{"title":"Fuzzy Haskins","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"i-ve-got-my-thang-together-the-westbound-years","title":"I've Got My Thang Together - The Westbound Years","description":"\u003cp\u003eP-Funk magic from original Parliament and Funkadelic member Fuzzy Haskins. For the last two years a new version of Funkadelic has been touring the world. George Clinton, cleaned up and be-suited, has been taking his version of the gospel of P-Funk on the road, whilst younger generations have been paying homage to this titan in the history of black music. However, the Parlifunkadelicment Thang was always a collective operation. It developed from Clinton and his New Jersey buddies taking music in a direction that hadn’t been heard before. In the next year, we will be aiming to shine a new light some of the more obscure P-funk material, starting this month with the recordings of Clarence Fuzzy Haskins. Haskins joined the Parliaments when an original member left. He was there when the group toured on the back of their R\u0026amp;B number 1 \u003ci\u003eI Wanna Testify \u003c\/i\u003eand its follow-ups, and was instrumental in helping Clinton create Funkadelic from the members of the Parliaments’ touring back-up band. Funkadelic began as a necessity caused by a contractual dispute over use of the Parliaments’ name, but became a unique and wonderful idea and whose albums for Westbound, recorded between 1969 and 1976, are some of the most influential of the era. By the time Clintonhad re-launched Parliament and was scoring big R\u0026amp;B hits, his empire was rife with in-fighting. Haskins, feeling creatively unfulfilled, recorded his first solo album, \u003ci\u003eA Whole Nother Thang\u003c\/i\u003e, which saw him working with various Funkadelic and Parliament members on classics such as ‘Cookie Jar’ and the much-sampled \u003ci\u003eThe Fuz And Da Boog\u003c\/i\u003e. It also took some pot-shots at Clinton, most notably in \u003ci\u003eWhich Way Do I Disco\u003c\/i\u003e. Despite this, Haskins was back with Clinton for the P-Funk Live Earth Tour, which criss-crossed America from late 1976 through to the summer of ’77. This led to a final break with Clinton, with arguments over money and creative control colliding with the start of a spiritual awakening for Haskins. This became fully realised on His second Westbound album, which although full of great tracks, featured lyrics that made him uncomfortable as he fully connected with his religion. He didn’t promote the record and by the early 80s he had retired from music. This compilation, carefully put together by renowned P-Funk expert Marcel Visser, includes the best tracks from those albums, plus a couple subsequently found in the vaults, most notably the scorching instrumental \u003ci\u003eGettin’ It Off\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Westbound","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50438136398155,"sku":"1009590","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/c52bc93a-9eea-4381-9b30-67dcc544bf02_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726938655"},{"product_id":"radio-active-1","title":"Radio Active","description":"\u003cp\u003eA co-founder of the P-Funk movement, Clarence Eugene \u003ci\u003eFuzzy\u003c\/i\u003e Haskins was born in West Virginia in 1941 and started as a singer in the doo-wop vocal group The Parliaments, led by George Clinton in the late 1950s. He was a founding member of the groundbreaking and influential 1970s funk bands Parliament-Funkadelic. Fuzzy Haskins toured and appeared on P-Funk albums as a singer, and occasionally as a guitarist, throughout the 1970s. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997.\u003cbr\u003e Despite the success of Mothership Connection, Fuzzy Haskins was growing frustrated that his songs were no longer being featured on albums by Funkadelic and Parliament. He also watched as Bootsy Collins, a relative newcomer to the family, embarked upon a solo career. This added to Haskins’ frustration and at the height of P-Funk's popularity, Fuzzy left the ensemble to pursue a solo career.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFuzzy Haskins released two landmark solo albums on Westbound Records: \u003ci\u003eA Whole Nother Thang\u003c\/i\u003e in 1976 and \u003ci\u003eRadio Active\u003c\/i\u003e in 1978. With his brand of earthy and heavyweight funk, Fuzzy Haskins’ solo works fits right in with many of the other great P-Funk side projects and was sampled by renowned artists and acts from the likes of Prince, The Prodigy, N.W.A and Fatboy Slim.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn the album Tidal Wave present you today (Radio Active from 1978) you’ll find eight sublime tracks written (or co-written) by Mr. Haskins himself and recorded by Richard Becker at the legendary PAC 3 Recording Studios in Dearborn, Michigan where classic albums from Norman Feels and Dennis Coffey were born. One of the tracks (Woman) was personally mixed for the album by Tom Moulton (the originator of musical revolutions like ‘the remix’, ‘the breakdown section’ and the ‘12inch single vinyl format’).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFuzzy switched between drums and guitar, while taking charge of the lead vocals and production, he was accompanied in the studio by an all-star musician line-up of P-Funk family members such as Jerome ‘Bigfoot’ Brailey (drums), Cordell ‘Boogie’ Mossom (bass), Gary Shider and Michael Hampton (guitars), Glen Goins (piano, drums and guitar)…and of course the fantastic Mr. Bernie Worrell on keyboards. Besides these Parliament\/Funkadelic alumni, also present on the recordings are Bruce Nazarian (The Temptations) on Moog and Jazz pianist Gary Schunk (known for his collaborations with Marcus Belgrave and Wendell Harrison).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe result of all this musicianship was a record that oozed quality. Despite the quality of the music (and just like with ‘A Whole Nother Thang’) the album didn’t sell the vast quantities that were projected and didn’t reach the audience it deserved.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRadio Active\u003c\/i\u003e is filled with keyboard-driven spacey funk, sharp hooks, popping bass-lines, JB styled soulful (yet sexy) vocals, a hint of disco, fantastic guitar build-ups and breaks that make you shake…a true gem that deserves a place in your record collection (mint vinyl copies are hard to find and pricey these days). If you are a Funkateer…this one’s for you!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTidal Waves Music now proudly presents the first ever vinyl reissue of \u003ci\u003eRadio Active\u003c\/i\u003e since 1978 (the year the record was originally released on Westbound Records). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tidal Waves Music","offers":[{"title":"White LP","offer_id":50531391111499,"sku":"1145915","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/46691b3a-aa67-4008-86b8-9531f0190ea9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728106864"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/fuzzy-haskins.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}