Name two artists who came into music via their love of doo wop, exploded into the popular consciousness in the 70's, operated with a deep contempt of the music business, put together ultra talented bands, presented (still present) legendary live shows, used humor to make much larger points, and always seemed to be just a little bit ahead of their time.
My answer is George Clinton and Frank Zappa. Sure, some of their methods were different, but their career arcs have many similarities, including loyal worldwide fan bases and massive revisionist critical acclaim. The world just needed time to catch up with what they were doing.
The key similarity, though, is their doo wop roots. Most folks in the 70's would've pegged Funkadelic or the Mothers of Invention as "acid rock", probably because that was the surface look, feel, and sound of their bands and the music they played. But group vocals styles were always a part of their music, from Zappa's tribute/satire to Doo Wop, Crusin' With Rueben and The Jets or P-Funk's constant reinvention of their early doo wop material in songs like , The Goose, I Wanna Testify,or All Your Goodies Are Gone, which became funkier as later versions emerged.
George Clinton and Frank Zappa used "the forms and clichés of their era and perverted them" (The Real Frank Zappa Book). Did one influence the other? If anything, it was probably Zappa that influenced Clinton..although George's genius was the sheer amount of synthesis that went into P-Funk music; nothing short of a primer of rock and roll era music from doo wop to hip hop. In the end both Frank and George used whatever freedom their outsider status conveyed on them to make some timely and timeless records, that repay repeated listens with new revelations. Long lost brothers? Maybe not.
The transitional records made by the Parliaments from their doo wop days to their Funkadelic days have been readily available, and most folks with some knowledge of the history assume the Parliament's 1968 top 20 R&B (Motown inspired, but clearly headed in a new direction) hit , I Wanna Testify, was the beginning of the P-Funk story. Truth is, George and his crew had been paying dues for more than 10 years. So, before the madness of Parliament's Osmium (1970) and Funkadelic's self titled debut (1970), there were these stabs at doo wop stardom, put together by some friends who met at a Plainfield,NJ barbershop.
1958 7" Poor Willie /Party Boys -APT 45-25036
A Side:
B Side:
1959 7" Lonely Island/(You Made Me Wanna) Cry -Flipp FL-45-100/101
A Side:
B Side:
I pulled these off the (I think) bootleg CD I Wanna Testify (go get testify), which includes all the prehistoric P-Funk in one place on CD for the first time.
Finally, here's I Wanna Testify, the first paydirt for George Clinton, and probably the only reason the mothership ever had a chance to leave this planet. Testify's success enabled George and his crew, to tour, to get sued for using the name Parliaments (precipitating the need to invent the name Funkadelic), and most importantly, to relocate to Detroit and psychedelicize into a unit capable of funkatizing entire galaxies.
Cheers to George, for 50 years of survival and subversion..and cheers to Frank for his incredible output of sonic genius and unrelenting truth telling.
(I Wanna) Testify/I Can Feel The Ice Melting- Revilot-207
A side:
B Side:
P.S.-The first song at my second wedding was I Can Feel The Ice Melting.
P.P.S.- To Explain my title pun check out the title cut from this '86 George Clinton solo record R&B Skeletons In The Closet
In 2008 a wide swath (well, 58% of registered voters) of Americans elected Barack Obama president, in a campaign that promised change...A main component of that change was to be health care reform that increased the number of folks with medical insurance and made other consumer-centric changes in the system, which an even larger percentage of Americans said was broken. After being elected, Mr. Obama went right to work on this reform, and despite stiff resistance, got it passed. In 2010, Republicans made huge gains in the Congress, Senate, and Governerships, by essentially running on change, with the symbol of the change being the repeal of the health care reform that had just passed. Are we spinning our wheels here?
