None Can Set You Free

Funkadelic - Whole Lot of BS ( 1972 / Psychedelic Funk)

Mar 1, 2023

Hello internet pals of music. Today we’re listening to the lesser-known B side of Funkadelic’s “Hit and Quit It” single.

Not sure why this song was never included on any albums. It’s that pure deep-fried acid rock their earlier albums were made from, and fits perfectly with songs like ‘Funky Dollar Bill” (although it has the beefier, less reverberating tinny production that seems to mark their move away from the acid-rock / psychedelic era and more into the heavy funk that would continue to fuse into the Parliament sound).

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Lyrically, they antagonize our consumer relationship / obsession with cleanliness (two years away from singing the line “soul is the ring around your bathtub”), the poisonous effects of the products we’re offered in that pursuit, and the emptiness that none of this will get us out of the reality that freedom of choice = freedom from choice.

Cyclamates, formaldehyde
Vitamin D.D.T.
One swipe, a clean wipe
None can set you free

Two things for me here besides the lyrical intent. This single seems like George Clinton testing out his indecision on where he wanted to take his whole Parliament-Funkadelic spaceship. This came after Maggot Brain, the album that capped off the original lineup’s wild descent into drug-fueled madness that ended with the break up of that band. For this single, Clinton tried to reform that line up, adding Gary Shider ( previously featured here) on guitar, Cordell “Boogie” Mosson on bass and Tyrone Lampkin on drums. The A-Side to this, the better-known and equally excellent “Hit It and Quit It”, indicates the heavier head-nod that would show up more on albums like Cosmic Slop, while this side seems like one last-go at his previous relationship.

The other thing is Tyrone Lampkin’s drumming. It shuffles like jazz drumming, skittering all over the place and never leaving an empty note, but is it sped up like Clinton’s vocals? Musician and total psychedelic devotee Julian Cope thought maybe so, and wrote about trying to determine so with a quick pitch shift test, but that doesn’t seem to have led him to any conclusion. Anyway, it’s always a guess with Funkadelic who’s playing drums and because they had three excellent drummers to pick from, I thought I’d bring it up for the curious: it’s Tyrone Lampkin here, not Tiki Fulwood like I always thought when I was younger and this kind of info was harder to find out.

Brush your teeth with rat poison, clean your mind with Cheer®!

And since it’s the first of the month, ten more songs for you!

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