Editing Mothership Connection

{{italic title}}
{{Infobox album
| name         = Mothership Connection
| type         = studio
| artist       = [[Parliament (band)|Parliament]]
| cover        = ParliamentMothershipConnection.jpg
| alt          = 
| released     = December 15, 1975
| recorded     = March–October 1975 <ref name=Soulculture>{{cite web|url= http://soulculture.com/music-blog/parliaments-1975-lp-mothership-connection-revisited-with-bernard-borrell-return-to-the-classics/ |title=Parliament's 1975 LP Mothership Connection revisited with Bernard Worrell |date=24 March 2012 |publisher=Soulculture.com |access-date=2015-02-24}}</ref>
| venue        = 
| studio       = United Sound, Detroit, Michigan, and Hollywood Sound, Hollywood, California
| genre        = *[[Funk]]<ref name="AM"/>
*[[rhythm & blues|R&B]]<ref name="Review: Mothership Connection">[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/20754-parliament-up-for-the-down-stroke-chocolate-city-and-mothership-connection Review: ''Mothership Connection''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206145543/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/20754-parliament-up-for-the-down-stroke-chocolate-city-and-mothership-connection |date=February 6, 2009 }}</ref>
*[[funk rock]]<ref>{{cite book|first= Wayne |last= Robins |year= 2016 |title= A Brief History of Rock, Off the Record |publisher= [[Routledge]] |page= 286 |isbn= 978-0-415-97472-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PfvdCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA286}}</ref>
*[[disco]]<ref name="superseventies.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.superseventies.com/spparliament.html |title=Review: ''Mothership Connection'' |publisher=Superseventies.com |access-date=2013-07-14}}</ref>
*[[progressive soul]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Keister|first=Jay|title=Black Prog: Soul, Funk, Intellect and the Progressive Side of Black Music of the 1970s|journal=American Music Research Center Journal|volume=28|year=2019|url=https://www.colorado.edu/amrc/sites/default/files/attached-files/109701_cu_amrcjournal_cover_prf.pdf|via=colorado.edu|accessdate=January 29, 2021|pages=5–22}}</ref>
| length       = 38:18
| label        = [[Casablanca Records|Casablanca]]<br>{{small|NBLP 7022}}/[[Def Jam Recordings|Def Jam]]
| producer     = [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]]
| prev_title   = [[Chocolate City (album)|Chocolate City]]
| prev_year    = 1975
| next_title   = [[The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein]]
| next_year    = 1976
| misc         = {{Singles
 | name        = Mothership Connection
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = [[P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)]]
 | single1date = 1976
 | single2     = [[Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)|Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)]]
 | single2date = 1976
 | single3     = [[Mothership Connection (Star Child)|Star Child (Mothership Connection)]]
 | single3date = 1976
}}
}}
'''''Mothership Connection''''' is the fourth album by American [[funk]] band [[Parliament (band)|Parliament]], released on December 15, 1975, on [[Casablanca Records]]. This [[concept album]] is often rated among the best [[Parliament-Funkadelic]] releases, and was the first to feature horn players [[Maceo Parker]] and [[Fred Wesley]], previously of [[James Brown]]'s backing band [[the J.B.'s]].

''Mothership Connection'' became Parliament's first album to be certified gold and later platinum.<ref>{{Certification Cite|region=United States|artist=Parliament|type=album}}</ref> It was supported by the hit "[[Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)]]," the band's first million-selling single. The [[Library of Congress]] added the album to the [[National Recording Registry]] in 2011, declaring that it "has had an enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2011reg.html |title=Registry Choices 2010: The National Recording Preservation Board (Library of Congress) |publisher=Loc.gov |access-date=2013-07-14}}</ref>

==Concept==
{{main|P-Funk mythology}}
The album is held together by an outer-space theme.<ref name="AM"/> Describing the concept, George Clinton said "We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the [[White House]]. I figured another place you wouldn't think black people would be was in outer space. I was a big fan of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'', so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a [[Cadillac]], and we did all these [[James Brown]]-type grooves, but with street talk and ghetto slang."<ref>{{cite web |last=Niesel |first=Jeff |url=http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2006-09-13/music/music.html |title=Cleveland - Music - Turn This Mutha Out |publisher=Clevescene.com |date=2013-06-26 |access-date=2013-07-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017051541/http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2006-09-13/music/music.html |archive-date=2015-10-17 }}</ref> The album's concept would form the backbone of P-Funk's concert performances during the 1970s, in which a large spaceship prop known as [[P-Funk Mothership|the Mothership]] would be lowered onto the stage.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/smithsonian-acquires-parliament-funkadelic-mothership/2011/05/18/AFHMvj6G_story.html |title=Smithsonian acquires Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership |first=Chris |last=Richards |date=May 18, 2011 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=December 14, 2013 |archive-date=December 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216214624/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-05-18/lifestyle/35232787_1_smithsonian-george-clinton-african-american-history |url-status=live }}</ref>