You are probably asking what the heck this has to do with British-born, folk-soul-rock-funk, singer/songwriter/producer Ruth Copeland. Probably not much, but I will say, that what passes for change nowadays doesn't seem to compare with the changes that were happening when Ruth first arrived in America around 1967. Additionally, the seismic cultural shifts going on in the US at the time, seem to follow Ruth's career arc rather nicely. Of course, I could be totally wrong, 'cause change is not so easy to come by. At any rate, I'd like to start off with this tune Ruth Copeland wrote (and received production credit for), that was an unused master from the sessions that yielded Parliament's 1970 debut LP, Osmium.
I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, by dropping this '72 single, so let me rewind a bit. As a fairly huge (emotionally and physically) P-Funk fan, I've always wondered about Ruth Copeland. How did this British woman come to be involved with George Clinton?
How did a band that almost never worked with material that didn't come from within their (ever-growing) inner circle, come to cut tracks with this woman, who, at the time, might have been all of 22 years old. Record labels and questions were pretty much all I had at the start, but in the past few days I've come to find out a lot more. In the final analysis, I've got to say that Ruth was definitely of her time, and maybe a little bit ahead of it (something I've always thought about Mr. George Clinton.) To be doing what she was doing, when she was doing it, puts her right up there with Betty Davis, as a unique voice at the dawn of funk. Whether she was just in the right place at the right time (she was), or whether she had some great in's to the record business (she did), or whether she was just doing what she thought she had to do to make it in a business dominated by men, Ms. Copeland got it done.
Unfortunately, I do not have what might be the definitive release of Ruth's work with George: 2002's The Complete Invictus Sessions, but judging from the liner notes of various versions of Osmium, other P-Funk history, and the scant amount of info for Ruth on the web, it wouldn't help. The hook in most entries on Ruth Copeland is British roots, her association with George Clinton and Funkadelic, and her relationship with record producer/businessman Jeffrey Bowen. There is an undercurrent of sexism throughout these entries. One liner note (First Thangs/Lee Hildebrand), does not mention Ruth Copeland at all, even though she wrote or co-wrote and produced or coproduced nearly half the tracks Parliament cut for the Invictus label, not to mention that she sang on a couple of tracks.
The 2001 reissue of Osmium (notes by Peter Doggett, explains Ruth's participation as a deal George Clinton did with Jeffery Bowen to give Ruth credits in exchange for his working on George's record. Bowen had been a staff producer at Motown (the notes say he was currently a Motown "staffer") and would eventually become Ruth Copeland's husband and manager. He left Berry Gordy with Holland-Dozier-Holland when they started Invictus two years prior, around 1968/9. I know this is all nit-picking and there probably are a few grains of truth to the idea that Mr. Bowen was trying to help Ruth out (and perhaps something more personal), but the dismissal by Mr. Doggett in the notes leaves a lot to be desired.
Nowhere, do I find an instance of George Clinton ever mentioning Ruth Copeland. Funnily enough, in my two main Ruth Copeland sources (Rolling Stone articles from 1971 and 1976), George Clinton and/or Funkadelic are never mentioned either. That is very strange for '71, since a huge chunk of her backing band were FUNKADELIC. Money issues between George and the youngsters (the guys in Parliament [vocalists] were older than the guys in the band) saw them walk out on him at various times from '70 to '71, for various reasons, including becoming Ruth's touring band. Do the 30,000 word liner notes in the 2 disc Funkadelic Singles collection by Rob Bowman mention this...nope.
Additional Parliament songs Ruth Copeland was involved in 70-72. Breakdown
Oh Lord Why Lord/Prayer
The Silent Boatman
So was Osmium the record George wanted to make? Or was Funkadelic (the Westbound debut), his vision? Judging from what came later..these were both transitional debut records with Osmium the more experimental (and a little disjointed) of the two. One thing is for sure, George Clinton and his band were no longer a slick dressing soul group patterned after the Temptations, but a pscyhedelicized, highly volitile, funk/rock band. After a decade of kicking around the fringes of the music biz and tasting a little success, George Clinton, his band, and their split personalities, finally had their first long players. George Clinton was right around 30 years old.
