Smudge All Stars

★★★★ Smudge All Stars PEGDOLL. CD/DL/LP

P-funk lives and breathes on star-studded party set, eight years in the making.

Having gained the ultimate seal of approval from Parliament-Funkadelic’s colourful visionary George Clinton after collaborating on Up Is Just A Place, percussionist/producer Richie Stevens spent most of the next decade trying to match its wall-knocking party funk. His perseverance has paid off. Not only do his merry band trump it on synth-heavy party-starter Brutal Funk, spiralling around a fathomless groove by Jamiroquai’s DJ D-Zire, strobe-lit by Mary Pearce’s intense soul power, but a second laidback Clinton hook-up on the anatomically suspect Headache unveils his lesser captured sensitive side. Garlanded with distinctive parps from the Horny Horns (Fred Wesley, Alfred

‘Pee Wee’ Ellis) and precious dub cameos from Dennis Bovell and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, this head-nodding return to the Mothership sounds as reassuringly expensive as a 1990s Dr Dre production.