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Friday Funk #46 – ‘Funk Gets Stronger, Part 1’ and ‘(Killer Millimeter Longer Version)’ by Funkadelic
Friday Funk #46 – ‘Funk Gets Stronger, Part 1’ and ‘(Killer Millimeter Longer Version)’ by Funkadelic
Friday Funk #46 – ‘Funk Gets Stronger, Part 1’ and ‘(Killer Millimeter Longer Version)’ by Funkadelic
Happy birthday to Michael Hampton, Kidd Funkadelic, who turns 68 today!
In 1974, Funkadelic were touring Standing on the Verge of Getting It On, a guitar tour de force heavy on Eddie Hazel. Backstage at a at a show in Cleveland, someone told the band that a seventeen-year-old could play the 10-minute ‘Maggot Brain’ – another Hazel classic – “like he had written it”, wrote George Clinton. The band went to the kid’s house and watched him play the whole solo.
That kid was Michael Hampton, who joined them on tour and played with Parliament-Funkadelic for decades. His renditions of ‘Maggot Brain’ became staples of live shows. Hampton took a starring role on Funkadelic’s Let’s Take It To The Stage (1975) and even had the next album named after him (Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, 1976).
By 1981, record labels weren’t supporting Parliament or Funkadelic like they had done, but George was perservering – for now, before starting his solo career with 1982’s Computer Games. The last Funkadelic album before a 33-year gap (which 2014’s First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate gave a nod to with its 33 tracks) was 1981’s The Electric Spanking of War Babies. The album, in Clinton’s words, “examined the darker side of patriotism”.
Clinton described ‘Funk Gets Stronger’ as “our way of reminding people that we could take a punch.” The song was “an antidote to the electric spanking, the pure and powerful force that could stop the deception from happening.”
‘Part 1’ features Hampton on lead guitar with Roger Troutman on rhythm guitar. There’s a whole lot going on in the opening minute. The track starts with only percussion, including what sounds like a cuíca, the peculiar friction drum (named after a possum that emits a high pitched cry). This was likely played by Larry Fratangelo, percussionist on multiple P-Funk albums and credited on Electric Spanking.
The main guitar riff starts, implying a drum beat before there is one. It sounds like the kind of riff that could loop for the entire song, but just as you’ve become accustomed to it, the guitar drops out for a percussion and vocal section with Bootsy telling us to put it on the One.
Soon there are two guitars, one in each speaker. The main riff is on the right and dovetails nicely with the horn riff (listen with from 1:12). Saxophonists Pat Rizzo and Michael Brecker joined trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, in making this one of the few Funkadelic albums to feature horns. (The general rule, Clinton has said, was “No psychedelic guitars for Parliament and no horns on Funkadelic.”) Sometimes the guitar plays with the horns, sometime takes up where they left off, and sometimes seems independent.
The horn riff that persists through much of ‘Part 1’ and the second part of the song, ‘(Killer Millimeter Longer Version)’, only teases us to begin with. It’s not until nearly 3 minutes in that it returns. Luckily there’s a lot of other aspects to enjoy, with the cuíca popping up at unexpected moments and the guitar on the right sometimes playing the main riff and sometimes improvising.
Desire the unpredictability, the song is really built on repetition: the guitars, the bass, the lyrics (“Funk gets stronger”, “Roll call, she boogie”, “You keep holding me back”). There are no verses, quite, but rather a few phrases repeated through the song. But until you’ve listened to the song many times, you couldn’t guess which musical elements would accompany these lyrics. This is something P-Funk did so well: blending repetition with unpredictability.
George Clinton joins Bootsy on vocals. His “Roll call” lines add another rhythm that you could sway to or bounce to: the song is full of rhythm, but more restrained than much of Parliament’s funk, and Funkadelic’s One Nation Under a Groove. George’s “call” satisfyingly hits the One along with the band.
At a bridge section at 4:25, the bass switches to a gnarly slapped and popped line, and the cuíca has another moment to shine. Listen to how rarely the cuíca plays on the beat — it’s always hopping away from the metre.