''[[BBC Music]]'' described the album as a pioneering work of [[Afrofuturism]] "set in a future universe where black astronauts interact with alien worlds."<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |last1=McAlpine |first1=Frasier |title=8 afrofuturist classics everyone needs to hear |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/0ebecc1d-d08b-465f-924e-ee037e9231ab |website=[[BBC Music]] |date=2 March 2018 |access-date=8 April 2021}}</ref> Journalist Frasier McAlpine stated: "As a reaction to an increasingly fraught 1970s urban environment in which African-American communities faced the end of the optimism of the [[Civil rights movement|civil rights era]], this flamboyant imagination (and let's be frank, exceptional funkiness) was both righteous and joyful."<ref name="BBC"/>

==Reception==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="AM">{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r14885|first=Jason|last=Birchmeier}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''
| rev2Score = (favorable)<ref name="superseventies.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.superseventies.com/spparliament.html |title=Review: ''Mothership Connection'' |publisher=Superseventies.com |access-date=2013-07-14}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]''
| rev3Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>[http://www.blender.com/guide/reissue/51133/up-for-down-strokechocolate-citymothership-connection.html Review: ''Mothership Connection''] {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
|rev4 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
|rev4Score = A−<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: P|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=P&bk=70|access-date=March 10, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev5Score = 8.5/10<ref name="Review: Mothership Connection">[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/20754-parliament-up-for-the-down-stroke-chocolate-city-and-mothership-connection Review: ''Mothership Connection''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206145543/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/20754-parliament-up-for-the-down-stroke-chocolate-city-and-mothership-connection |date=February 6, 2009 }}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[PopMatters]]''
| rev6Score = (favorable)<ref>{{cite web|last=Bowden |first=Marshall |url=http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/p/parliament-mothership.shtml |title=Review: ''Mothership Connection'' |publisher=Popmatters.com |access-date=2013-07-14}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev8Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRgtYCC6OUwC&q=Mothership+Connection+review&pg=PA619 |title=Review: ''Mothership Connection'' |isbn=9780743201698 |access-date=2013-07-14|last1=Brackett |first1=Nathan |last2=Hoard |first2=Christian David |year=2004 |publisher=Simon and Schuster }}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
| rev9Score = 10/10<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rubin |first1=Mike |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |date=1995 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |isbn=0679755748 |page=296 |chapter=P-Funk}}</ref>
| rev10 = [[Sputnikmusic]]
| rev10Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=3381 |title=Review: ''Mothership Connection'' |publisher=Sputnikmusic.com |access-date=2013-07-14}}</ref>
}}
On release, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' called the album a "parody of modern funk" and stated that "unlike the [[Ohio Players]] or [[Commodores]], the group refuses to play it straight. Instead, Clinton spews his jive, conceived from some cosmic funk vision."<ref name=RollingStone>{{cite magazine |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/mothership-connection-19760325 |title=Mothership Connection &#124; Album Reviews &#124; Rolling Stone |first=Joe |last= McEwen |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=March 25, 1976 |access-date=13 November 2011}}</ref> In a positive review, ''[[Village Voice]]'' critic [[Robert Christgau]] stated that Clinton "keeps the beat going with nothing but his rap, some weird keyboard, and cymbals for stretches of side one," and described "Give Up the Funk" as "galactic."<ref name="CG"/>

Retrospectively, ''Mothership Connection'' has been widely acclaimed, and it is typically considered to be one of the best albums by the [[Parliament-Funkadelic]] collective. ''Rolling Stone''<nowiki/>'s 2003 review gave the record 5 stars: "The masterpiece, the slang creator, the icon builder, the master narrative--or 'the bomb,' as Clinton succinctly put it before anyone else." Jason Birchmeier of [[AllMusic]] called it "the definitive Parliament-Funkadelic album," in which "George Clinton's revolving band lineups, differing musical approaches, and increasingly thematic album statements reached an ideal state, one that resulted in enormous commercial success as well as a timeless legacy."<ref name="AM"/> [[Dr. Dre]] famously sampled "[[Mothership Connection (Star Child)]]" on "[[Let Me Ride]]" and "[[P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)]]" on "The Roach (The Chronic Outro)", both from his 1992 album ''[[The Chronic]]''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

The album has received many retrospective accolades, including being named [[VH1|VH1's]] 55th greatest album of all time. In 2012, it was ranked at number 276 on ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's list of [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|the 500 greatest albums of all time]]; it was featured again on the 2020 edition, at number 363.<ref>{{cite web |year=2012 |title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/parliament-mothership-connection-173103/ |access-date=September 10, 2019 |publisher=[[Rolling Stone]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|date=2020-09-22|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/|access-date=2021-06-24|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref> ''[[Vibe (magazine)|Vibe]]'' listed ''Mothership Connection'' in their "Essential Black Rock Recordings" list, and it was included in the 2005 book ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]''.

