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Lunch » Tags » Music » Reviews » Parliament: Mothership Connection

Parliament: Mothership Connection

3 Ratings: 4.0

Album released by Casablanca in 1975; remastered CD was issued on 4/8/03.

Mothership Connection is the fourth album by American funk band Parliament, released in 1975.[1] This concept album of P Funk mythology is usually rated as one of Parliament's best. Mothership Connection was the first P-funk album to feature Maceo … see full wiki

Tags: Music, Albums, R&b, Funk

1 review about Parliament: Mothership Connection

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Chocolate-Coated, Freaky, and Habit-Forming

Nov 20, 2008

by DesignDude

Rating:

I never want Mothership Connection to be my favorite Parliament album, simply because it is the most obvious choice. Who knows if it's the wealth of top-notch funk, the sheer number of killer samples that have propelled other great tracks from other musicians for decades since the release of this 1975 classic, or the most articulate realization in the Parliament-Funkadelic catalog of George Clinton's vision of a cosmic battle for a little movement from your ass. Whatever it is, this Parliament album works like none other.

The gist of the most evolved theme running through the Parliament-Funkadelic cannon is the emergence of Starchild, a holy alien who benevolently travels to Earth to expose the human population to the wonders of funk. His arrival is known as the "Mothership Connection" and is described at length throughout this album. Over the following two years, the themes presented in Mothership Connection would be expanded and rehashed on The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (1976), in which we find that Starchild was once a protege to Dr. Funkenstein, who is responsible for concocting funk as a cosmic cureall; and Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome (1977), in which we see the full emergence of Sir Nose Devoid of Funk, who is Starchild's arch nemesis and a zealous opponent of all things funky.

Track after track on Mothership Connection feels like an instant classic--either because you once randomly heard it somewhere on AM radio, in a commercial or two created by a tuned-in director, or in countless hip-hop tracks over the last three decades. Thematically, this is a great place to start with Parliament, as the album not only introduces the Starchild-vs.-the funkless narrative, but also presents it in the most palatable way. Nearly every bit of this album will encourage you to move in ways you hadn't really thought reasonable, and that's essentially the point.

Mothership Connection unavoidably sounds dated, but I'm a big proponent of the idea that the '70s produced sounds in the studio that were so bizarre they will always sound a little fresh. Once you get past the insanely catchy mixture of horns and low end on this record, not to mention the comical poetry of George Clinton, you'll start recognizing the genius in Bernie Worrell's fingers on the keyboards, complemented by a handful of instruments you've never encountered making sounds you've never imagined. The effect is otherworldly, which suits an album about space travel and the universal battle to inspire humanity just perfectly.

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