Mothership Connection
Parliament
1975
Album Summary
Mothership Connection is the fourth album by American funk band Parliament, released on December 15, 1975 on Casablanca Records. This concept album is often rated among the best Parliament-Funkadelic releases, and was the first to feature horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, who had previously backed James Brown in the J.B.'s. Mothership Connection became Parliament's first album to be certified gold and later platinum. The Library of Congress added the album to the National Recording Registry in 2011, declaring "The album has had an enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music."
WikipediaI was not ready for these levels of Funk. My Funkometer EXPLODED and I got Funk particles (Funkocules) all over my room.
This album! I think a person either has to be not into funk music at all or just dull as dishwater to not like this album. It is 38 and a half minutes of pure fun from start to finish. Blasting this in the car yesterday turned a normally frustrating traffic-filled drive into a joyous trip where the usual bad drivers around me couldn't even remotely get under my skin. THAT is the power of funk!
Funk just does something to me that no other genre can do. 15 seconds in and my erection was bursting out of my shorts. 2 minutes in and I was wanking at such a rate that I thought I was going to catch fire. By the end of the album I was broken, crying with happiness, exhausted, delirious and totally overwhelmed. 5 stars and a raging boner for this one. Amen brother!
A story problem: If a Parliament record averages 100bpm, and has a runtime of 38 minutes, how many involuntary head bobs will the listener experience? (The answer is 7600, because you'll listen to the whole thing twice). My personal enjoyment: 4.5/5 Did it belong on this list: 5/5
Incredible album. It feels like the music is unfolding in real time not necessarily as a live show, but as an all encompassing experience. George Clinton's futuristic vision is pervasive and engaging. The personnel on this album are the very best at what they do. This might be the definitive funk album.
Extraordinary, extraterrestrial, talented musicians (the drums are particularly superb) play toe-tapping funk jams with a unique style and swagger. Ingenious.
George Clinton makes a type of funk that is explicitly a character of the genre. It is exaggerated compared to the likes of Curtis Mayfield and Sly & The Family Stone. Parliament brings phatter beats, wonkier bass, and an explosive personality to the vocals. It's so good! Of course, we have to pay respect to Bootsy Collins in the band for bringing awesome bass skills to this funk. This carries over from his significant work with James Brown, making for a truly funky sound. Also worth noting Bernie Worrell's work on the synthesizers, who would go on to work with the Talking Heads on Speaking in Tongues and live album Stop Making Sense. Clearly, a star-studded lineup coming together brought together to just record some fun songs. And they are great! Okay that's it. Go listen :)
Fun, fun, fun (or should I say funk, funk, funk?). The only track I disliked was "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples" because there was some weird deep warbling synthesizer sound that was making my stomach twist. Aside from that, this was just freakin' fun to listen to, particularly Mothership Connection (Star Child), which I've heard sampled a ton ("Swing down sweet chariot, stop, let me ride"), and of course Give Up the Funk which is an awesome classic. Favorite line of the album: "Can you imagine Doobie in your funk?"
Funktastic voyage for sure. I now get why George Clinton is an oft-cited musical influence. I can hear everything from the Commodores to Bruno Mars in this album. A little too decadent at times but some cool stuff. I found myself laughing at the storyline and personas within P-Funk (like listening to the Ladies Man narrate a song). Sometimes that got annoying later in the album. The underlying beats on both Mothership Connection and Unfunky UFO were super cool. Sometimes it felt like the album blended together too much, but I wonder if he/they were going for seamless.