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| headline        = Side One
| title1          = [[P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)]]
| writer1         = [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]], [[Bootsy Collins]], [[Bernie Worrell]]
| length1         = 7:41
| title2          = [[Mothership Connection (Star Child)]]
| writer2         = Clinton, Collins, Worrell
| length2         = 6:13
| title3          = Unfunky UFO
| writer3         = Clinton, Collins, [[Garry Shider]]
| length3         = 4:23
| total_length    = 18:17
}}

{{Track listing
| headline = Side Two
| title4 = Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication
| writer4 = Clinton, Collins, Shider, Worrell
| length4 = 5:03
| title5 = Handcuffs
| writer5 = Clinton, [[Glenn Goins]], Janet McLaughlin
| length5 = 4:02
| title6 = [[Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)]]
| writer6 = [[Jerome Brailey]], Clinton, Collins
| length6 = 5:46
| title7 = Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples
| writer7 = Clinton, Collins, Shider
| length7 = 5:10
| total_length = 20:01

}}
{{Track listing
| headline        = 2003 CD remaster bonus track
| title8          = [[Star Child (Mothership Connection)]]
| note8           = Promo Radio Version
| length8         = 3:08
| writer8         = Clinton, Collins, Worrell
| total_length = 41:26
}}

==Personnel==
*Vocals - [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]] (lead on "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" and "Mothership Connection (Star Child)"), [[Calvin Simon]], [[Fuzzy Haskins]], [[Ray Davis (musician)|Ray Davis]], [[Grady Thomas]], [[Gary Shider]] (co-lead on "Handcuffs"), [[Glenn Goins]] (lead on "Unfunky UFO" and "Handcuffs"), [[Bootsy Collins]]
*[[Horn section|Horns]] - [[Fred Wesley]], [[Maceo Parker]], [[Michael Brecker]], [[Randy Brecker]], Boom, Joe Farrell
*[[Bass guitar]] - [[Bootsy Collins]], [[Cordell Mosson]] 
*[[Guitar]]s - Garry Shider, [[Michael Hampton]], Glenn Goins, Bootsy Collins
*[[Drum kit|Drums]] and [[Percussion instrument|percussion]] - [[Tiki Fulwood]], [[Jerome Brailey]], Bootsy Collins, Gary Cooper
* [[Keyboard instrument|Keyboards]] - [[Bernie Worrell]] ([[Minimoog]], [[Wurlitzer electronic piano|Wurlitzer electric piano]], [[ARP Pro Soloist]] and [[ARP String Ensemble|String Ensemble]], [[Rocky Mount Instruments|RMI Electra Piano]], [[Hammond organ]], [[Piano#Grand|grand piano]], [[Rhodes piano|Fender Rhodes]], [[Clavinet#Clavinet D6|Clavinet D6]])<ref name=Soulculture/>
*[[Backing vocalist|Backing vocals]] and [[Clapping|handclaps]] - Gary Cooper, Debbie Edwards, Taka Kahn, Archie Ivy, Bryna Chimenti, Rasputin Boutte, Pam Vincent, Debra Wright, Sidney Barnes

;Production
*[[Record producer|Produced]] by George Clinton
*[[Audio engineer|Engineered]] by Jim Vitti (in Detroit, Michigan), Ralph (Oops) Jim Callon (in Hollywood, California)
*Mastered by Allen Zentz
*Photography by David Alexander
*Art Direction and Design by Gribbitt!

==Chart positions==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (1976)
!Peak<br>position
|-
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref name=allCharts>{{allMusic|class=album|id=r14885|tab=charts-awards}}</ref>
|align=center| 13
|-
|US R&B Albums<ref name=allCharts/>
|align=center| 4
|}

==Certification==
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|title=Mothership Connection|artist=Parliament|type=album|award=Platinum}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}

==See also==
* [[Afrofuturism]]
* [[Album era]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* ''[http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:648444 Mothership Connection: Banging hip-hop from worlds away]'' at ''[[The Austin Chronicle]]''
{{Parliament}}
{{P-Funk}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Parliament (band) albums]]
[[Category:1975 albums]]
[[Category:Casablanca Records albums]]
[[Category:Science fiction concept albums]]
[[Category:United States National Recording Registry albums]]
[[Category:Progressive soul albums]]