Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow

 
Album Review: Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow

  • Artist: Funkadelic
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: 1970
  • Total Time: 30:52
  • Genre: Rhythm & Blues

Review

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, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow Eddie Hazel, Lucius Tawl Ross, Gregory Cook Funkadelic (10:00)
Friday Night, August 14th (Lyrics) Funkadelic (5:20)
Funky Dollar Bill (Lyrics) Eddie Hazel, George Clinton, Raymond Davis Funkadelic (3:14)
I Wanna Know If It's Good to You? (Lyrics) Eddie Hazel, George Clinton, Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins, Billy "Bass" Nelson, William Nelson Funkadelic (5:54)
Some More (Lyrics) George Clinton, Ernest G Harris, Jr. Funkadelic (2:55)
Eulogy and Light (Lyrics) Ernest G Harris, Jr. Funkadelic (3:29)

Credits

Ed Wolfrum (Engineer), George Clinton (Producer)
Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Wikipedia: Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow
Top
Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow
Studio album by Funkadelic
Released July 1970
Recorded 1970
Genre Funk, psychedelic soul, rock
Length 30:52
Label Westbound
Producer George Clinton
Professional reviews
Funkadelic chronology
Funkadelic
(1970)
Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow
(1970)
Maggot Brain
(1971)

Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow is the second studio album by American funk band Funkadelic, released in July 1970 on Westbound Records.[1] The inspiration for this album was, according to George Clinton, an attempt to "see if we can cut a whole album while we're all tripping on acid."[1]

The album and its title track, a feedback-drenched number taking a third of the album's length, introduces the subversion of Christian themes explored on later songs, describing a mystical approach to salvation in which "the Kingdom of Heaven is within" and achievable through freeing one's mind, after which one's ass will follow. Many of the songs (such as the title track and "Eulogy and Light") subvert Christian themes, including the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm.[1]

The album's gatefold cover forms something of a visual pun, echoing the sentiments of the album title. The sight of a woman holding her arms towards heaven in an ecstatic pose is subverted upon opening the sleeve to find that she is nude.

On the Billboard Music Charts (North America), Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow peaked at #11 on the Black Albums Chart and #92 on the Pop Albums chart.[1] The album and eponymous song influenced the band En Vogue, leading to the title of their hit song "Free Your Mind".

Contents

Track listing

Lead vocals are noted by superscripts: (a) George Clinton, (b) Billy Bass Nelson, (c) Eddie Hazel, (d) Tawl Ross

Side one

  1. "Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow" (George Clinton, Ray Davis, Eddie Hazel)a - 10:04
  2. "Friday Night, August 14th" (Clinton, Hazel, Billy Bass Nelson)b - 5:21
  3. "Funky Dollar Bill" (Clinton, Davis, Hazel)d - 3:15 (released as a single-Westbound 175)

Side two

  1. "I Wanna Know If It's Good to You?" (Clinton, Clarence Haskins, Hazel, Nelson)b, c 5:59(released as a single-Westbound 167)
  2. "Some More" (Clinton, Ernie Harris)c - 2:56
  3. "Eulogy and Light" (Harris)a - 3:31

2005 CD reissue bonus tracks

  1. "Fish, Chips and Sweat" - 3:22
  2. "Free Your Mind Radio Advert" - 0:55
  3. "I Wanna Know If It's Good to You" - 2:50
  4. "I Wanna Know If It's Good to You (instrumental)" - 3:12

Personnel

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rudland, Dean. "Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow reissue liner notes". Westbound Records: 3. 2005.

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow" Read more