Up for the Down Stroke | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 3, 1974 | |||
Recorded | 1973–1974 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 39:12 | |||
Label | Casablanca | |||
Producer | George Clinton | |||
Parliament chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Blender | [3] |
Christgau's Record Guide | A− [4] |
Pitchfork | 8.3/10 [2] |
Rolling Stone | [5] |
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
Spin | 8/10 [7] |
Up for the Down Stroke is an album by the American funk band Parliament. It was the band's second album (following 1970's Osmium ), and their first to be released on Casablanca Records. The album was released on July 3, 1974. Its title track was Parliament's first chart hit and remains one of the most well-known P-Funk songs. The album also contains a funk reworking of The Parliaments' song "(I Wanna) Testify" under the title "Testify". The original title of the album was Whatever Makes Baby Feel Good, and the cover featured group leader George Clinton hovering over a woman in distress, sporting a black wig and monster-type gloves.
Up for the Down Stroke is notable in that it regenerated George Clinton's professional relationship with bassist Bootsy Collins, who had taken a two-year hiatus from the group. Collins would play a pivotal role in all of the Parliament albums released through Casablanca Records.
Credits taken from LP liner notes.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Up for the Down Stroke" | George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Fuzzy Haskins, Bernie Worrell | 5:07 |
2. | "Testify" | Clinton, Deron Taylor | 3:29 |
3. | "The Goose" | Clinton, Eddie Hazel | 9:09 |
4. | "I Can Move You (If You Let Me)" | Clinton, Cordell Mosson, Worrell, Collins | 2:44 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
5. | "I Just Got Back (From the Fantasy, Ahead of Our Time in the Four Lands of Ellet)" | Peter Chase | 4:28 |
6. | "All Your Goodies Are Gone" | Clinton, Haskins, Billy "Bass" Nelson | 5:02 |
7. | "Whatever Makes Baby Feel Good" | Clinton, Hazel | 5:55 |
8. | "Presence of a Brain" | Clinton, Garry Shider | 3:18 |
Total length: | 39:12 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
9. | "Up for the Down Stroke (Alternate Mix)" | 5:39 |
10. | "Testify (Alternate Mix)" | 4:03 |
11. | "Singing Another Song" | 3:04 |
Total length: | 51:58 |
The following songs were released as singles:
"Up For The Down Stroke" was later remade by Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns on their first album A Blow For Me and a Toot For You. "Testify", "The Goose", and "All Your Goodies Are Gone" were remade from old Parliaments tunes from the 1960s. "Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good" was remade from the 1968 tune of the same name by Rose Williams and Funkadelic, however, Funkadelic had revamped it earlier in 1973 with the track "Can't Stand the Strain". There is another version of "The Goose" recorded by Funkadelic in 1970 which showed up on the Toys album released by Funkadelic in 2008. The vocal group the Dells covered "Testify" and "All Your Goodies Are Gone" later in 1978.
Parliament-Funkadelic is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their eclectic style has drawn on psychedelia, outlandish fashion, and surreal humor. They have released albums such as Maggot Brain (1971), Mothership Connection (1975), and One Nation Under a Groove (1978) to critical praise, and scored charting hits with singles such as "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker" (1975) and "Flash Light" (1978). Overall, the collective achieved thirteen top ten hits in the American R&B music charts between 1967 and 1983, including six number one hits. Their work has had an influential effect on subsequent funk, post-punk, hip-hop, and techno artists of the 1980s and 1990s, while their collective mythology has helped pioneer Afrofuturism.
Parliament was an American funk band formed in 1968 by George Clinton as a flagship act of his P-Funk collective. Evolving out of an earlier vocal group, Parliament became associated with a more commercial and less rock-oriented sound than its sister act Funkadelic. Their work incorporated Afrofuturism concepts, horn arrangements, synthesizer, and outlandish theatrics. The band scored a number of Top 10 hits, including the million-selling 1976 single "Give Up the Funk ," and Top 40 albums such as Mothership Connection (1975).
The P-Funk mythology is a group of recurring characters, themes, and ideas primarily contained in the output of George Clinton's bands Parliament and Funkadelic. This "funkology" was outlined in album liner notes and song lyrics, in addition to album artwork, costumes, advertisements, and stage banter. P-Funk's "Dr. Seussian afrofunk" is often cited as a critical component of the Afrofuturism movement.
America Eats Its Young is the fourth studio album and the first double album by Funkadelic, released in May 1972. This was the first album to include the whole of the House Guests, including Bootsy Collins, Catfish Collins, Chicken Gunnels, Rob McCollough and Kash Waddy. It also features the Plainfield-based band U.S., which consisted of guitarist Garry Shider and bassist Cordell Mosson, on most of the tracks. Unlike previous Funkadelic albums, America Eats Its Young was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and in the UK. The original vinyl version contained a poster illustrated by Cathy Abel. The bottom of the poster features the first widespread appearance of the Funkadelic logo, which would appear on the cover of their next album Cosmic Slop.
