Parliament
Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome

THE REVIEW

And you think of the rhythm, the scratching and hypnotic riffs repeated endlessly, the groove that sucks the energy and adrenaline out of you until you're left defenseless and disarmed. You think once again of Africa and tribal dances, of the bamboula and the drums, but the truth is that you don't think of anything at all.

It could be the result of so much history, so many cries, so much sweat. But we will never know, or at least, we will never want to know. Enough with ruminations, with reflections, with references to the past and plans for the future. Funk sweeps away every thought. It is an impulse that pulls that violent and ecstatic jolt from your nerves. No one is saved, and those who manage have something wrong or twisted inside.

You feel excessively "inside," as if you were producing those vibrations yourself, at that instant. A paradise of groove and positive vibrations empathetically produced by the disarmed and ecstatic crowd that unanimously finds itself in the rich and explosive choruses. Like those of "Bop Gun (Endangered Species)", or the even theatrical voices of "Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk (Pay Attention-B3M)". You feel constantly led hand-in-hand by the bass, Mr. Bass, the prevailing deity of the new world produced by these bizarre individuals in masks and red suits.

Yes, paraphrasing a written past "there is no more talk of song-form". And it's true. It's the new dimension of music and the blood running through you that manages to boil and compress, and you think of nothing anymore. Even when you encounter the ternary ballad "Wizard of Finance", and you are grateful for those 4-5 minutes of breath, where you feel nothing else but that "one" certain and profound that hits you like a welcomed and virulent punch from the Olympus of the new Gods which is nothing but the "rhythm section".

But can we still talk about "rhythm section" with "Funkentelechy"? No. You cannot reduce to two obsolete and faded words what happens in this piece: you feel the vibrations reaching inside and taking over you like those red waves on the cover spreading autonomously through space. You are grateful for this dictatorship, you are grateful for such gentle violence, perhaps because you too have become one of them, you made it. A sort of "placebo effect," or "Placebo Syndrome".

And after diving into these mystical waves it's time to dance a little more, put on "Flash Light" and enjoy the triumphant close.

What a journey, folks.