Mothership Connection
ParliamentMothership Connection by Parliament and released on December 15, 1975 has long been one of my favorite Funk Albums. It was the first Parliament-Funkadelic release to feature horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, previously of James Brown's backing band, the J.B.'s and was the first Parliament album to be certified gold and later platinum. I found the album years ago, and it was my introduction to Parliament / George Clinton. It made my funk the P-Funk, because I must always have wants to get Funked Up! Key musicians include Bootsy Collins on Bass, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Joe Brecker, Randy Brecker and Joe Farell on Horns, and Bernie Worrell on Keys (Minimoog, Wurlitzer electric piano, ARP Pro Soloist and String Ensemble, RMI Electra Piano, Hammond organ, grand piano, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet D6). Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood was the drummer. The album begins with an invitation to the Funk through the song P-Funk (We Wants the Funk). Mothership Connection (Star Child) continues with a groovy riff "If you hear any noise, It's just me and the boys. Hit me, You gotta hit the band" grounded by the bass and embellished by the Horn section. From Wikipedia: "The album is held together by an outer-space theme. Describing the concept, 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." 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." "Retrospectively, Mothership Connection has been widely acclaimed, and it is typically considered to be one of the best albums by the Parliament-Funkadelic collective." Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothership_Connection