E229: Funk special with Lloyd Bradley + Betty Davis audio

About this episode

The episode features a discussion with Lloyd Bradley about funk music and its cultural significance, alongside audio clips of Betty Davis.

In this episode we welcome Lloyd Bradley back to Hammersmith to discuss his monumental new tome Funk Is Its Own Reward. We ask our guest about what he describes as "Black America's second great cultural revolution" before learning of his own first awareness of funk as a new musical form. After we consider the parts played in the movement's evolution by James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire and Kool & the Gang, we get to George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic, whose mind-blowing "P-Funk Earth Tour" of America celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Clips from a rare audio interview with Betty Davis prompt our combined thoughts on the cult funk-rock queen who married Miles Davis and helped him fly his freak flag by turning him on to Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. After William discusses newly-added library pieces about the Beatles (1962) and a Marc Almond convention at London's Heaven (1986), Jasper revisits a live review of Bruno ('Uptown Funk') Mars from 2017. Many thanks to special guest Lloyd Bradley. Funk Is Its Own Reward is published by Constable and available now from all good bookshops. Visit his website at lloydbradley.net for more details. Pieces discussed: James Brown…

People in this episode

Host: Jasper Murison-Bowie

Guest: Lloyd Bradley

Topics covered

• funk music
• cultural revolution
• musical evolution
• Black culture
• music history
• interviews

Keywords

• funk
• Lloyd Bradley
• Betty Davis
• James Brown
• George Clinton
• music history
• cultural revolution

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Constable

Books & works: Funk Is Its Own Reward, Twilight Of The Godfather, Countdown on Parliament, A Journey to the Center of Parliament/Funkadelic, The Bizarre World of George Clinton (Parliament/Funkadelic Drop The Funk-Bomb On America), Marc Almond Convention: Heaven Sent, Bruno ('Uptown Funk') Mars

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