George Clinton is forgetting his history, but if you hope that means he's doomed to repeat it, no such luck. There's no trace of the Parliament/Funkadelic bandleader's brilliant past to be found on this album, unless half-hearted samples of "Not Just Knee Deep" and "Atomic Dog" sprinkled through every song count.
Evidently Clinton, whose chart-topping funk of the 70's and early 80's has come back into vogue through its influence on hip hop and nostalgia for the days when soul music was good, has come to believe all the talk about his being a musical genius. Well, it's not true, George. Like every great band leader, Clinton's talent was in recognizing and exploiting the genius of younger or weaker willed musicians, who would either move when their turn at fame arose, or be cast aside when their inspiration dried up. Now Clinton believes he can go it alone. The result is an album that sounds like it was produced by a 16-year-old given the keys to daddy's R&B records, sampler and drum machine. There isn't one memorable new hook in these 70 minutes of beats, confused samples and rappers who think they're doing the old man a favor. Clinton could do himself a favor by reenlisting his P-Funk cronies or recruiting a new band of talented, hungry kids. Until then, we'll just have to smell his finger. It can't stink as badly as his album. (Pat Anders)