Before launching his crew of mega-talented singers and musicians into the funk cosmos via p-funk’s musical excursions, George Clinton wrote and produced many a great unheralded 60s soul tune. Unheralded, that is, until several of these same compositions (initially recorded by the Parliaments and other performers on the fringes of Detroit’s Hitsville-dominated soul circuit) would enjoy revival in far more overtly bugged (and heavily amplified) form as Parliament-Funkadelic favorites. On the latest episode of Across 135th Street, host-selector Chairman Jefferson Mao A/B’s these tracks in a set appropriately dubbed “Pre-Funk vs. P-Funk.