‘Killer Millimeter Longer Version’ has Hazel on lead guitar and Sly Stone on rhythm guitar. Sly also sings, and the song has some of his “most poetric lyrics”, wrote Clinton. Sly’s voice is an intriguing rasp. The guitar in the left speaker gives his vocals space then plays scratchy, wah-wahed chords in between lines.
George sounds energised in this version. His laid back “Roll call” lines are gone, and he sings “You keep holding me back” with urgency. Sly was one of Clinton’s idols, and George sounds so thrilled to have him on a Funkadelic record: “I think I see Sly! Hey, Sly!” (You can also hear George say, “Yo, Sly!” at 1:43 during Sly’s verse. It’s not clear whether one part was overdubbed or whether George was so hyped to have Sly there he was shouting out during Sly’s recording.)
Sly references boxers Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), and Joe Frazier, as well as the latter two’s Thrilla in Manila fight. (Funk is a “silly millimeter longer”, and“As they say in the great big state of Texas / An armadillo millimeter longer”, and “A gorilla millimeter longer”, and “a Thrilla In Manila longer”.)
Sly & The Family Stone rarely mentioned funk explicitly. But Sly is fully onboard the power of funk train here. “Everything I do from now on is gonna be funky!”
At the end, the band sing a little of ‘She Loves You’ by The Beatles.
Though Funkadelic were about to take a 33-year break, the P-Funk gang continued to make great records with George Clinton, George Clinton’s Family Series, Bootsy Collins, P-Funk All Stars, Bernie Worrell, and an array of ‘solo’ acts that featured many P-Funkers. “Funkadelics say, ‘Funk gets stronger!’”
Happy birthday to Michael Hampton, Kidd Funkadelic, who turns 68 today!
In 1974, Funkadelic were touring Standing on the Verge of Getting It On, a guitar tour de force heavy on Eddie Hazel. Backstage at a at a show in Cleveland, someone told the band that a seventeen-year-old could play the 10-minute ‘Maggot Brain’ – another Hazel classic – “like he had written it”, wrote George Clinton. The band went to the kid’s house and watched him play the whole solo.
That kid was Michael Hampton, who joined them on tour and played with Parliament-Funkadelic for decades. His renditions of ‘Maggot Brain’ became staples of live shows. Hampton took a starring role on Funkadelic’s Let’s Take It To The Stage (1975) and even had the next album named after him (Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, 1976).
By 1981, record labels weren’t supporting Parliament or Funkadelic like they had done, but George was perservering – for now, before starting his solo career with 1982’s Computer Games. The last Funkadelic album before a 33-year gap (which 2014’s First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate gave a nod to with its 33 tracks) was 1981’s The Electric Spanking of War Babies. The album, in Clinton’s words, “examined the darker side of patriotism”.
Clinton described ‘Funk Gets Stronger’ as “our way of reminding people that we could take a punch.” The song was “an antidote to the electric spanking, the pure and powerful force that could stop the deception from happening.”
‘Part 1’ features Hampton on lead guitar with Roger Troutman on rhythm guitar. There’s a whole lot going on in the opening minute. The track starts with only percussion, including what sounds like a cuíca, the peculiar friction drum (named after a possum that emits a high pitched cry). This was likely played by Larry Fratangelo, percussionist on multiple P-Funk albums and credited on Electric Spanking.
The main guitar riff starts, implying a drum beat before there is one. It sounds like the kind of riff that could loop for the entire song, but just as you’ve become accustomed to it, the guitar drops out for a percussion and vocal section with Bootsy telling us to put it on the One.
Soon there are two guitars, one in each speaker. The main riff is on the right and dovetails nicely with the horn riff (listen with from 1:12). Saxophonists Pat Rizzo and Michael Brecker joined trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, in making this one of the few Funkadelic albums to feature horns. (The general rule, Clinton has said, was “No psychedelic guitars for Parliament and no horns on Funkadelic.”) Sometimes the guitar plays with the horns, sometime takes up where they left off, and sometimes seems independent.
