PARLIAMENT - FUNKENTELECHY VS. THE PLACEBO SYNDROME @ 45

Marking it’s 45th anniversary today is the 6th LP, under the Parliament banner, from George Clinton’s P-Funk collective. It's Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome, which was released on November 28th, 1977. It is arguably the most hit loaded jam to come from Parliament during their peak. While merely 6 songs take up its track listing, it still boasts some of the gang’s most infectious grooves and one of its biggest hits.

The LP is a loose concept album continuing the story of Starchild’s battle against the Placebo Syndrome and Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk. The narrative is effectively Clinton’s comment on the emergence of disco music in the late ‘70s, which he saw as a “dumb’d down” version of dance music for undiscriminating masses. The original vinyl release contained a 22″×33″ poster of the character Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk, as well as an 8-page comic book that explains the concept behind the LP. Both the poster and the comic book were illustrated by Overton Loyd.

The album is near wall to wall with foot stompin' funk, kicked off with Bop Gun (Endangered Species), about a weapon which makes anything it shoots funky, and then heading straight into another killer, Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk (Pay Attention – B3M). Side two features the singles, Funkentelechy and, what has to be the standout centerpiece of the LP, Flashlight. The latter features a booty bustin’ baseline played on Mini-Moog by Bernie Worrell, who creates an unstoppable groove that defines one of the P-Funk gang’s most iconic songs.

Flashlight was the first P-Funk related single to hit #1 on the R&B chart and peaked at #16 on the pop charts. The song’s distinctive baseline was originally intended for Bootsy, but he turned it down and opted to play drums instead. Worrell decided to take it on by reportedly chaining together three MOOG synths, which he layered to create the bass sound. The song began as a loose jam and eventually evolved through layers of recording, with up to 50 voices being overdubbed to create the complex layers of chanting and choruses.

The song ended up having a legacy far outside its original recording as various members of the P-Funk collective recycled elements of it in future recordings. Outside of the group, it seeped into the collective consciousness of hip-hop culture where it was sampled, quoted and referenced over and over again throughout the ensuing decades. Its message of light radiating from every individual makes this song shine with its own illumination as it inspires generation after generation.

The album was a significant hit, becoming the group’s fourth consecutive gold LP and second platinum, reaching #2 on the R&B charts and #13 on the Billboard top 200. It’s definitely the most consistently thumpin’ dance album from the Parliament Mothership to land on this funky planet.