Parliament - Rhenium (1990)

These Parliament Invicutus tracks are no newcomers to the reissue market; they've been licensed and packaged for years. And Rhenium is yet another coupling. This marked the group's time at Holland-Dozier-Holland's label cutting hybrid soul/funk/acid that was looser than the straight vocal group Parliament on Revilot, less enthralling than Funkadelic on Westbound Records, and nowhere near as funky or compelling as their Casablanca smashes. Some of these first appeared on badly mastered 45s that obliterated much of what took place in the studio. The CD format let you hear the grooves and all the special nuances. Spacy riffs cook on "Breakdown," the torrid "Red Hot Mama," and the scandalous "I Call My Baby Pussycat," which they originally unleashed as Funkadelic as "I Call My Baby Pussycat (I Spell it P-U-S-S-Y)." Odd selections like "Little Ole Country Boy" and "The Silent Boatman" will unnerve all but stanch Parliament/Funkadelic devotees, whose rose-colored glasses will find profoundness and cryptic messages lurking in the lyrics.