Parliament-Funkadelic & Stoneground: Two music collectives receive live CD releases

Live CDs: Short Reviews

[This time around, we take a look at a couple live CDs that feature bands that can more accurately be described as “collectives” – groups that contained a multitude of members floating in and out (and back in again) with great frequency and interchangeable parts. Community collaboration, so to speak. Reviews by Bill Glahn] 

Artist: Parliament/Funkadelic

Title: Detroit 1977 (Rox Vox RVCD2122)

Venue: Other than the title, none given. Rox Vox is not known for accurate information. The tracklist suggests it’s a show in support of the Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome album, which was released on November, 28, 1977. Two dates have been suggested as a source, a New Year’s Eve (77/78) radio broadcast or April 1, 1978 at Cobo Arena in Detroit.

Cover: 8 page booklet and tray card. An unaccredited article from the September 11, 1977 issue of The Detroit Free Press is reprinted with photos (also unaccredited) in the booklet.

Tracklist: Funkentelechy/ Jam/ Cosmic Slop>Jam/ Mothership Connection>Jam/ Swing Down Sweet Chariot/ Flashlight>Jam

Sound Quality: Probably a radio broadcast as advertised but a high generation tape source. Shrill thin sound at the beginning, but improves significantly by Cosmic Slop. It never, however, gets to anything resembling master tape quality, no mater how much “digital remastering” is applied. (3-7)

Comments; There is no doubt that this was recorded in Detroit, as verified by George Clinton’s comments to the crowd. P-Funk were Detroit-based and performed frequently there. Saving “Flashlight” for the closing number suggests that the April 1, 1978 date is closer to accurate – not 1977 at all. “Flashlight” was the band’s first #1 single on the R&B charts and reached #16 on the Top 40 chart. Which makes this release a good companion piece to the official Live: P-Funk Earth Tour, which documented the previous year’s tour.

No musician credits are given for this show. The great Eddie Hazel, so instrumental in introducing the groups “psychedelic” element, was off working on a solo album at this time and is not present on this line-up. But long-time P-Funk guitarist and child prodigy, Michael Hampton is a more than capable substitute. Although Bootsy Collins had already formed Bootsy’s Rubber Band, he was still part of the P-Funk collective, as were the key members Jerome Brailey (drums), Bernie Worrell (keyboards), and James Brown alumni, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker (horns). 

This particular recording has received several bootleg releases under different titles – all attributing it to “Detroit 1977” with no other specifics. The assumption here is that it is basically the same group that recorded Funkentelechy.

The show is a dynamic one, hitting on past glories and their then current assault on the mainstream airwaves. It would wind up being both the group’s apex and foundation for long term cult popularity that exists to this day. If the “classic rock” radio format had any self-respect Parliament/Funkadelic would be a staple on radio, but when’s the last time you heard one of their tracks while cruising down the highway? Perhaps the Afro-centric space-trek themes in their philosophy (yes, PF had a philosophy) are just too much for the folks who lay out the massively white play lists that frequent that format. But they’re selling their audience short. For the past several decades George Clinton & the P-Funk All-stars have continued to play in front of large and racially diverse audiences. It’s a collective thing. Journalists take note. The bootleggers already have.

Grade: C+ (downgraded a full point for sound quality)

Artist: Stoneground

Title: Live In Haight-Ashbury 1971 (Keyhole KHCD 9067)

Venue: KSAN Studios, March 1971

Cover: 8 page booklet and tray card with unaccredited photos and, curiously, a review of a short Hyde Park concert (London) from the pages of the UK music publication Melody Maker, September 19th, 1970 predating the band’s first album by almost 7 months.

Tracklist: It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry (instrumental version)/ Stroke, Stand/ DJ Babble/ If You Gotta Go, Go Now/ DJ Babble/ Dreaming Man/ DJ Babble/ Come Back Baby/ DJ Babble/ Don’t Waste My Time With Your Jive/ Added Attraction/ DJ Babble/ Brand New Start/ DJ Babble/ Great Change (mistitled “Strange Change”)/ DJ Babble/ Bad News/ Roll On Elijah/ Gypsy Lover/ Colonel Chicken Fry/ Total Destruction of Your Mind/ Corrina/ Rainy Day In June/ Have You Seen My Baby/ DJ Babble

Sound Quality: very good low generation off-air recording (8-9)

Comments: Up until the early-60s, Warner Bros. Records was primarily an intellectual property holder, set up to reap dividends from the songs used in their movies and television productions. Among their publishing holdings were the works of George and Ira Gershwin and an as-yet undiscovered songwriter named Bob Dylan (Witmark Publishing). But their actual output aimed at the popular recording market was limited to vocal/spoken word albums by artists already under contract to the film division (Edd Byrnes, Connie Stevens), comedy albums (Bob Newhart), soundtracks, TV theme albums, and “safe” music for stodgy audiences (Henry Mancini). In fact, the label was so noted for putting out dogs in the burgeoning rock ‘n’ era that they were in no danger of breaking new markets, or competing for space on the single or album charts. Or making money, for that matter. There was an attempt to sign already established stars like the Everly Brothers (who continued to have hits) and Bill Haley (who did not).

