National Memo, the new online publication from Joe Conasan, launches its book review:
George Clinton, funk’s profane God-uncle, bandleader of both Parliament and Funkadelic, producer of legions more, was born in a lavatory in Kannapolis, North Carolina, so he “came by the funk honestly.” His career festoons a half-century of black pop culture. A Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer since 1997, with three number-one singles and as many platinum albums, he’s too lowbrow for the Grammys and less a legend than either of his heroes, Sly Stone or James Brown. But his broad, visionary catalog (over 45 albums) surveys a middle ground of both popularity and greatness that makes his work both easy to underestimate and tempting to over-praise. The many fitful pranks and drug capers in his new memoir (Brothas Be, Yo Like George…) cast him as black rock’s Jerry Garcia: the headdressed ringmaster who oversaw an expansive tribe of loosely affiliated acts (Parliament and Funkadelic) that laced hardcore funk with crude sci-fi myth. He tosses off enough decent recordings to become one of rap’s go-to sources for primo samples (and the book contains a detailed “sampleography”). By 1981, Clinton combined both acts into the P-Funk All-Stars before going solo the next year, but only after launching solo careers for bassist Bootsy Collins and keyboardist Bernie Worrell… (more)