Late in 1971, Armen Boladian's Westbound label had a lot going for it: after only two years, the Detroit independent had a roster that included Funkadelic, the Ohio Players, Denise LaSalle and the Detroit Emeralds. All four acts experienced varying degrees of success; for the Emeralds and LaSalle, the period was their commercial and aesthetic peak. Westbound no longer handles its own distribution (after a stay with 20th Century, Westbound has signed a distribution agreement with Atlantic) and their latest crop of releases, including the first Detroit Emeralds album in four years, isn't all that interesting. In fact, the best records of the current set aren't new at all, but rather retrospectives from the old Westbound days.

To those who only know the Ohio Players through their Mercury albums, The Early Years (there's an even earlier album on Capitol) will be a revelation. For one thing, the group, sans synthesizer and Arp, was a lot raunchier. It was also a lot more derivative; J.B.'s, Sly, Kool and the Gang and Chicago are all relevant reference points. The arrangements, mostly slinky funk vamps with staccato horn riffs, don't vary much from song to song, which gets wearisome. But one thing's for sure: the Ohio Players were a lot more fun when Junie Morrison (lead singer during most of their Westbound stay) was around.

Funkadelic is another story. Nothing is repetitive and nothing is representative. Westbound gave the group free rein in production and concept, and if The Best Of doesn't exactly live up to its title (how about "Standing on the Verge of Getting It On" and "Loose Booty" for starters?), it does stand up surprisingly well for something that was pretty weird back then. The music is sometimes grungy, shrill and as jagged as the edge of a shredded tin can. But if Ishmael Reed's HooDoo aesthetic was ever to be translated into song, this is what it would sound like. There's no doubt that Funkadelic has been one of the few bands of the decade to really break on through to the other side. This is where it all began. (RS 246)

JOE MCEWEN