George Clinton

Clinton has already had two solo Greatest Hits collections released, neither one entirely satisfying. So, this, his third, recorded, as the jewel box says, in Hi-Funkadelity, is not unwelcome. The dozen tracks stretch over 72 minutes and cherry-pick his '80s solo LPs. And funky it is, with pure funk workouts like "Atomic Dog" and "Do You Want Fries With That Shake!?" As expected, the grooves are cavernous and in direct contradiction of the second Funkadelic LP's title, it don't matter what your mind does 'cause your ass will sure as hell follow this stuff. And it's made clear where Prince got a substantial portion of the inspiration for his funkier work, like The Black Album. It's also plain that Clinton has done a better job of integrating rappers into his work than the Artist Once Again Known As Prince. But that shouldn't be surprising since so much hip-hop is built on the foundation Clinton laid with Parliament and Funkadelic. The only complaint is that "Dog Talk" is inexplicably censored in a clumsy way, even though other, albeit more buried in the mix, obscenities are allowed to slip through in other tracks. The lone rarity, "Let's Take It To The Stage/Do That Stuff," a live track from Halloween, 1976, that's only previously been available on vinyl, closes out the disc. Just what the doctor ordered if you needs to get funked up.