Ruth Copeland's first LP, Self Portrait, arrived in shops just a few weeks after Osmium. Ruth was about 20 years old. Her path to debut vinyl was a little more straight forward, but convoluted nonetheless. Pieced together from the Rolling Stone articles, it looks a little like this:
She was born in Consett, England (a country town near Newcastle) sometime around 1950 to lower middle class parents.
When she was 16, she was an art student, who broke off her schooling to move to London following the sudden death of her mother.
She gigged in London with a band called Ed & The Intruders (zero info found on them), her sister moved to Detroit (don't know why), she was "discovered" by Allen Klein (Beatles,Stones),and she received contract offers with Apple and Invictus Records. She chose Invictus, perhaps because her sister was where the label was based, and was signed by Jeffrey Bowen in 1968.
She arrived in Detroit when she was 18, dated, became pregnant, and wed (apparently in 1970) an unnamed Detroit Lion. It is interesting to note that on her first album there's a song , "No Commitment" about the a relationship that ended after the birth of a child. It is unclear whether she had an abortion, or not. There's also a tune called, "To William In The Night." A look at the 1968 Detroit Lions Roster shows 3 Williams (QB Bill Munson, Tackle Bill Cotrell, and RB Billy Tripplett), but no further info is available...including when she might have gotten a divorce. Many articles and bios, say that she came to Invictus after her marriage to Jeffrey Bowen, but that is not the case. She couldn't have married him until 70/71 (at least according to things she said in interviews).
She was originally slated to be the leader of a female singing group, New Play, who made 1 single that was never released. Instead, she worked with George Clinton on her debut. LP.
Self Portrait (the cover is a self portrait..I wonder where that idea came from?) is, like Osmium, all over the stylistic map, mixing baroque folk confessions, Motown pop,opera covers, and harder blues rock. To be honest, it ain't perfect. Her voice, when not in rock mode, is an acquired taste. The lyrics are a little forced, too.
For historical purposes mostly (especially the Eddie Hazel solo on the album closing opera tune) Self Portrait..
From a Ruth perspective, she she got to make the record she wanted to make as a 20 year old music biz neophyte. From a Funkadelic perspective, this was more of a session gig. Bernie Worrell, Tawl Ross, Billy Nelson,Tiki Fulwood, and Eddie Hazel, were playing on many Invictus sessions, as Holland -Dozier-Holland were trying to create an assembly line set up similar to what was going on at Motown. For George, who was figuring his way through the system, it was an opportunity. My opinion is that George, Ruth, and the band were all bristling at the control of the old school studio system, but there were other factors at work, including the fact that Jeffrey Bowen was falling for Ruth, becoming deeply involved with her career as her manager, mentor, and within a year, her husband. No Commitment
Music Box
Reviews for Ruth's record were not spectacular (nor for Osmium) and sales weren't particularly brisk either. George Clinton was also forced to stop using the name Parliament (no one seems to have a definitive answer why), Funkadelics were defecting left and right, and general craziness reigned in Detroit. Despite all this the wheels of the record biz continued to turn. At some point in '71 Ruth Copeland was asked to join the Sly Stone tour as an opening act for the Family Stone and Rare Earth. Funkadelic was backing her on the tour and helping her make her second album. According to Ruth, she was eventually kicked off the tour because of Sly's jealousy, and the fact that Funkadelic were blowing the doors off as an opener. That did not stop Sly from inviting her out to LA to live with him after the tour though..to help her with her career. So, theoretically, during 71 -72, she married Jeffrey Bowen, went on tour with Sly, made a second album, left Bowen and Invictus (with a 3 year, you-can-make-no-recordings clause in her contract), and ultimately moved in with Sly Stone for a year.
I Am What I Am is far superior to her debut, much more focused on the rock funk sound and less loose lyrically. It also sounded like a band album, as opposed to session cats backing a studio singer, which makes sense, since she was hanging with the Funkadelic guys for almost a year.
