Of every soul and funk outfit from the ‘60s or ‘70s, the George Clinton axis of groups probably had as much to do with the development of sampling outta anyone apart from one Mr. James Brown. But the difference between the two – Clinton’s appreciation of psychedelic sounds and such – is the reason that he comes in a close second to Brown. It doesn’t matter really, but it’s interesting to think about.

Anyway, the spate of reissues – for every genre – continues. And even if you thought that the forty years worth of music Clinton has dispensed was enough, there’s more. And surprisingly, half of the work released on United Soul’s Music with Funkadelic hasn’t seen the light of day before.

When the disc was recorded – in the early ‘70s – it was around the time that Clinton and his group got a bit burned out from touring. Well…that and doing copious amounts of controlled substances. But even at the time, Clinton and keyboardist Bernie Worrell were engaged as producer for a number of acts. United Soul was one of them. On these sessions, a few players from Funkadelic lent a hand including Ray Davies and Fuzzy Haskins. But even if that weren’t the case, the music here was firmly planted in the same territory that Clinton and his cohort were working.

Out of the seven tracks included here, two being mono mixes, only two have made it out on disc before. Originally released as a single, both “Baby, I Owe You Something” and “I Miss My Baby” hit record stores, but apparently didn’t do all too much. And out of the tracks included on Music with Funkadelic, those two are the most pop oriented. Since both of those tracks had previously been released, they were compiled, a few years back on Music for Your Mother – which oddly doesn’t credit United Soul

The first track does include some bells as a supplemental rhythmic device. And the wah wah guitar probably bordered on a bit too psychedelic for a lot of mainstream radio play. “I Miss My Baby,” by contrast, is more sedate and could have easily been your slow dance at the prom. It’s just a slow burner touching on clichéd ways in which to verbally sate a woman.

The most interesting offering here – and maybe the most tied to the psych funk that Clinton trafficked in – is “Rat Kiss the Cat on the Naval.” Of course, the nonsensical lyrical content falls into prime Funkadelic territory, but the mean funk vibe that pushes the track forward is more than enough to have been able to make this a hit. Since the line up isn’t necessarily the same on each track, I have no idea who was playing guitar on here, but whoever it was, he was in “Maggot Brain” territory for a good deal of the seven minutes of the track.

Needless to say, Music with Funkadelic isn’t a necessity. But if you’re obsessed with the funk, then maybe it’d be a good idea to snag it. It’s probably worth the cost of admission for just “Rat Kiss the Cat on the Naval.”