The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Staying On The One: Bootsy Collins' Favourite LPs
Julian Marszalek , November 2nd, 2017 11:52

Bootsy Collins helped define the sound of funk, working with Parliament and James Brown, who taught him the mysterious concept of The One. In this Bakers Dozen, he talks to Julian Marszalek about those times & why he couldn't leave home without dropping acid and listening to Hendrix

Blood__sweat_and_tears____i_blood__sweat_and_tears_1509480099_resize_460x400

Blood, Sweat And Tears – Blood, Sweat And Tears
What they did with the horn section and the rhythm section was just amazing. And then the singer! I mean, I was tripping listening to that stuff! Blood, Sweat And Tears and Chicago Transit Authority, you couldn't beat it. And it all wound up helping me develop what I was hearing [in my head]. Anything that I wrote, or anything that I'd come up with, Blood, Sweat And Tears – because of he rhythm and horns – were always in the back of my mind. The arrangements and the hits just blew me away.

I wouldn't say that I wanted to push what they were doing any further, but I wanted to do it in my own way. Nobody could it no better than them. It wasn't about trying to out do them doing what they do, it was more about finding my own space with what I heard. It wasn't about trying to be them because you just can't. They had it down to a science. It was a signature sound and when they played together you knew it was them.