Mothership Connection is the fourth album by American funk band Parliament, released on December 15, 1975 on Casablanca Records. This concept album is often rated among the best Parliament-Funkadelic releases, and was the first to feature horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, previously of James Brown's backing band the J.B.'s.
| Mothership Connection | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | December 15, 1975 | |||
| Recorded | March–October 1975 [1] | |||
| Studio | United Sound, Detroit, Michigan, and Hollywood Sound, Hollywood, California | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 38:18 | |||
| Label | Casablanca NBLP 7022/Def Jam | |||
| Producer | George Clinton | |||
| Parliament chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Mothership Connection | ||||
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Mothership Connection became Parliament's first album to be certified gold and later platinum.[7] It was supported by the hit "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)," the band's first million-selling single. The Library of Congress added the album to the National Recording Registry in 2011, declaring that it "has had an enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music."[8]
Concept
editThe album is held together by an outer-space theme.[2] Describing the concept, George Clinton said "We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the White House. I figured another place you wouldn't think black people would be was in outer space. I was a big fan of Star Trek, so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a Cadillac, and we did all these James Brown-type grooves, but with street talk and ghetto slang."[9] The album's concept would form the backbone of P-Funk's concert performances during the 1970s, in which a large spaceship prop known as the Mothership would be lowered onto the stage.[10]
BBC Music described the album as a pioneering work of Afrofuturism "set in a future universe where black astronauts interact with alien worlds."[11] Journalist Frasier McAlpine stated: "As a reaction to an increasingly fraught 1970s urban environment in which African-American communities faced the end of the optimism of the civil rights era, this flamboyant imagination (and let's be frank, exceptional funkiness) was both righteous and joyful."[11]
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [2] |
| Billboard | (favorable)[5] |
| Blender | [12] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | A−[13] |
| Pitchfork | (8.5/10)[3] |
| PopMatters | (favorable)[14] |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable)[15] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [16] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | (10/10)[17] |
| Sputnikmusic | [18] |
On release, Rolling Stone called the album a "parody of modern funk" and stated that "unlike the Ohio Players or Commodores, the group refuses to play it straight. Instead, Clinton spews his jive, conceived from some cosmic funk vision."[15] In a positive review, Village Voice critic Robert Christgau stated that Clinton "keeps the beat going with nothing but his rap, some weird keyboard, and cymbals for stretches of side one," and described "Give Up the Funk" as "galactic."[13]
Retrospectively, Mothership Connection has been widely acclaimed, and it is typically considered to be one of the best albums by the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. Rolling Stone's 2003 review gave the record 5 stars: "The masterpiece, the slang creator, the icon builder, the master narrative--or 'the bomb,' as Clinton succinctly put it before anyone else." Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic called it "the definitive Parliament-Funkadelic album," in which "George Clinton's revolving band lineups, differing musical approaches, and increasingly thematic album statements reached an ideal state, one that resulted in enormous commercial success as well as a timeless legacy."[2] Dr. Dre famously sampled "Mothership Connection (Star Child)" on "Let Me Ride" and "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" on "The Roach (The Chronic Outro)", both from his 1992 album The Chronic.[citation needed]
The album has received many retrospective accolades, including being named VH1's 55th greatest album of all time. In 2012, it was ranked at number 276 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time; it was featured again on the 2020 edition, at number 363.[19][20] Vibe listed Mothership Connection in their "Essential Black Rock Recordings" list, and it was included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" | George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell | 7:41 |
| 2. | "Mothership Connection (Star Child)" | Clinton, Collins, Worrell | 6:13 |
| 3. | "Unfunky UFO" | Clinton, Collins, Garry Shider | 4:23 |
| Total length: | 18:17 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4. | "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication" | Clinton, Collins, Shider, Worrell | 5:03 |
| 5. | "Handcuffs" | Clinton, Glenn Goins, Janet McLaughlin | 4:02 |
| 6. | "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" | Jerome Brailey, Clinton, Collins | 5:46 |
| 7. | "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples" | Clinton, Collins, Shider | 5:10 |
| Total length: | 20:01 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "Star Child (Mothership Connection)" (Promo Radio Version) | Clinton, Collins, Worrell | 3:08 |
| Total length: | 41:26 | ||
Personnel
edit- Vocals - George Clinton (lead on "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" and "Mothership Connection (Star Child)"), Calvin Simon, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, Grady Thomas, Gary Shider (lead on "Handcuffs"), Glenn Goins (lead on "Unfunky UFO" and "Handcuffs"), Bootsy Collins
- Horns - Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Boom, Joe Farrell
- Bass guitar - Bootsy Collins, Cordell Mosson
- Guitars - Garry Shider, Michael Hampton, Glenn Goins, Bootsy Collins
- Drums and percussion - Tiki Fulwood, Jerome Brailey, Bootsy Collins, Gary Cooper
- Keyboards - Bernie Worrell (Minimoog, Wurlitzer electric piano, ARP Pro Soloist and String Ensemble, RMI Electra Piano, Hammond organ, grand piano, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet D6)[1]
- Backing vocals and handclaps - Gary Cooper, Debbie Edwards, Taka Kahn, Archie Ivy, Bryna Chimenti, Rasputin Boutte, Pam Vincent, Debra Wright, Sidney Barnes
- Production
- Produced by George Clinton
- Engineered by Jim Vitti (in Detroit, Michigan), Ralph (Oops) Jim Callon (in Hollywood, California)
- Mastered by Allen Zentz
- Photography by David Alexander
- Art Direction and Design by Gribbitt!
Chart positions
edit| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[21] | 13 |
| US R&B Albums[21] | 4 |
Certification
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[22] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Parliament's 1975 LP Mothership Connection revisited with Bernard Worrell". Soulculture.com. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
- ^ a b c d Birchmeier, Jason. Mothership Connection at AllMusic
- ^ a b Review: Mothership Connection Archived February 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Robins, Wayne (2016). A Brief History of Rock, Off the Record. Routledge. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-415-97472-1.
- ^ a b "Review: Mothership Connection". Superseventies.com. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
- ^ Keister, Jay (2019). "Black Prog: Soul, Funk, Intellect and the Progressive Side of Black Music of the 1970s" (PDF). American Music Research Center Journal. 28: 5–22. Retrieved January 29, 2021 – via colorado.edu.
- ^ "American album certifications – Parliament". Recording Industry Association of America.
- ^ "Registry Choices 2010: The National Recording Preservation Board (Library of Congress)". Loc.gov. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
- ^ Niesel, Jeff (2013-06-26). "Cleveland - Music - Turn This Mutha Out". Clevescene.com. Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
- ^ Richards, Chris (May 18, 2011). "Smithsonian acquires Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ^ a b McAlpine, Frasier (2 March 2018). "8 afrofuturist classics everyone needs to hear". BBC Music. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
- ^ Review: Mothership Connection [dead link]
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: P". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^ Bowden, Marshall. "Review: Mothership Connection". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
- ^ a b McEwen, Joe (March 25, 1976). "Mothership Connection | Album Reviews | Rolling Stone". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). Review: Mothership Connection. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780743201698. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
- ^ Rubin, Mike (1995). "P-Funk". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. New York: Vintage Books. p. 296. ISBN 0679755748.
- ^ "Review: Mothership Connection". Sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
- ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
- ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
- ^ a b Mothership Connection at AllMusic
- ^ "American album certifications – Parliament – Mothership Connection". Recording Industry Association of America.