Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't that Funkin' Kinda Hard On You?

Clinton, the far-left-of-center mastermind behind the Parliament-Funkadelic universe, is one of the great outliers of American culture, a homegrown visionary who pulled together R&B, psychedelic rock, pop and experimental music to begat his own idiosyncratic, and massively influential, version of funk. Now in his early 70s, Clinton has been in the game from doo-wop to hip-hop; his own unmistakable contributions reflecting a boundary-free imagination stoked by obsessions with science fiction, societal unease and personal freedom. Collaborating with Greenman, a New Yorker contributor and R&B authority, Clinton recounts, with clearheaded vigor, an absorbing story of early scuffling, slow but steady success, and restless artistic experimentation, in counterpoint with darker tales of drug addiction and inevitable legal wrangling. While we get considerable insight into the workings of an inclusive musical mind unfettered by limitations, what is conspicuously missing is an authentic sense of Clinton's outrageous humor and radical worldview. How can the artist who brought us "Maggot Brain" come off so well behaved? (Oct.)