The Authorized P-Funk Song Reference

Records/Books
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Danny Bedrosian is releasing a reference book with who played what on every p-funk track, all the way back to 1956. 504 pages. Hardcover. A massive undertaking! The title is The Authorized P-Funk Song Reference: Official Canon of Parliament-Funkadelic, 1956-2023.

Looks like he got a publishing deal with Rowman Littlefield Publishers and that it’s planned for release in November 2023. Awesome!

The following description is from the publishers site:

George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic collective (P-Funk) stands as one of the most iconic and important groups in popular music history, with an impressively large discography, enormous number of members, and long history. For the first time, this authorized reference provides the official P-Funk canon from 1956 to 2023: every project, album, song, song personnel, and tidbits about each act and select songs, as well as dozens of rare photos and a color photospread.

No volume has ever attempted to provide details of every song from this collective and its many dozens of acts, collaborations, and offshoot projects from its inception in the 50s as The Parliaments to present day. Daniel Bedrosian, keyboardist for P-Funk, accomplishes that in this volume, the culmination of nearly thirty years of careful research, interviews, and access to exclusive archival material. Song entries are organized under artist / group names and contain definitive information on who played on which song. Select song entries shed light on the inner workings of the recording process, singles chartings, controversies, inside information about process, and more.

This authorized volume demystifies one of the most unique and influential popular musical groups in history.

I remember that he talked about it around two years ago, like in this clip (40 min in).

Here’s the chapters.

  • Table Of Contents
  • Introduction
  • Some Notes On Process
  • Special Thanks
  • Interview List
  • Information On The List
  • Criterion For Canon
  • Errata
  • Chapter One: Artists Starting In 1956 - 1966
  • Chapter Two: Artists Starting In 1967 - 1977
  • Chapter Three: Artists Starting In 1978 - 1988
  • Chapter Four: Artists Starting In 1989 - 1999
  • Chapter Five: Artists Starting In 2000 - 2010
  • Chapter Six: Artists Starting In 2011 - 2021
  • Chapter Seven: Artists Starting In 2022 - 2023
  • Chapter Eight: Live Releases
  • Index

I wonder what artists will be in chapter seven, “starting in 2022-2023”. Does anyone have any guesses? I can’t think of a single one. :slight_smile:

It’s supposed to be like a dictionary, but I have a feeling I’ll be reading it back to back, like a regular book. :laughing:

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Wow, was just thinking about how nice a P Sessionography would be. “Access to exclusive archival material” wish that were me! Exciting news!

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Is Danny a member here? This looks incredible! A liner note nerd like me loves this kind of thing. Can’t wait!

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No, I don’t think he is.

Saw that the book cover just got added at the publishers site.

pfunk-song-reference

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This is a must-have! :fire:

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That’s a fantastic interview.

Danny should release a second volume that has the transcripts of all the interviews he conducted. They sound even more interesting than who played on what - which is of course, very interesting to all of us obsessives.

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Man, I used to wish this exact book existed back in the days when I was first getting into P-Funk.

Can’t think of anyone better than a true musicologist like Danny.
This research is in good hands with him.

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Wow, this looks great! Thanks for the info.

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The next big thing would be a similar project for live shows and tours. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Ok I need this

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Considering the source is Danny, be prepared to be surprised at how many times you thought it was Bootsy playing bass on a PF song, only you are going to find out it’s Boogie.

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Danny on the old board dropped bombs. Folks who assumed got summarily corrected. And yes, it was surprising how much Boogie played on when Bootsy’s presence was so huge.

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It’s now possible to make pre-orders from the publisher.

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Looking forward to the book. Many thanks to Danny Bedrosian.

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The ebook version is now available. Here’s a sample from amazon. Can’t wait for the book!

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I went in there on a few of the excerpts and am astounded at how little of the mid-period Parliament & Funkadelic albums (Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, Hardcore Jollies, Clones, Mothership, etc) all the original Parliaments are actually singing on together. According to this book, they are barely singing on any of it. You mean to tell me the only song on MC they are listed on is Thumapasaurus?!? No other OP appears anywhere else on the whole album except Ray.
Same pattern for Clones. They are singing on Children of Production. The onliest other time on the whole LP Ray is mentioned on Do That Stuff.
It never even occurred to me to even think this. I just assumed they were all over those LPs.
When were these records recorded? That’s weird to me how I’ve been listening to these albums for years. They are not singing anywhere on the whole Hardcore Jollies record. Fuzzy and Ray is listed on the live version of Slop. Wasn’t that recorded out at the hangar at Newburgh. WTF. Ray is listed on Mountain and Funk/Style. That’s it!!! I wonder were they pulling away even then.
Likely part of the reason they took off maybe? They are all up in the early Funkadelic and Take it to the Stage is not in these excerpts but I’d say pretty much anything after Standing On the Verge is when they start to completely vanish from the book and taking a limited back seat role. Danny came on the old nation board and said it was the Boogster on bass on Funk/Style years ago. I couldn’t believe it. Then I listened real close and came a believer. Then he comes in the book and says Boots. I swear I hear that just behind the beat Plainfield stroke. This book should open up a lot of discussion. I swore Mallia was on the PE Squad/DooDooChasers. She described the how the session went down in an old Blues & Soul interview. Interesting take on the drums on Bop Gun. I ran into Bootsy one day and he said it was Ka$h. This is gonna get really interesting.
Big Bang Theory was a surprise. Could have swore the drummer was Dennis.
I always heard Jerome was the drummer on Munchies. The book says Boogie is the drummer.
Boogie Mosson told me hisself one night that he produced the session Nappy on the The Brides and played bass and you know what I believe him. The detail with which he described how it went down was just too much for him to have been lying. When you listen closely it’s straight Plainfield stroke. That lazy just behind the beat rumble.
With all the chaos and illicit substances that were probably flowing at that time its really no telling.
Never Buy Texas was the Brides highest charting single? Come on now. The record stalled at #67 on the Billboard black chart. He must be talking about that version of the group.

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I always thought the guitar on Doo Doo Chasers was Garry Shider, but someone tried to convince me otherwise and said Hampton. Now we know. :grinning:

Capture

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It would also be great if we could get a book of correct song lyrics. There’s a lot of misheard lyrics out there.

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I have already ordered this treasure.

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Yeah I get Garry here all day long. At first I thought it was Mike soloing but if you listen real close to the nuances in it, Garry.

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