm section (including some great basslines), and elements of rock and jazz. In this middle part of the album, the atmosphere is almost party-esque, particularly in the songs Can You Get To That and Hit It and Quit It. Although I found that some of the later tracks were compositionally and tonally weaker than the opening trio, it's pretty dang tough to keep up that quality. And I daresay that this album would not have its legendary status without the mixture of "hook" tracks and "boys, do whatever you want" tracks. These guys are jamming, and you've got to hand it to them: they really pull it off. Note: Listen to this with headphones. My second listen was without headphones, and it was significantly worse. 5/5 Key tracks: Maggot Brain, Can You Get To That, Hit It and Quit It

A genre less masterpiece and that Eddie Hazel solo!!!

The title track alone. 🤌

MAGGOT BRAIN.

I've seen this album cover around and always imagined it would sound like Wu-Tang Clan or a funkier Beastie Boys. I was not expecting the psychedelic blues metl your face guitar solo to start off. I love the first track, I am a sucker for Clapton type guitar wails, and this had it. I think the tracks on the interior of this album are all very solid with a nice variety of styles and sounds. The closing track strays towards noise rock but stays firmly psychedelic and interesting. I was prepared for this to be a classic and it met my expectations. Super out there and the checks that it writes are cashed. I'll need to listen to this more before I really get a sense for it. This album took what Hendrix and co were doing and fused it with modern urban RnB and funk and made something boundary pushing that to my ear has really stood the test of time. Nice Job Mr. Funkadelic.

Fucking hell, the title track is so sick lol.

I mean, it's fucking Maggot Brain. A drug induced whirlwind of absurdly tight playing and some of the most absorbing soundscapes you'll ever hear. The way this group uses the inherent fun and groove of funk to underscore the cutting, biting anger present in this record is both unnerving and cathartic.

Fuck yea. Funkadelic is great and Maggot Brain is an all time psychedelic-funk adventure. The title track is effectively a 10 minute free-form guitar solo built on top of a clean back and forth guitar progression. Mixing on it reminds of early Sabbath in the way that there is a ton of dusty depth to it, while the guitar work calls to Hendrix in its delicious use of fuzz. If this were another 10 minutes I wouldn't complain -- the guitar work is so passionate and lyrical it gets me every time. Quick pivot into structured funk with Can You Get To That. Such a great goddamned song. Love the vocal harmonization and layering through the chorus. Hit It and Quit It is also one of my favorites here -- opens on a single groovy guitar riff that the whole band wraps around. Makes for an incredibly catchy and jumping number on which the organ gets room to explore in a solid solo. Super Stupid almost could be mistaken for a Lenny Kravits song in its structure. Fun little bopper that is almost completely propelled by the guitar work. But as with most songs on here, its the tightness of the whole package that makes this great -- the drums are satisfying, bass and organs play solid support, and the vocals are powerful. Interesting that this album has at least 5 different lead/co-lead vocalists across 7 tracks. If a song dedicated to hitting and quitting wasn't enough indication that Funkadelic didn't take themselves too seriously, Wars Of Armageddon removes all doubt. This sprawling jammy outro is a foil to the passionate, serious tone that Maggot Brain set. I don't think that "dancey" is quite the right way to characterize this, but it certainly evokes motion. Similar to the title track this is a free form jam over which Hazel solos come in and out of focus along with incoherent babble, fart sounds, and other various elements. End result is a damn good time. I love this album more every time I listen to it. While it is certainly a bit chaotic, I think that is part of the point. Funkadelic shows they can transcend the space of pschedelia and funk while still churning out some tunes that could have pop appeal and garner radio play. George Clinton is the man, but Eddie Hazel burns this one down. 5 / 5

Title track absolutely SLAPS. John Frusciante's song Before the Beginning is a direct take on this and I love it. Some serious emotion behind that guitar. What a psychedelic ROMP that was. Pretty much every song had a serious groove to it with different instruments sticking out on each. I was bumping along to the whole thing. Idk if I've ever done two 5's in a row but today is the day! Go music!

