George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic - The Mothership Connection 1978, Live in Houston

George Clinton was always known to say that his and his group's favorite place to play was in Houston, Texas.  There used to be a pretty vibrant and diversified funk and blues and soul scene up until the 80's, and even through the 90's if you, like me, are inclined to include DJ Screw and the plethora of R&B artists that sprouted from here in that decade.  I was lucky enough to see P-Funk in Houston at an outdoor venue on a beautiful day, and they performed for over 3 hours!

Clinton started the doo-wop group The Parliaments in the early 60's out of Plainview, New Jersey, and the group enjoyed some commercial success, but mainly at this time Clinton's bread and butter was as a staff writer for Motown Records out of Detroit.  He worked on ridiculous amount of records through them and probably honed his writing and arranging skills to a high degree.  Obviously, writing for Motown at that time was no joke. Hitsville, USA was producing some of the most widely listened to music and George Clinton was partly the reason why.  The Parliaments had a sister group called Funkadelic (you can download one of their albums off of this blog from a previous post) and they had interchangeable musicians for both groups that eventually joined together in the 1970's to make a super group that well now know as George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic.

So it's important to note that these guys make serious concept albums.  There is live footage of this concert, which was held at the Astrodome (where the Houston Astros used to play), which at that time was one of the biggest stadiums in the United States.  Along with George Clinton, the group hosts Bootsy Rubber Band Collins on bass who you may know played for James Brown all those years, and Eddie Hazel on guitar who was also one of the main arrangers for the group.  I could go on about them forever, but I'm just going to let you listen.

01 - Cosmic Slop

02 - Do that Stuff (Intro)

03 - Do that Stuff

04 - Gammin On Ya

05 - Standing on the Verge 

06 - Children of Production

07 - Mothership Connection

08 - Swing Down Sweet Chariot 

09 - Dr. Funkenstein

10 - P. Funk

11 - Tear the Roof Off the Sucker

12 - Funkin' for Fun

http://www.mediafire.com/?ioqtcmtqoji

Kashmere Stage Band - Texas Thunder Soul

Alright this shit will blow your mind.  This album is by a bunch of high school students from Houston, Texas in the 60's and 70's from Kashmere High School.  Houston used to have an incredibly strong soul and funk and country music scene back in the day.  I think Ray Charles epitomized it by the statement he made while he was living here (at the heights of fame) "If you wanna start a good band, you move to Houston."

This group is literally Kashmere High School's school jazz band from 1968 to 1974.  A lot of Southern states, especially Texas and Louisiana have a history of really shitty academics, and incredibly good music programs, either to complement the football teams or just because Texas and Louisiana have always been filled to the brim with musicians.  Conrad Johnson, the band leader, attended an Otis Redding concert in 1967 and decided to change the whole sound of the band, realizing the new musical revolution occurring in the States especially in the South shouldn't leave Kashmere H.S. behind.  Kashmere is located in Kashmere Gardens, a historically black neighborhood in Houston, and has been the site of major musical groups from Houston, such as Archie Bell and the Drells.  Enjoy this record!

http://www.mediafire.com/?8azn8912qf92668

http://www.mediafire.com/?jobutgntidk