George Clinton - Computer Games

George Clinton's Computer Games is a key early-1980s P-Funk album and the first record issued under Clinton's own name after the extraordinary run of Parliament and Funkadelic releases that had reshaped funk during the previous decade. Originally released in 1982, it carries the P-Funk universe into a new period, combining elastic bass, synthesizers, drum machines, layered vocals and Clinton's characteristically playful approach to rhythm and language.

The album is best known for 'Atomic Dog', one of Clinton's signature recordings and a track whose electronic pulse, vocal hooks and deeply syncopated groove became enormously influential. Computer Games, however, extends well beyond that single. 'Loopzilla', presented as part of 'Man's Best Friend/Loopzilla', turns fragments of the wider P-Funk catalogue into a collage-like dance track, while the title song and cuts such as 'Get Dressed', 'Free Alterations' and 'One Fun at a Time' explore the increasingly electronic direction of Clinton's funk in the early 1980s.

That shift in technology does not remove the communal feel of the music. Computer Games remains connected to the musicians, voices and ideas surrounding Parliament-Funkadelic, but its use of machines and studio manipulation gives it a distinct identity. The result sits at an important intersection between classic P-Funk and the electro-heavy funk that would feed directly into later hip-hop, dance music and sample culture.

This BGP vinyl edition presents the seven-track album on a single LP, including 'Get Dressed', 'Man's Best Friend/Loopzilla', 'Computer Games' and 'Atomic Dog'. For anyone tracing George Clinton beyond Parliament and Funkadelic, Computer Games is an essential part of the story: eccentric, electronic and unmistakably funky.