Most nights on tour, Ruth wore a variation of the Native American themed outfit she had on for the cover of her second album, and in the '71 Rolling Stone interview she talks about getting tired of her image, getting tired of the opening slot, and says nothing about her band (Dammit, no one ever thinks of my needs). A big chunk of the piece talks about her perfect belly button and, "how a lot of her acceptance doubtless came from her singular beauty, but now she has to transcend it, and somehow find an approach which will put her music across." Oy vey, thanks Rolling Stone (Timothy Ferris).
Suburban Family Lament
Play With Fire
The Medal
I Am What I Am wasn't released until '72, but it seems like Ruth had left Detroit for good well before that, and was allegedly living with Sly Stone. The difference between her first records is stark: moving away from the direct confessional toward anti-war messages and social commentary. Over the top, sure,but manna for P-Funk fans and a good recap of attitudes at the end of the 60's, and the coming malaise of the 70's.
Ruth's malaise was also a product of her Invictus contract that prevented her from recording until '75 and perhaps her relationship with Sly Stone, "So I came out to the West Coast and what it was was that he wanted me," said Ruth in a '76 interview that just happened to coincide with the release of her comeback record, Take Me To Baltimore. She goes on to say, "and I fell in love with him." They did some tracks together (they remain unreleased), but he didn't let her perform. Ruth cites Sly's "insecurity, that's probably the only reason anybody wouldn't want their partner to fulfill themselves. I just knew it was wrong, and that's when I started to grow away from him." Evidently the reason why Sly's Fresh took so long to come out had a little to do with Ruth Copeland . Ruth headed East to New York (and by her admission rock bottom), where she was coaxed back to perform in 1974, at a radio station gig in Baltimore, by Badfinger member Peter Ham, she and him having been voted favorite male and female vocalists by a radio station there. She also mentions in the article that she was just about to audition for the role of Janis Joplin in fictional version of the rock icon's life called, Pearl. I'm pretty sure that movie was never made.
Heaven
So with things looking up, she met Daryl Hall, who helped her get a deal with RCA and wrote and sang the single, "Heaven" with her. The album as a whole has none of the rough edges of the Invictus material, reflecting the light funk (with a few guitar flourishes), smooth R&B, and disco that was considered radio worthy in 1976. There's an outside producer (Ralph Moss), many strings, and a general reserve over these proceedings. It isn't a bad record, but it makes you appreciate the abandon of the Invictus sides.
A lot of folks got a chance to see Ruth perform around this time, and the one's I've heard from still remember the shows as some of the best they've ever seen. According to the '76 article she was starting a production company and swearing to "never let herself be dragged around by a man again." Sadly though, after the tour that came with Baltimore, there is absolutely nothing out there about Ruth Copeland. There aren't too many folks who did as much as she did in those 10 years (and for 2 or 3 of them she was just chilling)..quite a run for a young lass from Consett.
On the tune, "Some Hearts Need To Sing The Blues," the out chorus repeats, "I lived my life...for me," and that sums it up pretty well, that and this quote from the '76 interview: "I used to think that you had to fuck somebody to get ahead. I was programmed that way... I used to say, Ah, yes touch my breasts, but not anymore." Say what you will about that, but Ruth's songs and attitude clearly bring into focus the changes that happened between the 60's and 70's. It wasn't an easy road to travel for women back then and it's still no picnic today. Change doesn't come so easy.
Memphis, Tennessee is the first big town you reach as you travel up the Mississippi River. A crossroads between city and country, as well as north and south, it may be overshadowed by state mate Nashville, as a music center, but a closer look reveals Memphis as the town where the American pop music stew first came to a boil. (I disqualify New Orleans, because it's gumbo belongs to something larger than the US melting pot.).
I submit these four Memphis stories from my MOG archive for your consideration:
"Soul is church. Just changing 'Jesus' to 'baby'. That's all it is."-O.V. Wright
The Stax/Motown dichotomy is just too delicious for music historians to leave alone. Motown, the northern label, a black owned business creating major pop hits whose success was rivaled only by The Beatles vs. the white owned, but highly integrated, southern label, Stax, whose artists introduced a gritty soul sound to the masses.
