Westbound

After some name and label switching, George Clinton and Funkadelic landed at Westbound in the late 1960s and quickly recorded their debut album. Released at the dawn of the 1970s, Funkadelic’s self-titled release presents a staggering tour de force in psychedelic R&B that heralds a seismic change in the genre and music as a whole. Featuring a mélange of influences from Hendrix to Zeppelin to classic doo wop and country, the band’s debut album mixes traditional soul arrangements with fuzz guitar solos and far-out studio embellishments. It’s hard to imagine what the reactions of listeners at the time must have been, as the result is still startling to this day. Deeply, deeply funky, Funkadelic’s firs

Funkadelic’s 1971 masterpiece Maggot Brain stands as a landmark of psychedelic funk. The album opens with the title track, a more‑than‑ten‑minute solo performance famous for the story that George Clinton instructed guitarist Eddie Hazel to play the first half “as if you had just been told your mother had died,” and then to play the second half “as if you had learned she was still alive.” The result is an overwhelming, emotionally charged performance—one of the most iconic guitar moments in rock history.

George Clinton, who was immersed in LSD, instructed guitarist Eddie Hazel, "Play as when your mother was told to be dead." , an album released in 1971, which is famous as the best masterpiece in Funkadelic history.

Melvin Sparks (1946–2011) was a talented American Soul Jazz, Hard Bop & Blues guitarist. The Texas native picked up a guitar at age 11 and was only 13 when he sat in with B.B. King. As a high school student first he joined Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and then the Upsetters (a touring band formed by Little Richard, which also backed Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye). Sparks and his guitar were very much in demand during the ‘60s-‘70s and he was featured on sessions by Lonnie Smith, Charles Earland, Lou Donaldson & Sonny Phillips among others.