Funked Up: The Very Best Of Parliament CD

Includes liner notes by Tom Vickers.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Compilation producer: Harry Weinger.

Personnel: Bootsy Collins (vocals, guitar, drums, percussion); Eddie Hazel , Gary Shider, Glen Goins (vocals, guitar); Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins, Gary "Mudbone" Cooper, George Clinton , Grady Thomas, Raymond Davis, Calvin Simon (vocals); Walter "Junie" Morrison (guitar, keyboards); Dewayne Blackbyrd McKnight, Tony Thomas, Gordon Carlton, Michael Hampton , Ron Bykowski, Phelps "Catfish" Collins (guitar); Clay Lawrey, Sam Peakes, Fred Wesley, Larry Hatcher, Benny Cowan, Greg Thomas , Valerie Drayton, Danny Cortez, Darryl Dixon , Joe Farrell, Maceo Parker, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Richard "Kush" Griffith, Rick Gardner, Greg Black, Greg Boyer (horns); David Lee Chong, Bernie Worrell (keyboards); Carl "Butch" Small, Dennis Chambers, Lonnie Greene, Lawrence Fratangelo, Kenny Colton, Jerome Brailey, Tyrone Lampkin, Gary Bronson (drums, percussion); Sheila Horne, Jeannette McGruder, Dawn Silva, Taka Khan, Lynn Mawbry, Linda Shider, Janice Evans, Debbie Edwards, Mallia Franklin, Shirley Hayden, Pamela Vincent, Deborah Wright, Bryan Chimenti, Larry Heckstall, Cheryl James, Jeanette "Baby" Washington, Linda Brown, Jessica Cleaves, Joel Johnson, Philippe Wynne, Ron Ford, Ronald Dunbar, Tracey Lewis, Michael "Clip" Payne (background vocals).

Liner Note Author: Tom Vickers.

Author: George Clinton .

Photographer: Barry Schultz.

Arrangers: Eddie Hazel ; George Clinton ; Bernie Worrell; Bootsy Collins.

Funked Up: The Very Best of Parliament is a full-priced, one-disc summation of Parliament's recordings for Casablanca Records (since absorbed into what is now Universal and discontinued, hence the issuance on Universal's Mercury imprint), meant to supplant the 1984 LP compilation Greatest Hits (The Bomb) and provide consumers with something in between the more expensive two-CD set Tear the Roof Off 1974-1980 and the discount-priced 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Parliament. The album's focus, writes annotator Tom Vickers, is "chart success," and it includes among its 16 tracks 14 of Parliament's 19 R&B singles chart entries on Casablanca, including all of their R&B Top 40 hits except "Party People" (which crested at number 39 in Billboard). Also included are two album tracks, "All Your Goodies Are Gone" from Up for the Down Stroke and "Let's Take It to the Stage" from Live: P-Funk Earth Tour. Parliament was more of an albums act than a singles act (and more of a live act than a recording act), and only six of these tracks reached the R&B Top Ten, with two, "Flash Light" and "Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)," hitting number one, while just two, "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)" and "Flash Light," made the pop Top 20. So, a singles collection makes for a less definitive overview of the group's career than might be true for others. Hence, if the consumer has a few more bucks to spend, Tear the Roof Off 1974-1980 is much the preferred compilation. But all of Parliament's big hits and most of its lesser ones are here. ~ William Ruhlmann

Parliament includes: Bootsy Collins (vocals, guitar, bass, drums); Eddie Hazel, Glen Goins, Fuzzy Haskins (vocals, guitar); George Clinton (vocals); Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Richard "Kush" Griffith, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Rick Gardner, Joe Farrell, Clay Lawrey, Darryl Dixon, Valerie Drayton (horns); Bernie Worrell, Walter "Junie" Morrison, David Lee Chong (keyboards); Cordell "Boogie" Mosson, Perkash John, Rodney Curtis, Donnie Sterling, Dewayne "Blackbird" McKnight (bass); Gary Bronson, Tiki Fulwood, Jerome Brailey, Tyrone Lampkin, Dennis Chambers, Lonnie Greene, Larry Fratangelo, Kenny Colton, Carl "Butch" Small (drums); Debbie Edwards, Taka Khan, Bryrna Chimenti, Pam Vincent, Debra Wright (background vocals).

Producers: George Clinton, Walter Morrison, Ron Dunbuar.