Parliament Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome CD

Live Recording

Parliament: Glenn Goins, Garry Shider (vocals, guitar); Cordell Mosson (vocals, bass); George Clinton, Ray Davis, Debbie Wright, Jeanette Washington, Lynn Mabry, Dawn Silva (vocals); Michael Hampton (guitar); Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Rick Gardner, Richard Griffith, Clay Lawrey, Darryl Dixon, Valerie Drayton, Danny Cortez (horns); Bernie Worrell (keyboards, synthesizer); Jerome Brailey (drums, percussion).
Recorded at United Sounds Studios, Detroit, Michigan and Hollywood Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California.
Parliament simply poured it on for this amazing album, clearly one of its all-time best. At least one band named itself after a lyric -- Urge Overkill, taken from the song "Funkentelechy" itself -- while the amount of times this album has been sampled for the music is uncountable. Besides having an absolutely wonderful name, it contained at least three of the finest Parliament tunes ever, including arguably its signature song. "Flash Light," which closes Funkentelechy on a riotous high, has it all -- a brilliant fake ending, instant singalong value, a synth-bassline to kill for from Bernie Worrell, and so much more. As the album ends, so too does it begin, with a stone-cold classic -- "Bop Gun (Endangered Species)." Starting with a brisk little guitar figure and beat, it turns into an instant party on all fronts, with great lead vocals and an addictive chorus, the Horny Horns and company hitting the grooves and blasting hard. Worrell's laser noises and shimmering keyboard leads and Cordell Mosson's monster bass squelches send everything all that much more over the top. Another song title says it all -- "Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk (Pay Attention -- B3M)." Treated with vocoders to an absurd degree, Sir Nose became the legendary enemy of funk, specifically the Starchild, on many a P-Funk recording (that's the two of them on the hilarious cover, the Starchild himself operating the Bop Gun). The throwaway lines in this song are almost legendary in and of themselves, while the music itself is a great slow build and burn rhythm that piles more on as it goes, with singers, horns, and more taking it to a climax. "Funkentelechy" and "The Placebo Syndrome" both have plenty of goodness as well, while "Wizards of Finance" is an amusing retro diversion, helping make Funkentelechy the highlight it is. ~ Ned Raggett
Though the dark, psychedelic element that characterized the group's early '70s output has been replaced with an emphasis on rump-shakin' dance anthems, the superior musicianship, creativity, and unabashed weirdness of the Funk Mob's members is no less in evidence. The songwriting team of frontman George Clinton, bassist Bootsy Collins, and--perhaps most notably--keyboardist Bernie Worrell concocted the #1 smash "Flashlight." An ecstatic, amorphous journey through chugging, liquid basslines (the unbelievably fat, quadruple bass sound here was created on Worrell's synthesizer), chaotic guitar, percussive embellishments, and chant-like vocal phrases, "Flashlight" coalesces into one of the greatest dance songs of all time.
Other highlights include the Glenn Goins showcase of "Bop Gun" and the loose and groovy "Funkentelechy." Often dismissed as a party band, Parliament's edgy experimentalism and loose, textured structures move the mind as well as the ass. Their albums clearly motivated the New York avant-garde dance movement of the early '80s, influencing such artists as Liquid Liquid, Bill Laswell, and Talking Heads. FUNKENTELECHY is a seminal and immensely enjoyable album.

Rolling Stone (9/28/00, p.60) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It's wacky, utterly unpredictable communal anarchy - not a funk machine but a funk organism..."