A few weeks ago, I heard Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under a Groove” and thought it was one of the best parties captured on record. It turns out that George Clinton wasn’t even matching his own efforts from three years earlier. “Mothership Connection” is a rip-roaring, all-singing, all-dancing and by all accounts seminal album in the evolution of funk. I’m ashamed of not having heard it until now, but I’m making up for lost time by repeating it again… and again. The best party tracks are the most famous: “P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)” and “Give Up The Funk” are both so impeccably put together. I’d heard much of the music across the record sampled in Dr Dre’s “The Chronic” (where they were the highlights) so it was a great experience hearing them all in full. The sci-fi overtones are brought in throughout as a campy way without ever feeling trite or forced. There’s just the right amount of synth lines in the mix without letting it feel too dated or kitsch, and the rest is just pure horny goodness… In “Unfunky UFO”, the band channel Sky and the Family Stone with a slightly harder-edged riff, and a delectable “yeah yeah yeah” refrain beaming its way down the minor scale. “Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples” closes on an amazing nonsense singalong refrain. Even “Handcuffs”, bearing perhaps the most questionable lyrical content, has a killer accompaniment which it’s near-impossible not to enjoy. If you aren’t bopping along, you’ve been funked all the way into a black hole. It’s early days but each time I’ve listened to this album, it’s been impossible not to be grinning away, with the sense of experiencing a true classic.
Kalle: 1. Paska joo vittu meta biisi 2. Damn töi loppuosa tää alkaa olla iha decent 3. Vktuttaa ei enää vktuta tää genre En jaksa rate jokainen biisi mutta toi Night of the thumpasorus peoples hauska toi lead instrumentti 3:14 miten sitä voi seurata ilman seuraamatta mitään muuta, koska se kaikkimmuu on soinut kokoajan samana The Bumps Bump siisti moni instrumenttinen alku Handcuffs Best lyrics
We want the funk. Give up the funk. Best track: Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)
Phenomenal album from start to finish. Opening track is high energy and it doesn't let you all album. Great grooves, basslines, arrangements. Killer album.
Is it possible to not have a good time listening to this album? Nonstop groovin’ from start to finish and it’s infectious. Favorite track(s): “Unfunky UFO” and “Give Up the Funk”
Mocny pretendent do obecnie najczarniejszego albumiku listy, czyli koncepcyjny albumik o kosmicznych murzynach, wyglada na ciekawy pomysl, a brzmi jeszcze lepiej biarac pod uwage kto jest za niego odpowiedzialny, bo parliamentowa banda, a raczej funkodelicowo-parliamentowa to superband na miare mozliwosci kulturowych post nixonowskich murzynskich gett lat 70, wiec tak jak dawniej byly bandy jazzowe ktore graly w 40 osob jak u mingusa, tak przyszla pora na przenesienie tej skali do swiata funkowego rocka, nie bede sie rozpisywal na temat murzynow kosmicznych, bo jest to tylko niewielka czesc uniwersum zbudowanego na przestrzeni albumikow bandy, na co trzeba zwrocic uwage to minimalizm jesli chodzi o overdubing, to jest zywa muzyka taka jaka by moglaby byc grana live stad takie potezne rozmaiary bandowe, ludzie do klaskania, tupania oraz operowania instrumentalami i syntezatorem klawiszowym jak przysstalo na funk, ale nie jest to syntezator w twoja twarz jak to zazwyczja bywa, mastermindem ktory takze udzielal sie wokalnie byl George Clinton funkowa wersja Mingusa wymieszanego z Sun Ra, nie chodzi mi tylko o kosmiczne koncepty, ale o to jak muzyka jest zywa, jak kazde dobre dzielo artystyczne albumik byl inspoiracja dla kolejnych murzynskich wieszczy lat 90, gdzie sample z niego mozemy znalesc po obu stronach USA, czy to u dr dree i snoopa lub wu tangow, malo jest materialow ktore mialy wplyw na instrumentalne brzmienie rapu lat 90, jesli musze wybrac cos na plejliste to wrzucane unfunky ufo oraz star childa, jesli nie mam juz tego na dodanego, ale plyta ma tylko 38 minut, wiec jesli odpala sie, to zazwyczaj cala plyta jest sluchana
5/5 - Having never listened to Parliament, this was excellent - I see why they are in the same vein as James Brown; a fun listen
Fantastic funk. Really made my day when I listened to this on my way to work
Impossible to listen to and not bob your head constantly. Absolute banger.
Just a fun, funky album. At least one of these songs I’ve played in the Ravens Band. Really refreshing to hear.
Great album. Listened to it three times already and will be listening to it a lot more!
