CD Of The Week - Maggot Brain

"Mother Earth is pregnant for the 3rd time for y'all have knocked her up...."
Set the wayback machine to the year 1971...not an especially good year for me but it was the year that one of the greatest guitar tracks ever put to tape was recorded ..that being Eddie Hazel wailing on his guitar "like his momma just died" on the title track to Funkadelics newest release of that year.."Maggot Brain".
I just discovered that this cd has been remastered and re-released recently and couldnt be more happy. This has been on my personal playlist since I first heard George Clinton, Bernie Worell, Eddie Hazel, and crew blaring forth from my stoned out Cousin Bill's 8-track player when he picked me up for a lunch one balmy summer day back in 1973. I credit Bill for turning me on to quite a bit of great music back then and this was probably the most memorable one. I still remember looking at that cover art of the screaming afro haired woman in awe. The new remaster includes all the original tracks plus a couple bonus tracks ..one being an alt version of Maggot Brain. An interesting story behind this alt mix is that George Clinton had thought that the rest of the bands performance paled in comparison to Eddie Hazels guitar so he turned them way down in the final mix of the title track. The alt mix on the new cd is the original one before George modified it. It does sound different in that there is a lot more percussion present but thats about it.I do prefer the mix that ended up on the original album though. Funny thing is all these years I thought the reason you couldnt hear the rest of the band all that well was because it was a crappy recording and never realized it was intentional. In either case the title track is the real standout and worth the price of admission alone but the rest of the tracks smoke as well in all their electric funk glory.
BUY THIS CD or in the words of George Clinton himself.."Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow"