Mothership Connection is the fourth album by American funk band Parliament, released on December 15, 1975, on Casablanca Records. This concept album is often rated among the best Parliament-Funkadelic releases, and was the first to feature horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, previously of James Brown's backing band the J.B.'s.

Mothership Connection became Parliament's first album to be certified gold and later platinum. It was supported by the hit "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)," the band's first million-selling single. The Library of Congress added the album to the National Recording Registry in 2011, declaring that it "has had an enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music."

Concept

The album is held together by an outer-space theme. The album's concept would form the backbone of P-Funk's concert performances during the 1970s, in which a large spaceship prop known as the Mothership would be lowered onto the stage.

BBC Music described the album as a pioneering work of Afrofuturism "set in a future universe where black astronauts interact with alien worlds." Journalist Frasier McAlpine stated: "As a reaction to an increasingly fraught 1970s urban environment in which African-American communities faced the end of the optimism of the civil rights era, this flamboyant imagination (and let's be frank, exceptional funkiness) was both righteous and joyful."

| rev2 = Billboard

| rev2Score = (favorable)

| rev3 = Blender

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|rev4 = Christgau's Record Guide

|rev4Score = A−

| rev5 = Pitchfork

| rev5Score = 8.5/10

| rev6 = PopMatters

| rev6Score = (favorable)

| rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev8Score =

| rev9 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev9Score = 10/10

| rev10 = Sputnikmusic

| rev10Score = 5/5

On release, Rolling Stone called the album a "parody of modern funk" and stated that "unlike the Ohio Players or Commodores, the group refuses to play it straight. Instead, Clinton spews his jive, conceived from some cosmic funk vision." In a positive review, Village Voice critic Robert Christgau stated that Clinton "keeps the beat going with nothing but his rap, some weird keyboard, and cymbals for stretches of side one," and described "Give Up the Funk" as "galactic." Vibe listed Mothership Connection in their "Essential Black Rock Recordings" list, and it was included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

Personnel

  • Vocals – George Clinton (lead on "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" and "Mothership Connection (Star Child)"), Calvin Simon, Fuzzy Haskins, Ray Davis, Grady Thomas, Gary Shider (co-lead on "Handcuffs"), Glenn Goins (lead on "Unfunky UFO" and "Handcuffs"), Bootsy Collins
  • Horns – Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Boom, Joe Farrell
  • Bass guitar – Bootsy Collins, Cordell Mosson
  • Guitars – Garry Shider, Michael Hampton, Glenn Goins, Bootsy Collins
  • Drums and percussion – Tiki Fulwood, Jerome Brailey, Bootsy Collins, Gary Cooper
  • Keyboards – Bernie Worrell (Minimoog, Wurlitzer electric piano, ARP Pro Soloist and String Ensemble, RMI Electra Piano, Hammond organ, grand piano, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet D6)

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