Still waiting for We-Funk to give me back control of my radio, but I ain’t complaining. 10/10 a classic. Thank you Dr. Dre for keeping George Clinton and the P-Funkers funkin in everyone’s ear holes even after their hay day.
Outrageously funky (perhaps too much so for me at points- when that ultra low squelching synth whatever it is gets going in Thumpasaurus it feels like something drilling into my spine). Genius, anyway.
Yes a great album. Fun. Skillfully played. Non pretentious. Relentlessly groovy. There's just not a single misstep. Totally cool album. 5 stars
A classic, pure and simple. It is tight, fun, and packed with exploration, groove, and FUNK.
George Clinton and Bootsy Collins at their Phunky Interstellar best. A great album, this band are just so much FUN (Ky) they clearly love music for music sake. Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley are brilliant on this album. Love "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" and "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication" Bootsy funky Bass a highlight throughout. This album justifiably on the list.
Oh man, this is five stars straight up. In my opinion the greatest funk album ever! Psychedelic, sci-fi and seriously funky.
Incredible. Very rarely can an album be all over the place yet thematically consistent. As for this listener, whether one pays attention or not, Mothership Connection and its tractor-beam appeal invokes the sort of positive indifference that may in fact resemble a perfect album. Fun, energetic, yet brilliantly executed, there is just something about this record that balances tongue-in-cheek silliness along with intelligent blink-and-you-miss-it profundities.
Legendary. Also super influential for '90s west coast hip hop. No G-funk without P-funk.
A total journey from beginning to end. Also, unknowingly setting up the future of hip-hop music too.
This album is amazing. You can feel the band having fun while creating a masterpiece of funk music. Every band member contribution is worth noting.
i am positively blown away! i wish i could have experienced how groundbreaking this album was in 1975. this album takes you on a delightful journey, starting with introductions in "p-funk". i can't get over how many genres and instruments they crammed into seven songs. the amount of fun contained in this album... i just had so much fun listening, and i listened to this album a lot today. i can't wait to listen to it again. let us also take a moment to appreciate this absolutely funkadelic album cover. it is so seventies but i don't care. love those platform wedges.
This album shaped the funk genre and is the foundation for so much hip hop that would come out years later. So good.
Always been a huge fan of Give Up the Funk, what an epic TUNE! So nice to hear the whole album, it's wall to wall bangers. Really enjoyed listening today! I'm sure this album had a huge influence on a few different areas of music, I could hear this in a lot of dance music. It's such good vibes. I love that they were trying to shock people by "putting Black people in outer space" it's a great statement but sad that this was considered shocking at the time.
I’m the last person to have the right to label something as cool, but this is cool. Enough funk to ricochet pension month around in the dance floor
Now this is the definition of funk. If you're not movin' and groovin' to this album, your pulse should be checked. Apparently based on Geoge Clinton's vision of the future where black astronauts interact with alien worlds. The names of some of these songs alone make this album great: "Supergroovalisticprosifunstication", " Night of the Thumpasorous Peoples." The Library of Congress added this album to the National Recording Registry for its enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music. Just in the short time that I've been doing this 1001 challenge, I've heard the influence of Parliament and particularly this album in every hip-hop/rap album that I've listened to. Not only there, a few of these songs reminded me of the late 70's/early 80's Talking Heads. Not to mention the soon-to-be disco era. I'm sure I'll hear it in other areas as I go along. For me, it's Bootsy Collin's bass which really lays the groovy and funky foundation for Parliament songs. But, there is a lot more going here on with horns, keyboards, synthesizers, multiple singers and psychedelic, jazzy-sounding guitars. Of particular note, are the synthesizers/keyboards which add weird sounds, noises and a backdrop which definitely solidifies the whole outer space album concept. Not a bad song here. 7 altogether. To me, some of them stray into jam band territory with their extended jams. The album also has their most recognizable song "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)." This was a lot of fun.
Oh yeah getting funked up. I like the more psychedelic sound of Funkadelic a bit more but this Parliament album is there finest.
All phunked up and ready to funk :) does not get better - influenced everything that came after. makes everything better
Day 4: This album was amazing, I thought I was being too harsh with previous reviews but, an album or genre will just click. This deserves every right to be in must hear albums.