The horn riff that persists through much of ‘Part 1’ and the second part of the song, ‘(Killer Millimeter Longer Version)’, only teases us to begin with. It’s not until nearly 3 minutes in that it returns. Luckily there’s a lot of other aspects to enjoy, with the cuíca popping up at unexpected moments and the guitar on the right sometimes playing the main riff and sometimes improvising.
Desire the unpredictability, the song is really built on repetition: the guitars, the bass, the lyrics (“Funk gets stronger”, “Roll call, she boogie”, “You keep holding me back”). There are no verses, quite, but rather a few phrases repeated through the song. But until you’ve listened to the song many times, you couldn’t guess which musical elements would accompany these lyrics. This is something P-Funk did so well: blending repetition with unpredictability.
George Clinton joins Bootsy on vocals. His “Roll call” lines add another rhythm that you could sway to or bounce to: the song is full of rhythm, but more restrained than much of Parliament’s funk, and Funkadelic’s One Nation Under a Groove. George’s “call” satisfyingly hits the One along with the band.
At a bridge section at 4:25, the bass switches to a gnarly slapped and popped line, and the cuíca has another moment to shine. Listen to how rarely the cuíca plays on the beat — it’s always hopping away from the metre.
‘Killer Millimeter Longer Version’ has Hazel on lead guitar and Sly Stone on rhythm guitar. Sly also sings, and the song has some of his “most poetric lyrics”, wrote Clinton. Sly’s voice is an intriguing rasp. The guitar in the left speaker gives his vocals space then plays scratchy, wah-wahed chords in between lines.
George sounds energised in this version. His laid back “Roll call” lines are gone, and he sings “You keep holding me back” with urgency. Sly was one of Clinton’s idols, and George sounds so thrilled to have him on a Funkadelic record: “I think I see Sly! Hey, Sly!” (You can also hear George say, “Yo, Sly!” at 1:43 during Sly’s verse. It’s not clear whether one part was overdubbed or whether George was so hyped to have Sly there he was shouting out during Sly’s recording.)
Sly references boxers Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), and Joe Frazier, as well as the latter two’s Thrilla in Manila fight. (Funk is a “silly millimeter longer”, and“As they say in the great big state of Texas / An armadillo millimeter longer”, and “A gorilla millimeter longer”, and “a Thrilla In Manila longer”.)
Sly & The Family Stone rarely mentioned funk explicitly. But Sly is fully onboard the power of funk train here. “Everything I do from now on is gonna be funky!”
At the end, the band sing a little of ‘She Loves You’ by The Beatles.
Though Funkadelic were about to take a 33-year break, the P-Funk gang continued to make great records with George Clinton, George Clinton’s Family Series, Bootsy Collins, P-Funk All Stars, Bernie Worrell, and an array of ‘solo’ acts that featured many P-Funkers. “Funkadelics say, ‘Funk gets stronger!’”
Happy birthday to Michael Hampton, Kidd Funkadelic, who turns 68 today!
In 1974, Funkadelic were touring Standing on the Verge of Getting It On, a guitar tour de force heavy on Eddie Hazel. Backstage at a at a show in Cleveland, someone told the band that a seventeen-year-old could play the 10-minute ‘Maggot Brain’ – another Hazel classic – “like he had written it”, wrote George Clinton. The band went to the kid’s house and watched him play the whole solo.
That kid was Michael Hampton, who joined them on tour and played with Parliament-Funkadelic for decades. His renditions of ‘Maggot Brain’ became staples of live shows. Hampton took a starring role on Funkadelic’s Let’s Take It To The Stage (1975) and even had the next album named after him (Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, 1976).
By 1981, record labels weren’t supporting Parliament or Funkadelic like they had done, but George was perservering – for now, before starting his solo career with 1982’s Computer Games. The last Funkadelic album before a 33-year gap (which 2014’s First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate gave a nod to with its 33 tracks) was 1981’s The Electric Spanking of War Babies. The album, in Clinton’s words, “examined the darker side of patriotism”.
