Review Summary: P-Funk wants you to shake your ass to some silly alien clone themed funk.
Unlike most people, I actually heard The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein before Mothership Connection, which initially left me only understanding some of the ideas on the album. See this is because The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein references Mothership Connection so often that it’s more of a part two kind of entity than an independent release. Particularly, P-Funk’s lore about the healing powers of music and the party lifestyle nearly went over my head because I had not been introduced to it by the track “P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up).” So it is advised to only listen to this if you’ve already heard Mothership Connection.
So, assuming all people interested in this album have already heard Mothership Connection, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein starts off by picking up where Mothership Connection had left off, explaining that the alien Starchild (voiced by Garry Shider and previously established as P-Funk’s primary prophet) had worked for Dr. Funkenstein (voiced by George Clinton,) who is the chosen one, destined to introduce funk to the human race. This myth explains that there will be many clones made of him, all as followers of the great and mystical force of funk. In a way, this causes both Mothership Connection and The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein to seem like a strange bridged story, though sadly, after the clones are actually created in the 4th track, “Children of Production,” the story drops off completely. Without any sort of conflict all the clones just party and have fun for the rest of the album, which is oddly disappointing. Though some sources say that the rest of the album is the clones introducing funk to the human race, there are no explicit lyrics about this on the album. Just as the story fizzles into simple party type themes, sadly so do the lyrics. This leaves the lyrics on the first half of the album as far more interesting and creative, than the second half.
However, everything else about the album is actually rather brilliant. From the offbeat silliness of the song “Dr. Funkenstein” to the sexy, slow, yet danceable rhythm of “I've Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body)” the album is actually rather musically diverse and exciting. Vocally, “Getten' to Know You” is a huge standout due to it being the only song Garry Shider takes the lead on. His voice is incredibly confident and sexually driven whenever he opens his mouth, and has a powerful vocal capacity to back it all up. Musically the album doesn’t let up on the impressive instrumentation. While nearly every song on the album is decorated with colorful trumpet, saxophone, and synthesizer parts, the real showstopper is Bootsy Collins’ bass parts which not only hold all the songs together, but give the songs their funky personality. With an array of vocalists and instruments with a mission to make the listener dance (in both the lore and outside of the lore,) the short introduction track “Prelude” is the only track on the entire album that doesn’t invoke the immediate need to dance.
So in short, Parliament wants you to get silly and dance your ass off to their funky rhythms. It’s a rather simple idea and maybe to some people it’s too simple for The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein to really be considered concept album. Concept album or not, their method works really well and is fairly unique and influential giving their leader, George Clinton, the well deserved title of King of Funk (or Dr. Funkenstein as they call it.) It’s well thought out party music that’s fun, strange, and tries to loosely follow a story about alien clones. Who could ask for more?
Highlights: "Gamin' on Ya", "Dr. Funkenstein", "Getten' to Know You"