Classique pour moi, get funked up, starchild. Des souvenirs de jeunesse avec dr dre the chronic. Un 5 pour funkmaster legend georges clinton.
Now this IS what good music is. Takes you somewhere else. I wasn't even ready to cream my pants when those incredibly high funk energy swayed me across astronomical distances. Solid 10/10.
George Clinton, baby. Such a great funk album. I feel like I have so much bias going into this one because of how big a fan of George's projects I am. It is so incredibly easy to get caught in the groove of this album, the music is infectious and contagious. There are some iconic sounds on this album, and they have lived on through samples (mostly hip-hop) and cultural references to this day. This is not a perfect album by any means, but it is so charming and inviting, and that is what has earned this album legendary status in my mind. **Rating = 4.5/5, rounded up Fave tracks: P Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up), Mothership Connection (Starchild), Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)
This is the album I play for white guys who say they love funk and then put the Chilli Peppers (possibly the most overrated band around) on. Someone has to intervene.
Brilliant, awesome, wonderfully funky, almost perfect (and yet funkadelic still just hits better for me!)
-"P-Funk (Wants To get Funked Up)" has a cool intro story, with an alien funk ship taking over your radio and playing funky music. It's also super catchy during the singing parts. -"Mothership Connection (Star Child)" is a just great, grooving funk song -"Unfunky UFO" starts off with a thumping drum, and then all the other instruments come in for a big, fat, beefy, funky sound. The worbler on the bass, or whatever that effect is called, is cranked up. The guitar, horns, and everything else sounds fantastic. It's the highlight of the album so far. -"Supergroovalisticprofunkstication (The Bumps Bump)" may very well be the best song name across all 1001 Albums. -"Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)" is a great song, and it has this super cool, deep-bass singer during some parts. Very fun. -"Night Of The Thumpasorus People's" is nice and funky (as expected) and has some great lyrics ("Gaga googa ga ga googa") -A great funk album that I thoroughly enjoyed, it never got boring. I plan on listening more in the future!
God we've had some good ones recently. Not much more to say other than this is possibly the best funk album ever made
Previously, I gave Dr. Dre's The Chronic 1 star, primarily for being boring. However, I have to give this, which The Chronic samples heavily, 5 stars. Mad, innit? Anyway, this is rather a tricky album to dissect, mainly because of its excellence. Pointing out the flaws in an album tends to be an easy task. Articulating why an album is good challenges far more. Now, of course George Clinton gives us a ready adjective for that purpose: it's funky. But what do you say beyond that? Well, one aspect bugs me mildly: it's a concept album. For the thankfully uninitiated, the concept album was a disastrous by-product of the more general formation of the album as an artform in itself. With the word "art" now part of their vocab, bands tried recording albums that told epic stories about orcs and aliens, jammed with leitmotifs and musique concrete experiments in order to underscore the profundity of the message, man. Now, the concept album is an almost wholly lamentable concept, and almost every attempt at a concept album irks the listener and degrades the artist. The concept behind any concept album would cause a teacher to humiliate a twelve-year-old if the poor mite submitted it in a creative writing project. Yes, it helps if albums are thematically coherent, but that does not mean attempting a sequel to the Silmarillion, it just means making sure the album flows smoothly. Mothership Connection is one of the vanishingly few concept albums that work, but what's the concept behind this album? Black people in UFOs. As an image, one can feel gladdened by the glorification, the humour and the afrofuturism. But is it enlightening? Not really. But that doesn't matter. The music is plenty enlightening enough on its own. Toasty and ingratiating, there really isn't a badly placed note on this album. It's perfectly acceptable to revel in Mothership Connection without bothering with the narrative. Just love it.
I love funk, and this is the quintessential group. There's a lot of samples from this in popular music.
Simply, the greatest funk album ever conjured into existence. Pure magic! It feels like a loose kind of concept runs through the songs, an elemental Afro-futurism perhaps. 'Mothership Connection' is funny, political, off-the-wall, surprising - but above all else, it's scintillating funk music. 'Night of the Thumpasorus People' contains the single most audacious groove committed to tape.
