What's a Good Parliament Funkadelic Book?

noz

so i've never read a book about clinton/funkadelic. i'm really not looking for some ricky vincent sooo funkaaay bullshit. i don't care about dude seshing with the red hot chili peppers or how the chronic was the rebirth of the fonk impulse. i just want to read about them taking tons of acid and making their first four albums. also ruth copeland.there are a handful of books on amazon, this one looks pretty good but i'm apprehensive.ok thanks guys.

butterybiscuits

not a book but did you read the Wax Poetics article on them?

jaymack

noz

naw i need to check that shit.

dCastillo

It's a solid one.

faux_rillz

so i've never read a book about clinton/funkadelic. i'm really not looking for some ricky vincent sooo funkaaay bullshit. i don't care about dude seshing with the red hot chili peppers or how the chronic was the rebirth of the fonk impulse. i just want to read about them taking tons of acid and making their first four albums. also ruth copeland.

there are a handful of books on amazon, this one looks pretty good but i'm apprehensive.



ok thanks guys.

Lloyd Bradley = a British Rickey Vincent



The Wax Po is definitely the best collection of writing on Parliament-Funkadelic that I've ever encountered. And the chapters of Fred Wesley's book detailing the time that he spent with them are worth checking.

Young_Phonics

I was about to do the same post; what sparked my interest was the Wax Poetics issue. And major co-sign on "not trying to see any of that funkateur bullshit.

I wonder what our boy 'Shied has to say about that though

MorseCode

I'm always amused at Ricky Vincent's reputation on the Strut and elsewhere. I took his From Funk to Hip Hop "class" (yes I know, ) when I was at CCSF for a semester. Dude was pretty classic, he would pull a deer in the headlights look any time I would bring up any local lesser known bay area musicians and just change the subject. I mean, I respect the amount of knowledge he has as far as the groups which he deems relevant and important enough to write and talk about, but there's a lot of holes in his "research". I'm curious to know in more detail though, why the Strut is particularly anti Vincent. Did I miss the original thread that sparked the FONK?

batmon

And major co-sign on "not trying to see any of that funkateur bullshit.

OK.

What wrong w/ Vincent's take on FUNK.

Ive been spanked on here before for bringing this up. Can I get get a rehash/re-spanking on the subject.

batmon

I'm always amused at Ricky Vincent's reputation on the Strut and elsewhere. I took his From Funk to Hip Hop "class" (yes I know, ) when I was at CCSF for a semester. Dude was pretty classic, he would pull a deer in the headlights look any time I would bring up any local lesser known bay area musicians and just change the subject. I mean, I respect the amount of knowledge he has as far as the groups which he deems relevant and important enough to write and talk about, but there's a lot of holes in his "research". I'm curious to know in more detail though, why the Strut is particularly anti Vincent. Did I miss the original thread that sparked the FONK?

BINGO.

faux_rillz

I'm curious to know in more detail though, why the Strut is particularly anti Vincent.

Poor writing.

Shoddy to downright irresponsible scholarship.

Wack ideology.

Criminal levels of corniness.










Bermp-bermp-chicka-bermp. OoooowwwwwwuuuuunnnnHHHH!

See you at the one!

noz

mainly my beef with vincent is that his definition of FONK is simultaneously too broad and too specific. he occupies a world where the red hot chili peppers are as important a funk band as the meters were, because the peppers recorded with fonk master george clinton.

i definitely have no problem with the line of thinking that cameo/late parliament/brick/etc is the epitome of funk, especially coming from an old head's perspective. i am by no means a gritty funk 45 elitist. but i think that for a so called funk historian to more or less skip the entire first wave of funk is just downright negligent. it's like writing the history of hip hop and starting with native tongues.

basically i think he weighs his personal taste over historical perspective.

and i can't stand his use of vernacular.

forgive me if i'm being to vague, i had to read dudes funk book for a class years ago, going by memory.

faux_rillz

he occupies a world where the red hot chili peppers are as important a funk band as the meters were, because the peppers recorded with fonk master george clinton.

This is a ridiculous mischaracterization!






















In Vincent's world, the Chili Peppers are far, far more important than the Meters.

faux_rillz

It bears repeating: so fonkaaaaaaay!

batmon

OoooowwwwwwuuuuunnnnHHHH!

faux_rillz

OoooowwwwwwuuuuunnnnHHHH!

All good music, but can we agree that what worked when Larry Blackmon was writing Lyrics for Cameo doesn't necessarily work when trying to write a serious book?

batmon

All good music, but can we agree that what worked when Larry Blackmon was writing Lyrics for Cameo doesn't necessarily work when trying to write a serious book?

OOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!

I finally realized that he omitted the FONK's embryonic fluid. He brisked over the 60's era. And he seemed old enuff to remember the transitions.

