Review 7/6/04
 & Calvin Simon
Calvin Appears on 700 Club - World Wide!
Calvin recently appeared on the 700 Club, giving a moving and
heartfelt testimony, that left the switchboards at the 700 club a bit busier
then usual. This incredible story was one of the most moving testimony's to hit
with this kind of impact in a while. Sources say that the 700 Club received 3
times the regular call-ins as a result of his story. In this story, Calvin
shared the turning points which brought him to his present convictions in music,
and his decision to follow Gods path with this and all endeavors.
Review 10/17/98 From: Dr.Brookenstein
Original P
At Tramps - New York
City
(w/ Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas & Ray
Davis)
I arrived an hour early to witness the historical coming of the
Original
"P" to the Big Apple. If you don't know, Original "P"
is headed by four
of the five original Parliaments (Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon,
Grady
Thomas and Ray Davis). The group also consists of "sons of the
P",
Derrick Davis (son of Ray) and Gene Thomas (son of Grady and
one-time
member of Plainfield's new-generation funk group,
Funk-Kin).
At 9:20pm, a funk-rock group My Brother's Dream started the show with
50
minutes of heavy-duty, slamming rock music laced with a taste of funk.
I
can't say what they performed because I am not familiar with
their
material, but they were very, very good! Their set ended at
10:10pm.
At 10:40pm, the Original "P" took it to the stage. The band
members
stepped onstage, followed by the "Big 4" themselves (Fuzzy, Calvin,
Grady
& Ray)!! The band members included Derrick Davis (bass), Bataan
(keyboards, sax, flute), Douglas Knight-Smith (keyboards), Billy
Simms
(guitar), Gene Thomas (lead guitar), Ben Powers, Jr. (drums), and
Pete
Pisarczyk (keyboards). The ladies of the group are Jackie Love,
Sonya
Holmes and Emerald
Davis.
The band performed an amazingly soulful version of the Parliament's hit
"I Wanna Testify", a funky-%#$ version of "The Goose That Laid
The Golden
Egg", and a really smokin' version of "Standing on the Verge of
Getting It
On". "Cosmic Slop" was so good that the walls began to melt from
the hot
guitar licks & sweet vocals of Gene Thomas. Ray's vocals on "Cosmic
Slop",
"Tear The Roof Off The Sucka" and "Pumpin' It Up" sent a
seismic wave
throughout Manhattan of magnitude 7.0!!! But the best came when the
band
performed "Red Hot Momma"...their rendition was so hot that the
sprinklers
went off in the building and everyone was more than
thoroughly
soaked.....especially hot was the LONG guitar solos by Gene Thomas
and
Billy
Mims.....YEAH!!!!
They performed some new tracks from their upcoming debut album, among them
a funky song called "Party". They performed a new slow song
about their
journey from the early beginnings of the Parliaments to Original P, called
"35 Years"....it was lovely! They performed two more funky songs
from
their new project called "Funk For You" and "What's That Shakin'
Behind
You Right There", of which the latter will soon be released as a
single.
Fuzzy mentioned that the new album should be out in the next few days, but
I wish that they had copies of the new CD at the gig! Original P performed
a rousing version of "Flashlight" and "Bop Gun".
"Maggot Brain" was nice,
but the flute makes the song sound somewhat
weaker!
By the way, Douglas Knight-Smith has a funky-^&%* voice, somewhat in
the
vein of Garry Shider....he sang the $%#* out of "Bop Gun
(Endangered
Species)" and his scatting/singing in the middle of "(Not Just) Knee
Deep"
was superb! Oh....one more thing, did I already say that Billy Mims
can
REALLY play the guitar......%^&*$! Grady was fanning his towel at
Billy,
to keep him from being overheated during one of his amazing solos. 'Twas
so
funky in the club that it was getting to be too much for me....I
almost
broke out a can of air freshener to neutralize the heavy-duty
smelly
funk!! Okay....one LAST thing, every @#$$# in the club went crazy when
the
group did a nasty version of "Music For My
Mother"!!!
The track
listing:
Night of The Thumpasorus
Peoples
Standing on the Verge of Getting It
On
Pumpin' It
Up
Up For The Down
Stroke
Tear The Roof Off The Sucka
I Wanna
Testify
The
Goose
Cosmic
Slop
Atomic
Dog
Party (new
song)
Maggot
Brain
Bop Gun (Endangered
Species)
Knee
Deep
One Nation Under a
Groove
Stomp (originally by Kirk
Franklin)
35 Years (new
song)
P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked
Up)
Funk For You (new
song)
What's That Shakin' Behind You Right There (new
song)
Flashlight
ENCORE:
Mothership Connection (Starchild)
Music For My
Mother
The set ended at 1:15am, but the 10-minute encore began at
1:20am!!
If Original "P" is coming to your area, rush to the venue to check
them
out!!!
The Parliaments
Testifyin'
Early Golden World and Revilot
Records' tracks when George Clinton, Fuzzy Haskins, Grady Thomas, Calvin
Simon, and Ray Davis tried the conventional route. Clinton's bizarre
lyrics grab you on "Heart Trouble" "Worryation's Got a Hold
On Me, I can't think for myself." Only George appears on
"I Wanna Testify" backed by the Holidays. The others couldn't
afford the trek to Detroit from Plainfield, NJ that week. Clinton went
every Friday to produce other acts and work on Parliament stuff.
"All Your Goodies are Gone" clever lyrics' hooks you as much
as the slinky vocals, and "The Goose That Layed the Golden
Egg" charm lies in its sloop beat and acid inspired lyrics. They
redid both numbers, strobe-light style, on Up For The Down Stroke.
"Look at What I Almost Missed" sounds unfinished but it still
charted on the lower rungs of the R&B chart. A rare falsetto lead
carries "I Can Feel the Ice Melting, " a big favorite with
some. Three of the 18 tracks repeat as instrumentals. The Fellows (a
pseudonym) get the credit for "Let's Make It Last." An import,
so it takes some effort to find this compilation. ~ Andrew Hamilton, All
Music Guide
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