from the 7” single, self-pressed, 1971Having been relieved of their duty as James Brown’s backing band, reportedly for taking LSD during shows, Bootsy Collins (pre-sunglasses!) and his gang of mad funkateers, now calling themselves the House Guests, retired back to their hometown of Cincy and re-grouped; frankly, they didn’t miss a beat, and as Bootsy declares at the start of this awesome jam, “aww man, this thing is really groovy…”! This is essentially a re-working of their “Give it Up, Turn it Loose” (as the JB’s), but it absolutely obliterates the original: the horn section gets a lot more presence, the percussion gets deeper, and Bootsy’s buttery basslines are fucking rubber incarnate, bouncing harder than a fat girl doing the percolater! This was essentially the crew which later turned into Bootsy’s Rubber Band in the late ‘70s, and although there is no space-funk ambiance to be found at this early stage, their propensity for having fun shines through clear as day; it was surely fate that George Clinton and these cats would merge efforts, but it’s important to always keep in mind that Bootsy & crew were not a product of P-Funk, but rather an addition to that scene for a hot minute, like houseguests, as it were.
