Mothership Connection

Track Listings

1. P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)

2. Mothership Connection (Star Child)

3. Unfunky UFO

4. Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication

5. Handcuffs

6. Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)

7. Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
God bless George Clinton, ya'll. Space oddities, extraterrestrial freak shows, spiritual salvation, and sex, drugs, more drugs, and something that sounded a lot like rock & roll. Such was the universe conjured up by visionary nut job George Clinton and a band that included Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worell, and Gary Shider. Shoutouts go to tearing the roof offa the sucker, making my funk the P-funk (indeed), and David Bowie (yeah that's right). --Amy Linden

Mothership Connection,Parliament,Polygram Records,Funk,Pop,Psychedelic Soul,R&B,Soul,Soul/Reggae/Rhythm & Blues

Tracks:

P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
Mothership Connection (Star Child)
Unfunky UFO
Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication
Handcuffs
Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give up the Funk)
Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples
Star Child (Mothership Connection) (Promo Radio Version) (Bonus Track)

Customer Reviews:

Classic P-Funk.......2007-07-17

A must have for all concerned. This is uncut funk. Buy this CD now!

Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip.......2007-06-20

I'm by no means a funk expert. I spend most of my time listening to the likes of Rush, Porcupine Tree, and Pain of Salvation. But we all have the urge to explore and from time to time get our groove on. The Mothership is the place to do it. This was my first venture into Gearge Clinton's world and it still remains my favorite. From the opening "Do not attempt to adjust your radio," To the closing "Ga Ga Do Ga's" of Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples, This is a masterpiece. Clinton's skills as a songwriter, producer, and band leader are impressive to say the least. Through layers of vocals, horns and Bootsie's bouncing bass he guides his creation on a flawless musical journey. Philosophically he shares a great deal with the practitioners of progressive rock exploreing far and wide, relying on the virtuosity of his bandmates,incorporateing all styles he can get his hands on, and lets face it Bernie Worrell reaches stratospheres Rick Wakeman only dreamed of. The end result is a groove laden voyage to a place somewhere between Shaft and The Outer Limits. It's very strange, very out there, and very satifying.

Legendary.......2007-05-10

No other funk album of this era or any other moved me the way this one did,I not only had the pleasure of seeing this tour twice during that time but also actually had the pleasure of hanging out with these guys after one of the shows!, little did I know at the time just how significant this would be, Glen Goins was my all time favorite not to mention the fact that I play guitar as well.
Mike Hampton gave me a couple of picks, I still to this day have them.

Space Is The Place.......2007-01-10

This is funk the way it should be, as Parliament keeps the groove going strong in the original seven cuts, plus one bonus track.

Released in February 1976, the album and the single - Tear The Roof Off The Sucker - charted on both the Billboard pop (album, #13; single, #15) and black charts (album, #4; single, #5). Yes, gotta give a shout out to that music industry segregation!

With Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley adding more power to the horn section - which also featured the Becker Bros. - the trio of George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell pen three dynamite numbers; P-Funk, Mothership Connection & Give Up The Funk.

The album is also the debut of Starchild - a character based on Sun Ra's Black Noah - in the P-Funk Mythology. Starchild's life is explained further in the 1976 album, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.

Arguably the greatest Parliament album ever, you will wear out the CD before growing tired of the rhythms on Mothership Connection.

Make mine the P-Funk.......2006-12-26

In 1975, the Mothership touched down. Sure, there had been Parliament albums before this, but none had been remotely like this. It's a concept album, but don't let that scare you off, because the concept is funk from outer space that had been stored in the pyramids and was being retrieved by "Star Child". And the whole thing is as utterly goofball as the concept suggests. Okay, onto the music...
Things open with P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up), an excellent intro to the band's new direction if there ever was one. It's eight minutes of groove, with George (and Sir Lollipop Man, alias the long-haired sucka)'s hilarious, offhand spoken comments about how Funk can save your life - but only P-Funk, that is funk played by station WEFUNK, which of course comes from space. The next song, Mothership Connection (Starchild) is arguably the best of the bunch. Of course you can dance to it, and you'll probably end up singing along with the "swing low, sweet chariot stop and/let me ride" bridge. Hell, you might even burst out singing it randomly when it isn't playing. It's happened to me.
You don't hear much about the next three tracks, but they're all worth hearing, too. First off is the ironically funky Unfunky UFO, about saving a "dying world" from its "unfunkiness", which to me means "its lack of peace and unity" - it's amazing just what Clinton could do with the "funk" metaphor. Madcap genius, or what? Anyway, great message, even better song. Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication (The Thumps Bump), one of the coolest titles ever (its only rival being Parliament's own Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadooloop)), follows. To me, this stretches the metaphor from last tune - maybe I'm overanalyzing, but if I am I like what I'm picking up. Anyway, this is another unforgettable lost classic. Next is Handcuffs, perhaps the weakest song here, but a great tune that would've led the pack on a lesser disc. It's by far the most traditional thing here, a love (okay, sex) song not related to the concept, and a charming, clever one at that - sort of like Wizard of Finance.
Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) is anthem central. Sure, the lyrics are simple, with just a couple phrases repeated for six minutes. But it's more about the groove than the lyrics - rap would probably NOT have happened without this song, and though I wouldn't complain about that, why blame Parliament for their followers? Anyway, it's a great song - subtle horn arrangement, heavy bass, drums and keyboards (the Bernie Worrel show!), unforgettable intro sung in baritone over percussion (sound like rap to anyone?) Classic stuff. Lastly is Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples. It's hilarious, a chant that begins with "I am high/we are high...". Hilarious!
Of course, Parliament was dominated by George Clinton, but it wouldn't have happened without Bernie Worrell or Bootsy Collins. Long live George, Bernie and Bootsy, everybody's favorite utterly goofball geniuses!

