Maggot Brain



Maggot Brain is the third studio album by the American funk band Funkadelic. It was recorded at Universal Studios in Detroit during late 1970 and early 1971, before being released in July 1971 by Westbound Records. Shortly after Maggot Brain was recorded, Tawl Ross, Eddie Hazel, Billy Nelson, and Tiki Fulwood left the band for various reasons.

Critical reception
In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Vince Aletti deemed Maggot Brain a collection of competently performed but uninteresting and lyrically-thin funk songs, bookended by an exceptional title track and the "mindless" closer "Wars of Armageddon". He was particularly critical of the record's second side, panning it as "dead-end stuff". Robert Christgau was more enthusiastic in a retrospective review for Blender, calling the last track "Funkadelic's most incendiary freak-out ever" and the culmination of shorter songs on the album that were "heavy with bass, keyboard and class consciousness". "And for once, all three bonus tracks are plusses", he wrote regarding its CD reissue. Music historian Bob Gulla hailed it as an "iconoclastic funk-rock" record, featuring the best guitar playing of Eddie Hazel's career. According to The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History (2006), Maggot Brain and Funkadelic's previous two albums "created a whole new kind of psychedelic rock with a dance groove".

In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Maggot Brain number 486 on the magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Pitchfork named it the 17th best album of the 1970s. The record was also listed in the music reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

"Can You Get to That"
This song is a departure from the groove-oriented Funkadelic sound and is more of a traditional lyric-based acoustic rock piece. It begins with a descending acoustic guitar line which is joined by piano, bass and drums which support a cast of singers. It is a rewrite of a song by The Parliaments titled, "What You Been Growin'" and is heavily influenced by gospel music stylistically.

Where the Parliaments version was a break-up song, the Funkadelic version begins with the line "I once had a life, or rather, life had me": rather than a bitter reminiscence about a woman, it becomes an account of the singer's revelation that living on principles of co-operation, sincerity and the principles of karma ('When you base your life on credit and your loving days are done / Checks you sign with love and kisses later come back signed 'Insufficient Funds' ' - interestingly, this line seems to echo part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech) mark him out from the un-enlightened crowd and exalted his life.


 * Lead vocals: Ray Davis
 * Backup vocals: Pat & Diane Lewis, Rose Williams, Bernie Worrell, George Clinton, Garry Shider
 * Drums: Fuzzy Haskins

"Hit It and Quit It"
The song features Bernie Worrell's vocals and organ-playing, as well as an extended Eddie Hazel solo at the end.
 * Lead vocals: Bernie Worrell

"You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks"
This is a very class-conscious song, with the singer pleading for unity among the poor because without doing so, equality could not be achieved. The song has Judie Jones (Worrell's girlfriend at time) in songwriting credits, which it has been claimed was mistakenly for this song instead of "Red Hot Mama" (from Standing on the Verge of Getting It On).

The song's refrain is very similar to an old folk rhyme that was first published in Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes (Wise or Otherwise) (1922):


 * Lead Vocals: Billy Bass Nelson

"Super Stupid"
The title of this song refers to a drug addict who buys the wrong drug accidentally. He is also referred to as having a "maggot brain".

The supergroup Audioslave has done several live covers of this song; the studio version was released on their 2005 single Be Yourself. The song was also covered by Tackhead on their album Strange Things.


 * Lead vocals: Eddie Hazel

"Back in Our Minds"
This song seems to be about the singer and someone else (possibly different races or former friends) having reconciled and are now "brothers."
 * Lead vocals: George Clinton, Tawl Ross
 * Trombone: McKinley Jackson
 * Bongos: Eddie "Bongo" Brown
 * Jew's harp: James Wesley Jackson

"Wars of Armageddon"
The music is a bizarre mix of music and special effects-type sounds (including the unmistakable sound of flatulence at the 7:31 mark), and intelligent, though unusual and abstract, lyrics.

This song is socially conscious, as the singer demands immediate freedom from oppression, as well as "power to the people" (and many more demands, many nonsensical, see above).

"Whole Lot of BS"
This song is a bonus track on the album, originally released as a non-album B-side to the single "Hit It and Quit It".
 * Lead Vocal: George Clinton

"I Miss My Baby"
This song is another bonus track, originally released as the B-side to an early take of "Baby I Owe You Something Good", which was later reworked for the Let's Take It to the Stage LP. The single was credited to U.S. Music with Funkadelic, as Garry Shider's group US was featured on the recording with Funkadelic playing most of the music.
 * Lead Vocal: Garry Shider

Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Funkadelic

 * George Clinton, Raymond Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas, Garry Shider, Hot Buttered Soul (Pat Lewis, Diane Lewis and Rose Williams) – vocals
 * Eddie Hazel – guitar, vocals
 * Tawl Ross – guitar, vocals
 * Bernie Worrell – keyboards, vocals
 * Billy Nelson – bass guitar, vocals
 * Tiki Fulwood – drums

Production

 * Produced by George Clinton
 * Executive producer – Armen Boladian
 * Bernie Mendelson in charge of The Eegangas
 * Cover photography by Joel Brodsky
 * Inside cover photography by Ron Scribner
 * Artwork design – The Graffiteria/Paula Bisacca
 * Art direction – David Krieger
 * Album supervision – Bob Scerbo
 * Album co-ordination – Dorothy Schwartz
 * Model on album cover- Barbara Cheeseborough

Charts
Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album
 * 1971  Pop Albums               No. 108
 * 1971  Black Albums             No. 14
 * 1990  Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums   No. 92