Osmium

One could spend an awful lot of time trying to figure out what happened to a young Motown singing group called The Parliaments to cause them to transform into the band that would create Osmium, the 1970 album that is the subject of this post. My guess would be drugs and an exposure to the hyper-explosive rock of fellow Detroit bands, The MC5 and the Stooges. Either way, this was the ground work for what would become the trademark P-Funk aesthetic, although Osmium is heavier than than anything in Clinton's massive catalog, and surely they were aware of this because they opted to name the album after the heaviest of metals. Osmium is beyond eclectic, it is a wholly enjoyable mishmash of genres and styles, with lyrics ranging from socio-political commentary to straight-up misogynist hedonism. The performance is spirited, plucky and absolutely fierce. Chronologies regarding the weird career of Parliament/Funkadelic often overlook Osmium, claiming 1974's Up For The Downstroke as the first real Parliament album, this is probably due to just how fucked up Osmium is. It's kind of like Chuck, the older Cunningham brother from Happy Days who just disappeared after the first season to never be seen or mentioned again. Okay, maybe not exactly, but history has sort of glossed over what should be considered a classic.

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