How often do you walk into a situation without knowing what will happen? Do you fear it? Or do you embrace it? The unknown is a ubiquitous phenomenon that can be found in the essence of a person, place, or thing. Many musicians welcome musical situations where they are unaware of what will happen. That could be during improvising or performing with musicians for the first time. Both take an incredible amount of vulnerability and trust. The unknown seems to drive them into a space and time that controls them, not the other way around. And more than likely, that’s what they want it to do. Musicians prefer the unknown to utilize them as vessels to reach their audience or even to experience their own liberation.
The enigmatic Worrell continues to amaze. Like the first Dark album, Worrell's THE OTHER SIDE is absolutely uncategorizable. That he was once affiliated with the likes of George Clinton and the whole P-Funk gang is a mere footnote in the career of this iconoclastic keyboardist. Modal strains of jazz, perverted avant-noise, and organ-drenched experimental atmospheres are only a minute fraction of the chaotic and paradoxical styles etched onto this disc. In short, there's something for everyone here, but everyone should take heed–Worrell's attitudes go way beyond the expected boundaries flanking jazz and funk. His free-form personalities take hold on THE OTHER SIDE and transform it into a jaw-dropping, delightful adventure of unexplored and unexpected sonic realms.
His status as a great team player (Parliament, Funkadelic, Talking Heads) is irrefutable, but as a solo artist, Worrell is strictly hit-or-miss. For all the moments that Blacktronic Science meshes and hits undeniable grooves, it's undone by bad ideas and a tendency to be too eclectic. Worrell has surrounded himself with a superb band (Bootsy, Mudbone Cooper, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Tony Williams), but what they need is to follow a leader with a vision like George Clinton (who makes an appearance here) or James Brown. Worrell tries hard, but comes up with pseudo-soundtrack sludge like "Revelation In Black Light" or fake jazz like "Blood Secrets…" The P-funkin' of "Dissinfordollars" really takes off and gives you the impression that, had this been a Clinton project, it might have been meatier, more fun and more focused.
Funk of Ages is the second solo album by former Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell. The album was released in 1990 by Gramavision Records. The album includes contributions by numerous guest musicians including David Byrne, Herbie Hancock, Keith Richards, Vernon Reid and Phoebe Snow, as well fellow P-Funk band mates Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, Gary Cooper, Doug Duffey and Mike Hampton.
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (C2B3) was an experimental rock supergroup featuring bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Buckethead, keyboardist Bernie Worrell and drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia. The Big Eyeball in the Sky is the 2004 album by Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, known by fans as "C2B3", released on Les Claypool's own Prawn Song label.
Bassist T.M. Stevens leads guests like Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple), Corey Glover and Will Calhoun (ex-Living Colour), Richie Kotzen (ex-Poison), Al Pitrelli and Vinnie Moore through renditions of Deep Purple favorites including "Stormbringer," "Black Night," "Burn," "Smoke on the Water" and a reggae version of "Child in Time."
Bill Laswell led super group, featuring Buckethead (G n R), Bernie Worrell (P-Funk) and Brain (Primus). This live show from Bonnaroo, with over 100K in attendance, includes a jaw dropping 7-minute version of Hendrix's classic Machine Gun. No other Praxis album includes this track. Packaged in a Beautiful 4 Panel Digipak, it is over 58 Minutes long. Buckethead is becoming recognized as one of the top 10 shredders in the world. As Buckethead, with his customary aplomb, told Guitar Player magazine: Praxis is a big binge loaf, like terror long dangler buddies on a scoop rack. [To me], taking people away in their imaginations is a lot more important than freaking people out with the guitar. And who are we to argue? –Buckethead