Mothership Connection

There are parts of funk that I like. I think the heavy bass, cheerful vocals, and general enthusiastic vibe goes a long way to making it enjoyable to listen. But when the songs drag on and on with just repetition after repetition after repetition with absolutely no progression, I get bored real fast. I actually went to a funky Friday dance party several years ago and felt the same way. While dancing. Not ideal.

At the very same time, Parliament leader George Clinton had a second group — comprising the exact same musicians playing the exact same style of music — called Funkadelic. Why engage in such musical cannibalism? It’s quite simple: through Funkadelic, Clinton explored themes that were just as groovy, but also highly socially conscious — at times even veering into darker territory. This project, by contrast, is a hedonist’s feast — a rich, authentic Black funk sound, defined by exemplary, rounded basslines and futuristic, acid-tinged synthesizers, all crafted specifically for the dance floor. It’s a concept album, though the plot is straight out of a B-movie: a spaceship arrives on Earth, piloted by the Star Child, who brings an extraterrestrial essence of joy to the world — which, naturally, turns out to be funk. In short, if your head doesn’t start bobbing automatically when these tracks play, you might want to check your sense of rhythm.

Funk

Fajne fajne 4

Didn’t save any songs but was cool

Delectable space funk/rock, as expected from the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. The charm with these guys is that they simultaneously spew out both the goofiest shit imaginable and also the grooviest/funkiest licks you've ever heard. Hard to take this seriously, but that's unironically the highest compliment that you can give this group.

First listen

George Clinton was certainly a fan of abrupt changes in his aesthetic approach. Funkadelic was a major shift towards a rock sound after his more R&B driven work in the previous decade, and this is definitely a major shift away from the grittier sound of Funkadelic to embrace a big funk sound that had more mainstream commercial appeal, while being as creative if not more creative than the work of Funkadelic. It also benefits from having poached some real talent from James Brown's band to add to the already pretty impressive talent of the band. Unsurprisingly, this is a really enjoyable album. It puts the communal nature of the project at the center, particular in the form of group vocals, but also in the way that everyone is able to take a bit of the center stage in the songs. Those songs tend to be slower or mid tempo and build elaborate arrangements from the relatively simple beats. There is also a lot of emphasis on bass. The influences on future music, particularly hip hop is not subtle, but more importantly, its just a really enjoyable record.

This is an amazing funk album. One of the best from Parliament. It’s a must-listen!

it was good, but i listened to it last week and i dont really remember it so it probably wasn't that influential

Lift over to the funk moon

You know what? I’m going to sound absolutely fucking mental but I don’t think I love funk as much as I think I do???? Soul, R&B, Jazz all seem to be enticing me more as this ratings journey goes on and so I’m shocked - SHOCKED - to say that I thought this was just fine.

"Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)" is the defining track on Mothership Connection (and has pretty much become Parliament-Funkadelic's defining track in general). The entire concept album is fantastic, though.

The pinnacle of funk

Bringing a whole new meaning to beating a dead horse

Funkayyyy

fun and funky! great

Non ho avuto tempo per ascoltarlo bene ma francamente le ho skippate tutte dopo un po’ perché ugh non ce la faccio. Nope a questo tipo di funk. Produzione di livello sicuramente ma proprio non il mio.

