Release Date: 06/05/2001

Bootsy Collins has rightfully received accolades as funk's second officer (after George Clinton -- and it should be third after James Brown and Clinton). For decades he has been sampled by every rapper from Snoop Dogg to OutKast, and virtually created the bass sound that made the Red Hot Chili Peppers a household name and that created a career for Les Claypool. Yet, his most influential sound emanated not from his tenure with James Brown or P-Funk, but his own Rubber Band, and until now that wooly, wild, and surreal unit has never been properly anthologized. Rhino, in their usual thorough, crazy fashion, have directed the folks at the Warner archives and have created a massive, drop-the-bomb two-disc set that sets the record straight. This may not be no disco but it sho' 'nuff is some mean foolin' around. Sorry. Got carried away. In the middle of "Psychotic Bumpschool," the refrain David Byrne ripped off for "Life During Wartime" rears its beautiful, black, sassy head and introduces itself. The tune wraps itself around your head with that bass up front and as nasty and greasy as a lube job on a vintage Ford. Released in 1976 and recorded at P-Funk's home studio, United Sound, in Detroit with Clinton, this is just one of four tunes from Stretchin' out in Bootsy's Rubber Band, Collins' debut.
And where else but Detroit? This was the place Collins developed his deep-space bass with the P-Funk organization and was encouraged by Papa Funk to go out on his own -- with George producing, of course. Also from this revolutionary slab of Roman-orgy pleasure psychoses are "Stretchin' Out (In a Rubber Band)," "I'd Rather Be With You," and "Vanish in Our Sleep," all co-written with Clinton. These are the four singles issued from the LP which hit number ten on the R&B charts and number 56 on the pop charts. Three of the four charted. Some of the cats helping out on this date were guitarists Michael Hampton and Garry Shider, Phelps Collins, and a horn section that included Fred Wesley and the Brecker Brothers. Next up we get five tracks from Bootsy's breakthrough album, Ahh...The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!, with space dub sounds that rivaled anything ever spliced together by Lee "Scratch" Perry. And there are no lower ones in recorded bass history than on this heavyweight funk & roll soul record. The title track is a co-write with Clinton and Maceo Parker, who joins the cast of the first album along with P-Funk keyboard-king Bernie Worrell. This is the funk jam disc, where everything comes off, including the damn lid: excess, dirty grooves, and that low-ridin' bass come steamin' out of the speakers into meltdown territory. The horns meet the rhythm section in a devilish groove and about 100 voices act as a chorus to phony crowd noise, but who gives a sh*t? It jams! The crazy thing is, it is toppled by the very next cut, "Pinocchio Theory." From the center of Planet FONK, Bootsy and Clinton weave together the pumped-up bass, stretched to its thumbed limit, and add some obnoxious keyboards that push the tune over the limit. If it weren't for the chorus, which becomes the tune's lyric body, the whole thing would disintegrate. "Munchies for Your Love," "What's a Telephone Bill?," and the killer freaky soul of "Can't Stay Away" close out the selections from an album that reached number one on the R&B chart and number 16 on the pop charts.

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Release Date: 06/05/2001