Bootsy, the syncopation genius

[OnTheOneBaby]

Or genie.
After a longish session (over 10 minutes) with Radiohead I went back to P-Funk, to the Bomb.
Folks appreciate different features in Bootsie, his funny hats, his sunglasses, his star-shaped basses, his vast amount of gorgeous effects, his silly-serious songs, his jovial character etc..

To me it is the syncopation, the way Bewtski put his notes in time/space universe of the song, that tickles my nerves the most. It's funny how much pleasure one can get when in anticipating where/when Boutze lays his precisely right note. And he does all this with natural grace just floating over the basic pulse.
Butski's syncopation can also heal as it is testified in this article.

How Bootsy Saved My Life

Doubters can check this one out.



Not to say that any of today's technically advanced geezers wouldn't be able to syncopate every note, even the One, but would that be musically significant?

 

[bassbrad]

It is perhaps far too easy to dismiss Bootsy's masterful bass skills and playing given the character he plays, IMHO Bootsy is one of the greats. Like Johnny Guitar Watson they are both serious players.

 

[OnTheOneBaby]

Yeah, Johnny Guitar Watson.
I remember when ages ago I happened to pick up a JGW album in a store. Not knowing the man or his music, perhaps it was because the cover art (Funk Beyond The Call Of Duty) was so intentionally tasteless.
After listening the record thru I immediately ran to the store to get the other DJM albums, for that slick and laidback music vibrated very synchronous with my brainwaves.
Surprisingly the use of a Moog bass didn't give me any spasms or nausea. The funky drumming by Emry Thomas compensates well the lack of the real thing.

 

[Auer]

This takes me out of the darkness, everytime.

 

[OnTheOneBaby]

This takes me out of the darkness, everytime.

Totally awesome, my favorite, too.
I've been watching Rubber Band in Houston 1976 DVD, full of raw but controlled energy. I was thinking that this tune might suit for Radiohead fans (perhaps also for the friends of Geddy Lee's singing). The other stuff could be too groovy and fascinating.

 

[OnTheOneBaby]

Great to see that Bootsy's syncopations carry over generations.





Man, ain't she funky. She knows that the empty spaces between notes are as important as the played ones.

 

[Michedelic]

Or genie.
After a longish session (over 10 minutes) with Radiohead I went back to P-Funk, to the Bomb.
Folks appreciate different features in Bootsie, his funny hats, his sunglasses, his star-shaped basses, his vast amount of gorgeous effects, his silly-serious songs, his jovial character etc..

To me it is the syncopation, the way Bewtski put his notes in time/space universe of the song, that tickles my nerves the most. It's funny how much pleasure one can get when in anticipating where/when Boutze lays his precisely right note. And he does all this with natural grace just floating over the basic pulse.
Butski's syncopation can also heal as it is testified in this article.

How Bootsy Saved My Life

Doubters can check this one out.



Not to say that any of today's technically advanced geezers wouldn't be able to syncopate every note, even the One, but would that be musically significant?

I don’t get the Radiohead references; what’s that got to do with Bootsy? And Worrell is a master at synth bass, “Flashlight” is iconic; I never thought of him or anyone else doing that as nausea inducing, it’s just another low end tool or skill set. Watson album covers tasteless? Compared to what? I just thought they were funny. Plus, he was a pimp for real.

 

[Les Fret]

Thanks for that Bootsy song OneTheOneBaby! Didn't know that one. I really like it so I transcribed it this morning. if need a good scan PM me.

 

[OnTheOneBaby]

@Les Fret. Thanks for your transcription. Though I must admit that nailing perfectly Bootsian syncopations is out of my reach.
@Michedelic. In my music universe Bootsy and Radiohead are the most far away points. I came to this conclusion after listening to Paranoid Android and then I used Andre Breton's idea "The more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be -- the greater its emotional power and poetic reality."
However that seems to have been clumsy and annoying. I'm sorry. No doubt Bootsy and Radiohead can easily live on the same planet in somebody else's universe.

That nausea inducing synth bass syndrome is coming from the mid eighties reggae "revolution" where they rejected the most important instrument in reggae, bass guitar, and started to use utterly obnoxious (and cheap) synth bass instead. Like this.


Bernie Worrell was one of the funkiest cats and did know his syncopations. And I do like Flashlight,too.
JWG album cover art is tasteless in a good way. Makes you smile when watching them.
Schools Out, go for yer funk!

 

[ritz]

@Les Fret. Thanks for your transcription. Though I must admit that nailing perfectly Bootsian syncopations is out of my reach.
@Michedelic. In my music universe Bootsy and Radiohead are the most far away points. I came to this conclusion after listening to Paranoid Android and then I used Andre Breton's idea "The more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be -- the greater its emotional power and poetic reality."
However that seems to have been clumsy and annoying. I'm sorry. No doubt Bootsy and Radiohead can easily live on the same planet in somebody else's universe.

Bernie Worrell was one of the funkiest cats and did know his syncopations. And I do like Flashlight,too.
JWG album cover art is tasteless in a good way. Makes you smile when watching them.
Schools Out, go for yer funk!

@OnTheOneBaby

Do you know if there are other recordings or releases with James Brown and George Clinton?

 

[Michedelic]

@Les Fret. Thanks for your transcription. Though I must admit that nailing perfectly Bootsian syncopations is out of my reach.
@Michedelic. In my music universe Bootsy and Radiohead are the most far away points. I came to this conclusion after listening to Paranoid Android and then I used Andre Breton's idea "The more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be -- the greater its emotional power and poetic reality."
However that seems to have been clumsy and annoying. I'm sorry. No doubt Bootsy and Radiohead can easily live on the same planet in somebody else's universe.

That nausea inducing synth bass syndrome is coming from the mid eighties reggae "revolution" where they rejected the most important instrument in reggae, bass guitar, and started to use utterly obnoxious (and cheap) synth bass instead. Like this.


Bernie Worrell was one of the funkiest cats and did know his syncopations. And I do like Flashlight,too.
JWG album cover art is tasteless in a good way. Makes you smile when watching them.
Schools Out, go for yer funk!

I’m not the biggest Radiohead fan, they had some moments in their day and their stuff was ‘OK’, but I wasn’t sure if they were being held up as an example of “the whitest music you know” or something like that. There’s plenty of Yacht Rock that fits that description better.
The Wayne Smith track, it is what it is, sounds like video game music, but I personally find Reggaeton far more obnoxious and boring. I’m more of a Studio One/Trojan kind of person.

I’ll just leave you with this, in case you hadn’t seen it…an acquaintance of mine and former co-worker who went on to bigger and better things(and an orange catsuit); he came back to the old fold to do this interview…

 

[OnTheOneBaby]

To my knowledge George Clinton has not worked with James Brown, though I think that old George would have loved to give his prestigious name to any project, if there was involved enough green stuff, white stuff or rocks. Today he's clean, or?
The ex-JBs did an album in 1989 with Bobby Byrd on vocals for James Brown when he was doing time. Sadly it is a Laswellian product which makes the record a bit tedious, but this Sax Machine is full of dynamic funkyness.


I was familiar with the contents of Baby Baba's bag but it was nice to see it again.
Me a reggae fan, too. One can cover over 90% of the great P-Funk with 20 or 30 LPs, but to cover reggae music one needs several hundreds or am I just wound up.