George Clinton’s third solo album, Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends was released by Capitol in ‘85 and it received a whole shit-load of critical acclaim, despite not being as successful at Computer Games with its “Atomic Dog”.
Despite being credited to Clinton alone, plenty of the old Parliament-Funkadelic alumni show up here, including long-time collaborator Bootsy Collins. The songs are extraordinary, from the opening “Double Oh-Oh”, through “Bodyguard” to the title track at the end. But Clinton has never been about specific songs. It seems ridiculous also to point out the individual attributes of the musicians (as awesome as they all are).
Clinton records, and shows, are all about the experience. Even on disc (or vinyl), he is able to command out very souls to quit bitching about the banalities of life and fucking dance. He can possess our feet and, dammit, infiltrate our loins. While George Clinton music exists, the world will remain a fun place to be.
There’s something about that voice too. He’s like a crazed yet comforting uncle, tripping his tits off but still finding the time to read a bedtime story. It’s like, we know that we wouldn’t want to be in a car if he was driving, but he’d be most welcome in the passenger seat for a long road trip. His stories would probably be disconnected, nonsensical and barely understandable, but hell, they’d still sound great.
Every album from Clinton and his various projects should be revisited. I kinda pulled this one out of a hat. Go immerse yourself.
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