Funkadelic - Let's Take It To The Stage (1975)

3.5 ★/7.0 - 7.9

Cliffnotes: Summaries And Commentaries for Funkadelic by George Clinton

Part One: Chapter 7

Summary: George emerges out of his last particularly violent state of Psychedellic exploration drained. Realizing that another experience of that intensity would be his end, he wisely throws away the rest of his drugs, but almost immediately regrets it. Knowing that, without them, his long suppressed alter-ego, Starchild, would soon begin overtake his personality completely, he decides to embrace this brief moment of sanity, taking in worldly pleasures.

Commentary: Up to this point in George Clinton's semi-biographical magnum opus, the author has taken liberties with extended stream of consciousness rants and abrasive language in order to capture the intensity of his drug experiences. However, with George having Stood At The Verge Of Getting It On, and now beginning a brief sober period, the writer appropriately reels in the blistering words and long stretches of repetition to capture the main characters' sobriety with a more clear-headed and traditional usage of language. The result is that Clinton comes off sounding a lot more like his peer and main influence, Hendrix. While this certainly contains a wealth of pleasures in and of itself; even enough to make this one of the stronger chapters of Funkadelic (especially when compared to the bulk of Part 2: The WB Years), there's no denying that the new direction eventually falls apart, particularly near the end of the chapter when George begins to speak out of character with extended brooding. "Baby I Owe You Something", he whines to his regular prostitute, creating a scene that adds very little to his character. When he finally feels that "The Song is Familliar", the novel enters one of its weakest sections, attempting some interesting "Atmosphere" but mostly coming off as artless and clumsy. It's moments such as when George is getting "Better By The Pound", confidently asking his loved ones to "Be My Beach" and demanding his friends to "Get Off Your Ass And Jam" that we as a reader actually are interested in what becomes of him, because of how they remind us of the relentless excitement and verbal density that stayed so consistent in Funkadelic's early chapters.

Glossary:
"Let's Take It To The Stage" - A phrase that comes to symbolize George's new embrace of the populous he was once so biased against; justifiably one of the chapters' most popular quotes.
"Stuffs And Thangs" - Yet another infectiously catchy euphemism for sex.