Cosmic Slop
Studio album by
Funkadelic
ReleasedJuly 1973 [1]
Recorded1972-1973
StudioUnited Sound Studio, Detroit; Manta Sound Studio, Toronto
Genre
Length35:32
LabelWestbound
WB-2022
ProducerGeorge Clinton
Funkadelic chronology
America Eats Its Young
(1972) 		Cosmic Slop
(1973) 		Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
(1974)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Blender[4]
Christgau's Record GuideB[5]
Mojo[6]
Q[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
Spin(9/10)[citation needed]

Cosmic Slop is the fifth studio album by Funkadelic, released in July 1973 on Westbound Records. While it has been favorably reevaluated by critics long after its original release, the album was a commercial failure, producing no charting singles, and reaching only #112 on the Billboard pop chart and #21 on the R&B chart.[9] The album was re-released on CD in 1991.[7]

Cosmic Slop is the first Funkadelic album to feature artwork and liner notes by Pedro Bell, who assumed responsibility for the band's gate-fold album covers and liner notes until the band's collapse after 1981's The Electric Spanking of War Babies. Bell's liner notes to Cosmic Slop include small illustrations next to each song's name, summarizing the song in a picture.[7]

Lloyd Bradley in Q Magazine characterised the album a "cornerstone ... coming just before James Brown sidepersons began defecting to Clinton's outfit' and "a link between fearsomely dark musings and out-and-out strangeness".[7]

Track listing

Side One

  1. “Nappy Dugout” (George Clinton, Cordell Mosson, Garry Shider) – 4:33
  2. “You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure” (Clinton, Sidney Barnes) – 3:03
  3. “March to the Witch’s Castle” (Clinton) – 5:59
  4. “Let’s Make It Last” (Clinton, Eddie Hazel) – 4:08

Side Two

  1. “Cosmic Slop” (Clinton, Bernie Worrell) (released as a single-Westbound 218) – 5:17
  2. “No Compute” (Clinton, Shider) – 3:03
  3. “This Broken Heart” (William Franklin) – 3:37
  4. “Trash a Go-Go” (Clinton) – 2:25
  5. “Can’t Stand the Strain” (Clinton, Hazel) – 3:27

Personnel

Songs

You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure

This song is a reworking of the 1965 Parliaments single "Heart Trouble". The instrumental portion of this song was reworked into "Do That Stuff" for the 1976 album The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein.

Cosmic Slop

This track was remade several times by future lineups of Parliament/Funkadelic. A live version (recorded during a rehearsal) appears on the 1976 Funkadelic album Hardcore Jollies. Several Parliament/Funkadelic members contributed to a full cover of the track for Bill Laswell’s Axiom Funk project, released on the 1995 album Funkcronomicon.

Another live version, from 1983 and released in 1990 on Live at the Beverly Theater, features Dennis Chambers on drums, Rodney Curtis on bass, and Eddie Hazel, Garry Shider, and Michael Hampton on guitar.

No Compute

This Broken Heart

Cosmic Slop Compilation

In 2000, Castle Music released a 10-track compilation album, also called "Cosmic Slop" - although it bore no relation to the studio album of the same name.[10] The album's tracklisting consisted of: "One Nation Under A Groove", "Comin" Round The Mountain", "Cholly (Funk Getting Ready To Roll!)", "Freak Of The Week", "Uncle Jam", "Groovallegiance", "Smokey", “Cosmic Slop", "Soul Mate" and "(Medley) Funk Gets Stronger (Killer Millimeter Longer Version)/ She Loves You". The album was subtitled "Original Recordings From The Masters Of Funk!"

See also

References

  1. ^ "George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic official website". Official Website of George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic. March 4, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Ducker, Jesse (July 6, 2018). "Funkadelic's 'Cosmic Slop' Turns 45 | Anniversary Retrospective". Albumism. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  3. ^ Allmusic review
  4. ^ Blender review Archived 2009-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Robert Christgau: CG: Funkadelic". robertchristgau.com.
  6. ^ "Music: FUNKADELIC - COSMIC SLOP + 1 : REMASTERED by Funkadelic, 106840287". Tower.com. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
  7. ^ a b c d Bradley, Lloyd (5 March 1991). "Funkadelic Cosmic Slop review". Q Magazine. 55: 89.
  8. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780743201698.
  9. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r7888/charts-awards Allmusic.com - Cosmic Slop chart details
  10. ^ AllMusic, Funkadelic - Cosmic Slop [Castle, CD, 2000,]
  • Cosmic Slop album liner notes by Dean Rudland (2005). Westbound Records Inc.
Categories