The influence and importance of these two great outfits plus their back stories have recently been subject to (relatively) massive coverage. I'm not complaining about this in any way, except for the fact that Motown and Stax are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what soul has to offer. I guess I could complain about the constant flogging of Stax and Motown by their corporate owner, Universal, and how it skews the attention away from deserving soul artists from all over the country, especially singers from the south, which Stax represents only by location, and not necessarily in style. The history of soul music in America can not be shoehorned into Motown/Stax, hell the history of soul music in Memphis,Tenessee isn't even covered by Motown/Stax. Fact is, Stax was just one of a number of labels documenting the Memphis Soul scene, that are deserving of attention. I'm not looking askance at Carla and Rufus Thomas or Otis Redding or Johhny Taylor or Sam & Dave, I just want to shine a light on O.V. Wright, whose output for labels like Goldwax, Backbeat and Hi, is material of the highest order.
But let me get to some music. If you'd like a complete breakdown of O.V Wright's career,please check this excellent piece by Ray Ellis. I cribbed most of the facts I relate from there, so all credit to Ray. There's also more music to hear there so don't hesitate to hit that post
1971's Nickel and A Nail was recorded in Memphis for the Backbeat label (the label was based in Texas and had a national distribution deal with ABC records-later bought by MCA) and produced by Willie Mitchell (Al Green, Otis Clay,Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles).
Jumping back a few years to '65, O.V. had been singing in a gospel outfit (with soul great James Carr) called the Harmony Echoes, who were rehearsed by musician, song writer Roosevelt Jamison. Jamison wrote a tune called, That's How Strong My Love Is and tried to sell it to Stax (no deal at the time) and then made a demo of it with O.V. Wright which he played for Goldwax Records owner Quinton Claunch, who signed both O.V. and James Carr.
That's How Strong My Love Is ended up as a b-side that DJ's liked better than the A, so it became a regional hit for O.V., that was quickly covered by Otis Redding..effectively stalling OV's first single (Stax deal with Atlantic records pretty much insured that Otis' version would receive national promotion and airplay that Goldwax couldn't dream of.)
After about 5 singles for Goldwax, O.V. began a long association with Willie Mitchell and the Backbeat label. In '73 this partnership (w/The Memphis Horns and Hi rhythm Section) yielded the Memphis Unlimited LP and the tune, I'd Rather Be (Blind,Cripple, and Crazy).
Except for gospel singles cut near the time of his death in 1980, OV would work exclusively with Willie Mitchell for the rest of his career. Completely ignoring the disco outfreakage of the mid to late 70's OV continued to record deep southern soul records until he passed away (drugs and booze were major factors) at age 41.
The box set pictured below contains 5 early to mid 70's O.V. Wright LP's plus some of the early Goldwax singles and now's as good a time as any to catch up with one of the greatest soul singers of all time by seeking it out. Drop the needle or hit play anywhere in Overton Vertis Wright's career, though, and you'll have made the right call. This is the real deal.
"When you gave O.V. Wright a song, the song belonged to him. Nobody would do it that way again. In fact, I think O.V. Wright was the greatest blues artist I've ever produced."-Willie Mitchell
Besides having a son named Cody (there's also a son of Jim named Luther-they are in the North Mississippi All Stars), besides producing Big Star and Mudhoney, besides playing piano on The Stones Wild Horses , Aretha's Spirit in the Dark, The Flamin' Groovies Teen Age Head, and Dylan's Time Out Of Mind, and besides embodying the musical stew that is Memphis, Tennessee, James Luther "Jim' Dickinson found time to make a few records of his own, including his 1972 LP debut, Dixie Fried. Dixie Fried
Wine
He would go on making music until his death in 2009, including solo records, his work with Mudboy and The Neutrons, and several compilations of Memphis music showcasing new acts and historically important folks like Furry Lewis.
