Mothership Connection

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Mothership Connection
File:ParliamentMothershipConnection.jpg
Studio album by Parliament
Released December 15, 1975
Recorded March–October 1975 [1] at United Sound, Detroit, Michigan, and Hollywood Sound, Hollywood, California
Genre Funk
Length 38:06
Label Casablanca
NBLP 7022
Producer George Clinton
Parliament chronology
Chocolate City
(1975)Chocolate City1975		 Mothership Connection
(1975)		 The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
(1976)The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein1976

Mothership Connection is the fourth album by American funk band Parliament, released on December 15, 1975 on Casablanca Records. This concept album of P-Funk mythology is usually rated as one of Parliament's best. Mothership Connection was the first P-Funk album to feature Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, who had left The J.B.'s, James Brown's backing band. Mothership Connection became Parliament's first album to be certified gold and later platinum.[2] The Library of Congress added the album to the National Recording Registry in 2011, declaring "[t]he album has had an enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music."[3]

History

Describing the album, George Clinton said "We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the White House. I figured another place you wouldn't think black people would be was in outer space. I was a big fan of Star Trek, so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a Cadillac, and we did all these James Brown-type grooves, but with street talk and ghetto slang."[4]

Dr. Dre prominently sampled the songs "Mothership Connection (Star Child)" and "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" on his album The Chronic.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 5/5 stars[5]
Billboard (favorable)[6]
Blender 5/5 stars[7]
Robert Christgau A−[8]
Pitchfork Media (8.5/10)[9]
PopMatters (favorable)[10]
Rolling Stone (favorable) 1976[11]
Rolling Stone 5/5 stars 2004[12]
Spin (10/10)[13]
Sputnikmusic 5/5 stars[14]

In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Mothership Connection the 55th greatest album of all time.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 276 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Rolling Stone (5/1/03, p. 59) - 5 stars out of 5 - "The masterpiece, the slang creator, the icon builder, the master narrative--or 'the bomb,' as Clinton succinctly put it before anyone else."

Vibe (2/02, p. 87) - Included in Vibe's "Essential Black Rock Recordings".

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

Side One
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)"   George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell 7:41
2. "Mothership Connection (Star Child)"   Clinton, Collins, Worrell 6:13
3. "Unfunky UFO"   Clinton, Collins, Garry Shider 4:23
Side Two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
4. "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication"   Clinton, Collins, Shider, Worrell 5:03
5. "Handcuffs"   Clinton, Glenn Goins, John McLaughlin 4:02
6. "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)"   Jerome Brailey, Clinton, Collins 5:46
7. "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples"   Clinton, Collins, Shider 5:10
2003 CD remaster bonus track
No. Title Writer(s) Length
8. "Star Child (Mothership Connection)" (Promo Radio Version) Clinton, Collins, Worrell 3:08

Personnel

Production
  • Produced by George Clinton
  • Engineered by Jim Vitti (in Detroit, Michigan), Ralph (Oops) Jim Callow (in Hollywood, Caliiornia)
  • Mastered br Allen Zentz
  • Photography by David Alexander
  • Art Direction and Design by Gribbitt!

Chart positions

Chart (1976) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[15] 13
US R&B Albums[15] 4

Certification

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)[16] Platinum 1,000,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Singles released

  • P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)-NB 852
  • Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)-NB-856
  • Star Child-NB 864

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Birchmeier, Jason. Mothership Connection at AllMusic
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Review: Mothership Connection[dead link]
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Review: Mothership Connection Archived February 6, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Mothership Connection at AllMusic
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links

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