Non disperate, cittadini dell’universo! La Nave Madre è finalmente attraccata sul nostro pianeta e, con le sue funk-astiche onde radio, la stazione WEFUNK ed il suo spaziale DJ Lollipop Man si impossesserà presto di tutte le reti terrestri (e non solo!). Si tratta di alieni spaziali, giunti direttamente dalla casa degli extraterrestrial brothers per redimere il pianeta con il funk, per liberarci tutti dalla nostra esistenza terribilmente unfunky e uncool. Perciò, indossate i vostri occhiali da sole (è obbligatorio da queste parti) e lasciate che il funk riempia tutti i vostri orifizi con le sue funkasmagoriche onde cosmiche! Ascoltando singolarmente i 7 brani dell'album Mothership Connection dei Parliament, si rischierebbe di perdere l'essenza di questo disco: oltre a essere caratterizzati da un funk spaziale e da un groove micidiale, i pezzi costituiscono una vera e propria (perdonate il gioco di parole) esperienza Funk-a-scientifica, che vi promette fin dal primo brano di farvi muovere e, allo stesso tempo, di ri-muovere tutti i mali che vi affliggono. Il punto forte del disco, e la caratteristica che più di tutte me l’ha fatto apprezzare, è proprio la sua fresca comicità e teatralità, che trasforma l’album in un’esperienza quasi visiva, o, come viene cantato in “P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)”, addirittura tridimensionale. L’album, pioniere del genere dell’afrofuturismo, narra dell’arrivo della Nave Madre sul pianeta Terra e del suo funkico messia intergalattico, Star Child, venuto a redimere gli uomini dalla loro banale e noiosa esistenza terrestre, e della conseguente invasione dei Thumpasoriani, venuti dal Sole con i loro UFO con lo scopo di rubare tutto il funk della Terra e di farlo proprio, per poter salvare il loro pianeta morente dalla sua funklessness, fino ad invadere finalmente la Terra nell’ultimo brano, “Night Of The Thumpasorus Peoples”, in cui si esprimono esclusivamente con i versi gutturali “Gaga googa, ga ga googa”. Ascoltandolo non ho potuto fare a meno di pensare al libro “Guida galattica per autostoppisti” di Douglas Adams, altro esempio di comicità spaziale, pubblicato peraltro in quegli stessi anni, in cui degli alieni entrano in contatto con la popolazione terrestre, raffigurata come immersa in un’esperienza banale e noiosa, per trasportarla in un intero universo di comicità assurda, fantastica e stupidamente geniale. Altro punto interessante è come George Clinton, leader del collettivo “P-Funk”, che univa i gruppi “Parliament” e “Funkadelic”, usi la comicità, la satira e l’immaginario afrofuturistico e fantascientifico per commentare la sua attualità, tra dissing indirizzati ad altri cantanti, accusati di non essere fedeli al Funk originario, o alle stazioni radiofoniche, accusate di non trasmettere abbastanza in funk (portando Clinton ad immaginarsi la rivalsa di una stazione puramente dedicata al Funk che si impossessi di tutte le radio del pianeta), e riferimenti al clima generale di discriminazione razziale degli stati uniti di quegli anni, contesto in cui si inserisce per l’appunto la nascita dell'afrofuturismo e dell’idea di una casa per tutti gli extraterrestrial brothers, anche se l’intento dell’autore è meglio espresso con le sue stesse parole, dicendo: «Put niggas in places that you don't usually see 'em. And nobody had seen 'em on no spaceships! Once you seen 'em sittin' on spaceships like it was Cadillac then it was funny, cool.» Se l’album va quindi considerato come un’opera inscindibile, devo dire che il mio brano preferito resta comunque il primo, “P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)” (niente da fare, sarò sempre un sucker per annunci parlati di questo tipo all’interno di una canzone), mentre quello che ho capito meno è “Handcuffs”, che mi è sembrato un po’ fuori posto all’interno dell’esperienza, interrompendone il flusso teatrale cozzando un po’ con la trama del disco. Devo ammettere che la lunghezza dei brani ogni tanto mi tentava di saltare a quello successivo, ma penso che questo sia un problema in comune un po’ a tutti, trasformati in un gruppo di criceti affamati di dopamina, e non tanto dell’album, che giustamente si prende il giusto tempo necessario a lenire l’anima dell’ascoltatore con il suo groove spaziale. In conclusione, questo è un album da riascoltarsi ogni tanto, per intero, in tutti quei momenti in cui ci sentiamo schiacciati dalla pesante banalità dell’essere e sentiamo bisogno di una ricarica sotto forma di funkadeliche vibrazioni cosmiche. Gli darei un 8.5 (o ★★★★☆) , un album veramente ben riuscito, che, anche se non totalmente di un genere che mi attira, riesce con la sua originale comicità e con il suo groove a catturarmi, come se fossi vittima di un raggio traente. Un album che rivisiterei con piacere qualche volta, ma che non sento di inserire nell’olimpo dei miei preferiti.

Love the music, for the most part. My *kids* would start dancing when I would play "Give Up the Funk" when they were little (now they mostly roll their eyes - getting old sucks). All that said, there's a little too much weird-for-its-own-sake stuff in here for my taste. I just had 3 Feet High and Rising yesterday, which is considered to be perhaps the birth of the rap skit, but in truth, this feels like it's 20% skits. That said, hard to deny its influence and how fun it is to listen to.

