Chocolate City (album)
Chocolate City | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 8, 1975 | |||
Genre | Funk[1] | |||
Length | 36:42 | |||
Label | Casablanca | |||
Producer | George Clinton | |||
Parliament chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Rhapsody | (favorable)[7] |
Rolling Stone | [8] |
Chocolate City is the third album by the
Track listing
Side One
- "Chocolate City" (George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell) – 5:37 (released as a single-Casablanca 831)
- "Ride On" (Clinton, Collins, Worrell) – 3:34 (released as a single-Casablanca 843)
- "Together" (Clinton, Collins, Worrell) – 4:07
- "Side Effects" (Clinton, Collins, Ahneua Hilson) – 3:13
- "What Comes Funky" (Clinton, Collins, Worrell) – 2:23
Side Two
- "Let Me Be" (Clinton, Vivian Lewis) – 5:37
- "If It Don't Fit (Don't Force It)" (Clinton, Garry Shider, Worrell) – 2:07
- "I Misjudged You" (Clinton, Ernie Harris, Fuzzy Haskins) – 5:14
- "Big Footin'" (Clinton, Haskins, Shider) – 4:50 (released as the B-side to "Ride On")
A 2003 CD
Personnel
- Jim Callon – Engineer
- George Clinton – Arrangements, vocals, production
- Bootsy Collins – Bass, guitar, Arrangements, drums
- Raymond Davis – Vocals
- Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood– Drums
- Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins– Vocals
- Eddie Hazel – Guitar, vocals (Lead Vocal on "Let Me Be")
- Prakash John – Bass
- Tyrone Lampkin – Drums
- Man In The Box – Drums
- Cordell Mosson – Bass, guitar
- Billy "Bass" Nelson– Bass
- Lucius Tawl Ross – Rhythm guitar
- Garry Shider – Rhythm guitar, vocals
- Calvin Simon – Vocals
- Grady Thomas – Vocals
- Jim Vitti – Engineer
- Bernie Worrell – Synthesizer, arrangements, keyboards
- Mallia Franklin- vocals
- Debbie Wright- vocals
- Jeanette Washington- vocals
- Gary “Mudbone” Cooper - Vocals
Music
Chocolate City features the classic
The album is full of the
Chart performance
Chocolate City reached number 18 on the Billboard soul LP charts in 1975 and reached No. 91 on the album charts. "Chocolate City", the title track and first single, reached No. 24 on the black chart and No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 while "Ride On" the second single reached No. 64 on the black chart.[11]
"Chocolate City" theme
The album takes its name from the term "Chocolate City," which had been used to describe Washington, D.C. where
George Clinton used the concept in the title track, characterizing the black population's proliferation in American inner cities as a positive development, in contrast to concerns over White flight. The lyrics of the song refer to several such "chocolate cities" but focuses on D.C.: "There's a lot of chocolate cities around/We got Newark, we got Gary/Someone told me we got L.A./ And we're working on Atlanta / But you're the capital C.C."[13] There is also a reference to Chocolate City's "vanilla suburbs", which he asks God to bless in-kind.
Clinton's lyrics referred to Chocolate City as "my piece of the rock" as opposed to the "
The lyrics also reflected Clinton's thanks for the capital's strong support for P-Funk, further shown by the album cover showing the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol, rendered in melting milk chocolate.
Other tracks on the album reflecting the influence of Washington are "Let Me Be" drawing from 1970s D.C. gospel and "I Misjudged You" a homage to The Unifics, a Washington R&B ballad group.[14]
Notes
- ^ ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Blender review [dead link]
- ^ "MusicTap review". Musictap.net. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- ^ Pitchfork Media review Archived February 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Kessler, Jordan. "PopMatters review". Popmatters.com. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- ^ Schennault (January 1, 1975). "Rhapsody review". Rhapsody.com. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- ^ Rolling Stone review Archived December 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "'Up for the Down Stroke', 'Chocolate City' and 'Mothership Connection'". Pitchfork.
- ^ Original track listing from Allmusic.com. Additional tracks in pop matters album.
- ^ All chart listings from Billboard published on Allmusic.com.
- ^ Carroll, Kenneth (February 1, 1998). "Reflections on Chocolate City: The Meanings of Funk". The Washington Post.
- ISBN 0-520-24121-5.
- ^ "Popmatters Review". June 11, 2003.
References
- Neal, Mark Anthony (1998). What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Popular Culture. UK: Routledge. pp. 103, 115. ISBN 0-415-92072-8.
- Smitherman, Geneva (2000). Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner. Houghton Mifflin. p. 92.
- Wesley, Fred (2002). Hit Me, Fred. Duke University Press. pp. 181, 182, 195, 198. ISBN 0-8223-2909-3.
- Thompson, Dave (2001). Funk. Backbeat Books. pp. 89–97. ISBN 0-87930-629-7.
External links
- Release history at Discogs
- Song Review: "Chocolate City" at Allmusic