Released in 1975, “Mothership Connection” by Parliament is one of the most influential albums in funk history. Led by Plainfield’s own George Clinton, the album builds a fully realized world where funk isn’t just a sound, it’s an identity.

From the opening moments in “P-Funk (wants to get Funked up),” the album establishes its signature sound: a gnarly bass, layered vocals and a loose partylike structure.

The production is very deliberate and immersive, driven by a unique innovation. It feels very communal, like the listener is part of something bigger than just a record.

Lyrically, the album leans into afrofuturism, presenting funk as a liberating force beamed down from a foreign place in space. This is most clear in the namesake track of the album, “Mothership Connection,” where Clinton introduces a cosmic mythology that flips traditional narratives of exclusion into ones of a sort of foreign empowerment. Instead of being left out of the future, Clinton expresses how black culture IS the future.

The biggest hits, including “Give Up the Funk” and “Night of the Thumpasaurus People,” feature heavy musical experimentation yet still manage to be very catchy. They are easy to get into for new listeners.

In the most fascinating way, Parliament’s album manages to be surreally strange– but in the best fashion.

What makes “Mothership Connection” last is its vision: metaphorically from the future, but providing a real vision into what our future is now, more than 50 years later.  Even now, its influence still rings very close to home, as you can drive down Parliament Funkadelic Road in downtown Plainfield– the street named for where Clinton started his music career.

So if you ever “want to get funked up,” “Mothership Connection” might be just for you.