Maggot Brain

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Vince Aletti deemed Maggot Brain a collection of competently performed but uninteresting and lyrically-thin funk songs, bookended by an exceptional title track and the "mindless" closer "Wars of Armageddon". He was particularly critical of the record's second side, panning it as "dead-end stuff". Robert Christgau was more enthusiastic in a retrospective review for Blender, calling the last track "Funkadelic's most incendiary freak-out ever" and the culmination of shorter songs on the album that were "heavy with bass, keyboard and class consciousness". "And for once, all three bonus tracks are plusses", he wrote regarding its CD reissue. Music historian Bob Gulla hailed it as an "iconoclastic funk-rock" record, featuring the best guitar playing of Eddie Hazel's career. According to The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History (2006), Maggot Brain and Funkadelic's previous two albums "created a whole new kind of psychedelic rock with a dance groove".

In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Maggot Brain number 486 on the magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Pitchfork named it the 17th best album of the 1970s. The record was also listed in the music reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

"Can You Get to That"

This song is a departure from the groove-oriented Funkadelic sound and is more of a traditional lyric-based acoustic rock piece. It begins with a descending acoustic guitar line which is joined by piano, bass and drums which support a cast of singers. It is a rewrite of a song by The Parliaments titled, "What You Been Growin'" and is heavily influenced by gospel music stylistically.

Where the Parliaments version was a break-up song, the Funkadelic version begins with the line "I once had a life, or rather, life had me": rather than a bitter reminiscence about a woman, it becomes an account of the singer's revelation that living on principles of co-operation, sincerity and the principles of karma ('When you base your life on credit and your loving days are done / Checks you sign with love and kisses later come back signed 'Insufficient Funds' ' - interestingly, this line seems to echo part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech) mark him out from the un-enlightened crowd and exalted his life.

"Hit It and Quit It"

The song feature Bernie Worrell's vocals and organ-playing, as well as an extended Eddie Hazel solo at the end.

"You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks"

This is a very class-conscious song, with the singer pleading for unity among the poor because without doing so, equality could not be achieved. The song has Judie Jones (Worrell's girlfriend at time) in songwriting credits, which it has been claimed was mistakenly for this song instead of "Red Hot Mama" (from Standing on the Verge of Getting It On).

The song's refrain is very similar to an old folk rhyme that was first published in Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes (Wise or Otherwise) (1922):

"Super Stupid"

The title of this song refers to a drug addict who buys the wrong drug accidentally. He is also referred to as having a "maggot brain".

The supergroup Audioslave has done several live covers of this song; the studio version was released on their 2005 single Be Yourself. The song was also covered by Tackhead on their album Strange Things.

"Back in Our Minds"

This song seems to be about the singer and someone else (possibly different races or former friends) having reconciled and are now "brothers."

"Wars of Armageddon"

The music is a bizarre mix of music and special effects-type sounds (including the unmistakable sound of flatulence at the 7:31 mark), and intelligent, though unusual and abstract, lyrics.

This song is socially conscious, as the singer demands immediate freedom from oppression, as well as "power to the people" (and many more demands, many nonsensical, see above).

"Whole Lot of BS"

This song is a bonus track on the album, originally released as a non-album B-side to the single "Hit It and Quit It".

"I Miss My Baby"

This song is another bonus track, originally released as the B-side to an early take of "Baby I Owe You Something Good", which was later reworked for the Let's Take It to the Stage LP. The single was credited to U.S. Music with Funkadelic, as Garry Shider's group US was featured on the recording with Funkadelic playing most of the music.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Funkadelic

Production

Charts

Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album