Sometimes, I get interested in an album for some bizarre
reasons. Case in point: A few years ago, I was watching television,
and a promo for
Frasier came on. The focus of the promo was the dog in the
show, and the background music was a deep voice chanting,
“Bow-wow-wow, yippee-o, yippee-yay.” Well, the last time I had
heard that was from Snoop Doggy Dogg, and I was instantly
hooked.
Of course, not being into George Clinton, I was too stupid to
realize that the sound bite was from “Atomic Dog”… then again,
everyone I asked had no clue what I was talking about, either, so
at least I was in good company.
The album this track comes from,
Computer Games, is an interesting, lighthearted work of funk
that is a nice introduction to Clinton and his work – even if some
of the concepts get a little tired.
Obviously, the reason I bought this was for “Atomic Dog”. The
track does not feature the line in question much, but it is a fun
track to listen to. When you hear the way this develops, you can
better understand how artists like Digital Underground and a
certain midget from Minneapolis (to speak his name around here
would be like farting in church) have developed their own sounds.
Granted, it took me two listens to this song to fully appreciate
what Clinton was doing – but it was worth it.
Computer Games almost seems to cast specialized story lines
for each song, and the listener not only hears the music for each
one, but gets to follow along as if they were watching a sitcom’s
plot develop. Tracks like “Get Dressed” (a look at life backstage
before the concert), “Pot Sharing Tots” (at least I don’t
think that’s what Clinton is referring to) and the title
track all suck the listener in and refuse to let go.
There are times, however, when letting go would have been the
smart thing to do, like on the medley of “Man’s Best Friend /
Loopzilla”. The first part of this is okay, keeping with a theme of
dogs (and a rather enjoyable track as well), but “Loopzilla” is way
too much of a good thing. I mean the first few repetitions of the
song’s theme are okay, but when both tracks are put together, this
ends up being over 12 minutes of a beat that could have been laid
down in half the time. What is this, a disco mix?
A few songs on
Computer Games are okay, but don’t stand out like their
album-mates. “Free Alterations” and “One Fun At A Time” almost seem
anti-climatic ending the album, once you’ve been through the title
track and “Atomic Dog”.
Having had limited exposure to Clinton’s music before buying
Computer Games, I had few ideas of what to expect from this
album. And, in general, I wasn’t disappointed at all with the final
product. I don’t know if this album is the best starting place for
someone interested in diving into Clinton’s history (one might
argue it’s better to start with a Parliament / Funkadelic album),
but it’s still not a bad way to get a taste of his music.
