Day 20: Funkadelic – Maggot Brain

Album cover courtesy of Westbound Records

I’ve had some Funkadelic on playlists for a few years now, so it was time I gave one of their albums a proper go. Maggot Brain had a few of the songs I liked, so off I went with that one.

Funkadelic were formed as a backing band for George Clinton’s vocal group Parliament, but they ended up forging their own path and being pioneers in 1970s funk rock. They did, however, tour with Parliament later either as Parliament/Funkadelic or P-Funk, and many of the members of the bands overlapped.

Released in 1971, Maggot Brain was the third studio release of Funkadelic, and it’s definitely an interesting one. It opens with the song “Maggot Brain”, with a short spoken-word section where George Clinton says  “Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time / For y'all have knocked her up / I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe”, after which the song consists of a ten-minute mostly improvised Hendrix-esque guitar solo.

Before recording “Maggot Brain” guitarist Eddie Hazel had taken LSD and was told by George Clinton to imagine that his mother had just died and play as if she’s dead. It’s a bit of a mean thing to do to someone on acid, but I guess the end might justify the means a little bit since the song ended up being legendary. It’s not my favourite off the album, though, as that’s probably either “Can You Get To That” or “Hit It And Quit It”.

I didn’t expect as many fart noises as I got in “Wars of Armageddon”. Frankly, I was expecting none at all, so the long fart solo really exceeded my expectations. Spare a thought for the poor people in that studio – I don’t care how much they were paid, whoever was there in a non-farting capacity did not get paid enough.

Maggot Brain is a solid 8/10. Not life-changing, but still very good. Funkadelic is firmly on my list of bands I’d like to explore more. I’ve got my fingers crossed for less farts next time.