NMC #196 (FUNKADELIC)

[Jon]

by "bringin' the funk" Jon

This is the first Funkadelic album in 33 years and contains 33 tracks so it was a bit of a chore to cut it down to 10 tracks. I weeded out most of the tracks featuring Auto-Tune & rap which brought it down to 15. Another hour was spent scanning the remaining tracks, trying to find those that would, possibly, interest those who take their time to listen. 

The album features around a trillion guests, most notably Sly Stone who is featured on "The Naz". 

WARNING: Even though this needs to be played at max volume in order to enjoy all the funky goodness, there might be some naughty language.

Funkadelic--first ya gotta Shake The Gate (December 2014)

1. Catchin' Boogie Fever

2. The Naz

3. Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard On You?

4. Dirty Queen

5. Zip It

6. In Da Kar

7. Pole Power

8. Radio Friendly

9. Boom There We Go Again

10. As In

[Scott]

Dis gonna be DOPE!  know wha Im sayin?  Props Holmes, I'll hit this on the flip side, know wha Im sayin?

[RJhog (Admin)]

To each his own, right?  That's what I say.  So Jon likes this stuff.  For me, the first three tracks are absolutely nothing to listen to.  But the fourth track, Dirty Queen, is pretty cool.  Much heavier.  It actually has a rock feel to it.  Especially with the drumming.  And then it's back to....rap I guess.  Not a terrible song but pretty monotonous.  

In Da Kar is not good.  Way too repetitive.  The only thing notable is the guitar interlude toward the end.  Pole Power? What is this, hip-hop? Radio Friendly does nothing to improve upon this repitition.  On the bright side, the rap that starts about 5 minutes in or so reminds me of the character Martin Lawrence played in Blue Streak.  You know, when he delivers the pizza.

Now, a song that comes in under 3 minutes.  Think I might like this one.  I do like the synthesizer riff.  Okay, seriously, it's not really any better.  But wait, a fiddle (or violin, if you prefer), starts of As In.  This sounds like a real song.  This sounds like it could be a Bond theme song.  Second best song here (Dirty Queen is the best).

Overall, different, interesting for a bit, but I don't really understand how you could listen to 33 songs of this stuff.  Just not something I'd buy.

[Scott]

First off...  I am not catching anything called Boogie Fever!  I've taken all pre-cautions since this has been a particularly bad flu season...

Second, this style of music doesn't bother me, as an avid and lifelong Earth Wind and Fire fan, I can appreciate some good soul, funk, and boogie wonderland.  Heck I even really like the new Daft Punk, but then again Chic and Nile Rogers also know how to freak out and dance dance dance.  But EWF and NR set the bar high. 

Must admit, I didn't turn it off! or skip around... BUT...  While it had some get down-get funky moments I'm not sure its hardcore funky enough to break my already right-on solid soul sensibility nor does it make me want to break out the dance moves.  Ain't nobody got time for that!

You know that bass line opening to Dirty Queen kind of reminds me of "Jungle" from KISS' Carnival of Souls.  hmmmm.... Now I could talk about KISS for hours and this track is right on the edge of rockin' me out of my funky mood.  Lucky for you it ended before I got there!

Cant say the "rappin" works for me but I'm not hatin ' this Zip It track.  I'm not a hater anyway, I'm just not into that rap stuff, though there are times when it can enhance a tune, 'Roll The Bones' for example.  None of this is bad, well except for "As In", that wasn't good at all, in fact it was really weird.

Know wha I'm sayin!!!