P-Funk All Stars

by Steve HueyAfter George Clinton disbanded Parliament and Funkadelic at the dawn of the '80s, he embarked on a solo career, but also maintained contact with many of his band alumni in a short-term (at least initially) project dubbed the P-Funk All Stars. Having sorted out various legal and financial difficulties from the initial breakup, Clinton reconvened many of the best musicians from throughout Parliament/Funkadelic history in 1982, including Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Eddie Hazel, Gary Shider, Dewayne Blackbird McKnight, Walter "Junie" Morrison, David Spradley, and many others -- not to mention a guest appearance by Sly Stone. They recorded a fine album, 1983's Urban Dancefloor Guerillas, that featured a different lineup on every track; it reached the R&B Top 50 and spawned a chart single in "Generator Pop." The accompanying tour featured many of the same musicians in what was one of the last P-Funk spectacles for quite some time. One of the shows from the tour was released on CD in 1990 by Westbound as Live at the Beverly Theatre in Hollywood; Westbound also issued an alternate version of Urban Dancefloor Guerillas under the title Hydraulic Funk, which restored several tracks to their full, unedited length.
Circa 1989, Clinton revived the P-Funk All Stars name for the group with which he would spend much of the '90s touring. Among these musicians were guitarist/bandleader Dewayne Blackbird McKnight, guitarists Gary Shider and Michael Hampton, bassists Lige Curry and Billy "Bass" Nelson, multi-instrumentalist Rodney "Skeet" Curtis, drummer Frankie Kash Waddy, and many others in what became a loose, revolving-door arrangement. With Clinton's musical legacy dominating the hip-hop scene, the group was much in demand during the early '90s, and even played the main stage of the 1994 Lollapalooza tour. Clinton used the All Stars as the backing band on his 1996 album T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M., and subsequently continued to tour with them, putting on marathon shows for a new generation of fans.