Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove
While it's possible (although improbable) that you haven't heard One Nation Under A Groove, it's impossible, especially if you have listened to popular music in the last 15 years, to not recognise some of its hooks - maybe the shouted background vocal of "Feet don't fail me now" or the legato vocal of "Ready or not, here we come" (memorably appropriated by The Fugees). It's an immense, gigantic, month-long marquee tent full of groove-funk, led by the inimitable George Clinton who was, at the same time, making brassier, bassier funk with Parliament, on an entirely different record label. The result was, at a later date, Parliament Funkadelic, but that's another story.
The song is pretty much just .. funky (if it's not clear, funk is not something I know a hell of a lot about) - maybe a bit groovier than Parliament, which is all brassy, party grooves. It's all Hendrix-flavoured noodly guitars, bouncing bass, smooth as butter backing vocals and a vocal that ranges between croony and mellow to excited and exhortational. And it's long at seven and a half minutes. This must be the Stairway To Heaven of funk - you get the feeling that in music stores in 70s Harlem, there was a sign above all the bass guitars saying something Wayne's World-ish like "No Groove". And, like Stairway, it's an anthemic song that's inspired everyone from Prince to Outkast to those funk-thieves The Red Hot Chili Peppers and all manner of g-funk and hip-hop music.
Verdict: National Anthem of the United States of Funk
Tomorrow: Aretha Franklin - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
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In the world of Funk (and Funkadelic) a seven and a half minute track is but a flash in the pan. The "Stairway to Heaven" of funk probably runs for about as long as the Paleozoic era, whereas this tune proabbly would need to be padded out to qualify as a ringtone for Messrs Clinton, Collins and co.
ReplyDeleteGood point. That's probably why I, as a disciple of The Dwarves, a band that can complete an entire album in the time it takes Parliament to get to the first verse of a song*, just can't understand funk.
ReplyDelete* Seriously, I was particularly bleak to realise that the first Dwarves album I bought was not long enough to last the entire drive home from the CD shop, which was 15 minutes drive away.