It was fine, only liked one enough to add to a playlist and all the songs kinda sounded the same

Tremendas lineas de bajo, el teclado y la bata con sonidos de platillos hermoso. Te da ganas de mover el cuerpo. Un phunk muy disfrutable. E da ganas de indagar mas en el genero. Se lleva 3.3

Está bien, pero la extensión repetitiva de las canciones hace que se vuelva aburrido de escuchar, no lo recomendaría (2.5/5)

Es un album divertido. No se que tanto lo voy a revisitar. En terminos generales suena bien. Las vocales estan muy bien, los coros me gustan, las lineas de bajo estan bien. El problema con este album es que varias de las canciones se extienden sin casi progresion, lo que termina volviendolas pesadas

WE NEED THE FUNK. -1 for repetitiveness

Ow, we want the funk ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪ ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪ ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪

Cool album, good ol' fashioned funk. Just a very fun listen, even if it's not the greatest album ever.

2026.11.12.

Dr Dre's Chronic remixed?😂 The good stuff is great, the okay stuff still grooves. 4/5

Out of this world funk

It was fine

Great funky music but some parts did go on a bit. Groovy and fun. 3/5

Super découverte. Un très bon album très funk avec de bonne ligne de basse et de cuivre. Je l'ai trouvé peut-être un poil trop long mais sinon tout est assez cohérent et les morceaux s'enchainent bien. On tombe à chaque morceaux sur un nouveau style ce qui donne envie d'écouter la suite.

Ah, the 70s. The birth of the funk/fuck pun, what a time to be alive. The words sound the same you see, but funk also refers to a genre of music. So funk bands could be brilliantly creative by singing things like “let’s get funked up”. Do you get it? Genius. Anyway, this album, 38 minutes of that kind of hilarity.

There's definitely some overly repetitive parts, but that's only an issue if you're giving the album 100% of your attention and just sitting around. It's infectious.

So funky you can smell it. Parliament, the godfathers of funk, put out this absolute gem of a record. Laying it down for others to emulate and sample forever. Excellent work.

Funk Gold Standard - The Album. Very enjoyable listen. 8/10

Kick ass funk

Had to put my sunglasses on so I could see what I was doin'. The funk is applied heavy and often! It's clear that this album affected so many other artists that made music after this. I wouldn't say that this is my favorite album, but when I put it on, I'm instantly in a better mood and it's easy to get into the grove of whatever I'm doing. I think it was Sir-Mix-Alot who said something like listening to Parliament, it sounds like someone's using the toilet. He's not necessarily wrong...

Cool album, very fun and spacelike Top 3: P-Funk, Unfunky UFO, Give Up the Funk

I could write lots, but I don’t need to. It’s really really funky and the groove is unstoppable. Genuinely excellent

At this point in the project I’m convinced you could just put the whole Parliament/Funkadelic discography on a playlist and call it a fairly comprehensive history of funk.

I mean!!

3/5

very vibey and raw feel of the music , super cool and positive

funky

crazy funkadelic, pretty nice, but has some peculiarities because of which i trim the rating to 4

Can you imagine doobie in your funk? Hoo! Dre and Snoop are forever grateful.

Tore the roof off. As always

Hell yeah. I could’ve listened to another hour of this. One of the best funk albums I’ve heard, maybe the best. ML426

Jäkligt skoj att lyssna på! Svängigt, lekfullt och rätt flummigt. Aldrig långrandigt och hela tiden intressant. Kan absolut tänka mig att ha detta på min iPod. En stark 3/5 och kanske en 4/5 till och med?

I'm not the one to review a funk album, can't tell if this is good or just plain.

eh idk listened to most of it, not my jam ig, 2/5

Funky

JL : 3, Handcuffs

It Parliament - come on, let's go!

From my year of birth. You know it is going to have a great funk vibe with Parliament. I want to watch every Tarantino movie at the same time (yes, I see the irony that he never used one of their tracks, just how I feel). Long songs and a bit samey. Not something I would listen to it a lot, but it saddens me the top selling artist that year was Captain & Tennille when this was out there.

Oeh wat een heerlijke stem, zwijmel…. Die stem heeft wel wat weg van Barry White. Een heerlijk funky albumpje. Geen idee of de tekst goed is, maar de feel is er zeer zeker. SMS geniet AAN naar 9352 voor het laatste nummer.