Being further up the Mississippi, Memphis was a intersection for country,jazz,blues, rhythm, and rock. Jim Dickinson distilled all that joy and history into the records he made as a performer,sideman, and producer. Look around for his story..it's what American pop music, at it's best, is all about.
Nick Tosches on Dixie Fried- "a dark, gale-force reworking of old Southern music, a baptism of loud and dangerous rhythms, that stands as one of the great testaments not only of rock 'n' roll but also of its ancient and unfathomable roots."
When Detroit Met Memphis...The Beginning of the End?
Conventional critical wisdom (along with a little marketing and major label influence) would have you believe that the output of Stax studios in Memphis took a downward slide with the convergence of three factors.
The death of Otis Redding
The end of the Stax association with Atlantic Records
The end of Jim Stewart (founder- w/Estelle Axton) running the company
Whatever the reason (and there is validity in the 3 reasons), things began to change at Stax with the arrival of Al Bell to run the business in '69. Al Bell had (Motown)dreams of world domination and he felt he needed to look outside the insular group (although he knew they were talented) that had fueled the studio's rise.
One of the folks Bell turned to was producer Don Davis; a cat who had deep roots in Detroit. Davis was assigned to produce new Stax signee Johnnie Taylor. Their relationship lasted about 10 years, culminating with "Disco Lady" in '77.
Johnnie Taylor arrived at Stax in '67 like so many Southern Soul belters..fresh from the Gospel circuit and lead duties with the Highway QC's. His first record was strictly Stax, cut with the MG's, and very much in the southern soul/blues mode. It was one of the last records Stax released with Atlantic, before the big changes began.
The long and short of it, is that Atlantic Records had made an incredibly one sided deal with Stax, where they retained all the rights to Stax records that were released on Atlantic. So in '68 Stax, now released from Atlantic, found themselves in the position of having to start over. Stax owned nothing, no Otis Redding, no Sam & Dave, no Carla Thomas, no Green Onions. Founder Jim Stewart didn't think he was up for rebuilding so he called in Al Bell.
Al Bell liked the family atmosphere at Stax but he needed to make a lot of records and make 'em quick (like Motown). He had to create an "instant catalogue," to replace the chestnuts Stax no longer owned. He brought in Don Davis to help make all these new records.
Johnnie Taylor got busy, cranking out one of the first hits for the "new"Stax- Who's Making Love, a record that sounded a little more Detroit than Memphis. Taylor never abonded the Blues though, cutting records in "southern" and "northern" styles throughtout his tenure at Stax..earning the title of "philosopher of soul."
His career spanned into the late 90's, as he returned to soulful Blues for the Malaco label, cuting records almost until his death in 2000. A versatile singer who had hits with gospel ,soul,blues and disco records, he is indicitive of the talent Stax had after the famous and PBS - approved Stax of the late 60's was long gone.
Don't let the marketers fool ya..there was more than enough great stuff going on at Stax post- Atlantic and a lot of it comes from Johnnie Taylor..it's nice that the new Concord/Universal deal is slowly bringing this stuff to light, because it is indeed worthy.
To show how Stax was gradually beginning to include the Detroit sound, check out Johnnie's '69 cover of George Clinton's Detroit recorded-I Wanna Testify, which was The Parliaments first big hit '68, prior to the earthly arrival of the mothership. Johnnie Taylor-Testify (I Wanna)
The Parliaments-I Wanna Testify
Booker T & the MG's:More Than Just Green Onions
In the mid to late 70's, in it's pop hey day, disco, ran roughshod over R&B and Funk, basically shuffling both genres out of the pop culture mix. Disco was cheap to make, a producers medium, and it was popular. Quickly gone were all the fussy artists and their expensive bands..the biz had found the solution.
Some folks didn't go for it though..the anti-disco backlash quickly drove the genre back to the underground..where it flourished. One holdover from the disco era was the primacy of the DJ..as record promoter, remixer, and tastemaker. As club music splintered off into many combinations throughout the 80's the DJ's remained.
