Parlet - Invasion Of The Booty Snatchers (1979)

Parlet's second album, Invasion of the Booty Snatchers, found Parliament/Funkadelic leader George Clinton supervising a new edition of the female trio. Jeanette Washington was still on board, but this time, she joined forces with Shirley Hayden and Janice Evans instead of Debbie Wright and Mallia Franklin. However, Invasion of the Booty Snatchers (whose title is based on the 1950s sci-fi/horror movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers) isn't a radical departure from Parlet's first album, Pleasure Principle. Clinton (who produced this 1979 LP with Ron Dunbar) still goes for variety, and Parlet's sophomore album is as unpredictable as their first. While goofy numbers like "No Rump to Bump" and "Huff-N-Puff" are very Parliament-sounding, "Ridin' High" (a minor hit) and the glossy "Booty Snatchers" have more of a disco influence -- "Ridin' High," in fact, almost sounds like a marriage of P-Funk and Chic. Meanwhile, the pleasing "Don't Ever Stop (Lovin' Me, Needin' Me)" is a conventional Northern soul ballad -- conventional by Clinton's standards, that is. As strong as Invasion of the Booty Snatchers is, the LP wasn't a huge multi-platinum seller; many of the P-Funk addicts who bought Parliament and Funkadelic's albums religiously didn't spend a lot of dollars on Parlet. Nonetheless, Invasion of the Booty Snatchers is arguably the group's finest and most impressive release.~Alex Henderson