So loose and lush, flamboyantly fun and futuristically funky, -- “a whole lot of rhythm goin’ round” indeed. This is original and classic, with a warm and welcoming let-it-all-hang-out vibe and great joyfulness. One loves the updating of old-time gospel (“Swing Low Sweet Chariot”) to the space age, which makes George Clinton the Sun Ra of his genre. There’s a reason so much of this is sampled. And bonus points for coining (one thinks) “the bomb."
This shit is cracked bro. The bass parts just slap you on the back of the head. Had me speed big on the highway typebeat. Everything flows together amazingly.
Parliament just rocks out loud. The groove just goes all the way through this album. Delicious!
Uuh, huikee lätty. Etenkin nimikkoraita, Unfunky UFO ja Handcuffs on pirun tiukkoja vetoja. Varmaan yksi tasaisimmista funk-levyistä, ei kädenlämpöisiä fillereitä. 4.5/5 ja pyöristetään nyt 5.
Silloin kun on Bootsy Collins asialla niin laatu on hyvä, mutta tämän kohdalla tuppas kyllä tuleman ihan timangia! 5/5
Great album, great length, great tracks. Great journey/experience. Would listen again.
5.0 - Here's another incredible toe-hold into George Clinton's huge discography. I may even like it better than "Maggot Brain." I love the afrofuturist space travel concept as well as the interplay between Bootsy's bass and Bernie Worrell's synths (see "Night Of the Thumpasorus Peoples"). Unlike some of Clinton's other projects (e.g. "One Nation..."), this one feels composed and without clutter. A consummately funky and forward-sounding record all around.
I wants to get funked up. I will listen to this album many more times in life.
I'm realizing that I truly enjoy 70s funk. Thanks to this challenge, I'm regularly listening to Funkadelic, and I'm adding this album to my work playlist. Anything with a groovy beat gets me going.
We got Funkadelic's "One Nation Under a Groove" recently, and I was a little disappointed by it. Apparently I prefer Parliament? Not sure, as the distinction's never been clear to me, and it appears the line between the two has eroded over time. Regardless, this was the funk I was looking for. Dr. Dre is clearly a fan of the album, since he sampled at least two of the tracks, most notably "Mothership Connection (Star Child)" on "Let Me Ride." And while it's undeniably part of G-funk's DNA, the album is properly funky in its own right. "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" alone makes this album worth a listen, but it's funk all the way down. I'd probably give this 4.5 stars if I could, but I'm rounding up to 5 because why the funk would I round down?
I love this album. I couldn’t imagine Doobie in my funk. Perfect and pure funk. #wefunk
Terrific production. Especially the drums. What can you say about the grooves on this record? Anything but the highest praise is short shrift to what the P-Funk collaboration created for these songs.
Such a classic. I'm not a big funk guy, but anything George Clinton touches is GOLD. I remember buying this album back when I was in my late teens and trying to expand my horizons. I've been listening to it regularly ever since. It's just amazing.
Ridiculous levels of funk, potentially the funkiest album in existence. Don't know if I'll really come back to it any time soon since it's not entirely my thing, but it was still an all-round fun album. I was also surprised about P-Funk, due to its eventual interpolation in Ice Cube's "Say Hi To The Bad Guy", which is another song I previously discovered from the 1001. Favourite: Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)
Funk is fun as hell and I have not listened to it before. As my frame of reference for funk, I feel like this bar is very high. The only other exposure I have is Awaken My Love and I think this meets that on a funk level. Will Revisit, no favorite songs, 7/8.
It's like the sound of a sexy-ass party beamed straight into my head and it's dope as hell
I like funk a lot. I just don't like it enough to listen to a whole album through and through
Great album. Heard it before but was an enjoyable callback to some funky times
Super duper funky. Short and sweet. This album has a specific vibe and when it's right it's right. No standout songs but the whole thing is just good.
Not really my style, but it's fun to get into that 70s funk once in a while.
