1969 was a momentous year. Man first walked on the moon; Nixon arrived
in the White House. Woodstock seemed to celebrate the peace and love of
the decade, but the disintegration of the Beatles and the murder of
Meredith Hunter at the Rolling Stones’ Altamont concert towards the end
of the year proved to be a more accurate prediction for what was to
come. In Detroit, a city that had been scarred by rioting in 1967, a new
group, Funkadelic, were issuing their first singles in 1968.
Although a
black group, they revelled in many of the outward signs of the peace
and love of the 60s: psychedelic clothes, loud crunching guitars and
plenty of drugs, but they were offering no vision of Utopia. One listen
to their early single, ‘Music For My Mother’, would show you that, as it
is a disturbed blues dirge whose opening line is “Man, I was in a place
called ‘Keep Running’, Mississippi”. From 1969 to 1981 they made many
ground-breaking tracks, rewriting the rules of what a group could do.
This compilation is the very first that looks at the band’s entire
career, from their previously unreissued debut 45 for their own
Funkedelic (sic) label through to their chart-topping 45s for Warner
Brothers. In between we see a twisted vision and many musical
high-points.
Side One
1. Cosmic Slop
2. Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On
3. You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure
4. One Nation Under A Groove
5. Better By The Pound
6. Sexy Ways
Side Two
1. Loose Booty
2. (Not Just) Knee Deep
3. A Joyful Process
4. Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good
5. Can You Get To That
Side Three
1. Maggot Brain
2. I Wanna Know Is It Good For You
3. I’ll Bet You
4. Hit It And Quit It
Side Four
1. Red Hot Mama
2. I Got A Thing You Got A Thing Everybody Got A Thing
3. Comin’ Round The Mountain
4. Let’s Take It To The Stage
5. Undisco Kidd