Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

Cover of Maggot Brain

In a studio in Hollywood, CA I met up this crazy vato by the name of Milton Carrillo.  I thought my musicology hard drive was full until I met this funk fiend from The Valley.  The tree trunk from down under, Sam, said if you want to put sound to your film this is the man.  So Carrillo and I started rapping about old school R&B, Rock, and all the jams I was groovin' to in the space Cadillac on the way down here.  This cat blew my mind, he started spinnin' Dub Reggae, Electronics, and best of all Old School Funk!

So, thanks to my Mexican brother from another mother I would like to lay down my thoughts on Funkadelic's must own (preferably on vinyl) Maggot Brain.  In the mid-sixties George Clinton was starting to put together the mega group that would later be known as Parliament Funkadelic.  So before P-Funk gravitated towards their famous mix of electronic/R&B sound of the late seventies and early eighties, Funkadelic was bringing the soul and psychedelics out of the sixties movement.

The band was based out of Detroit in 1968 and the their third album, Maggot Brain, was laid down in 1971.  The classic group consisted of Billy Bass Nelson, guitarist Tawl Ross, drummer Tiki Fulwood, and most notably lead guitarist Eddie Hazel.  Hazel's opening nine minute solo on the first track of the album can easily hold water with Hendrix, Townshend, and Clapton.  The album then explodes with classic pop tracks like "Can you get to that" and "Hit It and Quit It".  With the help and backing of the Parliament singers, who went unaccredited for most of Funkadelic's run due to contractual conflicts, Maggot Brain is a masterpiece of fusion: Funk, Pop, Soul, and Psychodelic Rock.

Unfortunately after the recording of Maggot Brain Funkadelic fell apart.  Eddie Hazel, who may go down as one of the most underrated rock guitarist of all time, left the band and rumor has it Tawl Ross went on a bad trip or became a speed freak (that stuff will get ya man).  Leave it to George Clinton though, the musical genius, to completely rebuild and set the world on fire again with a new sound and a new band.  In my opinion owning Maggot Brain is like owning a little piece of music history.  That is why I'm puttin' in the trunk of the space Caddy before Dominguez and I ship out.  Thanks Carrillo...you the man!  R.I.P. Garry Shider.

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