In the early ’70s, Funkadelic were on a roll. They’d kicked off their recording career, after initially behind The Parliaments’ (and then Parliament’s) backing band, with a 1970 self-titled debut that’s looked back on half a century later as pivotal in the development of both funk and psychedelic rock. Funkadelic followed that with two more legendary albums (both with all-time record sleeves): Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow arrived the same year and Maggot Brain just 12 months later. They began looking outward more often, largely at their home country, with America Eats Its Young in 1972. And in ’73, the first album to feature a Pedro Bell-penned record sleeve was released: Cosmic Slop.
Is it possible to be both delicate and funky? If it is, Funkadelic managed it with the album’s title track: that sustained guitar note on the One; the palm-muted chords at the end of the progression, with the bongo in sync; the “Ooh! Ah!” backing vocals – a hook in the shadow of many others.
Tyrone Lampkin’s drum intro opens ‘Cosmic Slop’ . He was a monster drummer, capable of the most explosive drumming in P-Funk, but could also play with delicacy. Daniel Bedrosian, longtime P-Funk touring keyboardist and author of The Authorized P-Funk Song Reference, says that Lampkin had been “on a fusion tip” America Eats, but here his playing was far more “parts-driven”.
The song was the focus of an episode of Bump by Bump Rundown, a podcast in which Parliament-Funkadelic mastermind George Clinton and Bedrosian discuss tracks from Clinton’s catalogue.
Bedrosian notes that albums like Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On (1971) and Funkadelic’s own America Eats Its Young (1972) had broadened the scope for songwriters; sociopolitical issues were now fair game, and could even get airplay. Albeit, Funkadelic tracks were not written for the radio. No DJ was going to make the near-10-minute ‘Wars of Armageddon’ a mainstream hit.
But P-Funk LPs grew over the years. Clinton has often talked about sleeper hits – both individual tracks and complete albums. He names ‘Can You Get To That?’ as an example of a tune that’s “way bigger now” than at the time of release. In the 1980s and ‘90s, bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers covered P-Funk tunes (including ‘Cosmic Slop’), and later rappers and their producers sampled and interpolated the same material. Even 50 years after the birth of hip-hop, Clinton’s influence (and sometimes the man himself) is heard in the music of artists like Kendrick Lamar.
Clinton called Worrell’s classical-inspired playing as “funky as fuck”. Bedrosian recalls Bernie Worrell describing F# minor as a “dark key”. Clinton wasn’t aware of the key, but “knew something about it was magical”, and hums Worrell’s counter-rhythm. The producer recalls encouraging Bukowski to play sustained notes; similar playing can be heard on fellow Cosmic track ‘March To The Witches Castle’.
Clinton recalls that both Eddie Hazel and Billy “Bass” Nelson had switched to Motown, and Ron Bykowski showed up as a teenager with a Les Paul. He says the combination of Bukowski’s feedback-heavy sound and Garry Shider’s rhythm parts came close to replicating Hazel’s playing.
Clinton would tell Hampton and other instrumentalists to play off the vocal melody, and remember the hook when they soloed. Clinton remembers Kidd Funkadelic doing so on ‘One Nation Under a Groove’ and ‘Knee Deep’. In an interview with Classic Rock History, Hampton named ‘Cosmic Slop’ as one of his favourite P-Funk songs. His “solo” in this case happens along with the lyric. Clinton’s lyric is about a mother who has turned to prostitution to make ends meet for her kids. There were many struggling families following the US’ involvement in the Vietnam war.
Top image from Discogs.