Cosmic Slop Funkadelic Artist

With a much more stripped-down version of the band, if the credits are to be believed (five regular members total, not counting any vocalists), {|Funkadelic|} continued its way through life with {|Cosmic Slop|}. A slightly more scattershot album than... Read more

With a much more stripped-down version of the band, if the credits are to be believed (five regular members total, not counting any vocalists), {|Funkadelic|} continued its way through life with {|Cosmic Slop|}. A slightly more scattershot album than the group's other early efforts, with generally short tracks (only two break the five-minute barrier) and some go-nowhere ballads, {|Cosmic Slop|} still has plenty to like about it, not least because of the monstrous title track. A bitter, heartbreaking portrait of a family on the edge, made all the more haunting and sad by the sweet vocal work -- imagine an even more mournful Papa Was a Rollin' Stone -- the chorus is a killer, with the devil invited to the dance while the band collectively fires up the funk. Elsewhere, the band sounds like it's more interested in simply hitting a good groove and enjoying it, and why not? If introductory track Nappy Dugout relies more on duck calls and whistles than anything else to give it identity, it's still a clap-your-hands/stomp-your-feet experience, speeding up just a little toward the end. As for the bandmembers themselves, {|Bernie Worrell|} still takes the general lead thanks to his peerless keyboard work, but the guitar team of {|Gary Shider|} and {|Ron Bykowski|} and the rhythm duo of {|Tyrone Lampkin|} and {|Cordell Mosson|} aren't any slouches, either. {|George Clinton|} again seems to rely on the role of ringleader more than anything else, but likely that's him behind touches like distorted vocals. Certainly it's a trip to hear the deep, spaced-out spoken word tale on March to the Witch's Castle, a harrowing picture of vets returning from Vietnam -- and then realizing that {|Rush|} ripped off that approach for a song on its {|Caress of Steel|} album a year or two later! ~ Ned Raggett Less