Lost In Tyme Blog

Funkadelic - 1973 - Cosmic Slop

Tracks :
01 Nappy Dugout (4:33)
G Clinton, Garry Shider, Cordell Mosson}
02 You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure (3:03)
G Clinton, Sidney Barnes
03 March to the Witch's Castle (5:59)
G Clinton
04 Let's Make It Last (4:08)
G Clinton, Eddie Hazel)
05 Cosmic Slop (5:17)
G Clinton, B Worrell
06 No Compute (3:03)
G Clinton, Garry Shider
07 This Broken Heart (3:37)
W Franklin
08 Trash A-Go-Go (2:25)
G Clinton
09 Can't Stand the Strain (3:27)
G Clinton, E Hazel

Personnel :
Keyboards & Melodica, Strings on 'Broken Heart': Bernard Worrell
Bass: 'Boogie' Mosson
Percussion: Tyrone Lampkin
Lead & Rhythm Guitar: Gary Shider
Lead & Rhythm Guitar: Ron Bykowski
Guest Funkadelic Maggot: Tiki Fulwood, Drums on 'Nappy Dugout'

Reviews :

1
With each successive release, Funkadelic was streamlining its sound, a process culminating in such early '70s classics as COSMIC SLOP. The group's acid rock-heavy early work had metamorphosed into straight-up, party hearty funk, with lyrics that alternate between the serious (the title track) and the humorous ("No Compute"). It may not be as awe-inspiring as their masterpiece, MAGGOT BRAIN, but, more than any other Funkadelic album, COSMIC SLOP stresses the importance of the almighty groove.

The album opens with one of Funkadelic's funkiest tracks ever, the largely instrumental "Nappy Dugout." It's clear from the start that Funkadelic, despite a revolving cast of characters, is one of the tightest bands around. The aforementioned title track is perhaps the group's best known number. It tells the downhearted tale of a young single mother who has to turn to the shadier side of the streets to support her family, but the music has obvious pop leanings. Other highlights include the vicious Led Zeppelin-esque rocker "Trash A-Go-Go," the album-closing soul ballad "Can't Stand the Strain," and the brokenhearted "You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure."

~Amazon.com

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2
One of our favorite early Funkadelic albums -- and a real turning point for the group! Gone are the trippier guitar solos of earlier days, and in their place is a tighter approach to funk -- one that has the band grooving hard and soulfully on shorter tracks that perfect the dark vision hinted at in the Maggot Brain years! The tunes are shorter, funkier, and catchier -- and the vocals are especially great -- so much so than on the title cut "Cosmic Slop" has harmonies so great you'd swear you were listening to late-Motown Temptations! Other tracks continue with a great soul-based focus.

~DustyGroove.com

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3
With a much more stripped-down version of the band, if the credits are to be believed (five regular members total, not counting any vocalists), Funkadelic continued its way through life with Cosmic Slop. A slightly more scattershot album than the group's other early efforts, with generally short tracks (only two break the five-minute barrier) and some go-nowhere ballads, Cosmic Slop still has plenty to like about it, not least because of the monstrous title track. A bitter, heartbreaking portrait of a family on the edge, made all the more haunting and sad by the sweet vocal work -- imagine an even more mournful "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" -- the chorus is a killer, with the devil invited to the dance while the band collectively fires up the funk. Elsewhere, the band sounds like it's more interested in simply hitting a good groove and enjoying it, and why not? If introductory track "Nappy Dugout" relies more on duck calls and whistles than anything else to give it identity, it's still a clap-your-hands/stomp-your-feet experience, speeding up just a little toward the end. As for the bandmembers themselves, Bernie Worrell still takes the general lead thanks to his peerless keyboard work, but the guitar team of Gary Shider and Ron Bykowski and the rhythm duo of Tyrone Lampkin and Cordell Mosson aren't any slouches, either. George Clinton again seems to rely on the role of ringleader more than anything else, but likely that's him behind touches like distorted vocals. Certainly it's a trip to hear the deep, spaced-out spoken word tale on "March to the Witch's Castle," a harrowing picture of vets returning from Vietnam -- and then realizing that Rush ripped off that approach for a song on its Caress of Steel album a year or two later!

~by Ned Raggett [AMG]