RSSBootsy Collins [extended]
- Stretchin' Out in Bootsy's Rubber Band [Warner Bros., 1976] B+
- Ahh . . . The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! [Warner Bros., 1977] B+
- Bootsy? Player of the Year [Warner Bros., 1978] B+
- This Boot Is Made for Fonk-n. [Warner Bros., 1979] C+
- Ultra Wave [Warner Bros., 1980] B+
- The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away [Warner Bros., 1982] B+
- What's Bootsy Doin'? [Columbia, 1988] A-
- Back in the Day: The Best of Bootsy [Sire/Warner Archives, 1994] A
- Blasters of the Universe [Rykodisc, 1994]
- Tha Funk Capital of the World [Mascot, 2011] ***
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Bootsy's Rubber Band: Stretchin' Out in Bootsy's Rubber Band [Warner Bros., 1976]
This clone of Dr. Funkenstein isn't as stoopid as he pretends to be, but he does have identity problems. Why else would he announce that "he's just another point of view," or invite us to "vanish in our sleep"? Good songs, good textures, good riffs--all ultimately undefined. B+
Bootsy's Rubber Band: Ahh . . . The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! [Warner Bros., 1977]
Although Bootsy's comic consciousness takes a certain toll in tightness and drive, this record does about ninety percent of what a good funk album does while offering priceless insight into obscene phone calls and canabis cunnilingus. Free your ass and your mind can come along for a giggle. B+
Bootsy's Rubber Band: Bootsy? Player of the Year [Warner Bros., 1978]
When I pay attention, I note that the slow stuff oozes along sexy as come-from-the-state-they're-named-after (back when they knew how to ooze) and the fast stuff gets over the hump just like rhymes-with-Podunk (long may they wave). When I think about it, I like the joke, too. So how come I'm not fucking, dancing, or laughing? Well, I suspect it ahs more to do with not being eleven than with not being black, and more to do with my funnybone than my booty. Schoolkids are as rich a source of jokes as Johnny Carson, but that doesn't mean I get off on The Flintstones. B+
Bootsy's Rubber Band: This Boot Is Made for Fonk-n. [Warner Bros., 1979]
Bootsy sounds like a kiddie-show host at the end of his tether--trotting out sound effects, Steve Martin imitations, desperate appeals to DJs, anything he can think of. Except a good riff. C+
Bootsy: Ultra Wave [Warner Bros., 1980]
Though the Rubber Band was the only P-Funk spinoff to sell through, distinguishing it from the parent organization quickly became problematic. Conceived partly as bait for Warner Bros., it did serve the special interests of subteen Geepies for a while, not to mention the special interests of Bootsy, certainly the most charismatic Funkateer save the Dr. himself, but before long Parliament was making kiddie moves and the Starman was fizzling. So on the one hand this is a welcome return to form, and on the other it's interim P-Funk--from the "Shortnin' Bread" intro through the "unenjoyment line" protest through the jump blues tribute all the way to the climactic "Sound Crack," which after several dead-end tangents returns all space travelers to the ineluctable One. B+
The One Giveth, the Count Taketh Away [Warner Bros., 1982]
Not the one to give, but who's counting? B+
What's Bootsy Doin'? [Columbia, 1988]
I always suspected he was hemmed in by his P-Funk kiddie show, and after six years of figuring shit out he proves it. The old mob is on hand, but the most Clintonish turn this vaudeville takes, "Shock-It-to-Me"'s superimposition of electrocuties and Alabama gals, was produced by Bill Laswell, and elsewhere Bootzilla working alone constructs a sweet persona a grownup can love. Still a loyal brother of the P, he may not want to hear that "(I Wannabee) Kissin' You" and "Yo Moma Loves You" are prime Steve Arrington, but I intend a compliment. And though it's a little wishful to claim we're all winners because our sperm got to the egg first, it's sure nice of him to see it that way. A-
Back in the Day: The Best of Bootsy [Sire/Warner Archives, 1994]
"I've got a cartoon mind," he brags, and in the Toony Tune world of P-Funk spinoffs, rivals, and flat-out fakes, this was a virtue to make the most of. It helped that he worked for George, a doowop veteran whose instinct for the hook is everywhere in this music. Because for all Bootsy's deep bass and uncut funk--a legend perpetuated here by a raw live "Psychoticbumpschool"--what makes the Rubber Band so much more consistent than the Gap Band, whose new best-of stops dead every time it trots out a ballad, is the funny, kooky, kind slow ones. A
Booty's New Rubber Band: Blasters of the Universe [Rykodisc, 1994]
Tha Funk Capital of the World [Mascot, 2011]
Five historic P-Funk tracks fronted by Cornel West, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, Al Sharpton, and a panoply of old A-game rappers followed by 11 well-meaning Bootsy tracks distinguished by cameos from Buckethead and, wouldn't you know it, George Clinton ("After These Messages," "Hip Hop @ Funk U") ***