Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow＜限定盤/Sky Blue Cassette＞

1970年にリリースされたファンク革新者 Funkadelic による2作目のアルバムが再発。彼らの画期的なデビュー作からわずか数か月後に発表された作品である。このアルバムは、LSDの影響下で行われた一度きりの長時間セッションから生まれたことで有名だ。バンドはここで楽曲制作の完成度を高めつつも、サイケデリックで自由奔放なジャム演奏の余地を大きく残している。また本作は、伝説的キーボーディスト Bernie Worrell が正式メンバーとして初めて参加した作品でもある。オリジナルテープからのリマスター。限定Sky Blue。

It's one of the best titles in modern musical history, for song and for album, and as a call to arms mentally and physically the promise of funk was never so perfectly stated. If it were just a title then there'd be little more to say, but happily, Free Your Mind lives up to it throughout as another example of Funkadelic getting busy and taking everyone with it. The title track itself kicks things off with rumbling industrial noises and space alien sound effects, before a call-and-response chant between deep and chirpy voices brings the concept to full life. As the response voices say, "The kingdom of heaven is within!" The low and dirty groove rumbles along for ten minutes of dark fun, with Bernie Worrell turning in a great keyboard solo toward the end -- listening to it, one gets the feeling that if Can were this naturally funky, they'd end up sounding like this. From there the band makes its way through a total of six songs, ranging from the good to astoundingly great. "Funky Dollar Bill" is the other standout track from the proceedings, with a great, throw-it-down chorus and rhythm and a sharp, cutting lyric that's as good to think about as it is to sing out loud. The closing "Eulogy and Light," meanwhile, predates Prince with its backward masking and somewhat altered version of the Lord's Prayer and Psalm 23. At other points, even if the song is a little more straightforward, there's something worthwhile about it, like the random stereo panning and Eddie Hazel's insane guitar soloing on "I Wanna Know If It's Good for You," with more zoned and stoned keyboard work from Worrell to top things off. The amount of drugs going down for these sessions in particular must have been notable, but the end results make it worthy. ~ Ned Raggett