Can hear heaps of Thunderfox in there, especially Unfunky UFO. Didn't like the fart synth in Night of the Thumpasorus, overpowered an otherwise sick closing track
Pure unadulterated funk. Can't beat it. Highlights: -Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication -Give Up The Funk
I didn’t realize how many of these famous tracks were from ONE album. Wow
Good album. I've listened to a lot of funk music and there's something about this album that gives it another twist. It's very psychedelic and dare I say... out of this world!
Oh yeah, funky as anything. And sci-fi psychedelic as anything else! Fave track - tempted to say "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" due to the "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" connection, but I'm gonna go with "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" as it comes across as a funky manifesto...
Very funky -- really enjoyed, despite not having listened to much music in the genre before
Funk sin más pretensión que la de entretener, haciendo que el oyente disfrute de los casi cuarenta minutos de duración del álbum.
Funk-tioniert für mich ziemlich super in direkter Einheit mit der One Nation Under A Groove neulich. Während aber Funkadelic das Mothership dort wieder gelandet hatten, geerdet mit dicken Gitarren und Psychedelic Rock, hören wir es hier erst einmal auf seinem Weg Richtung Outer Space. Luftig schwebend, schwarz glitzernd und beladen mit diversen auf Goldfolie gepressten Street Sounds, um denen da draußen den Slang der Pimps zu lehren. Das ist sehr locker gefügt alles, hier schwitzt nichts sondern es bleibt immer elegant. Und funky, natürlich, ich weiß nicht ob das irgendwo erwähnt ist. Dr. Dre jedenfalls hat gut zugehört, und wer wie ich z.B. immer mal wieder The Chronic oder Doggy Style rausholt, der fühlt sich sofort zuhause. Für die Wärme, für den Sommer und für mehr Luftigkeit: 3,8!
Is he fucking the controls of the spaceship? why are his legs up like that? Amazing album
OK, another story. In my high school days, Sudbury would not be mistaken for diverse. Of course we thought it was diverse since it had Italians AND French Canadians!. There were very few people of colour. One of my friends was black and when I crashed at his place he played a bunch of funk which, at the time, was a million miles away from what I was otherwise listening to. The only band name I remember was Brothers Johnson but who knows, he could have been spinning Parliament too. This album certainly sounds like the stuff we were listening to back in the day. It was influential for me so whether or not it was Parliament I have a good rating for the genre and the year of release.
Very accessible and groovy. Clean disco funk basslines. The chanty slogans are catchy enough, but the vocals are the weakest point (although they typify George Clinton P-Funk).
Нужно будет послушать внимательно несколько дней. Но этот альбом явно войдет в число любимых.
Surprising how much Parliament has influenced and been sampled by hip hop/pop/all music. Fantastic! I love the concept of putting black people in situations that were never thought of before...Mothership, baby! WOO!
WE WANT THE FUNK, HERE COMES THE FUNK On a side note, I now understand what 'funk' means
This album is just fun. Give Us The Funk is classic and Handcuffs was another fun and funny song. Best listened to as an album I think as opposed to picking and choosing songs from it. You can see why Warren G and Nate Dogg pulled from it.
Interesting old school funk, did know some of the songs though didn't know the album
Definitive funk sound. Prominent use of spoken word. Exceptional vocal performance on “Handcuffs”. Virtuosic rhythm section. A number of catchy melodies. Deserves multiple listens.
Funk is so much fun. I think I prefer it a little diluted though. Great album.
Not my absolute favorite, but I appreciate it for the funk that it is.
I have a disappointing lack of funk in my life and this album cured that. My kiddo loved dancing to it too.
P-Funk. It's funk but with some weird back story linked to space. I think. Dropping acid would probably help. Best Tracks: P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up); Unfunky UFO; Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker);
Never heard of this band. Recognized a ton of the samples from 90s hip hop. Enjoyed the album!
I don't often listen to funk but when I do I usually like it. And this was top-notch funk by the master himself. Really gets my butt moving. 4 stars.
I know... For all of the times that I bang on albums for repetitive, simple lyrics... But it's funk? And I want my funk uncut? But it's so good, and light years ahead of their time. Musically a 4.5, lyrically a 2-3, replay value 4.5, and 5 for legacy and influence. I can't give this one less than a 4.