Clinton described ‘Funk Gets Stronger’ as “our way of reminding people that we could take a punch.” The song was “an antidote to the electric spanking, the pure and powerful force that could stop the deception from happening.”
‘Part 1’ features Hampton on lead guitar with Roger Troutman on rhythm guitar. There’s a whole lot going on in the opening minute. The track starts with only percussion, including what sounds like a cuíca, the peculiar friction drum (named after a possum that emits a high pitched cry). This was likely played by Larry Fratangelo, percussionist on multiple P-Funk albums and credited on Electric Spanking.
The main guitar riff starts, implying a drum beat before there is one. It sounds like the kind of riff that could loop for the entire song, but just as you’ve become accustomed to it, the guitar drops out for a percussion and vocal section with Bootsy telling us to put it on the One.
Soon there are two guitars, one in each speaker. The main riff is on the right and dovetails nicely with the horn riff (listen with from 1:12). Saxophonists Pat Rizzo and Michael Brecker joined trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, in making this one of the few Funkadelic albums to feature horns. (The general rule, Clinton has said, was “No psychedelic guitars for Parliament and no horns on Funkadelic.”) Sometimes the guitar plays with the horns, sometime takes up where they left off, and sometimes seems independent.
The horn riff that persists through much of ‘Part 1’ and the second part of the song, ‘(Killer Millimeter Longer Version)’, only teases us to begin with. It’s not until nearly 3 minutes in that it returns. Luckily there’s a lot of other aspects to enjoy, with the cuíca popping up at unexpected moments and the guitar on the right sometimes playing the main riff and sometimes improvising.
Desire the unpredictability, the song is really built on repetition: the guitars, the bass, the lyrics (“Funk gets stronger”, “Roll call, she boogie”, “You keep holding me back”). There are no verses, quite, but rather a few phrases repeated through the song. But until you’ve listened to the song many times, you couldn’t guess which musical elements would accompany these lyrics. This is something P-Funk did so well: blending repetition with unpredictability.
George Clinton joins Bootsy on vocals. His “Roll call” lines add another rhythm that you could sway to or bounce to: the song is full of rhythm, but more restrained than much of Parliament’s funk, and Funkadelic’s One Nation Under a Groove. George’s “call” satisfyingly hits the One along with the band.
At a bridge section at 4:25, the bass switches to a gnarly slapped and popped line, and the cuíca has another moment to shine. Listen to how rarely the cuíca plays on the beat — it’s always hopping away from the metre.
‘Killer Millimeter Longer Version’ has Hazel on lead guitar and Sly Stone on rhythm guitar. Sly also sings, and the song has some of his “most poetric lyrics”, wrote Clinton. Sly’s voice is an intriguing rasp. The guitar in the left speaker gives his vocals space then plays scratchy, wah-wahed chords in between lines.
George sounds energised in this version. His laid back “Roll call” lines are gone, and he sings “You keep holding me back” with urgency. Sly was one of Clinton’s idols, and George sounds so thrilled to have him on a Funkadelic record: “I think I see Sly! Hey, Sly!” (You can also hear George say, “Yo, Sly!” at 1:43 during Sly’s verse. It’s not clear whether one part was overdubbed or whether George was so hyped to have Sly there he was shouting out during Sly’s recording.)
Sly references boxers Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), and Joe Frazier, as well as the latter two’s Thrilla in Manila fight. (Funk is a “silly millimeter longer”, and“As they say in the great big state of Texas / An armadillo millimeter longer”, and “A gorilla millimeter longer”, and “a Thrilla In Manila longer”.)
Sly & The Family Stone rarely mentioned funk explicitly. But Sly is fully onboard the power of funk train here. “Everything I do from now on is gonna be funky!”
At the end, the band sing a little of ‘She Loves You’ by The Beatles.
Though Funkadelic were about to take a 33-year break, the P-Funk gang continued to make great records with George Clinton, George Clinton’s Family Series, Bootsy Collins, P-Funk All Stars, Bernie Worrell, and an array of ‘solo’ acts that featured many P-Funkers. “Funkadelics say, ‘Funk gets stronger!’”