Wat mijn probleem een beetje is met dit album is dat t zo graag funky wil zijn, terwijl ik denk: hoe funky is het nou eigenlijk echt? Ik vind t voor funk erg veilig en binnen de lijntjes waarbij het nergens schuurt, maar t lijkt wel alsof ze het genre willen claimen, met name in de teksten (en titels) hoor je dan ook het woord "funk" veel terug. Misschien ben ik een beetje bias aangezien ik de laatste weken in een Herbie Hancock bubbel leef. Misschien niet een helemaal eerlijke vergelijking maar hoe dat album Headhunters begint met Chameleon hoor je toch een groot verschil. Alleen al dat gekke baslijntje heeft al meer funk dan dit hele album bij elkaar. Al met al is het ook niet erg om naar te luisteren, t luistert lekker weg. Maar dus een beetje meer ballen

Give Up The Funk ist der beste Song auf dem Album und ein krasser Banger. Rest ist aber auch cool

One of the most legendary bands of all time at the Leah of their powers. This is probably the definitive sound of Finn. Deep basslines mixed into an incredible ensemble. A bloody good album

Grooving and clearly a p funk classic but it’s just not quite my thing enough to rate it any higher. 3.5

Funky!!!!’

wonky, vibey

I enjoyed the two Funkadelic albums in this book, so even though Parliament has a different sound from Funkadelic, I expected to enjoy this one as well. Even if I did not enjoy this one, I think it is an important selection to include in the book. Fortunately, I did enjoy this. The lyrics aren't deep and there are about 100 mentions of the word "funk," but this is just a lot of fun and a good listen. What's amazing to me is how Parliament mixes in horns with their sound. I have a feeling there was a large amount of drugs being used during the making of this one. It's easy to get caught up in the joy of the music and even the silliness of so many of the lyrics, but the musicianship is outstanding as well. Bootsy Collins is great on the songs where he plays bass and the keyboards complement the rest of the music perfectly. And yes, Dr. Dre sample a few of these songs and that's where I heard some of these songs originally. My favorite tracks: P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) Mothership Connection (Star Child) Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples

Des amis me disent que c'est pas leur meilleur. Est-ce que c'est des bons amis? Je ne sais pas.

C'est comme ça qu'on fait.

Get your funk out tonite. This one is groovin n jamming with other worldly sounds.

This was funky, and not bad. I'm not a huge fan but it's decent.

3.5* Can appreciate how seminal this is! I think it's just hard to rate much higher knowing that albums like "Maggot Brain" exists within the same world.

Too much talking!! Just me and the boys tho..

Funky

Grosse influence apparente sur tous les album funk que j'ai écouté. The Brooks par exemple. Très Sly & Family Stone aussi. On sent l'époque dans leur style. Un gros bop!

hilarious to get another intergalactic album right after the Beastie Boys. Hilarious, so much fun to listen to this, great great morning listen Wikipedia is epic, and reminds me of the Thundercat show this year George Clinton said "We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the White House. I figured another place you wouldn't think black people would be was in outer space. I was a big fan of Star Trek, so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a Cadillac, and we did all these James Brown-type grooves, but with street talk and ghetto slang."[9] The album's concept would form the backbone of P-Funk's concert performances during the 1970s, in which a large spaceship prop known as the Mothership would be lowered onto the stage.

Fik virkeligt snakket det op over for Reimer. Meget modvilligt må jeg nok erkende, at det i dag ikke fanger mig på helt samme måde, som jeg erindrer at det tidligere har gjort. Stadig fedt tho.

* 85 Ja tak tilbud til George Clinton og en indsprøjtning Parliament. Har altid været mere til Funkadelic end Parliament, men det er stadig en kæmpe fornøjelse.

Det er, imho, næsten altid sådan med funk, at du kan skrælle halvdelen af indholdet fra, og så ville det færdige produkt være så meget bedre. Tag bare første nummer: 7 min 41 sekunder. Halvdelen af tiden føles som det som om, de skal opfylde en kvote, og albummet varer alligevel kun 38 minutter. Jeg forstår det ikke, men de fleste af numrene tillader jo ikke rigtigt et dårligt humør. Det bliver jeg så alligevel lidt i sidste nummer, hvor der af en eller anden vanvittig grund er valgt, at der skal være en prutte-synth igennem hele nummeret. Det ødelægger alligevel lidt af oplevelsen 2.8

Kan egentlig meget godt lide det, men er ikke noget, der gør noget specielt for mig

funky space vibes, don't think I will relisten

GOSTEI, COM CERTEZA VOU REVISITAR

George Clinton’s ticks so many boxes, the man’s a genius.

