Track Listing:
Good To Your Earhole
{G Clinton, Grace Cook, Clarence Haskins} 4:30 lyrics
Better By The Pound
{G Clinton, G Cook} 2:40 lyrics
Be My Beach
{G Clinton, W Collins, B Worrell} 2:35 lyrics
No Head No Backstage Pass
{G Clinton, Ron Bykowski} 2:36 lyrics
Let's Take It To The Stage
{G Clinton, W Collins, Garry Shider} 3:32 lyrics
Get Off Your Ass And Jam
{G Clinton} 2:00 lyrics
Baby I Owe You Something Good
{G Clinton} 5:43 lyrics
Stuffs And Things
{G Clinton, G Cook} 2:11 lyrics
The Song Is Familiar
{G Clinton, W Collins, B Worrell} 3:05 lyrics
Atmosphere
{G Clinton, G Shider, B Worrell} 7:05 lyrics
Personnel:
Vocals: 'Cool' Cal Simon, 'Bad Bosco' Bernie Worrell, C 'Boogie' Mosson,
Garry 'Dowop' Shider
Bass Vocals: 'Sting' Ray Davis
Genie Vocals: 'Shady' Grady Thomas
Werewolf Vocals: Clarence 'Fuzzy' Haskins
Maggot Overlord: George Clinton
Congas: Calvin Simon
Keyboards: Bernie Worrell
Bass: C Boogie Mosson
Percussion: R Tiki Fulwood
Guitar: Michael Hampton, Garry Shider
Alumni Funkadelic: Bootsy (vocals), Billy Bass, Eddie Hazel, Ron Bykowski
Guest Funkadelic: Paul Warren, Reggie McBride, Frosty, Mello Garcia,
Honeys, Denise Hurd, Delores whats-her-name,
Gary Cooper, Parliament
Song-Specific Personnel:
"Better By the Pound"
Lead Vocals: Gary Shider, Eddie Hazel
Bass: Billy Nelson
"Be My Beach"
Lead Vocals: Bootsy Collins
"No Head No Backstage Pass"
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
"Let's Take It To The Stage"
Lead Vocals: George Clinton
"Baby I Owe You Something Good"
Lead Vocals: Calvin Simon
"Stuffs and Things"
Lead Vocals: Gary Shider, George Clinton
Backup Vocals: Parliament, Brandy (Telma Hopkins, Joyce Vincent)
Guitars: Gary Shider, Michael Hampton
Rating: GZ ***** RC ***** MM ***** MV: *****
Comments:RC: Funkadelic takes yet another different turn, this time coming out with shorter, punchier songs and relying less on long jams. The percussion on this album is excellent throughout. Garry Shider becomes a big force as he sings a number of the songs on the record. The guitars are slightly less dominant here, stepping aside somewhat for the vocals, percussion and keyboards. Still, the solos taken at the end of "Better By The Pound" & "Good To Your Earhole", along with the songs "No Head No Backstage Pass" & "Get Off Your Ass And Jam" show that Funkadelic is still primarily a guitar band.
But hearing the brushes at the beginning of "Better By The Pound", the singing on "The Song is Familiar" (which is the album's weakest track), and the keyboard madness of "Atmosphere" show that the spirit of experimentation was alive and well. The album's themes touch on modern society ("Better By The Pound"), bizarre love/lust stories (the hilariously clever "Be My Beach" and the coolness of Garry on "Stuffs & Thangs"), and self- referential funk stories (playing the dozens with "Let's Take It To The Stage", letting the groupies know the price of hanging out backstage in "No Head...", the funk declaration of "Good To Your Earhole" and the anthemic "Get Off Your Ass...").
It loses steam towards the end with the too-mellow "Song Is Familiar" and the overlong but interesting Bernie workout "Atmosphere", but everything else is perfect and makes up for any minor flaws. The album's short-song formula backfires slightly against the longer songs, making them seem somewhat out of place, but the songs themselves are actually fine once one gets used to them. The buried lyrics to "Atmosphere" are hilariously X-rated!
At the beginning of "Let's Take It To The Stage" the little backwards noise at the beginning is someone saying, "Oh yeah!" And once again, "G Cook" is an Eddie Hazel pseudonym.