Parliament | Gloryhallastoopid | CD

Full title: Gloryhallastoopid (Or Pin The Tail On The Funky).
Parliament: George Clinton (vocals); Walter Morrison (guitar, keyboards, bass); William "Bootsy" Collins, DeWayne McKnight (guitar, bass, drums); Michael Hampton, Garry Shider, Phelps Collins, Gordon Carlton (guitar); Greg Thomas, Greg Boyer, Bennie Cowens, Larry Hatcher, Maceo Parker, Sam Peakes (horns); Bernie Worrell, David Lee Chong (keyboards); Rodney Curtis, Donnie Sterling (bass); Tyrone Lampkin, Dennis Chambers, Kenny Colton (drums); Larry Fratangelo, Carl "Butch" Small (percussion).
Engineers include: Jim Vitti, Pete Bishop, Greg Ward.
Recorded at United Sound Studios, Detroit, Michigan.
Parliament: Dewayne Blackbyrd McKnight (guitar, bass instrument, drums); Walter "Junie" Morrison, Bootsy Collins (bass instrument); Carl Small (percussion); Phillippe Wynn (background vocals); Dennis Chambers, George Clinton , Maceo Parker, Michael Hampton , Bernie Worrell.
Personnel: George Clinton (vocals); Walter "Junie" Morrison (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Blackbyrd McKnight, Bootsy Collins (guitar, drums); Garry Shider, Gordon Carlton, Michael Hampton , Phelps "Catfish" Collins (guitar); Sam Peake, Bennie Cowens, Larry Hatcher, Greg Thomas , Maceo Parker, Greg Boyer (horns); David Lee Chong, Bernie Worrell (keyboards); Dennis Chambers, Kenny Colton, Tyrone Lampkin (drums); Carl "Butch" Small, Lawrence Fratangelo (percussion); Larry Hackett, Jerome Rogers, Andre Williams (background vocals).
Recording information: United Sound Systems, Inc., Detroit, MI.
Parliament's next-to-last album, 1979's GLORYHALLASTOOPID, is where the cracks start to show in George Clinton's P-Funk musical empire. Besides Parliament and Funkadelic, Clinton was writing for and producing any number of side projects, and perhaps he was simply spreading himself too thin. Regardless, the initial conceptual difference between Parliament (no rock guitars) and Funkadelic (no R&B horns) is all but absent by this time--GLORYHALLASTOOPID really doesn't sound much different from 1979's Funkadelic release, UNCLE JAM WANTS YOU--and more to the point, the outer-space themes of this album sound unnervingly like retreads of ideas first explored on 1975's MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION.
So perhaps the remarkable thing is that this is still a killer hard-funk album, even if it doesn't quite reach previous heights. From the opening sci-fi "Prologue" to the closing thump of "May We Bang You?," GLORYHALLASTOPID never lets up; this is 45 minutes of pure groove, anchored by Bootsy Collins' bass and Bernie Worrell's jazz-inflected synth work. The lyrics are, as always, alternately goofy and cutting, with the single "Theme From the Black Hole" being a good combination of both. Not absolutely top-drawer, then, but close enough.

• Format: CD
• Genre: R&B
• Released: 06/21/2005
• Released: 6/21/2005