The story of Funk: one nation under a groove And Funk compilation programme BBC4 Dec 5th.

[51m0n]

I enjoyed it, but they really stuck to the most obvious, didn't catch the beginning but didn't hear any Neville Brothers or Meters, which is criminal.

As for being only accessable to black Americans, every time PFunk played in Blighty there was a mixed audience, when I saw them it was more white than black.

Plus they did emphasize the SATFS integration message too....

[Funky Dunky]

I recorded this last night and I can't wait to see it. Like any other genre, there's good, bad and ugly funk. I love it and will have my bass in hand as I'm watching it. If the Meters aren't featured, someone should really be fired.

[Funky Dunky]

[quote name='Diablo' timestamp='1417821599' post='2624428']
It was kind of entertaining, especially the narrator waxing lyrical about Jefferson Aeroplane. That was the point where I realised both the narrator and the script writer both learned about funk from the internet about 2 weeks before the show was filmed.


[/quote]


Oh no, don't tell me it's like that?

I really hope this is not just another inaccurate documentary by people who don't truly know or understand the subject, but I will watch it anyway because you don't get a lot of funk on the tellybox these days.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1417872652' post='2624729']
I really hope this is not just another inaccurate documentary by people who don't truly know or understand the subject, but I will watch it anyway because you don't get a lot of funk on the tellybox these days.
[/quote]
It's not that it's inaccurate it's more that it's a very basic primer. If you know anything about funk it won't tell you anything you don't know already.

I know that the narrator only says what is in front of him but i'm sure it would have been better to have some voice this who had been there at the time and had some personal experience of what it was like to be there. If i want a potted history i can read that anywhere although there were a few comments from those who were around at the time. There was a lot going on at the time like Vietnam, the chance of a nuclear war and protests in most major cities around the world and this had a massive influence on music. There are lots of good journalists still around who know their stuff when it comes to funk that they could have used in the programme.

Listening and watching is one thing but one of the (very few) joys of getting old is that you can say, you really had to be there.

Edited December 6, 2014 by BetaFunk

[Funky Dunky]

Well I've watched up to George Clinton so far and I'm enjoying it immensely. In truth though - they could be talking about belly button fluff, and I'd still be loving it with that soundtrack. Good to see Larry Graham featuring so heavily.

[Diablo]

Junior Wells was "coming in on the one" with Messing With The Kid back in 1960. That style was nothing new when funk became a new word for it.

[wombatboter]

Watched the documentary and really liked the start of funk with people like James Brown but after a while I had the impression every song sounded the same and that it was more about groove than songwriting...The more I saw the more I started to associate it with a certain laziness, take a catchy beat, shout "funky" a couple of times while staying on the same rootnote for hours, I found it boring. I did a couple of P funk gigs and strangely enough I didn't feel free at all as a bass player. Holding down the groove turned out to be playing "the one" for hours and hours until every freedom was gone. As soon as you wanted to develop something you weren't "funky" anymore and "didn't get "it"'.
I thought it was a blessing when disco showed up : harmonically far more intresting and better compositions. That it developped again in hiphop was unfortunate for me : again that priority to a groove instead of a song.
I've always been a fan of songs and compositions, that's why I was never fond of that Parliament, Funkadelic stuff. I prefer Chic, EWF, Stevie Wonder.
If I have to choose between "The things we do for love" by 10CC or "Funk my brain and dance" (I just made that up but it's probably in E and goes on for fifteen minutes) I know what I like

Edited December 7, 2014 by wombatboter

[Funky Dunky]

FWIW, I'm a big funk lover but P-Funk does nothing for me. It feels particularly aimless.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1417962479' post='2625462']
FWIW, I'm a big funk lover but P-Funk does nothing for me. It feels particularly aimless.
[/quote]
There is so much variety on those P-Funk albums. Great tunes on Parlet and Brides Of Funkenstein to heavier funk on Parliament and those horns on the Fred Wesley LPs to the political lyrics and madness of the Funkadelic ones. I can't see how any funk fan could resist the guitars of Garry Shider, Michael Hampton & Eddie Hazel or the Hammond of Bernie Worrell, the great Junie Morrison (playing everything) and the beautiful vocals of Jessica Cleaves. There's something for every fan o funk somewhere in the P-Funk catalogue but if you don't get it then you don't get it.
I expect that most peoples impression on P-Funk is the few hits that they've heard but there is a lot more to it than that.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='wombatboter' timestamp='1417960920' post='2625439']
I did a couple of P funk gigs and strangely enough I didn't feel free at all as a bass player.
[/quote]
Do you mean you played in a George Clinton related band or collective or a band that played funk?