Average customer rating:

Parliament Tape
JUST A FUNK MUST-HAVE!!!!
The best funk album of all time!
An absolute "MUST" have to qualify as a funk connoisseur
The Boys are still makin' noise and tearing the roof

Mothership Connection
Parliament
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | R&B | Styles | Music

General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music

General | Funk | R&B | Styles | Music

Psychedelic Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome
Motor Booty Affair
One Nation Under a Groove

ASIN: B000001FCM
Release Date: 1990-02-21

Tracks:

P. Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)
Mothership Connection (Star Child)
Unfunky UFO
Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication
Handcuffs
Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)
Night Of The Thumpasorus Peoples

Amazon.com essential recording

God bless George Clinton, ya'll. Space oddities, extraterrestrial freak shows, spiritual salvation, and sex, drugs, more drugs, and something that sounded a lot like rock & roll. Such was the universe conjured up by visionary nut job George Clinton and a band that included Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worell, and Gary Shider. Shoutouts go to tearing the roof offa the sucker, making my funk the P-funk (indeed), and David Bowie (yeah that's right). --Amy Linden

Customer Reviews:

Parliament Tape.......2007-05-13

The music is great. I remember it from when I was a teen. The only reason I didn't give you a 5 is the tape case was broken on one end. I had to get an old one I had and replace it. Don't worry about it...Sandra

JUST A FUNK MUST-HAVE!!!!.......2003-08-30

Aside from it's legendary "bombs" "P-Funk" and "Give Up The
Funk" and the beyonf classic tital track the wonderful thing about "Mothership Connection" is that every track here is a funk
number-there are no ballads or poor attempts at other styles to
interrupt it's flow of groove.So by the time you get the the
primal,deeply bassy,horn-packed finale of "Night Of The
Thumpasorus People" you really don't know what hit you.And that
pretty much sums this up even for me!

The best funk album of all time!.......2003-02-25

In the summer of 1976 I was a 14yr-old white boy and I would walk down to the local public school playground for the summer crafts and games - on Fridays they would have a "dance" in one of the bungalows - kids would bring their 45's and we'd play them on a portable record player and dance all afternoon...

Someone brought "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker" one day - I freaked out on it and from that day on I was a music freak.

You must hear this album if you like groovy bass and rythms and the electronic keyboards are so way out...

"There's a whole lotta rythm goin round!"

An absolute "MUST" have to qualify as a funk connoisseur.......2003-01-02

I bought the album/LP when it first came out in 1975. I bought the CD last year SPECIFICALLY for Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples. This cut has the deepest, nastiest, funkiest BASS synthesizer lines I have ever heard. Bernie Worrell set the pace that has YET to be climaxed with his innovative minimoog bass lines. Of course, FLASHLIGHT became a signature jam for Worrell, but 'Night' set the course for what was to come later
in the history of P-Funk.

When I first heard P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) on the radio in 1975 my reaction was, "What the heck is this???" Some whacked out guy talking about the "chocolate milky way", "Sir Lollipop Man, alias the long-haired sucker... my motto is..." ,
and the REST is history!!!

Then they start sayin', "If you hear any noise, it's just me and the boys... hit me!" and "swing down sweet chariot stop and, let me ride". I was going out of my mind!!!

Side two got even FUNKIER! This album was TOO good to be true!
Supergroove... has some of the weirdest, wackiest, yet wonderful
experiments with the capabilities of the ARP Pro-Soloist synthesizer ever recorded! Give Up the Funk is Parliament's "definitive" FUNK anthem. I remember THIS song being extremely popular among many one my white friends and it even made the local AM playlists (which was rare for an all black
funk group in the 70's). I especially liked the horn arrangements and Worrell's use of the ARP String Ensemble in this jam.

The album concludes with the Thumpasorus Peoples. In 1975, my
52 year old father REALLY liked this song, especially the chanting (ga ga goo ga, ga ga goo ga... ga ga goo ga ga!!!) He thought it was kinda' neat. And as a teen, I thought it was really cool that even my dad could appreciate the FUNK!

The Original "P" band that travels around doing P-Funk concerts to this day (2002) opens their show with the Thumpasorus Peoples.
If this group comes to your neighborhood GO AND SEE THEM! You will NOT be disappointed.

The Boys are still makin' noise and tearing the roof.......2002-10-15

This is the classic and essential Mothership Connection. P-Funk wants to get funk up, give up the funk, Handcuffs, and the title track. This is the best funk album you will ever own.

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