Hardcore Jollies is the ninth studio album by the funk rock band Funkadelic, released on October 29, 1976 by Warner Bros. Records, their first album to be issued on a major label. It is dedicated to "the guitar players of the world." Originally, the first side of the album was called "Osmosis Phase 1" and the second side was "Terribitus Phase 2." Hardcore Jollies was released one month after Funkadelic's final album for Westbound Records, Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, which was recorded during the same sessions.
Tales of Kidd Funkadelic is the eighth studio album by the band Funkadelic, released in September 1976. It was their final album on the Westbound record label. The tracks were recorded during the same sessions as their first release for Warner Bros. Records, Hardcore Jollies; which was released a month later. Two tracks from Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, the single “Undisco Kidd” and the party anthem “Take Your Dead Ass Home!” have been staples in the band’s live performances since the album’s 1976 release, and can be heard on the 1977 Parliament concert album Live: P-Funk Earth Tour. The album opener “Butt-To-Buttresuscitation” and the song “I’m Never Gonna Tell It” were included in the band’s live shows during the early 2000s. The song "Let's Take It to the People" has been sampled by hip-hop band A Tribe Called Quest for their song "Everything Is Fair", on their album The Low End Theory.
Mothership Connection is the fourth album by American funk band Parliament, released on December 15, 1975 on Casablanca Records. This concept album is often rated among the best Parliament-Funkadelic releases, and was the first to feature horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, previously of James Brown's backing band the J.B.'s.
Stretchin' Out in Bootsy's Rubber Band is the first album by American funk and soul band Bootsy's Rubber Band, an offshoot act of Parliament-Funkadelic led by bassist and vocalist William "Bootsy" Collins. It was released on January 30, 1976, on Warner Bros. Records.
Chocolate City is the third album by the funk band Parliament, released in 1975. It was a "tribute to Washington D.C.", where the group had been particularly popular. The album's cover includes images of the United States Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial in the form of a chocolate medallion, as well as sticker labeled "Washington DC". The album was very popular in the capital city, selling 150,000 copies alone there.
Computer Games is the debut album by American funk musician George Clinton, released by Capitol Records on November 5, 1982. Though technically Clinton's first "solo" album, the record featured most of the same personnel who had appeared on recent albums by Parliament and Funkadelic, both formally disbanded by Clinton in 1981. Conceived in the aftermath of a period marked by financial and personal struggles for Clinton, Computer Games restored his popularity for a short time before P-Funk fell victim to renewed legal problems and scant label support in the mid-1980s.
Gloryhallastoopid (Or Pin the Tale on the Funky) is the eighth album by the American funk band Parliament. It was their penultimate album on the Casablanca Records label, and is another concept album that tries to explain that Funk was responsible for the creation of the universe (see P Funk mythology). It reuses samples from previous albums, notably Mothership Connection and Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome.
Jerome Eugene "Bigfoot" Brailey is an American drummer, best known for his work with P-Funk, which included the bands Parliament, Funkadelic, and numerous related projects. Brailey is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.
Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs is the debut album by Parliament-Funkadelic lead guitarist Eddie Hazel. The album was released on July 25, 1977. It was Hazel's only album until his death in 1992, when it was followed by several posthumous releases.
Live: P-Funk Earth Tour is a live double album by Parliament that documents the band's 1977 P-Funk Earth Tour. The performances include songs from Parliament's albums through The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein as well as songs from the Funkadelic repertoire. The album is made up of portions of two performances from January 1977 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena and the Los Angeles Forum.
George Clinton: The Mothership Connection is a DVD released in 1998 and then reissued in 2001, featuring George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic. The DVD features a concert performed by Parliament-Funkadelic at The Summit in Houston, Texas on October 31, 1976. The DVD documents the beginning of famed P-Funk Earth Tour, which would run for almost two years.
What's Bootsy Doin'? is a 1988 album by Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins. The album was released by Columbia Records and was his first album after a six-year hiatus from the music scene. The album reunites Collins with former P-Funk players Bernie Worrell, Fred Wesley and Gary "Mudd Bone" Cooper, and also features newcomers including Mico Wave and Godmoma.
Plush Funk is the third installment of the George Clinton Family Series collection. The album was released in 1993 by P-Vine Records in Japan, and then was released the next year by AEM Records in the United States and Sequel Records in the United Kingdom. The CD features the track "May Day (S.O.S)", which was an outtake from the Funkadelic album "The Electric Spanking of War Babies".
Go Fer Yer Funk is the first installment of the George Clinton Family Series collection. The album was released in 1992 by P-Vine Records in Japan, and then was released the next year by AEM Records in the U.S. and Sequel Records in the U.K.. The Family Series was designed to present previously unreleased recordings done by various bands in the Parliament-Funkadelic musical stable. The first CD is notable in that it features the title cut "Go Fer Yer Funk" which originally featured a collaboration between P-Funk and Funk legend James Brown.
The Discography of the artist Michael "Clip" Payne.
Up for the Down Stroke Parliament.