Nov. 11, 1620: The Mayflower Compact is signed.
Nov. 11, 1831: Nat Turner is hanged for leading a slave rebellion.
Nov. 11, 1885: George S. Patton, U.S. general, is born.
Nov. 11, 1918: The armistice that ends fighting between Germany and Allied forces is signed.
Nov. 11, 1922: Kurt Vonnegut is born.
Nov. 11, 1978: Parliament releases Motor Booty Affair.
This may seem like a strange thing to say, but Motor Booty Affair might be Old Gregg’s favorite Parliament album.
For those of you who don’t know the reference, Old Gregg is a one off character from British television series “The Mighty Boosh.” Old Gregg, the hermaphroditic(?) man fish with a Rick James stache and a tutu—a strange creature who subsists solely on Bailey’s and funk. Indeed, whatever Old Gregg might be, he’s funkier than you.
By a stroke of luck—within “The Mighty Boosh” mythos—Old Gregg discovered The Funk, “a living creature about the size of a medicine ball… covered in teats” whose milk is the source of all things funky on planet Earth. Granted, Old Gregg probably never needed The Funk, not to become funky anyway; the funk dwelled in him always, which is the least you can say about a man fish with blinding genitalia. And yet, they found one another.
As for the claim Motor Booty Affair is Old Gregg’s favorite Parliament album, most of it centers on the fact Motor Booty is structured around water motifs. The setting, as far as I can tell, is Atlantis, a magical place where, “you can dance underwater and not get wet,” or so says lead single “Aqua Boogie (A P sychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop).”
The comparison makes sense. If we look at the metaphysics of funk, we find that, as a force in the universe, it is inclined to flow, just as water is an element inclined to flow. Just look at this snippet from the titular “Mr. Wiggles.” He gets it: “From the ocean comes a notion/That the real eyes lies in rhythm/And the rhythm of vision is a dancer.”
How funky is Motor Booty Affair? Well, it won’t help you see around corners, but it’s pretty damn funky and bound to leave you feeling effervescent. To impart a sense of the aqueous, the music is defined by sinuous piano lines, phosphorescent horns and lots of squiggling synth. The overall effect is painterly. You could say Motor Booty Affair is like superb watercolor.
It’s a watercolor with purpose, for Motor Booty Affair is a continuation of the P-Funk mythos, which first exploded on the scene with 1975’s Mothership Connection and was revisited on every subsequent album. On Motor Booty, there is no Dr. Funkenstein, but there is a cameo from Star Child, who is basically Funk Jesus from space. Star Child’s nemesis, Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk, is the most prominent Parliament Funk myth figure on Motor Booty Affair, along with Rumpofsteelskin (who gets his own song).
The gist of the story on Motor Booty Affair is this: Sir Nose is too cool to swim or dance, so Mr. Wiggles and everyone in Atlantis drag him down underwater to make him dance the “Aqua Boogie.” After Sir Nose is placated, the Atlanteans use their cumulative funkiness to raise Atlantis from the ocean floor on the Motor Booty finale, “Deep.”
One wonders how much the Atlanteans in Motor Booty Affair resemble Old Gregg. Perhaps they, too, have a penchant for Bailey’s and enjoy making crumble in Home Economics. I can picture Old Gregg fraternizing in Atlantis, or rising to the surface in homage to the “Aqua Boogie” single cover—on the back of an aquamarine dolphin well-endowed with teats.
Other albums released this day: The Dead World by Deadsoul Tribe (2005), Day by Night by Doris Day (1957), Elocation by Default (2003).
You want to take part in a Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop? Tell Sean at sreichard@wisc.edu.
