Live at Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan 12th September 1971 in Bloomington, MN

Not released until 1996, this was an unusual gig for the band, which was breaking in a new rhythm section (this may have been this lineup's first show) without much or any rehearsal. You can't tell from this 77-minute disc, which offers a typically amorphous, free-floating set of black
rock
-- which is to say, judged by most standards, it's not typical music at all. Seguing from spaced-out jams to occasional numbers with vocals by
George Clinton
, and throwing in imaginative
improvisations
by guitarist
Eddie Hazel
and keyboardist
Bernie Worrell
, it sounds something like a combination of
Jimi Hendrix
,
James Brown
, and
Sun Ra
. The 14-minute
"Maggot Brain"
verges on
prog rock
/
psychedelia
(in the good sense), with its almost mystical guitar lines; earthier pleasures are offered with cuts like
"I Call My Baby Pussycat"
(two versions). The fidelity is pretty good, though the vocals lack the presence of the instruments.
Funkadelic
are still shown to their best advantage on their studio recordings of the era, but this is certainly a fascinating find for fans, augmented by detailed liner notes about the gig by
Rob Bowman
. ~ Richie Unterberger