Bootsy Collins is the Man Who Put Bass In Yer Face — the original funk ‘n’ roll wild child, the Godzilla-toned high minister of the all-powerful “one,” a sly dog who — with his trademark psychedelic stovepipe, knee-high platform boots and star-studded bass guitars — makes the Cat in the Hat look tame. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix and tutored by no less an authority on the big beat than James Brown, Bootsy has stomped his way through the last 40 years of music history and lived the high life. He has been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame along with the other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. And yet, after spraying outer space bass all over classic recordings by the Godfather of Soul, P-Funk, and his own trail-blazing groups — including Bootsy’s Rubber Band, the Sweat Band and Praxis — Bootsy has arrived at a kind of Zen-like balance that he credits for inspiring his new album, Tha Funk Capital of the World.
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“The secret that I learned,” he explains from Bootzilla Word Headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, “is that you can not tell the Universe what to do. When the Universe is ready, it will tell you — and then you got to be ready. And when the Universe told me it was time to record my new album, Lord, I was ready!” So was an elite coterie of Bootsy’s friends, a blend of musicians and cultural giants who took up temporary residence in Tha Funk Capital of the World to help the illustrious Mr. Collins create a collective masterpiece so full of grooves, grit, guts and glory that he calls it “the best thing I’ve ever done — a whole new chapter in the life of Bootsy.” His booty shakin’ co-authors include a staggering A-list of real-life heroes: the scholar Dr. Cornell West, the activist Rev. Al Sharpton, the actor Samuel Jackson, rappers Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Chuck D, P-Funkers George Clinton and Bernie Worrell, percussionist Sheila E., R&B legend Bobby Womack and guitarists Buckethead and Catfish Collins — the latter Bootsy’s brother and longtime six-string foil, who passed away during the disc’s making. From the opening “Hip Hop @ Funk U” to the closing “The Munchies 2011,” Bootsy Collins’ Tha Funk Capital of the World is a percolating playground of soul-deep rhythms and layered melodies punctuated by lyrics that range from meditations on the nature of truth to the joys of fun-loving hipness to spiritual transcendence. And while Bootsy’s bass is the album’s heartbeat, it’s his voice that brims with giddy delight, goosing up the blissed-out vibe.
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