ALBUM REVIEW: BOOTSY COLLINS – World Wide Funk

ALBUM REVIEW: BOOTSY COLLINS – World Wide Funk
Mascot Label Group
27 October, 2017
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8 ½ /10

He’s played with James Brown, George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic, released dozens of records under various permutations and band names, contributed to who knows how many other artist’s recordings, is a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, is mad as abox of cut eels and an irrepressible funk master, and according to Iggy Pop in the spoken word intro to this instant rump shaker of a record, “was born a long, long time ago in a subterranean cavern full of shining dinosaurs… munching on canapés of bad shit!”

He is a legend. He is the Master of Funkology. He is Bootsy Collins. And he is hard-wired into the world wide funk matrix.

If you need a yardstick – though Bootsy is incomparable – think Prince on the biggest bass high ever. Slap bass and deep grooves vie with el scorcho guitars (often courtesy of enigmatic Guns n’ Roses weirdo Buckethead) and samples, while Bootsy and co (guest rappers include Doug E Fresh, Big Daddy Kane, Dru Down and Chuck D alongside vocalists Kali Uchis, Musiq Soulchild, Tyshawn Colquitt, X-Zact and Blvckseeds amongst others, and fellow bass legends Victor Woteen, Stanley Clarke and Manou Gallo) rap and jam and chat and shake and bake and make it just about as funky as it can be.

It’s all here: Interstellar superjams, feminist manifestos, urban soulfunk grooves, slick modern R&B – all passed through the prism of Bootsy’s rose-coloured, star-shaped glasses.

Category: CD Reviews