One of the great works of American art

was worried during the middle that I was going to like this less than it deserved, but “Wars Of Armageddon” brought me back 🙏

I love this record, funk with psychedelic guitar

MORE. POWER. TO. THE. PUSSY.

Oh man, this hit the spot on a cloudy Monday. This is my second Funkadelic album, and my third George Clinton album. All of them are 5 stars albums. My younger self was missing out big time. This one in particular starts off so strong, Brain Maggot's shredding guitar pulls you in, and then they hit you with Can You Get To That. It's not the most cohesive album I've ever heard but it all the tracks are great.

Really cool album. Never heard them before but it was great to hear the song Maggot Brain as it is the song which inspired John Frusciante's Before The Beginning.

This album has a real 2112 thing about it. Which, what I mean by that is that while the whole package is a great, 5/5 time, it's kinda hard for me to not place all my focus on the title track. "2112" and "Maggot Brain" are both the first tracks on and centerpieces of their respective albums; are both one of, if not **the** most famous things these groups ever did; and are, in their own ways, absolute tour de forces. In the presence of these songs, the others just can't help but fall under the "and also" category. Like, "Maggot Brain" is just... Soul-rending. The most emotional guitar solo I've ever heard since Frank Zappa's "Watermelon In Easter Hay". Even if you don't know the famous story where Eddie Hazel was told to play like he was just told his mom had died, you can still feel what this song is about in every note, tone, flange and wah. It sounds like the world's ending. Seriously, if this song caught me at just the right or wrong time... As for the rest of the album... Well, I'm not sure if it's as consistently strong as 2112's "rest of the album," but all the same, there's nothing here that'd make me dock the album a point. Not even "Wars Of Armageddon" and the actual fart sound effects it has over halfway through. The grooves and guitar playing are just that strong throughout. Especially "Super Stupid", which I'm picking as my "deep cut favorite." Pitchfork's absolutely right in their analysis; it really **does** sound like a tune Black Sabbath would be proud of. And with this kind of guitar playing, too — oof, my goodness. It's absolutely the hardest yet I've ever heard Funkadelic go. And, like, I kind of don't like to place so much focus on the guitar playing over everything else. The vocals, the lyrics, the grooves — y'know, all the other members of the band... They're all doing great work, too; I don't wanna undersell them. But, knowing about how George Clinton deliberately de-emphasized the other members on "Maggot Brain"... Like, they're there, and they're important to keeping the beat and melody. Eddie Hazel's guitar playing would be incredible even if it was just screaming all by itself, completely freeform. With that steady beat and melody underneath it, though... Well, it's just even better. But again: the other members were deliberately de-emphasized on that song. And it can be hard for me to not apply that to the rest of the album. But regardless, MAGGOT BRAIN as a complete package is a 5. The title track alone grants it that, and thankfully the rest of the album supports that. Y'know, I'm just thinking back to the first review I ever did with my group, which was also of a Funkadelic album, ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE. Even as far back as that album, I was praising MAGGOT BRAIN's title track... And it's also really a contrast in how I've grown in regards to talking about music. That review was only just one above 30 words, versus here, where I'm already at 524. And in under 11 months, too — goodness. I'll say as well, I think I like this album better than ONE NATION. ONE NATION was more about, well, the grooves and vibes, whereas this had more focused songs. I can dig a good vibe, but at the same time, hey, y'know, gimme some good focus So, yeah, as a homecoming to the group where this whole journey started for me... Well, I don't think there woulda been any other options, but regardless, I'm happy it's with an album as great as this one. Big R.I.P. to Eddie Hazel: April 10, 1950 to December 23, 1992.

George Clinton is back to show y'all how funky things can be with a solid 7 tracks of goodness. 4.5 bumped up to 5.

