Funkadelic - The Electric Spanking Of War Babies (1981)

 

THE ELECTRIC SPANKING OF WAR BABIES

1. The Electric Spanking Of War Babies

2. Electro-Cuties

3. May Day

4. Shockwaves

5. Oh, I

6. Bettino's Bounce

7. Funk Gets Stronger

8. Icka Prick

9. Funk Gets Stronger (Killer Millimeter Longer)

(feat. Sly And The Family Stone)

10. I Angle

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    Funkadelic's twelfth and final (non-reunion) album came out two weeks after April Fool's, 1981. While on prior releases the George Clinton-headed band had been allowed to make into reality all of their weird, conceptual ideas (which I will leave the listener the fun of deciphering for themselves), by the '80s it seemed that their record label was finally putting their foot down. The (admittedly clearly explicit) cover art was censored, and what was intended to be a huge double album statement (the band's second, in fact) was forced to have several songs edited down or removed entirely so that an abridged version could hit the record racks. The released version, with its songs hanging together in a manner that they were not intended to be in, has nonetheless become more well-loved than it was originally, as far as I can tell at least. However, this expanded version that uses Clinton's originally intended track sequence (although it removes the superfluous instrumental version of the title song) simply smokes what came out in '81. 

Pedro Bell's censored cover art, as censored by Pedro Bell on the 1981 LP.

    The unedited versions of four of the songs can be found swirling around the internet aether, but they don't improve on the final edits and are also of far lower fidelity, so I have left all the song versions as-is, except for some volume adjusting on the two tracks ("May Day [S.O.S.]" and "I Angle") that got the axe and so were only released on George Clinton outtake CDs in the '90s. In his spoken segment at the end of the collection with "May Day" on it, Clinton recalls that he can still remember arguing with producer Ron Dunbar about keeping the song on the record, and I can't say I understand the logic behind removing it considering how it's one of the highlights of the LP. Funk icon Sly Stone and his bandmate Cynthia Robinson joined in on the sessions too, with both appearing on "Funk Gets Stronger (Killer Millimeter Longer)." This new version of The Electric Spanking Of War Babies uses P-Funk cover artist Pedro Bell's original, uncensored artwork from 1980. Happy listening!

CD-quality down-low'd linc's here