SoulOnIce

All good music, but can we agree that what worked when
Larry Blackmon was writing Lyrics for Cameo doesn't necessarily
help keep that photograph above from looking disturbing & absurd?

pickwick33

mainly my beef with vincent is that his definition of FONK is simultaneously too broad and too specific. he occupies a world where the red hot chili peppers are as important a funk band as the meters were, because the peppers recorded with fonk master george clinton.

i definitely have no problem with the line of thinking that cameo/late parliament/brick/etc is the epitome of funk, especially coming from an old head's perspective. i am by no means a gritty funk 45 elitist. but i think that for a so called funk historian to more or less skip the entire first wave of funk is just downright negligent. it's like writing the history of hip hop and starting with native tongues.

basically i think he weighs his personal taste over historical perspective.

and i can't stand his use of vernacular.

forgive me if i'm being to vague, i had to read dudes funk book for a class years ago, going by memory.

I was ready to dismiss the book based on the fact that Charles Wright wasn't in it (and if he was, the coverage was minimal - haven't seen the book in a long time, so if I'm wrong, remember that). Wright was no obscure private-press cat in the woods, he and his Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band charted regularly in the late sixties and early seventies (and even crossed over pop), so there was no reason for Vincent to gloss over him.

pickwick33

BUT GETTING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC...[/b]

...what you need to do is find the P-Funk entry in the "For The Record" series, which focused on oral histories of different artists (other FTR books were devoted to Sam & Dave and Sly & the Family Stone). The book is as thin as the paper its' printed on, but don't let the physical size fool you; there's a wealth of valuable info in there. Long out of print, but it turns up in used stores on the regular.

funky16corners

I'm curious to know in more detail though, why the Strut is particularly anti Vincent.

Poor writing.

Shoddy to downright irresponsible scholarship.

Wack ideology.

Criminal levels of corniness.










Bermp-bermp-chicka-bermp. OoooowwwwwwuuuuunnnnHHHH!

See you at the one!

What he said....

motown67

BUT GETTING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC...[/b]

...what you need to do is find the P-Funk entry in the "For The Record" series, which focused on oral histories of different artists (other FTR books were devoted to Sam & Dave and Sly & the Family Stone). The book is as thin as the paper its' printed on, but don't let the physical size fool you; there's a wealth of valuable info in there. Long out of print, but it turns up in used stores on the regular.

Beat me to it. This series is THE one to get. The stories are crazy and funny and in the words of the actual people who were involved in the band.

funky16corners

BUT GETTING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC...[/b]

...what you need to do is find the P-Funk entry in the "For The Record" series, which focused on oral histories of different artists (other FTR books were devoted to Sam & Dave and Sly & the Family Stone). The book is as thin as the paper its' printed on, but don't let the physical size fool you; there's a wealth of valuable info in there. Long out of print, but it turns up in used stores on the regular.

Beat me to it. This series is THE one to get. The stories are crazy and funny and in the words of the actual people who were involved in the band.

Anyone have any idea if this is in print? I have the Sly one and it's excellent.

Fatback

BUT GETTING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC...[/b]

...what you need to do is find the P-Funk entry in the "For The Record" series, which focused on oral histories of different artists (other FTR books were devoted to Sam & Dave and Sly & the Family Stone). The book is as thin as the paper its' printed on, but don't let the physical size fool you; there's a wealth of valuable info in there. Long out of print, but it turns up in used stores on the regular.

Beat me to it. This series is THE one to get. The stories are crazy and funny and in the words of the actual people who were involved in the band.

Anyone have any idea if this is in print? I have the Sly one and it's excellent.

I don't know, but those are excellent. They fall under the only type of shit I can read these days. My general philosophy, which Joel alludes to, is getting directly to the source. It makes sense. Not to mention that music writers are, more often than not, unable to put reasonable thoughts together, unable to conduct anything resembling research and all around pretentious cunts.

bull_ox

BUT GETTING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC...[/b]

...what you need to do is find the P-Funk entry in the "For The Record" series, which focused on oral histories of different artists (other FTR books were devoted to Sam & Dave and Sly & the Family Stone). The book is as thin as the paper its' printed on, but don't let the physical size fool you; there's a wealth of valuable info in there. Long out of print, but it turns up in used stores on the regular.

Beat me to it. This series is THE one to get. The stories are crazy and funny and in the words of the actual people who were involved in the band.

I thought I was the only one who knew... it doesn't look like anything I'd bother to pick up but someone gave it to me as a gift and it is awesome.

faux_rillz

BUT GETTING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC...[/b]

Ooooooowwwwnnnnnnunnnnnh! So fonkaaaay!

pkny

Noz, the liner notes to the "Music for Your Mother" comp contains some of the info you're looking for. And it's a damn fine comp of their Westbound era singles to boot.

pickwick33

...what you need to do is find the P-Funk entry in the "For The Record" series, which focused on oral histories of different artists (other FTR books were devoted to Sam & Dave and Sly & the Family Stone). The book is as thin as the paper its' printed on, but don't let the physical size fool you; there's a wealth of valuable info in there. Long out of print, but it turns up in used stores on the regular.

Beat me to it. This series is THE one to get. The stories are crazy and funny and in the words of the actual people who were involved in the band.

Anyone have any idea if this is in print? I have the Sly one and it's excellent.

Well, like I said in the last sentence of my original post, it has been out of print for quite some time, but it still turns up in used shops...