Funkadelic “Maggot Brain” released 45 years ago on this date, July 12th 1971.  I was born just 10 days later so it wasn’t exactly on my radar at the time of its release, but once I finally heard it in college (thanks to a Funkadelic/Parliament obsessed roommate) my mind was blown. Crazy, outofthisworld beats, guitar, insanity. The opening track “Maggot Brain” starts off with this spoken-word lead in by George Clinton:

Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time
For y’all have knocked her up
I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe
I was not offended
For I knew I had to rise above it all
Or drown in my own shit

Then Eddie Hazel goes on to play the most mournful guitar solo ever. Allmusic states “George Clinton famously told Hazel to play ‘like your momma had just died,’ and the resulting evocation of melancholy and sorrow doesn’t merely rival Jimi Hendrix’s work, but arguably bests a lot of it.”

“Hit It and Quit It” is a weird, funky, amazing celebration of everything, groovy guitar and that late 60′s/early 70′s keyboard sound jamming along. “Super Stupid” is awash in psychedelic hard rock guitar, hitting heavy for the boogie. The album wraps up with “Wars of Armageddon,” an epic freak out jam with samples of everything possible, including freedom chants, trolley bells and cuckoo clocks.

“Can You Get To That” is one of my favorite songs of all time, its slow-n-sexy beat, clever and quotable lyrics and gospel harmonies paired with canyon-deep bass vocals (“I wanna know”) never fail to give me shivers.

I once had a life or rather
Life had me I was one among many
Or at least I seemed to be
then I read an old quotation in a book just yesterday said you gonna reap just what you sow the debts you make you have to pay
Can you get to that?
Can you get to that?
I want to know if you can get to that
Can you get to that?
I want to know if you can get to that
I recollect with mixed emotions all
The good time we use to have we use to have
But you were making preparations for the coming separation and you blew everything we had
Well you placed your life on credit and your lovin’ days are done
The checks you signed with love and kisses later come back signed insufficient funds
Can you get
I want to know if you can get to that
Well you placed your life on credit and your lovin’ days are done
The checks you signed with love and kisses later come back signed insufficient funds
Can you get
I want to know if you can get to that