Funkadelic: One Nation Under A Groove - 1978

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I was never a huge fan of either late seventies-era Funkadelic (preferring their earlier output reviewed above) or Parliament, while I enjoyed several of their more popular tracks, overall I found them a tad too indulgent on occasions, but, as everyone knows, that was part of their whole groove thang, man. After all, that is what I like about the earlier albums, so I am contradicting myself, aren't I? 

Anyway, this was their most successful album, by far, bringing their unique (well, along with Parliament, of course), brand of “black rock” to people’s attention. The music was chock full of fuzzy lead guitar, chunky riffs, “proper” drums and extended solos. 

It was the perfect merger of rock and funk, exemplified on the catchy single, One Nation Under A Groove - a clarion call for a funky cross-boundary unity and getting down just for the funk of it - and the eleven minute plus rock workout of Who Says A Funk Band Can’t Play Rock? 

Also impressive are Grooveallegiance and the muscular funk/rap of Cholly (Funk Getting Ready To Roll) but the Isaac Hayes-style titled Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (The Doo Doo Chasers) is an example of the rambling, pointless indulgence I was talking about earlier. 

“Music to clean your shit by” goes one of the many somewhat tasteless defecation-inspired lyrics, mumbled incoherently over a backing of deep bass, searing guitar and Prince-esque wailing (he must have been influenced by this). Look, it’s great in that it gets into a solid, funky groove, but a bit more of a concise approach would have been to my taste. That said, the guitar on it is superb. 

Into You is a pretty convincing serving of walking pace funk, but it is again guilty of rambling without really getting anywhere. Maggot Brain (Think It Ain’t Illegal Yet) is a killer guitar workout, mind. Overall, it is a bit of an indigestible offering, to be honest, but its influence was considerable. The sound isn’t wonderful on the original album, either, suffering from a slightly indistinct, low-volume and muffled production, but it is an album that needs mentioning as a cornerstone of its sub-sub genre. The 2015 remaster is a real improvement, however.

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