I’ve already written how late to the game I was on Funkadelic – it was too much for my teenage brain when it was current, and it took me many years to think of funk as something I’d just listen to (meaning: not dance music). I didn’t understand; I’ll apologize to anyone necessary.
I did have one George Clinton album that had been in my collection since it came out, and then a really good live P-Funk CD collection.
But ya know what I didn’t have until two years ago? Not one single Parliament record. Even as I was building up my Funkadelic, Parliament didn’t infiltrate.
If you’re confused about the difference, the main players in Parliament, at least when “Chocolate City” was released in 1975, were George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Tiki Fulwood, Fuzzy Haskins, Eddie Hazel, Bernie Worrell, Gary Shider, and more. Whereas the Funkadelic album from that year, “Take It To The Stage,” featured George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Tiki Fulwood, Fuzzy Haskins, Eddie Hazel, Bernie Worrell, Gary Shider, and more. Hope that clears it up.
Also, just to compound the difference, consider this instruction on the master tape label (here used as a sleeve for Chocolate City):
I guess the major difference is that Parliament makes more use of vocal harmonies, which the group was founded on, than Funkadelic does, and that definitely gives this record something more of a mainstream feeling. But it’s still awesome funk-pop.
Oooo, yeah!!! Bring on the P to go with the Funk!! I love this one a lot . . . especially the title track and “Ride On,” which was a motivational cycling jam when I was doing the Tour des Trees. (I mean, yeah, I know it’s not ABOUT cycling, ahem, but, still . . . )
Yeah, I love this one too, and need to remember to put it in the rotation when playing Funkadelic – where I tend to run through my whole collection at once. That’ll be easier to remember if I ever get through this project and can reorganize my records by genre, rather than straight alphabetical, because that’s mostly how I listen these days.