I’m at a 5. Well, that felt a lot less like Funkadelic and more like… I dunno, Led Zeppelin meets Hendrix meets Eno, or something like that. That was an eclectic blend of every type of rock & ambience & funk there was. I've seen the album cover plenty of times, but I've never heard anything from this album. I enjoyed all 37 minutes of that, save for a few minor things: the mix in Hit It and Quit It wasn’t as friendly as the rest of the album felt, Back in Our Minds felt a little too short and perhaps a little empty, and Wars of Armageddon goes on just a little too long – could’ve trimmed down some of those final 2 minutes where it started to feel endless and directionless at the same time. Regardless of any minor complaints I have, this is just good fucking music. It’s not as funky as some of their other stuff, and I think my ear is still slightly more attuned to the Parliament side of the George Clinton coin, but… damn, this stands up pretty well to a lot of its rock contemporaries of the time. The guitar solo on Super Stupid blew me away, and I think everyone deserves to hear that at least once. There’s smaller moments like that throughout the album, where the soundscape just overwhelms in the same hypnotic way that “One Nation Under A Groove” did some 326 days ago, but with a higher success rate; sometimes, that album knocked me out of the zone, but I was in it for almost the entire way through here. I really liked this, and it’s a pretty easy 5.

This album has a lot more than just funk, despite the name of the artist. A phenomenal listen with impressive instrumentals, especially the guitar.

iconic! no other word for it highlights: maggot brain, can you get to that, hit it and quit it (jun 28 2023)

Forgotten what a classic this album, back in our minds is probably the only sort of dud here rest are all classics 4.5*

This was such a great album. It was fun and interesting the whole way through. No notes. I’ll absolutely have this in rotation (but I might skip the title track moving forward)

Agh! This album was INCREDIBLE. Do you ever get the feeling, listening to a record, of… delight and sadness at the same time? Delight, in discovering yet another sweet, wonderful new flavor. An album that proposes a whole new genre, a new way of thinking of music. And sadness when you realize, as the album nears its end… this is all you’re probably gonna get! The feeling that, with 20 minutes remaining, we’re probably never gonna get a record that sounds quite like this, works in the same way this one does. You could search far and wide for influences, contemporaries, b-sides. But… this really is it, isn’t it? Nothing’s gonna sound like these 40 minutes. That’s how I felt with Maggot Brain. I don’t have to have a doctorate in this blend of funk/soul/psychedelic music to know that this is one of a kind. Creatively explosive, high energy, yet strangely paced. Experimental but lovably homey. You get the sense that all the backup singers are cousins of cousins, and they’re all having a blast doing this. No idea censored. Just feels un-replicable. Shades of Hendrix, of course, maybe (later) de la soul? And that guy who did “it’s a family affair” and did all the vocals lying down in bed. Too lazy to look up his name. But… way more fun! That perfect blend of weird, experimental, funny, and somehow kind of important! I would give this record as homework to anyone trying to understand everything from soul to funk to the encouraged weirdness of the early 70’s, all the way up to Bootsy Collins and Thundercat and Kendrick Lamar. It’s all there! What a fucking cool, cool record. 5/5

This album is phenomenal from front to back. The song Maggot Brain itself is a perfect song and intro to the album, taking you through a well sequenced rest of the project ending in another experimental and instrumental track. 5/5

The way this fantastic funk album ends with a chorus of flatulence has got me at a loss for words. Truly iconic. Sub 1 hour total ripper of an album.

Loved every second of this. What an album.

Amazing

I mean… 5/5

That was much better than what I expected. I expected it to be good but it was great.

Wow, this really surprised me. Rocking funk! Great guitar!

Great fusion of funk and rock. "Maggot Brain" remains one of the greatest guitar tracks of all time and the rest of the album is strong too. "Super Stupid" reminded me of "Voodoo Child" and the Hendrix influence makes a lot of sense.

