Funkadelic – Uncle Jam Wants You
This was a 1979 release – there were three other albums between “Let’s Take It to the Stage” and this, but I don’t have any of them, yet. Of all my Funkadelic records, this one gets the least play. It’s not the politics, because I’m down with all of that, but the incorporation of military/martial elements that proves a huge turn-off to me. Even as a reference, military drumbeats and drill-team call and response just makes me cringe. Not a fan of military culture. So even where that’s not the intent, when I hear those martial beats harnessed into funk, I’m just turned off. In a sense that’s a shame, because these are some funky dance beats once you get past that. I want to love the subversion and the message, but it just doesn’t connect with me. That’s okay, there are six or seven other Funkadelic records that do.
Not one of my faves, either. Neither are the ones you don’t have before (and after) this one. Hard to put my finger on it, but something changed for me in terms of how I heard Funkadelic after “Let’s Take It To The Stage.” I guess at bottom line, it’s that after that album, it became harder to tell Funkadelic and Parliament apart, as they sorta merged into “P-Funk.” Nothing wrong with P-Funk, obviously, but the more guitar/organ-heavy stuff of early Funkadelic days worked better for me than than the later wiggly synths and slap bass and slicker production of the later ’70s stuff. “Motor Booty Affair” is, for me, the very best of that more merged P-Funk era in the late ’70s. It’s really the only one I listen to all that often anymore after “Stage” and “Funkentelechy” on the Parliament side.
Yeah, other than getting Maggot Brain on vinyl, this may be all I need. I have George and the P-Funk All Stars “Live…and Kickin'” on CD, kinda covers the bases for the merged era, and it’s fine. Coming at all this backwards, I started by knowing P-Funk and then trying to figure out how we got there from Parliament and Funkadelic, and that was confusing!