From the delightfully demented mind of George Clinton. If this doesn’t make you wanna shake it, you better check for a pulse. Good smart dumb fun. Great album cover also.

Fav song : Handcuffs

Not normally for me but they caught me in a groovy mood. And Give Up The Funk is a classic.

Ok

P-funk - 2/10 Pågår alldeles för länge och jobbar med den vidriga grejen att nämna funk HELA tiden. Fattas också allt jag gillar med funk? Går ju söligt och rycker inte. Mothership connection - 3/10 Gör inte ett fucking konceptalbum om det ej finns ett koncept! Detta är bara en random man som improviserar någon monolog om INGETING Jaja, körsången var gullig i guess Unfunky UFO - 4/10 Äntligen lite actual funk? Vidrig sång som bara handlar om genren men instrumentalt im chillin Supergroove - 6/10 WAT DA SYNTH DOIN, igen med den vidriga texten om ingeting och jobbig skit. Finns det inget att säga, håll käften Handcuffs - 6/10 Förväntade mig någon jävla politisk antipolislåt men detta är bara knullfunk? Varför vill de japp min mamma:( Give up the funk - 5/10 Det är ju en klassiker men det är bara så JÄVLA ointressant, jag gillar inte funk 😭 Night of the thompasorus peoples - 3/10 Fuck off

Absolutely fantastic. Groovy as fuck from the first note to the last. This is funk with personality, humor, and serious weight behind the rhythm. The whole album moves like a living thing. Bass lines pull hard, the drums stay locked and elastic, and the horns and vocals cut through with real attitude. Nothing feels stiff or overthought. It just hits and keeps hitting. There is a playful, larger-than-life quality running through the record, but the groove never gets sacrificed for the concept. The music stays physical and immediate. The production is thick and clear at the same time. Every part has space while the low end still feels massive. It captures the band in full flight without cleaning the life out of the performances. Mothership Connection is pure pleasure. One of the strongest and most irresistible funk albums ever made. Put it on and it does the rest.

7 - GOOD

P-Funk is secretly a social experiment where George Clinton sees how many times he can say "Funk" without it getting annoying to the audience. Seriously, if you took a shot of your nearest non-alcoholic whatever-the-hell every time they said "Funk" in this album, you'd be 6² feet under by the end of the first song. There are a few good songs throughout, but my brain was pretty numb by the end of it and all of the songs seriously sounded similar by the signoff song, and I surely squandered my stupid synonym Synonymicon to scribe this sentence. Stuff similar to this is how semantic satiation feels, much like the how word "funk" feels to me now.

Yeah we all knew that song was coming Give Up the Funk is far and away the best thing about this album; unbelievably catchy and perhaps the most used funk song of all time for a reason. Vocals are good, and from an instrumental perspective there’s really nothing to be desired. The themings also particularly great on this one, the whole space thing works out really well here. I feel like a lot of the runtime is kinda empty on this one unfortunately. I know they’re building up that atmosphere but none of these songs really feel like they’re supposed to be songs if that makes sense lol. I think with a couple of other standalone tracks this would be a much better album I like the other P Funk album we had a lot better, I think the heavier rock influence made it feel like a more complete project. Don’t get me wrong though, will still absolutely blast Give Up the Funk, but in single form rather than as a part of an album

Presenting your funk as so powerful it's widespread across the galaxy is one of the most compelling arguments I heard from an album.

A funking masterpiece

Give Up the Funk is a certified classic banger. The others, I didn’t care for.

Funky

Ew

very fun, last 3 tracks are the best

Was not expecting the cool jazzy interlude on the opener. Very nice. The inclusion of the horns and the unconventional sound/instrument effects really does elevate the album. Very interesting listen. Solid 4. Mighta' been a 5 but Handcuffs was just too fucked up for me. It benefits from being self aware but ... still too fucked up, thx. Fun album, otherwise. Very creative.

Феномен старого будущего, 100% ретро и это не комплимен, но обложка ничего

Very cool

Nice album. Funky and funny