The middle of this album is merely, for good or ill, very good funk. But those framing tracks? Genuinely transcendent, the opener is one of my favourite guitar tracks basically ever.

And with this, the "listening to the Parliament-Funkadelic albums on the album list" chapter of my life has come to a close. I started with Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove way back in January, then listened to Parliament's Mothership Connection in June. Now, I'm going back to Funkadelic for their acclaimed 1971 album, Maggot Brain. I've gotta say, this is my favorite of the three albums. On first listen, I was kind of thrown for a loop. This album isn't really a traditional funk album. There's a much stronger psychedelic influence on here, with the tone even being somewhat somber at times. But you know what? Once I knew what the album was going for, I went back to some of the earlier songs and it clicked for me. This album's amazing. The sound is excellent. As stated earlier, there is a significant psychedelic sound, especially in the album's earlier songs. Of course, there are still funk elements. Songs like "Hit It and Quit It" and "Super Stupid" definitely feel like funk. And yet, there's still something special there that makes the sound stand out. The instrumentation is just phenomenal. The highlight for me is Eddie Hazel's guitar work. It's great all throughout, but it peaks with the guitar solo at the beginning of the album. I can see why people have called it one of the best guitar solos ever, because it probably is. And I've listened to the one from Megadeth's "Tornado of Souls," so that's saying something. The writing is pretty good, as is the singing. The general tone is all over the place in the best way. This might be one of the most unique, inspired albums I've heard. It's great. Light 5/5.

Iconic. Obvs Maggot Brain is a GOAT guitar solo song, but don’t sleep on the rest of this album! Faves: Maggot Brain, Can You Get to That, Hit It and Quit It

Getting an album you know and love is like a little Christmas Day treat. It’s a bit out there, but in the best possible way. I loved it and would always return to this album.

Phenomenal album which manages to alchemise an entire spectrum of genres without ever failing to be anything but a cohesive statement. Clinton is an absolute powerhouse at the mixing desk, and a visionary to boot. Everything from funk and blues to heavy metal sounds totally original under his aegis. The band’s name tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the sound (with emphasis on the “-elic”), and in the process you get a totally unique (and often uneasy) fusion record that hasn’t aged a millisecond. Completely undercut the stereotypical boxes black groups were supposed to be ticking. Love, love, love.

Love this album. The title track alone is worth a five star. Great guitarist, great funk great rock. Plus the album cover is just so iconic.

Incredible

Očekivano da će prije ili poslije naletiti 😊 ovaj cover mi se nekako oduvijek urezao, sjećam ga se još kao dijete, baš mi je jedan od boljih općenito. Malo me šokiralo sad kako je snimljen album zapravo jer prvi put slušam na slušalice pa nije toliko došlo do izražaja dosad - šumovi i čudna L-R ravnoteža, zanimljivo. Lude 70-te! Uvijek su mi zapravo bili više Psychedelic nego Funkadelic 😁 Vrh mi je isto što album traje 36min, a Maggot Brain i Wars of Armageddon same po 10min. Psihodeliji uvijek treba vremena 😂 Klasično Can you get to that prva pjesma njihova koju sam čula ikad, i dalje mi je baš posebna, uvijek ju volim ponovno čuti, iako je isilovana. Tako mi dobro zvuči to sve skupa, svašta se događa, ali nije zamorno ni overwhelming. Iako baca na funk, mene zapravo puno više asocira na acid rock i GD djir - da nema tih tipičnih vokala, nisam sigurna bi li mi išta zapravo u toj pjesmi bilo funk. Ali kužim da su to sami začeci žanra, tako da jako uzbudljivo! Hit it and Quit it mi je mrvicu dosadnjikava, ali zato iduće dvije ubijaju 🔥 ova rokačina na Super Stupid diže iz mrtvih. I onda nešto sasvim drugačije sa Back in our Minds. Odlična mi je stvar i izuzetno čudna, što ju čini zanimljivom. Zadnja stvar mamma mia ♥️ ovaj ritam, predivni bubanj, orguljice, ma sve, njam. Ona mi, pak, više gura u neki jazz djir koji se pretapa u psihodeliju, a da ne komentiram uopće prelude zvukove krava, sirena i bogznačega. Dobro da slušam na slušalice jer da mi je Jazz čuo ovo skvičanje mačke sad, brijem da bi me raskasapio. Ma meni je ovo za apsolutno remek-djelo, definitivno jedan od najboljih albuma koje ću imati prilike poslušati s liste. Velika petica ili 10/10.

