The Parliaments were an American vocal quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, who formed in the back room of a barbershop in 1956, naming themselves after the cigarette brand. The group initially performed doo-wop music, but after some early personnel changes their line-up solidified as George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas, with Clinton as group leader and manager, as well as part owner of the barbershop where the group convened to entertain customers. Their sound was originally based on Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, but by the 1960's they'd developed a unique sound based on emerging styles of soul and funk music, with a notable penchant for bizarre lyrics. The group struggled for hits during most of the 1960's, recording singles on a variety of small record labels, switching labels many times, and releasing several double-sided singles without success, including 'Poor Willie' on Apt Records, 'Lonely Island' on Flipp Records and 'Heart Trouble' on Golden World. Eventually, Clinton gained employment at Motown Records as a songwriter and producer, making weekly trips to Detroit to produce for The Pets, Roy Handy, and other acts, while still recording with The Parliaments. In 1967 they released '(I Wanna) Testify' on Revilot Records, and finally achieved a hit single, with the song reaching No. 3 on the R&B chart, and No. 20 on the Pop Billboard charts. In reality, Clinton was the only member of the Parliaments to appear on the song, as the other members were unable to travel to Detroit for the recording session, and so session singers and musicians rounded out the recording.
To capitalize on the single's success, Clinton put together a backing band for a tour, expanding the Parliaments to the five singers plus five backing musicians. After the success of '(I Wanna) Testify', Clinton became embroiled in a contractual dispute surrounding the bankruptcy of Revilot Records, and temporarily lost the rights to the name The Parliaments. In order to continue recording for other labels, Clinton renamed the entire ensemble Funkadelic (a name coined by bassist Billy Bass Nelson), and he positioned Funkadelic as a funk-rock band featuring the five backing musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. When Revilot declared bankruptcy, the Parliaments were sold to Atlantic Records, and Clinton abandoned doo-wop to avoid working for the label. Despite Funkadelic operating as a recording and touring entity, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the Parliaments as a new R&B-based funk band, now known as Parliament. The line-up still consisted of the five original singers plus the five backing musicians, with the two acts signed to different labels and marketed as performing different types of funk. Several songs from the early repertoire of the Parliaments would be re-recorded on future Parliament and Funkadelic albums, including 'Testify', 'The Goose', 'All Your Goodies Are Gone', and 'I Can Feel The Ice Melting'. A few years ago a track listing was discovered for a proposed album by The Parliaments, intended to cash in on the success of '(I Wanna) Testify' in 1967, but it was shelved due to the issues with their record label, and so here is that early example of the work of George Clinton.
Track listing
01 (I Wanna) Testify
02 Let's Make It Last
03 Don't Be Sore At Me
04 I'll Wait
05 Look At What I Almost Missed
06 Time
07 The Loser's Seat
08 What You Been Growing
09 Golden Goose
10 Baby I Owe You Something Good
11 Little Man
12 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
