Freaky Styley was the RHCP album that bridged rock and funk for me. It's produced by George Clinton (he's even lead vox on a track). Now I salivate over Parliament/Funkadelic and my friends think I'm crazy.
They definately have phases. Like By the way was clearly more 50s , Beatles and do wop insipired than funk. Klinghoffer were definately less funky overall too, except dark necessities did have a few solid tracks.
Yes I see what you're saying, but the bass on all of their albums still has slap and funk to it. I guess a lot of it is what the other musicians are doing and how Keidis sings the song. Go Robot is funky as heck. I love that song.
Edited because Gboard is getting stupid all the time lately
Freaky Styley is a fucking great album! I don't recall the track with George Clinton as lead singer though, do you mean that if you want me to stay demo?
George Clinton is singing on Hollywood, at the very least.
Edit: Hollywood (Africa), sorry it's been a bit :) It's also confirmed in Clinton's book, Yo George Ain't That Funkin Kinda Hard On You. Apparently some tracks therein were unused Parliament tracks -- RHCP were big fans.
In fact, here they are playing with Parliament (near the end), e.g. @1:20:00 on Cosmic Slop.
Edit #2: George Clinton also reprises the "Holly would, if Holly could" stuff on his solo track Hollywood, off of 1993's Hey Man, Smell My Finger (which is a fire album regardless of name).
OK, I think I understand what you mean, for me it sounded more like George Clinton was a background singer, but you can definitely hear him louder in some parts. Thanks for posting those sources, I think I'm going to listen to P-Funk now.
George is definitely singing alone as the song starts. Once you hear some more P-Funk, his voice is easy to recognize. There's also a few cues he does all the time (e.g. the "well all right" the song starts with).
I don't think RHCP are widely disliked. They've been at the top of radio playlists for decades, they're incredibly popular, and they sell out major venues every time they tour. RHCP is bad ass. Anyone who dislikes them probably also dislikes being happy.