One section of the DJ world played "classics"..not necessarily disco, but whatever the DJ thought would move the crowd. For the most part they didn't do beat matching or long transitions between songs or very much mixing at all. It was all about the songs, the whole songs.There was no rush, folks had come to dance, and they were ready to go til sun came up. These Loft parties had a real communal feel..no velvet ropes..everyone was welcome.
One of the tunes that made the cut in the Loft scene in New York was from the last Booker T & The MG's record, Melting Pot. A long percussion filled track, Melting Pot was a far cry from Green Onions and the short instrumentals of the MG's early Stax years. This track has jazz,funk, and tribal elements that would become the building blocks of various versions of house music that would emerge as the 80's melted into the 90's. That DJ's singled it out is also a testament to their open minds and the "all about the music" spirit that drove post-disco clubland. The 80's were real progressive in that regard, breaking down boundaries, as the music business kept throwing them up.
The whole Melting Pot album is worth your time, but the title cut, very futuristic for 1970, may be the most influential in the MG's impressive catalog. Booker T & The MG's-Melting Pot
My little Memphis excursion here is really just the tip of the iceberg...I didn't even mention Otis Redding, Sun Records, B.B. King, or Al Green, so you know the river runs deep through the Bluff City.
originally posted 4.28.07
In 1989 I lived in New London,CT, worked as a roofer, DJ'ed at WCNI (Connecticut College), and lived in a house with 4 other DJ's from the station. All of us were long past finishing or getting kicked out of college. Needless to say music was pretty important to us and I learned an awful lot there.
The characters were: Me, Mr.P-Funk, Hip Hop guy (listening then:X-clan, James Brown,PE,Black Heat); Rob: By day an accountant, by night a hard drinking, indie rock animal. (Slint,Fetchin' Bones); Greg: Mr.Acoustic, listener to all things americana. (Doc Watson,Johnson Mountain Boys);Tim (we called him King Tubby), muckety muck at WCNI and all around collector of "good" music, but specializing in reggae;Tapes: the sound guy at the local music haunt, The El N' Gee, where over the years many of todays MOG heroes paid some dues. Tapes had all those shows,over 1,000 in his collection. (The Reducers, Joe Louis Walker).
I probably would've stayed in this music cocoon for eternity, except that New London was a military sub building town and peace was breaking out all over the world and folks didn't want to buy any more submarines. So as good a time as I was having (and I was having a very good time), the town was running about 50% unemployment. This eventually led to a lay off for me from the roofing job I had. There I was in music nirvana, but I had no job.
Unemployment did not stop me from going to the local Strawberries and picking up a new Funkadelic single I'd read about called By Way of the Drum. It said all the right things on the back, produced by George Clinton, Eddie Hazel-Guitar, and from the forthcoming album,By Way of the Drum. Now he're was something to save that government check for! I waited and waited for this record, so long I almost forgot about it, so long that I moved from New London (unemployment ran out).
I ended up in Chicago, a new phase in my life and eventually the P-Funk machine started up again with tours, George Clinton Albums, and a renewed interest in all things funky. My move to Chicago forced me to dump all my 12" vinyl including, By Way of the Drum, and with my first music biz job and all my new surroundings I finally forgot about the "lost" Funkadelic LP.
I am now, almost 20 years on, happy to report that By Way of the Drum, has been found! Re-issued by Hip-O Select and currently only available on line, I now have the CD in my grubby little hands, and for me, that is a very cool thing. I'm not going to tell you that Drum is on the level with classics like Maggot Brain or even Uncle Jam Wants You, but it is different (in a good way) from material The Mob released in the late 80's- early 90's. The 80's sounding drums and synths are in full effect, but the guitars are hard and up in the mix a lot more. "Sunshine of Your Love "(one of the only covers I've ever seen on a legit Funkadelic record) and 'Some Fresh Delic" feature guitar goodness from Hazel,Hampton, and McKnight, and the rest of the LP is certainly not de void of funk with hip hop styles very much present. In the end, if you are not a fan, this prolly ain't for you, but if you are it is a good day.Funk on,children.
