"Ain't nothin' but a party ya'll." This popular George Clinton refrain all but sums up his performance with the P-Funk All Stars last Friday at Rams Head. While today's pop scene may not pay attention to Clinton and his funky cohorts, his live shows are still some of the most explosive around.
At their latest Baltimore appearance, Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars tapped into generations of funkiness. The show started with Clinton's granddaughter's funk group, The Children of Production, a decent band who did not overplay their act. Although there was no enormous spaceship descending from the ceiling as in past P-Funk concerts, Clinton remained a powerful presence, introducing the band from backstage in a godlike voice.
Behind his expansive band, Clinton made his appearance sporting a Sean John sweat suit, sunglasses, gold rings and his trademark multi-colored dreadlocks. The show was full of energy from beginning to end, with a stream of hit songs including "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)," "Mothership Connection," "Flashlight," "One Nation Under a Groove" and "Atomic Dog." The P-Funk All Stars gave the people their money's worth as the show lasted for more than three hours and never failed to excite the crowd. "Diaper Man" carried and played his guitar while running around the stage in a towel diaper and basketball shoes. Gene "Poo-Poo Man" Anderson continually hyped up the crowd in his multiple eccentric costumes, including a pimp suit, cowboy suit, and a king's outfit. Upon first entering the stage, Carlos "Sir Nose" McMurray declined the funk, giving Clinton a middle finger, until he reached an astoundingly funky revelation that left him dancing the night away. There were numerous vocalists, including the hip "Peaches" spinning and singing on old-school roller skates. The numerous sexual innuendos created with musical instruments were hilarious, giving the show a great sense of humor.
The horn section, consisting of one saxophonist and one trumpet player, were truly remarkable. Despite the fact that there were only two of them, they added tons of color to the heavily guitar-based band. In one instance, saxophonist Greg Thomas put down his saxophone and began to scat in an emphatic jazz style. Even the keyboardist, usually the least appreciated member of any band, controlled the crowd with his infinitely funky improvised solos. In many occasions, the musicians left for a short while others took their place, helping to prolong the immense continuous amount of energy, pouring from the stage. Yet drummer Frankie "Kash" Waddy was able to keep the rhythm going throughout the whole night, taking only one five-minute break. Although the almost 65-year-old Clinton cannot move like he used to, he showed that he still has what it takes to groove while dancing with the female crowd. After more than 40 years in the music business, Clinton's voice has not lost any of its tone and intensity.
Clinton's funk legacy traces back to his junior high days, when he formed a barbershop doo-wop ensemble called The Parliaments, which landed the smash hit
"I Wanna Testify" in 1967. Although his early music reflected the popular Motown trends of the time, in the late 1960s and early 1970s he would cause upheaval in the music world with new instrumental techniques and styles.
The psychedelic movement in both jazz and rock transformed the era, and had a strong impact on Clinton, helping him further clarify the funk music he would exemplify. By fusing elements of R&B and acid rock, Clinton created a new version of funk.
This new funk further deepened James Brown's early funk and is still shaping the genre to this day.
By adding elements of psychedelia through spacey electronic grooves and expansive jams, Clinton's "P-Funk" became otherworldly. The "s" was dropped from the group's name, and Parliament was born.
Around the same time, Clinton created Funkadelic, essentially a rock group that blended psychedelic guitar lines, bizarre sound effects, booming bass lines and cosmological rants into danceable party music.
Parliament entailed the vocalists of George Clinton's music while Funkadelic supplied its instrumentals. They were often known as "P-Funk," for short, which became the label for their music.
These two groups performed together to create a massive conglomeration of musicians at every venue. Parliament Funkadelic released numerous concept albums focusing on current social and political issues. During the 1970s, the group had 40 R&B hit singles and four No. 1 hits.
Clinton's music continued to grow over the next two decades. In the 1980s, new electronic music themes inspired Clinton to create popular "electro-funk" songs such as "Atomic Dog."
As many emerging hip hop artists in the 1990s were inspired by P-Funk, Clinton's songs were sampled on numerous occasions by artists such as Outkast, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre. George Clinton's extraordinary influence on modern American music landed him multiple awards and recognitions, including Parliament/Funkadelic's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Friday night's concert proved that P-Funk can still funk up any crowd. The energy poured from the stage was endless throughout the show's entire three-hour span. It would be an understatement to call the performance a "concert," instead it was a non-stop party. After experiencing this transcendent event, I can only say, "You can't deny the funk."
