One of my favorite recordings of Betty Davis isn’t a song. In the summer of 1974, the funk singer/songwriter appeared on Al Gee’s Rap N’ Rhythm, a nationally syndicated interview program that was regularly pressed to vinyl and sent to radio stations by the U.S. Army Reserve. Betty had just turned 30 and was about to start her first tour …
Funkadelic’s ‘Maggot Brain’ At 50: R&B, Psychedelic Rock And A Black Guitarist’s Cry
They may be two of the most influential notes in funk-rock history: the soaring, plaintive start to guitarist Eddie Hazel’s legendary solo in Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain.” The song, an audacious, emotive 10-minute-long bluesy ballad kicked off by a brief, eccentric poem from leader George Clinton, is centered on Hazel’s expansive fretwork. Clinton pulls the bass guitar and drums mostly out …