[wombatboter]

We had jam-sessions with some of the best hornplayers in Belgium and they all ended in this sort of "On the one" P-funk which went on for ages.
I sometimes got the feeling all I was allowed to play was every cliché in the house or D on the one with an octaver beneath it...
I know it's supposed to be dance music but I'm just looking for something else, perhaps a song ...I just feel uncomfortable when it comes out too "easily" when you perform. I miss a certain kind of depth in P-funk, perhaps it's too much "fun" for me. Listening to something like "Fantasy" by EWF gave me a lot more an urge to dance...

Edited December 7, 2014 by wombatboter

[molan]

I quite enjoyed it. Didn't really learn anything new but it was a perfect Sunday afternoon diversion.

The highlight for me was watching the Genius of Funk from the BBC vaults with my little 1 year old grandson.

His side of the family are all into whiter than white pop music with the odd bit of modern American rock thrown in.

Ever since he was born I've been joking that I was going to bring him up on soul, disco and funk and teach him all about The One from an early age.

He sat watching the programme intently and was dancing away when George Clinton came on, really liked Kool & The Gang and seemed to love Stevie Wonder.

Kept with it right up until the acid jazz came on and then went back to playing with his toy bus

[BetaFunk]

This may not convert anyone to the Funk but it does show that P-Funk isn't always as many think it is..............
http://youtu.be/2i8xxJb3KKE

[media]http://youtu.be/T50UmHwGeSI[/media]

Edited December 7, 2014 by BetaFunk

[BetaFunk]

....and more P-Funk that may surprise you

[media]http://youtu.be/_Rq1kvZXrA4[/media]

http://youtu.be/9XoHZ43zxgM?list=PLgQALxWfVkwe19rL7R1prQ9U2VRGmwDuo

Edited December 7, 2014 by BetaFunk

[Funky Dunky]

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1417964408' post='2625485']

There is so much variety on those P-Funk albums. Great tunes on Parlet and Brides Of Funkenstein to heavier funk on Parliament and those horns on the Fred Wesley LPs to the political lyrics and madness of the Funkadelic ones. I can't see how any funk fan could resist the guitars of Garry Shider, Michael Hampton & Eddie Hazel or the Hammond of Bernie Worrell, the great Junie Morrison (playing everything) and the beautiful vocals of Jessica Cleaves. There's something for every fan o funk somewhere in the P-Funk catalogue but if you don't get it then you don't get it.
I expect that most peoples impression on P-Funk is the few hits that they've heard but there is a lot more to it than that.
[/quote]

In fairness, I haven't heard the entire catalog, only tunes here and there and I simply didn't hear anything that made me want to investigate. It's funk, of course, but I wasn't hearing enough of a song or a hook in what I heard to turn me on to it. Recommend some and I'll check it out.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1417974255' post='2625649']
In fairness, I haven't heard the entire catalog, only tunes here and there and I simply didn't hear anything that made me want to investigate. It's funk, of course, but I wasn't hearing enough of a song or a hook in what I heard to turn me on to it. Recommend some and I'll check it out.
[/quote]
I won't recommend anything because like all music it's down to personal taste but if anyone thinks that funk is just a the few commercial snippets that was on the BBC documentary then look a little further and you may well be surprised. That's really how it was in the 60s and 70s when you bought or heard an LP which you liked then heard that another group were like that so you bought that LP and so on and so on. We discovered as we went back then. Now with the internet it's all so much easier but also easy to miss the occasional gem.

I said i wouldn't recommend any Funk tracks as i can remember back to the 70s when i was into a lot of Jazz as well as Funk plus lots of other varied stuff (i saw The Clash, Earth Wind & Fire and Gil Scott Heron live one week) having to listen to something like Dark Side Of The Moon would have been like torture to me and would have had me climbing the walls within minutes. The same with ELO whose music was a joke to me (and everyone else i knew) back then (still is as it happens) and was bought by teenage girls, grannies and blokes who wore cardigans and leather string backed driving gloves and drove Triumph Spitfires and thought they were really cool. As the Floyd and ELO are favourites on here it just goes to show that it really is all down to personal taste and how far you want to search out music that you might like. Whatever the outcome the journey is always worthwhile.

[Bo0tsy]

I agree with BetaFunk on this, (and this is a man who sounds like he knows his P-Funk from the YouTube vids!). It's difficult to make recommendations as it's dependent on what type of funk music you're into. George Clinton has produced well over 100 albums over the decades in various guises, and the styles are very broad. P-funk can range from early Motown & doo-wop (see early Parliament), to guitar driven Psychedelic Acid Funk Rock, (early to mid-70's Funkadelic) to cartoony horn driven perculating bass funk jams, (see mid 1970's Parliament, Bootsy's Rubber Band) to social-political commentary type statements, (Chocolate City) to tender soulful spacey funk ballads, (see Bootsy's Vanish In Our Sleep, Munchies for Your Love), electro-synth funk, (Not Just) Knee Deep, GC's Computer Games & You Shouldn't Nuf Bit Fish) through to hip-hop, dance, (P-Funk All-Stars and a lot of George's later solo stuff - 1980's onwards, etc. Funkadelic are still producing great music today.

