In 1990 I became friends with Dave. Dave had a pair of friends who were brothers – Will (older) and Russ (younger). They were okay, although I don’t think liked me; they tolerated me because I was Dave’s friends. But they’ve remained stuck in my brain cells for two reasons: to fix the intonation problems on my first guitar (a black Epiphone Strat copy) Russ bolted my bride to the body with two massive bolts that did not in fact fix my intonation, and just made the guitar worse. And one day I walked up Dave’s driveway to find the three of in a rough circle, dancing and laughing to the funkiest, sick music I ever heard. The song was “Soul Mate” off Hardcore Jollies, the mighty ninth album from the even mightier Funkadelic. I was never the same.

I don’t hear a lot of talk about Hardcore Jollies. It’s not available on streaming and never mentioned among the band’s great albums, stuck right before they started moving further away from the rock aspect and featuring the last time original members Fuzzy Haskins, Grady Thomas, and Calvin Simon. And though there is some recorded guitar from Eddie Hazel, the Maggot Brain was largely gone by this time, though a year later his solo album Game, Dame, and Guitar Thangs would be covering similarly great ground. And coming only a month after Tales of Kidd Funkadelic ¹ – which is on streaming – I think for many folks this album just doesn’t register.

That’s a shame, because for my money this is better than Tales…, features the single best version of “Cosmic Slop” the band released, and overall might rock harder than anything else Funkadelic ever did. Split into two halves, Side A or Osmosis Phase 1 kicks off with the righteous “Comin’ ‘Round The Mountain”, the drums (from Buddy Miles in a guest spot) and bass laying down the groove while the guitars truly drip with grease. The harmony vocals are there, and then the chorus kicks with that killer guitar hook. I can’t get enough of that guitar line, it’s just sick, balanced with the bass. There’s a little Zappa in the song’s catchy vocal melody and lyric, and Eddie Hazel’s solo, his main contribution to the album is phenomenal.

“Smoky” settles into a lower gear, just nasty gem of funk with incredible bass and synth sounds that reach deep down into your gut. The band use of multiple vocalists in the lead spot is on full display here, and I can instantly hear why this and “Comin’ ‘Round The Mountain” were chosen as singles. “If You Got Funk, You Got Style” is a Bernie Worrell showcase, and I can’t tell you how many times I have said “She just wants to dance to a freaky beat” the way they sing it on the track. Deceptive in how much it rocks considering it’s really just a funk song. Not deceptive at all is the instrumental title track which closes out the side. “Hardcore Jollies” is the band in full Jimi Hendrix/Band of Gypsys mode and it’s as glorious as you think.

Side B is Terribitus Phase 2 and it opens with the sublime “Soul Mate” – even D’Angelo loves this song, and I think it’s all down to the chorus and how dirty it gets with the line “I just wanna kiss you on your desire, baby / I’ve got a thing for you!” So filthy with the grit dialed in after such a slinky opening. And then it’s that apex version of “Cosmic Slop”, unbelievably recorded live during a sound check before a show. This is all guitar whiz Michael Hampton’s show – the track is just one incredible solo after another, and beasts the studio recorded version by a country mile. Gary Shider’s vocals are equally incredible, and this shows how even during a rehearsal the band could blow pretty much every other rock band away.

“You Scared The Lovin’ Outta Me” is the only slight – very slight -misstep on the album for me. It’s fine, but trapped in a single gear and with that childhood melody played throughout it lacks some of the dynamics of the earlier tracks. But like every Parliafunkadelic project, the vocal arrangements are a delight, and Clinton’s production is as lush and vibrant as ever. Hardcore Jollies closes out with “Adolescent Funk” and while it feels like a slight to have a second instrumental on the album, there’s a symmetry to it, and it’s distinct enough in tone and style from the title track to work really well for me as a soft, sweet come down from that very funky mountain.

1 Two months before that the band in their Parliament configuration would release The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein. Three albums in four months is insane, and even more insane considering how good each album actually is.