Ma to mi radi jebote. Ono to mi radi. Ajmo krenuti s fun fact Maggot Brain" was recorded in one take when George Clinton, under the influence of LSD, told guitarist Hazel during the recording session to play as if he had been told his mother was dead: Clinton explained "I told him to play like his mother had died, to picture that day, what he would feel, how he would make sense of his life, how he would take a measure of everything that was inside him." Teško mi je opisati koliko puta sam prvu pjesmu preslušao u ranim dvadesetima, jako jako napusen Ono, ima jedan dio negdje na sredini te prve pjesme, gdje je toliko glasna gitara da je snimka raspadnuta, toliko je u peak išlo da je samo buka. ahh, rokenrol Ostatak albuma slušam s pola mozga dok radim. Više kao super pozadinska glazba pa malo i gruvam glavom uz ovo Teško mi je bit objektivan kod ovih albuma za koje imam zvijezdice čim ugledam kaver Sve u svemu, ovo ima sve što mi prija: Fuzz gitara Opaki groove Hammond orgulje Fanka koliko hoćeš Snimljeno početkom 70ih Nije zadnji put da slušam ovaj album 9/10 5

The last 15 mins. of this album is psych-jam band stuff that I'd rather just ignore, but the first half of the album is on point. Sure, all the internet sleuths identified Rill, Rill's shameless sample of Can You Get to That which really diminishes Sleigh Bells artistry if you think about how much of that song is really just this song with different lyrics. The truth is that Funkadelic is sampled everywhere from De La Soul to EPMD to Kelis, The Ramones and Celine Dion. I grew up listening to Living Colour after Cult of Personality hit the radio. I think I bought pretty much every album of theirs and most of it was because of Vernon Reid's guitar who was inspired by this album and specifically Eddie Hazel. So, I'm making an excuse for that last 10 mins., and quite frankly ranking this so I get to look at that album artwork every time I see my page. Pretentious. Yep, I know! I can get to that!

Dans mon top 10 album of all time. Un classique de la funk psychédélique. Maggot Brain (la musique) m'a littéralement sauvé la vie. Je suis mort et j'ai repris vie durant cette musique. C'est sincèrement la meilleure oeuvre musicale écrite par un humain de tous les temps et à jamais. Les émotions transmises par la guitare de Eddie Hazel sont indescriptibles. Juste me remémorer du début de la musique et les larmes me viennent. Quelle sorcellerie a été utilisée par ce mec sérieux ?

Title track is a stop what you're doing moment. Every time. The rest is mad, psychedelic, weird shit. A proper classic

Hell yes. I love Maggot Brain. Such an incredible eponymous track and album as a whole. Aside from the emotional turmoil in the first song, the rest of the album is fun and funky. Some songs borrow from others in a way that makes the album feel like one whole work.

My only issue here is that the title track is the perfect way to end the album, not begin it. Pretty much perfect otherwise.

A legit classic by any measure.

The discomforting cover by Joel Brodsky is as famous as Eddie Hazel’s incredible 10 minute opening guitar solo and foreshadows to the neophyte the dirty gritty funk guitar rock contained within.

This could be my new favorite album, except for the fart song, could've done without that. Everything else is amazing!!!

Freaky. Excellent. Would be 4 stars if it didn't have the farts.