There's a new triple Funkadelic album out "First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate" and it pretty much encompasses all these styles. (check out 'Jolene', 'Radio Friendly', 'Mathematics of Love', or 'Yesterdejavu' for example):

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MdC57N0OfDA"]http://www.youtube....e&v=MdC57N0OfDA[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRiUPue_N4U&feature=player_detailpage"]http://www.youtube....ayer_detailpage[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LvGVPb2ZjE&feature=player_detailpage"]http://www.youtube....ayer_detailpage[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiF1t03Hb0o&feature=player_detailpage"]http://www.youtube....ayer_detailpage[/url]

I've yet to see the BBC4 program but have recorded it. Even if it's a basic introduction to the genre, it's great to see some funk back on TV

Edited December 18, 2014 by Bo0tsy

[Bassnut62]

[quote name='Bo0tsy' timestamp='1418036710' post='2626103']
I agree with BetaFunk on this, (and this is a man who sounds like he knows his P-Funk from the YouTube vids!). It's difficult to make recommendations as it's dependent on what type of funk music you're into.

I've yet to see the BBC4 program but have recorded it. Even if it's a basic introduction to the genre, it's great to see some funk back on TV
[/quote]

I agree with the two Bs on all of this.

Re P-Funk generally; I would say that it has to catch you and you have to catch it at the right moment in your sub-conscious/consciousness. Listening and/or dancing to anything related to George Clinton is definitely a trip that will take you to places that you never could have known existed. His imagination and awareness (both social and musical) is limitless and awe-inspiring.

Re the funk documentaries on Friday night - what a disappointment! But I guess it could be a valuable revalation to anyone who has not been touched by the unholy groove yet and definitely good to have some Funk on the idiot box again.

[Bassnut62]

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1417969058' post='2625568']
This may not convert anyone to the Funk but it does show that P-Funk isn't always as many think it is..............
[media]http://youtu.be/T50UmHwGeSI[/media]
[/quote]

aaahhh....Eddie Hazel.....he should be ranked with Jimi Hendrix in my book!
check this bit of Eddie out...
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcwEEu9yF7w"]https://www.youtube....h?v=CcwEEu9yF7w[/url]

Edited December 8, 2014 by Bassnut62

[mcnach]

[quote name='Bassnut62' timestamp='1418057657' post='2626393']
aaahhh....Eddie Hazel.....he should be ranked with Jimi Hendrix in my book!
check this bit of Eddie out...
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcwEEu9yF7w"]https://www.youtube....h?v=CcwEEu9yF7w[/url]
[/quote]

nice!

[Funky Dunky]

[quote name='Bassnut62' timestamp='1418057657' post='2626393']


aaahhh....Eddie Hazel.....he should be ranked with Jimi Hendrix in my book!
check this bit of Eddie out...
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcwEEu9yF7w"]https://www.youtube....h?v=CcwEEu9yF7w[/url]
[/quote]

Criminally underrated guitarist. Maggot Brain is excellent.

[tedmanzie]

The BBC4 programme was ridiculous. It had some good footage but I've rarely witnessed such shoddy journalism on BBC4 - it basically started by stating that the only black music in the 60s was the 'vanilla pop' (??) of Motown so James Brown created funk all by himself when he wrote Cold Sweat. That was it all over and done in the first 5 mins. Then we went to Sly & the Family Stone.

Edited December 9, 2014 by tedmanzie

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1418136183' post='2627202']
The BBC4 programme was ridiculous. It had some good footage but I've rarely witnessed such shoddy journalism on BBC4 - it basically started by stating that the only black music in the 60s was the 'vanilla pop' (??) of Motown so James Brown created funk all by himself when he wrote Cold Sweat. That was it all over and done in the first 5 mins. Then we went to Sly & the Family Stone.
[/quote]
......and not forgetting that all time classic 'Picking Up The Pieces'...............

[ras52]

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1418138510' post='2627240']
......and not forgetting that all time classic 'Picking Up The Pieces'...............
[/quote]

Uhing uh...

[Leonard Smalls]

Talking of Eddie Hazel, I just bought a mint copy of THAT album from our local 2nd hand record shop.
Seriouslyfunkin!
I was a little bit disappointed with the documentary. Nowt on Mama Funk, very little on Bootsy. As for the "Genius of Funk" live prog, surely they could have done a lot better. A bit of poorly mixed George, lots of average Jamiroquai, big chunk of James Taylor and Raydio (!).