Heavy Dialogue

With Eddie Hazel perhaps? Seems to me that our favourite Swedes are seriously trying to invoke the ghost of the late great Funkadelic guitarist here. Just take that trip.

Kungens Män - Tung Dialog

Want some prime Eddie, too? Thought as much. Here goes.

Eddie Hazel - So Goes The Story

Wild Weekend Vol. 28

A lot of soulful, funky stuff this Wild Weekend , as the ghost in the iPod picked another musical six pack out of the air once again. Featuring the Impromptu Horns, Farmer John´s lovely daughter and much, much more.

We´ll start off in Jamaica, with the great U Roy as your ace from outer space. Say what? One of the first toasters in reggae history, Ewart Beckford wasn´t called the originator for nothing. Ride that riddim, my brethren. Soultime now, with the underrated dynamic duo of Don & Dewey. All their songs for the Specialty label (try the exemplary Jungle Hop compilation) sound like bona fide hits, though they only got that status after getting the cover treatment by others. Did you know they also penned the later garage classic Farmer John? All together now: "Farmer John, I´m in love with your daughter..."

U Roy - Your Ace From Outer Space MP3

Don & Dewey - Farmer John MP3

And here comes a bit of da funk again, featuring the incredible Eddie Hazel, he of Funkadelic fame. Maggot Brain anyone? Here Eddie transforms a well known Lennon/McCartney tune into an amazing guitar epic you definitely don´t want to miss. It starts out a little tame, but catches fire soon enough. Find it on his ´73 solo outing Game Dames And Guitar Thangs. Heavy indeed, brother Ed. Which is swiftly followed by Vetiver, one of the best bands of the freakfolk movement in my book. Join them in their quest for Amour Fou, also known as Crazy Love.

Eddie Hazel - I Want You (She´s So Heavy) MP3

Vetiver - Amour Fou MP3

New discovery up next. Pearly Gate Music is a project of one Sach Tillman from Seattle, whose older brother plays drums for the Fleet Foxes. Tillman junior takes a more lofi approach though, and often sounds like he´s been raised on outtakes from the Big Pink Basement. His eponymous debut is out now on the Barsuk label: check it out I´d say. And here´s the last song in the pack already, from those legendary Austin punk pioneers the Big Boys. They take the funky route, featuring their Impromptu Horns, which is of course big fun.

Pearly Gate Music - Daddy Wrote you Letters MP3

Big Boys - We Got Soul MP3

More Maggots

Thanks to reader Big Steve, here´s yet another version of the Maggot Brain monster. This steaming live take stems from a bonus ep that came with the original vinyl of One Nation Under A Groove. And that´s Eddie Hazel´s successor Mike Hampton pouring it all out on guitar. "It ain´t illegal yet..."

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (live) MP3

And if you want even more, check out a great live video of Funkadelic - featuring both Hazel and Hampton! - playing Maggot Brain in Landover, MD in ´83 here.

Go On Maggot Brain

"Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time

For y'all have knocked her up...
I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe
I was not offended
For I knew I had to rise above it all
Or drown in my own shit...."

An amazing piece of music. Legend has is the band had taken acid before the recording started, but that´s not all. Funkadelic mastermind George Clinton famously asked guitarist Eddie Hazel to play at first as if he had just heard that his mother had died, and then as if he had heard she was in fact still alive. Hazel obliges with gusto, trying to out-Hendrix our Jimi with a cosmic six string symphony of epic proportions. Mother earth dies screaming, while Hazel´s guitar weeps and weeps.

The moment he realises his mom didn´t perish after all is quite hard to determine, but it could be roughly around the 6.50 mark, when after a quieter spell the pace picks up again and the guitar soon starts soaring anew. And that would be the same moment, in Funkadelic myth, where an ordinary maggot has become a maggot brain, meaning it´s able to rise above all the bullshit in the world...

To start off an album with a track like this, risking to alienate an audience looking for da funk, takes guts.

"Come on Maggot Brain...
Go on Maggot Brain..."

Fear not though, funkateers. Apart from the title track, the Maggot Brain monster (´71) means funk with a big P. Just check out the ultra-catchy Can You Get To That for proof.

And last but not least, there´s an alternate take of Maggot Brain doing the rounds, found as a bonus track on the cd reissue. Clinton mixed the band way low in the mix on the final master, but on this version the band is far more audible, which makes for a much mellower listening experience. Nice, but I´ll take the naked truth any time.

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain MP3

Funkadelic - Can You Get To That MP3

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (alt. mix) MP3