Clinton's remit is to throw just about anything into the cooking pot that takes his fancy, and it's a mix that is frequently different and almost always compelling.  | | George Clinton (pic: Kirsty Umback) |
Taking to the stage in a baseball cap that 99 percent of the audience wouldn't be able to carry off and with dreads and a beard that would look even more ridiculous than aforementioned cap on anyone who dared attempt them, it was an electric - if slightly sweaty - Manchester Academy that greeted him. The Parliament and Funkadelic standards followed; songs that are important to an audience who could have danced all night to the master of eccentricity on stage. One Nation under a Groove was always going to go down well and so it proved, while Atomic Dog still sounds as astonishing as it ever did. If there's a drawback, it's that the spectre of the noodling muso is so prevalent. We all know that Bernie Worrell plays bass like a demon, but listening to an extended showing off session comes to grate.  | | George Clinton (pic: Kirsty Umback) |
But that's not to take anything away from the melodies that keep you coming back wanting more. Clinton's new album is, as should be expected, a mish-mash of styles that have no god-given right to work, yet somehow they do. Passengers alighting Manchester Academy should retain their tickets for further inspection once they have left the train. That way, they'll be able to look at them in years to come and know that they've seen a genuine legend on stage. | 