Bob Newhart became their biggest star and best income source. With a new influx of executives in 1961, Warner Brothers became a little more inventive in chasing the charts, but not too inventive. Albert Grossman, Warner’s partner in the Witmark deal, held auditions for a new folk group and Peter, Paul and Mary were born, promptly fed a dose of Bob Dylan songs, and the company began making headway. They still looked for comedy albums as their ticket to cutting their losses, though, with best-selling albums by Allan Sherman and Bill Cosby. The biggest coup, however, may have been the purchase of Frank Sinatra’s Reprise label, which brought label manager Mo Ostin into the fold. Finally Warner Brothers had somebody capable of reading the rapidly developing musical landscape. Buying up U.S. distribution deals of several overseas artists, Reprise had instant credibility for it’s rock ‘n’ roll roster with the addition of the likes of The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix. The parent company did likewise, entering a distribution deal with Pye Records, which allowed them to steal away Petula Clark from Laurie Records just in time for her biggest hit, “Downtown”. 

Other key employees brought into the fold by Warner Bros., were art director Ed Thrasher and head of A&R Lenny Waronker who had worked at a small San Francisco label called Autumn Records, co-owned by impresario (DJ, artist manager, label exec, and to use a modern term, “influencer”) Tom Donahue. Add to that, Andy Hickman, the companies “resident hippie,” who procured the talents of some of the labels best selling artists (Jethro Tull, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young), and the record division was no longer the poor sister of the film division. In fact, the film division was looking to the record label to improve its diminishing success. Hoping to capitalize on the music counterculture, WB Pictures suggested a hippy caravan across the country as a project called Medicine Ball Caravan (WB was manufacturer and distributor for Frank Zappa’s Bizarre/Straight label and Alice Cooper was included on the tour – which lead to another important signing for the label). This is where the Stoneground story begins.

In 1970e Tom Donahue was managing the band, a three piece fronted by hot-shot guitarist Danny Barnes, but which often included a collective of other San Francisco musicians and singers in their concerts. Donahue suggested that Sal Valentino, the singer for Autumn Records' defunct band (but Autumn’s greatest success), the Beau Brummels, join Stoneground as lead singer and put them on the road as the house band for the MBC project. By the time the tour was over, Stoneground was a 10-piece unit with 7 different lead vocalists, mixing gospel, soul, and folk songs – all delivered with a hard-edged rock sound.

But before their first release there was a soundtrack album for the movie, featuring a glimpse of Stoneround live. Stonegrounds “Freakout/ It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It takes a Train To Cry” medley proved to be a great preview of the band’s explosive live set, with Annie Sampson (one of four female vocalists in the band by this time) giving a full-on orgasmic performance to what, basically is a jam in structure, which blends into the more structured, but no less rocking, Dylan tune, fronted by both Sampson and Valentino.

In between the caravan’s conclusion and their first album release, Stoneground would make an appearance on the BBC and continue to perform around their East Bay home base. As members of the greater San Francisco metro area, they continued to be community supporters in an area that was desperately sinking into hard times after the utopian hippie dreams following the “Summer of Love.”

Live In Haight-Ashbury 1971 features Stoneground performing at a KSAN radiothon to raise funds for a desperately needed free health clinic to assist in the influx of young people from around the country, who came ill-equipped to deal with the realities of capitalism’s diametrically opposed view to utopianism. Capitalism was eating them alive with increasing real estate values and few jobs, leaving many homeless, sick, and drug addicted.

As a fundraiser, you get all the problems with this CD that you would encounter with any studio-based fundraising performance – the constant interruption of hosts who are there to encourage donations while the artists are there to draw an audience. In this case, it happens between every song. Although the track listing would suggest that there are fewer interruptions towards the end of the show, there are not. I think that whoever mastered the disc just got tired of making a separate track for “DJ babble” after “Bad News.”

The upside far outweighs any complaint. The songs all near completion before the DJs enter the picture and they are fine performances. As usually the case, Stoneground’s live repertoire far exceeds their studio output. They start the set with “It Takes A Lot To Laugh,” a staple of their live shows that would get an encore performance after MBC on their second album, Family – a two record set that was mostly recorded live. This time, though, the techs hadn’t placed Valentino’s mic into the mix yet and it serves only as a soundcheck or intro music. With the exception of “Looking For You,” the entirety of their first album (released a few weeks after this performance), get live renditions here. Other tracks, such as the great rendition of Swamp Dogg’s “Total Destruction of Your Mind,” were already mainstays of their live set and would appear on the live portion of Family. As with the record, if features a rotating group of lead singers, 7 in all.

All in all, Live in Haight Ashbury 1971 offers the winning combination of being mastered from a low generation tape of high quality and solid performances. There is only 1 other Stoneground bootleg that I am aware of, but you have to go back to the early days of vinyl for that and it’s impossible to find. It’s good to see the modern era of broadcast releases (on CD anyway, not so much on vinyl) taking some chances with lesser known, but equally deserving, artists.

Grade: A-